EVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP
THEME: #243 LITTLE CHEFS
RECIPE: PINEAPPLE SLUSH
Pineapple Slush is so easy to put together, is refreshing and so delicious. An ideal treat for summer parties, kids parties and for adults add a shot of rum or vodka.
FoodieMonday/Bloghop Theme
As many parents find themselves and their kids at home because of the worldwide spread of Corona Virus, parents are taking this opportunity to introduce their kids to other skills than those learnt in the classroom. Cooking and helping around the house are some of them. Bearing this in mind, this week’s theme suggested by Priya is recipes that kids can put together either partly or entirely by themselves. For this theme I’ve chosen to make the ever so easy Pineapple Slush.
Memories…..
While I don’t have little kids in the house and didn’t want to ‘borrow’ neighbors kids because of the social distancing, I had to think about 25 year back! Why, well I had to try and think of what activities I did with my 3 kids (who were more like triplets) when they were little. I would plan out different activities for Saturday and learning to cook was one of them. While sandwiches was one of the easiest, and each would try to be as creative as possible, the other recipe they loved to make was what back then we called as Slush or Frozen Juice.
Back then the famous Slush Ice Cream parlor had just opened and instead of the normal ice creams on cones, all three would want slush. Occasionally allowed them to have it as it was only frozen shaved ice with sweet colored flavoring drizzled on top. Didn’t like to give them those artificial flavorings and the large amounts of coloring! So one Saturday we made our own slush at home. The kids were super excited. The first one we made was a mango one. I kept thick mango juice ready. All three froze the juice in their individual steel plates. Around tea time it was time to ‘rake’ the frozen juice with a fork and enjoy fresh fruit Slush.
My recipe this week – Pineapple Slush
During the hot season making fresh fruit juice slush became a common weekend activity. Depending on what fruit was available, the kids would also make some for me and my hubby. Last week I got a fresh pineapple and it was so sweet. A huge pineapple between hubby and me is a lot. We enjoyed some chopped and chilled pineapple and made some pineapple juice. I was left with about 2 cups of juice and decided to freeze it. This is what came in handy this week. I decided to make Pineapple Slush. As I write this post, getting just too emotional as I have to idea when I will get to see them. They video call but it really cannot replace the hugs and kisses we give each other when we’re together.
Some Recipes for Little Chefs
How much a child is able to help totally depends on their age. While kids of 3-5 may be happy to help mix a batter, roll cookies or energy balls, older kids can do much more. They can make sandwiches on their own, help to roll and cut cookies, mix cake batter according to the instructions, etc.
- No Bake Chocolate Swiss rolls – kids can help to form the dough
- Double Chocolate Cookies – kids can help to prepare the batter and also roll the cookies
- Jam Thumbprint Cookies – kids love helping with fun cookie recipe. Besides helming to make the dough, rolling the cookies, the fun part is making indentations with their thumbs or with a wooden spoon handle.
- Chocolate Medallions – Get the kids to first draw circles using something round like a lid or bangle on the parchment paper. Once you pour the hot melted chocolate onto the circles, they can help to add the topping.
- Nut and Fruit Clusters – once you’ve added the chopped nuts and fruits to the melted chocolate, kids can help spoon it into paper cups
- Kids love to help to make muffins like this Apple And Date Muffins. Allow them to sift the flour, add the ingredients, mix, scoop the batter into the cups etc.
- Kids love to roll out dough, so why not make these delicious Apple Dessert Pizza with them. Let them roll they own small pizza, let them put the topping etc.
- Here’s another fun idea, make Fruit Jelly with your kids. Get them to stir the jelly in hot water (under supervision) and then add the chopped fruit. Once set they can help to unmold them.
- Kids who are really young love the idea that they have added or helped with ingredients. Take for example Priya’s Rose and Strawberry Lassi, kids can add the ingredients into the blender and under supervision run it too.
Ingredients required to prepare a Slush
- Fresh Fruit juice, in this case pineapple juice. Try and add very little water to extract juice.
- Some sweetener like sugar, honey, maple syrup. I didn’t use any as the pineapple juice was naturally very sweet
- Lime or Lemon Juice
- Any other flavoring of choice like mint, basil, etc
- A pinch of salt to bring out the sweetness
Dietary Tips:
- Gluten Free
- Vegan
- Healthy
- Diabetic Friendly
PINEAPPLE SLUSH
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh pineapple juice thick
- pinch salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- To extract the juice, peel and chop the pineapple.
- Add very little water and process the pineapple.
- Strain the juice to remove the fibre.
- Add salt and lemon juice to the juice and mix well.
- Freeze the juice in a wide container like a loaf tin or a steel plate. Cover it with a lid or foil so that ice crystals don't form on top.
- The juice usually freezes in 3-4 hours.
- Using a fork, start scraping the top to get the tiny ice bits or slush.
- Serve in a glass.
- Can be sipped through a thick straw or enjoyed with a spoon. I personally prefer to use the spoon as sipping it gives a brain freeze.
Notes
- If you need to add sugar, honey or maple syrup, 2tbsp should be sufficient or add according to your taste.
- Replace the pineapple with a fruit of your choice. I've made watermelon, green melon, mango, strawberries and passionfruit slush with my kids.
- If you don't want to spend time scraping the frozen liquid with a fork then break it up into pieces. Add to a food processor and process it to get a slush.
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A little request:
If you do try this recipe then please either
- add a comment below,
- send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
- tag me as #mayuri_jikoni on Instagram
- or tag me on Twitter as #Mayuri1962