Kids Cuisine

Before school let out for the year, Abigail had brought home a kids’ cookbook from her school library. She paged through it, commenting about a lot of recipes that she thought looked good to her. When I asked her if there were any she wanted to make, she had to think for a minute before telling me that she would like to try making the breakfast smoothies.

A shopping trip later, we had all the ingredients necessary for Abigail’s first Monday morning of summer vacation. Together we had edited the recipe a few times to make it slightly more healthful and also more to Abigail’s tastes. She measured and blended like a pro, and when asked about the favorite part about making them she had an interesting answer — “I liked measuring the honey. It was cool to spray the measuring spoons and then have the honey slide right out.” The spray she was referring to was the can of cooking spray, which she used to spray her measuring spoons before measuring the honey with them.

These smoothies are delicious for both kids and adults. The cottage cheese was an interesting ingredient that gave a great texture and a flavor not unlike a cheesecake.

Raspberry Breakfast Smoothie

serves 2 children

• 1 cup fat-free milk
• 1 cup frozen raspberries, still frozen
• 1/3 cup low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 ice cubes

Combine all the ingredients in the jar of a blender. Puree for about 1 minute, or until well combined and the ice cubes have disappeared.