I make a lot of dips at Chez Foti. The kids love them, usually, and they strike me as one of the best and easiest ways to pump lots of raw veggies into little tums. They’ll happily munch away on pepper, carrot and cucumber sticks with a tasty dip but rarely touch them otherwise. Especially not in a form of salad. Oh no, not a salad. It’s funny now kids just don’t ‘do’ salad eh? I wonder at what age they’ll happily tuck into a plate of dressed leaves, 10?, 18?. Please do let me know what tricks you deploy, or at what age they’ll get salad?. I fear we’re a long way off from reaching that milestone.
So dips and sticks it is for a while. But dips are good anyway, and can be made from pretty wholesome ingredients. And they’re so conveniently quick, a couple of minutes of assembly followed by a further couple of whizzing and dolloping and hey presto a homemade dip in probably less time than you’ve take to select a supermarket ready-made one. Here’s a couple of my previously dippy posts: A Couple of Fishy Dippy Dip Dips and A Trio of Dips for Babies, Toddlers & Big People.
And this is a goodie of a dip, and could even be made from store cupboard ingreds. Simply peas (fresh or frozen) whizzed up with feta, lemon zest & juice, fresh mint and a little olive oil and black pepper. Very very tasty. And met with 50% approval from the kids. Jacques wolfed it down, and Francesca reluctantly tried after several minutes of complaining that she didn’t like ‘green sauce’ (meaning pesto which she has a weird and inexplicable fear of!) and ate some. Not too bad a result. And I’ll be happily polishing off the rest for my own dinner of dips and sticks later. Though possibly with wine.
Dips also give me an excuse to bring out my new and very gorgeous Oogaa divider bowls. Thanks so much to my friend Sam for sending them over, and indeed for designing such wonderful products in the first place!. Pretty fab I think you’ll agree. And my kids LOVE them, such fun and vibrant colours and designs.
Just a couple of challenges to enter. Firstly my very own co-hosted Four Seasons Food challenge, this month hosted by Anneli over at (award winning!) Delicieux with the theme of Outdoor Nibbles and Picnics. Would you believe this’ll be entry numero 48?. 
Not bad for our first month! And secondly to the lovely Karen of Lavender and Lovage’s Herbs on Saturday challenge. And finally for my first ever time to Anyonita Nibbles’ Tasty Tuesdays.
Minted Pea & Feta Dip
Great for: Finger Foods, Toddlers & Pre-schoolers, Bigger Kids, Grown Ups, Picnics, Lunches, Nibbles, Snacks
200g fresh or frozen peas
75g feta, crumbled
½ lemon, zest & juice
1 dessertspoon finely chopped fresh mint
black pepper, to taste
1. Steam or boil the peas for a couple of minutes. Drain and cool in cold water.
2. Place the cooled peas together with all the other ingredients in a bowl and whiz with a stick blender OR in a food processor.
Easy as that!. Hardly a recipe today I’m afraid, but busy, busy times.
You may also like:
Homemade Fish Fingers
Smoked Salmon Fishcakes
Chez Foti 
June 27th, 2013 at 9:29 pm
Looks great and a very easy way of getting the veggies down the kids. Ruby has suddenly decided she doesn’t like peas but she loves pesto and greens added to ricotta or feta in pies, pasta etc so I reckon this may have a chance with her. If not, I’d happily polish it off.
July 1st, 2013 at 10:36 am
Funny that she’s gone off peas but will eat greens! They’re funny these little people eh?!.
June 28th, 2013 at 1:27 am
I will gladly dip my raw vegetables in this, sounds so good. The only way I got the kids to eat salad is with a creamy dressing, it masks the leafy greens and other vegetables.
July 1st, 2013 at 10:37 am
I should experiment with creamy dressings, reckon that might just do it…at least for Jacques who’s not as fussy as his big sis.
