My kiddos watch me cook all the time and they know it’s one of my favorite things to do. They know it relaxes me and they know it’s my absolute favorite hobby. My oldest daughter has been asking me lately to let her cook and I’m just not ready yet to turn over the kitchen to her and let her “do her thing yet”. We love to watch Food Network together and both my lovies enjoy watching Chopped Junior. They see these kids on the show are the same age as they are and they can’t seem to understand why I won’t let them cook in my kitchen like the kids do on the show. I try to nicely explain to them that I really like my house and I don’t want it to burn down…that’s why. My daughter came to me this past Saturday and said, “Mom, I need the blender. I’m making a smoothie.” I thought about this for a minute, shook my head and got the blender down from the cabinet. She looked at me in shock. Then she smiled. I thought, Ok, it’s just a smoothie. Surely this will be fine. Then she informed me that she wants me to feature her smoothie on my website. Ummm…, ok THAT took me off guard. So I took a deep breath and talked to her about her recipe. I needed to understand if she was just going to throw stuff together and wish for the best or if she had a plan. Well, she had a plan (Of course she did! She’s just like me!!) She told me that she has been playing this app on her tablet where she gets to make food. She’s been making a lot of smoothies on her app game and after each game, they provide a recipe based on the smoothie they made. So that’s where she got this idea. And the ingredients were simple so I said, sure…have at it. And she did. And it was fantastic! After we made the smoothie, she said, “Ok, I need to take some pictures like you do for the smoothie post”. The child was adamant! She then went out to my photo studio. I focused my attention elsewhere for a minute until she came back in and said, “Ok, come on…I’m ready.” So I walked out and she had the props all set up perfectly. That bowl of spilled cherries…yep 100% her idea. The cut bananas, yep that’s all her too. Oh and she took my stemless wine glasses, poured the smoothie in and put whipped cream on top. She then cut some regular straws I had laying around the house to make the “proportions look even”. So yeah, I’m kinda blown away right now. She’s super artistic and apparently I need to just let her do her thing! I looked at her and said, “Ok are you ready to take the pictures?” She grabbed my DSLR camera on manual settings, looked through it on manual focus with a 50mm lense I had on it and said shook her head and said, “No way, mommy. You take the pictures! It’s so blurry!” So I did. Next stop for her is a photography lesson using a DSLR camera on manual mode for beginners!
Ok so seriously, these little things in life help make amazing memories for both you and your kiddos. Yes, I plan to lighten up and let her cook more with me. But if you are not cooking with your kiddos, you absolutely should be. I have a friend who is taking the summer off from our firm to just take a break and enjoy her family. I asked her the other day, what are you going to do this summer with your family? She said she’s going to teach her kids how to cook. Ok, YES! That’s an amazing answer! Teach those kiddos how to cook!!
Enjoy the simplicity of this recipe. Sometimes, you just need something simple in your life and that’s exactly what this is. Oh, and get to cooking with those kiddos! My daughter wanted me to remind everyone that these ingredients, directions and photography layout all come from her. So, here’s to you little one!
Ingredients
1 banana1 cup frozen pitted cherries1 cup almond milk3 cubes of icewhipped cream, for topping
Directions
Place all ingredients in a blender.Puree until smooth and there are no more chunks.Pour smoothie into a cute little glass.Top with whipped cream.Place a cherry on top and stick a straw in it!Drink before it melts!
Note: This post is not sponsored, but you will find affiliate links on this page. The price you pay as a consumer does not change, but I may make a small commission based on your purchase! Thank you for supporting Recipes Worth Repeating!
