Two year old Frank watching his Berry Good Smoothie blending in the Froothie Optimum, he has his own special ear defenders just for creating smoothies 😊 As soon a I mention making a smoothie he’s there like a shot, dragging the kitchen stool up to the counter, washing his hands and ready for action. Just like his dad at the same age, though he likes to make chilli-with-everything these days!
When cooking with Frank, I am always glad to have the opportunity of this time together, one on one: yes, it’s messy and yes, he can get a bit over-enthusiastic – I think we got about a third of a tub of baobab powder in there! – but I love watching him taking it all in, soaking up whatever I tell him and storing it away. I love his enthusiasm. I know that at some point in the future he will use it all and hopefully remember some of these times together.
He (and his older sister) have been cooking since they were literally babes in arms. They have always been willing to taste anything, and although they still go through the picky two-year-old stage, the fact that they have always been encouraged to be present in the kitchen and help with preparation means that they are familiar with cooking from scratch, using a wide variety of fresh foods.
They are already creating their own recipes: Frank’s four-year-old sister decided to try banana on her pizza and Frank likes the idea of dipping carrot sticks in strawberry spread! He loves homemade chips with balsamic vinegar and juices that contain ginger and turmeric. Olives and almonds are also favourites. The fact that actual vegetables are not allowed on his plate at the moment is irrelevant (except cucumber and raw carrot), he gets everything he needs in other forms* and is slowly acquiring the knowledge and skills to transform them into healthy meals when he does eventually give them house room. I have seen a photograph of Emily standing on a stool at the counter rolling pizza dough and chopping vegetables, and Frank sitting on the counter chopping cucumber! Children love to be involved in the kitchen and will be all the healthier – and self-sufficient – for it. Emily recently sliced a mushroom so thinly and precisely, with perfect control of the knife, just by copying her dad.
This is Frank’s smoothie recipe:
Large handful of frozen cherries, large handful frozen mixed berries, more than we wished for baobab powder, about 3 tablespoons oats plus what he spilled 😉 most of a medjool date minus a bite for tasting, a banana, a carefully tilted amount of cashews from the jar (with ‘help’ from Grandad), 2 tablespoons soya yogurt and a lot of coconut milk! It made enough for 3 of us and he had seconds and thirds, he said it was ‘berry good!’ Unfortunately, he doesn’t do washing up, our dishwasher is defunct (and so is my husband after a weekend without it!).
*Frank doesn’t eat vegetables – apart from raw carrot and cucumber – but he will have juices and smoothies, even green ones, so seeing him have so much fun in the kitchen leads us to hope that one day he will be as much of a foodie as his dad and grandma.
Copyright: Chris McGowan
It’s January, it’s freezing cold and blowing a gale that is shaking the rafters and here I am writing out a recipe for a frozen smoothie! Well, the reason is, we did an inventory of our freezer because we just couldn’t squeeze any more into it, and I was astonished at how much frozen fruit there was in there. No wonder there was no room! I have a habit of saving some of the summer fruits and freezing them for the winter when they’re not available or very expensive, but inevitably they get covered with other foods and I forget about them.
I was feeling a bit sorry for myself when I came downstairs, suffering horrible back pain, no sleep, gloomy sky, prospect of rain, drop in temperatures. I was also very hungry, having gone to bed early evening and not getting up until 14 hours later. That did it, I needed chocolate and I needed it fast. Chocolate? For breakfast? Absolutely!
I love mango, all smooth, exotic and tangy with a delicate aroma, and I adore passionfruit. It doesn’t look up to much, all wrinkly, dark and swarthy, and when you slice it open, what do you get? No juicy flesh, just a spoonful of less-than-appetising crunchy seeds covered in what looks like yellow frogspawn! But the smell and the flavour are gorgeous, and they are so good for you, so putting them together in a breakfast smoothie was a no-brainer, why hadn’t I thought of it before? This particular week we’d found a pack of four in the supermarket greatly reduced as they were close to their use-by date, so I used two of them in this smoothie.
This lovely smooth nectarine chia pudding was just what I needed the morning after the General Election when I felt exhausted and strung out after all the highs and lows of the long night before. I needed energy, but most of all something to give me a lift. Like the rest of the country, I didn’t know which end was up and needed the certainty and stability (sic*) of a reliably healthy, and refreshing breakfast to keep me going through the inevitable long drawn-out hours of bemused debate and analysis to come, while everyone figured out who was running the country (we’re still not sure!).
No, that’s not a slice of tomato on top, it’s a kumquat!
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