Raspberry Mango Smoothie with Chia Seeds

My seven-year-old daughter and I came up with this recipe together. And made it together. And (kinda) photographed it together.

This is a big deal for me. You see I love to cook. And I love my daughter. But I do not necessarily love cooking with my daughter. I’m a total control freak in the kitchen. Space is tight and I’m very easily distracted. Put a feisty seven-year-old in the middle of that and KABAM. There have been tears. On both sides.

But I’m working on it because I want her to enjoy cooking and have memories ~ the good kind not the bring-up-later-in-therapy kind ~ of us creating things together in the kitchen.

So, early Sunday morning, still in our pajamas, we brainstormed a smoothie recipe.

The collaboration process was interesting. At first, she thought grapefruit might be tasty but then decided against it. I thought that was a wise move. The raspberry is tart enough, in my opinion. I found myself really having to go to bat for the chia seeds. (She wrote “mabey” in front of it but crossed it out when she realized how committed I was.)

And she’s already thinking like a food stylist. You can see she wrote “straw” at the end of our list. She was thinking ahead to the shot. Or possibly to the experience of drinking it (which is related to styling.) She also included an orange slice thinking that would look nice on the rim of the glass. She was so right. A garnish of any kind would’ve been a great idea.

I was too distracted to make it happen though. Because once the smoothie was made, all bets were off. My twelve-year-old son miraculously emerged from his tweenage lair bedroom and wanted in on the action. And photographing food with kids around – kids who are literally dying to taste what you’re attempting to photograph – is tricky. It goes like this:

click

Are you done?

Not yet.

Hurry up.

click

Can we –

Not. Yet.

click

Mom?

click

MOM?

click

Mooooooommmmm????!!!!

And finally ends with this:

You can only ask so much of kids in the face of such temptation.

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INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of milk (I used whole because YUM!)
• 1 cup of plain greek yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups of a mixture of frozen bananas, raspberries, and mangoes. The ratio depends on your taste. That’s the great thing about smoothies. They’re so customizable. Like ’em sweet? Add more banana. Want it tart? Increase your raspberries. You can use fresh fruit, too, but then you should add some ice. I find that weakens the flavor.
• 1 Tbs raw honey (or if you’re an agave person you can use that, too.)
• 1 1/2 Tbs chia seeds

DIRECTIONS

• Pour milk and yogurt into your blender and pulse a few times to combine.
• Add fruit and blend for 30 seconds to a minute.
• Add honey and chia seeds and blend to desired consistency.

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