Stealth Tofu

My 6 year old daughter would never want to eat an animal. She would never want to eat tofu, either, and hence the problem. While her sister once asked me if she could have chick peas for dessert, getting non-animal protein into Julie is a bit of a problem. She likes lentil soup, veggie burgers and dogs, and vegetarian chili if I mash the beans up and cover the bowl with enough shredded cheese to top a 12 inch pizza. So in order to get her to eat more protein, I have to be creative. Black bean brownies, as discussed in an earlier post, were a big hit. I made them again today and they turned out extra delicious- undercooking them in a 8"x8" pan seems to produce the kind of gooey, fudgy brownie I love. But for some reason, it took me till yesterday to finally slap my forehead and say 'duh! Silken tofu smoothies!'. So I got out my 1970s-era blender and blended:

-one box silken tofu ('silken' refers to how firm the tofu is. Your choices are extra-firm, firm, or silken. It's still solid, but the least solid of the three).
-frozen strawberries, probably about 15 of 'em
-apple juice
-honey, and sugar- you could just honey, maple syrup, agave nectar...
-drop of vanilla
-ice cubes

Most smoothie recipes call for a frozen banana, but Julie hates bananas, along with beans and tofu, so no bananas here. You could also use OJ instead of apple juice. Go crazy, kids!
So anyway, I whipped the crap out of it until it was completely smooth.
Now, here's the thing: I tasted it, and since I knew it had tofu in it, it tasted like tofu to me. But since I carefully hid the tofu situation from Julie, I figured she would have no bias and maybe like it- which she did! Hurray! At first it was so thick, like frozen yogurt, that I gave it to her in a bowl with a spoon. I stuck the blender container in the fridge, and the next day I added a few more frozen strawberries and some ice cubes and blended it again to bring it back to a smoothie-like consistency. I then poured it in a large cup with a lid and a giant straw (think 7-11 style) and brought it with me to pick her up at school. She sucked down the whole thing, which means over the course of two days, she ate an entire box of tofu! Incredible! A new protein food to add to the list of Things My Child Will Eat Besides Macaroni and Cheese.