Well I need to let you know, it’s not quite new work, it’s just taken me this long to get around to posting it! This story came out in the Winter edition of Happi Kids in November, and it’s all about drinks that are focussed on the vitamin content, to boost the vitamins our kids need. It was as always, a lot of fun shooting food, and coming up with the recipes was as much fun as the rest of the production. And just for you, I’ve attached the recipes with each photograph so you can try them out, they’re also nice and easy for kids to join in making too - I have to say my absolute favourite was the carrot soup. In fact, I think I’ll make it this weekend again, it was a hit - both Laly and her friend Eloise loved it when I served up the left overs from the shoot that weekend. It’s delicious warm or cold.
Keep in mind that all my recipes are intuitive, which means you don’t need to follow them precisely - I tend to make them up as I go so you can do the same and I recommend it!
Also for this story I focussed on colour, so each recipe was as much about the vitamins as it was about the colour because colour is a powerful healer.
The first elixir above is of course, all about…
Vitamin C: dark orange/red
INGREDIENTS:
A bottle/half bottle of clear apple juice
Sparking water or plain water
3-4 citrus fruits of choice – orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime
Juice of one lime
1-2 cups beetroot juice
ASSEMBLAGE:
Place the beetroot juice into ice cube trays to freeze.
Put the apple juice, water and lime juice in a large jug.
Slice the citrus fruits and place into the jug as well as the glasses.
When the beetroot ice cubes are ready, place them into each glass and pour the drink over the ice cubes.
Vitamin A: orange
Chilled (or warm, your choice) carrot soup
INGREDIENTS:
A bunch of baby carrots, carrot tops removed or 3 large carrots, peeled and cut
½ onion
1-teaspoon turmeric powder
Drizzle olive oil
Salt
1-teaspoon honey
Coconut milk (optional)
1-2 Litres of vegetable stock
ASSEMBLAGE:
Preheat oven to 180C.
Place carrot and cut up onion on a baking tray and drizzle with the olive oil, honey, turmeric and salt – mix together so that the carrots and onions are well coated.
Bake in the oven until tender and roasted – about ½ hour.
Remove from the oven, allow to cool and then place in a blender with the veg stock – start with ½ litre of veg stock and then add as you go so you can check the consistency. Blend altogether until smooth.
Chill in the fridge and then serve! You can add a dash of coconut milk to serve if desired. Bunny face created with micro herbs and edible flowers.
Makes 2-4 (depending on whether you serve it as an entrée or main)
Vitamin E : purple
INGREDIENTS:
½ avocado
Handful of baby spinach - optional
½ cup coconut milk (or try other non-dairy milks)
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 teaspoons honey
Beetroot powder – optional (makes it more purple)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1-tablespoon nut butter – optional
ASSEMBLAGE:
Put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. To make it thicker, you can add ice, to make it less thick, you can add more coconut milk.
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If you’re child is not keen on eating anything green, this recipe below is great, as the colour is so vibrant and making the animal faces on top makes it playful. I recommend starting with very small bowls, even if it’s 3 big spoonfuls of the smoothie and then they can enjoy the fruit shapes. Even if they only have a small amount, you can then gradually increase the amount of smoothie you put in the bowl when you make it again. Let them play with the fruit to make faces. You can make one of the bowls up for them to see (that one can be yours), so they can see the face on top for inspiration, then let them make up their own with their own bowl. Kids love assembling, so this is a great recipe for that.
Vitamin K: green
INGREDIENTS:
Bunch of kale
Bunch of baby spinach
1 banana
A handful of grapes
½ cucumber
½ lime - juice
1 tsp. psyllium husk (optional)
½ cup water
1/2 cup apple juice
ASSEMBLAGE:
Blend on high until smooth, place in bowls and decorate with pieces of cucumber, lime wedges, or any left over fruit to make green monster faces.
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This one is another hit! Of course, it’s got chocolate. But it’s fantastic for adding some extra powders for added minerals, see below…
Vitamin B: brown/chocolate
INGREDIENTS:
Small handful of cashews
Small handful of almonds
A teaspoon sunflower seeds
1 medjool date
½ banana
1 tablespoon cocoa powder or cacao
Small handful of baby spinach leaves
1 tablespoon unhulled tahini
1-tablespoon peanut butter
1-2 cups rice milk
Sprinkling of buckinis - buckwheat for the top
ASSEMBLAGE:
Soak the cashews overnight in water – simply put the cashews in a glass jar, and cover with water and leave on the bench. Do the same with the almonds and sunflower seeds.
Put all ingredients into the blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy.
This is a great recipe to add any extra powders to boost the immune system – you could add maca powder, zinc, pea protein, slippery elm, psyllium husk etc.
I hope you try some of these recipes and for the full story, it’s in Winter edition of Happi Kids (the issue before the latest).
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Production, styling & photography: Pia Jane Bijkerk
Publication: Happi Kids for Happinez
My next post is going to be all about the power of colour!
xx
PS There is a new post on Patreon too, for the Wandering Hearts Collective, and another delicious recipe there for this month as we strengthen our immune systems for what’s happening in the world. I’ll be writing more about what I’m doing this year on Patreon soon X