June 28th, 2013 at 12:22 pm
Lovely, thanks for posting! I do love feta, this is yet another great use
July 1st, 2013 at 10:37 am
Ah thanks Lisa, I’m a huge feta fan too. Always have it in…
June 28th, 2013 at 3:17 pm
It’s always good to find new ways to sneak more vegetables into children’s diets – I’ll be trying this one soon! I tried to encourage my kids to eat leafy salads by letting them mix up the dressings – they loved shaking up jars of gloopy liquids, and were then keen to try out their creations on the salads.
July 1st, 2013 at 10:38 am
What a great idea, getting them to make their own dressings! Could be some interesting additions!.
June 28th, 2013 at 11:43 pm
Looks delicious! On the salad thing – my son’s ten and still snarls at salad – I can’t see him tucking in with enthusiasm any time soon…
July 1st, 2013 at 10:41 am
Annoyingly my kids actually eat salad at school – it’s on the menu virtually every day in some form or other. But won’t touch it at home, devil’s spawn!.
June 29th, 2013 at 7:42 pm
What a vibrant recipe…..such a summery dip – I love it. Thanks so much for entering this into cooking with herbs! Karen
June 30th, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Thanks Karen, I do love my made in seconds/minutes dips!
June 29th, 2013 at 7:54 pm
Great use of feta – I always have to struggle with the last bit feta… Okay, that’s an exaggeration. I once worked with a woman who would not eat green food – nothing green… not lime Jello, not a Margarita, not a salad. Very weird… I think I have another entry for your event….
June 30th, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Green aversion is very strange, I think it’s a bit weird one of my kids is anti-green but she is only 4, not a fully fledged grown up!. The feta adds a nice sharpness to the dip, one of my favourite cheeses in the kitchen.
June 29th, 2013 at 7:57 pm
[…] from Chez Foti: Minted Pea and Feta Dip – Another lovely entry from Louisa, this time it’s a summery dip with fresh […]
June 30th, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Another great entry (thank god the linky is now closed or the round up may finish me off!) Lovely dip, could also work well as a rather special mushy peas? Could it work in a fish finger sandwich I wonder? I would be up for trying it! xx
July 1st, 2013 at 10:44 am
Ha ha, I had the exact same thought on posh mushy peas – maybe without the feta and a little creme fraiche instead – which I served up this weekend on crostini topped with a little crumbled hot chorizo. Was good.
July 3rd, 2013 at 4:41 pm
Good Afternoon to you, Thank you so much for paying a visit to me at Ivy, Phyllis and Me! it was very kind of you to leave such a nice comment.
I love feta cheese and I cooked a lot with it when I lived in Cyprus. I really like this minted pea and feta dip, I know my husband will love it as well.
I have plenty of mint in the garden, feta in the fridge and some frozen peas in the freezer, so I will be making it this weekend.
I have enjoyed my visit to you, so I have become a new follower, I am now going to take a look around your blog as I see lots of nice recipes to read.
Enjoy your day,
Best Wishes
Daphne
July 4th, 2013 at 12:59 pm
Thanking you very kindly Daphne! And what a gorgeous blog you have too, isn’t blogging such a wonderful way to meet fellow foodies?!
July 8th, 2013 at 10:22 pm
Louisa, this dip sounds DELICIOUS! 🙂 I love that your kids happily eat their veggies! Well, I assume they do! Ha. What I really love is that you’re serving them veggies that haven’t been covered in cheese or pretzels or crackers or peanut butter! So refreshing from the usual kiddified, hiding veggies under ketchup/cheese/sauce approach! Thank you so much for linking up with me this week at Tasty Tuesdays! I’ve pinned this & shared it with my followers! Please be sure to stop back by the party and check out some of the other links!
July 15th, 2013 at 9:19 am
So sorry Anyonita, only seem your comment – it was in my spam box…ahrrr! Thanks so much for your lovely comments! Having two kids who were pretty veggie adverse I think I’ve become a bit of a master at veggie hiding tactics, but am lucky enough that they’ll both eat quite a few now without too much disguise!. I really look forward to joining in more Tasty Tuesdays but to be honest things are so hectic just now (huge house move back to the UK AND blog migration to a new site soon!) I might not get a chance for a few weeks!.