Cool Berry Smoothie With Tofu
06/07/2010 12:43:00
Cool Berry Smoothie With Tofu
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This recipe was taken from the box of Kids Kitchen recipes sent by Fi Bird, the same one that the tomato tarts came from.
The children picked this out straight away as they are berry fans and have been making smoothies at school and consider themselves aficionados!
I liked the look of it because it had the twist of being creamed by tofu rather than milk. Which intrigued me. |
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Ingredients
3 oranges (to make 150ml juice)
1 large passion fruit (we couldn't find one so we bought a peach)
1 medium banana
125g tofu
300g frozen berries
runny honey (optional)
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The first step was to get the juice out of the oranges. Of course you could use carton juice if you are in a hurry and have some in, but our two really enjoyed squeezing the juice. They got about 80% of the juice out and then I squeezed the last bits out of each half, but by the end they were getting the hang of it. Their Dad's legendary grip strength has not quite kicked in yet.
The recipe gets you to cut the passion fruit in half and take out the juice, pulp and seeds. As we had a peach, we just stoned it and roughly cut it up.
Then you peel the banana and cut it into a few pieces. You may have noticed we missed this off our ingredients photo because we had forgotten it. We ran to the village shop halfway through to get it.
The tofu was a bit of a revelation to the kids. Although they have eaten it in stir fries a couple of times, and certainly hidden in things, they have never actually seen it before being cooked. They thought the liquid in the packet was gross. I concur. And they liked the wobble of it. I suggested they gently touch it to see the texture but then made the mistake of going to get the knives and this is what they interpreted as gently...
Oh well never mind. Anyway then you have to cut up the tofu in to smallish pieces, which we did. My only issue with this recipe is that it is a small amount of tofu and most shops sell in larger packs so it would be wise to think about what you are going to do with the rest. We did something indian with it. I know you can freeze it but then it's no good for smoothies because it goes more chewy. So anyway, that's one to think about when you're doing your shopping list. I did like that tofu presented a great opportunity to practice knife skills without risk. They could use a sharp dinner knife and practice a mixture of sawing and pressing without me having to hover and help.
Then you lob everything into the blender and blend. The berries can stain a bit so be careful with clothes. We used raspberries frozen from the garden last year. The recipe does warn you that because the fruit is frozen the blender may move about a bit, which is good advice. The kids took it in turns to press the buttons.
The smoothie is quite thick when it comes out. You can of course water it down with juice, water or crushed ice. The recipe also suggests optional honey at the end. Anna liked it better without and Jacob better with.
The Verdict
7/10 Anna (6) "It's ok but I would like it better with strawberries. I don't like raspberries that much."
9/10 Jacob (8) "Yummy. I could drink loads of this. I like the raspberries."
7/10 Mom "In retrospect a mix of berries might have been better for our two. Nice texture though and I like that it has some protein in so it will keep them full for longer. A proper snack rather than a quick refresher."
9/10 Dad "I had this when I came in from work on a hot day. It was exactly what I needed. Quenched my thirst a bit because of the icy berries and because it's dead healthy I felt happy and smug at the same time."
