Kid-approved Summer Drinks

Staying hydrated, but also making it fun & nutritious!

#1 Ovaltine! While exploring Chinese cuisine, we discovered Ovaltine is a kid's drink staple. It contains whey, and myriad vitamins and nutrients which can help with nourishment and sleep at night. It is known to be a good source of multiple essential nutrients, such as B-vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin A, calcium, and copper.

It is easy to make and the dry ovaltine powder doesn not need refrigeration. Hot or cold, it's as easy as one, two, three to make a serving. It is a fun way to teach ratio and this one is 2:1. Simply add two tablespoons of mix to one cup of hot or cold milk or water and mix until dissolved.

Fun fact: Ovaltine was developed in Berne, Switzerland, where it is known by its original name, Ovomaltine (from ovum, Latin for “egg,” and malt, which were originally its main ingredients). Ovaltine still contains the whey, but no egg. Kids had the choice between cold milk or water. Most chose milk and used water for seconds. Every kid loved this; you might want to add to your pantry as a staple!

“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.” – Lao Tzu.”

Most of our drinks, with the exception of "batidos de leche fresa y platano" (milk shakes with strawberry & banana), are water based. Kids love filtered water, fizzy water (Topo Chico, San Pelligrino) and coconut water. Water is the best way to hydrate. When we use juice it is in very small amounts and the children juice the citrus themselves. This also gives them an appreciation of juice as they see how little comes from much work juicing. When we sweetened it was with honey or whole fruit thhat was muddled or blended. Each day we set up the snow cone machine and started the class refreshed with shaved ice and fresh elixirs of citrus and fruit.

#2 Citrus Refresher

Ingredients:

2 cups filtered, fizzy, or coconut water

½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (or any sweet citrus fruit like mandarins, clementines and pink grapefruit)

½ cup freshly squeezed lemon and/or lime juice

2 Tablespoons honey

ice and leftover citrus wedges to serve

Instructions:

1. Juice all of your citrus fruit. A balance of sweet and sour juices is the goal here, but kids are free to adjust to taste and fruits on-hand.

2. Add the juice to water and mix with ice, garnish with fruit if desired.

#3 Batido de Fresa

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces ripe fresh strawberries, plus more for garnish. Or, I reccomend getting frozen. They are always frozen at perfect ripeness, and hulled and ready for you. You can get them whole or sliced. I reccomend Ralph's Private Selection for quality and value (in the frozen section).

* You can sub out, add, and explore other fruit!

2 tablespoonspure cane granulated sugar or honey (note honey will change the flavor. It will still be sweet, but wont have that classic milkshake taste)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (we used vanilla bean paste)

3/4 to 1 cup whole milk or strawberry milk. Whole Foods has a great one!

1 tablespoon malted milk powder or regular powdered milk (optional, but adds texture and creaminess)

1 pint either high-quality strawberry ice cream (no fake flavors or dye)

EQUIPMENT

Blender, Vitamix, or Ninja

Measuring cups and spoons

Medium bowl

Knife and cutting board

INSTRUCTIONS

If using fresh: Prepare and freeze the strawberries. Hull 8 ounces strawberries, then thinly slice them. Place in a medium bowl, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons granulated pure cane sugar or honey and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and toss to combine. Place in the freezer for about 1 hour.

If using frozen, skip this and just combine all ingredients in the blender as described below. This recipe is for perfect smoothness, if youre just wanting something quick and chunky but funky, just combine and blend.

If youre at home and feeling fancy, freeze the glasses.

Blend the strawberries and milk. Place the strawberries in a blender, and scrape in all the juice that has accumulated at the bottom of the bowl. Add 3/4 cup whole milk and blend until well blended.

Add the malted milk powder, or powdered milk, if using. They are not necessary, but add a depth and texture that set this shake apart!

Add the ice cream. Take your mixer jar off the base, and add 1 pint strawberry ice cream. Stir it into the milk and strawberries by hand. Blend thoroughly. If it won’t blend very well or gets stuck, carefully add up to 1/4 cup more milk. Stir or shake if necessary, but your blending processis over, unless you want fruit soup.

Pour the milkshake out into the chilled glasses and garnish with strawberries and mint.

Enjoy!

Fresh Herbs and Edible Flowers

#4 For pink lemonade you can acheive the pink color using dragon fruit juice (if the dragon fruit is fuchsia, not white), or by muddling fresh red raspberries. Lavendar is a beautiful garnsh and its scent is known to create a natural calming effect. Perfect for hydrating and relaxing after going hard at recess!