The kids at HealthBarn USA are becoming famous for their expert taste buds and willingness to try new foods.  Last week during summer camp, Ellen Briggs, the lovely and energetic founder of Kid Kritics Approved came to the barn to put three recipes to the taste test with 25 of our campers.  This was serious business and everyone had a blast!

To get started, Ellen explained how to record our opinions for smell, look and taste.  And, we practiced “swishing” water in our mouth (and swallowing it, not spitting it out on the table!) so we could cleanse our palette between recipes. 

We all knew the rules and were ready to begin our first “blind” taste test of recipe #1:  Kzatziki-Cucumber Yogurt Dip sampled with Stacy’s Naked Pita Chips.  The fun coincidence of the day was that the Nutrition Babes were visiting the barn and they are the creators of the dip.  How cool (or stressful) is that?!  Everyone loved the creaminess of the dip, especially since we used Cabot’s Greek-Style Yogurt.  The experts were also able to detect dill as the tasty herb in the recipe.  We recorded our opinions well because Ellen checked them and gave us a thumbs up! We transitioned to swish mode quickly and were ready for recipe #2:  Pineapple Mint Refresher.  Stacey and Molly picked this recipe because we have so much fresh mint ready for harvesting in the HealthBarn USA garden.  This recipe was prepared using the awesome Vitamix!  We enjoyed the minty flavor of this drink, but thought there was too much pulp from the pineapple in the Pineapple Mint Refresher, so either strain the pulp or use pineapple juice.  

For the finale, we were ready for recipe #3:  Yo’mores which got a double thumbs up from all the campers — WOW was this a winner!  We know that the kids at HealthBarn USA love chocolate, but who knew they would prefer yogurt to marshmallows — we learn something new everyday!  Everyone was demanding seconds and said, they were having a “party in their mouth” — awesome!

Ellen distributed Kid Kritics Approved aprons (hot items at the barn) to our loudest swishers.  And, everyone received stickers and got seconds of their favorite recipes when we completed the one-hour taste test.  

We did so well that Ellen officially appointed HealthBarn USA as a Kid Kritics Approved taste testing site — so fun!  We will be hosting taste tests the first Thursdays of the month after school at Abma’s Farm so mark your calendars and join us for some yummy fun.

Please try the recipes at home with your family, especially the Yo’mores and tell us what you think.  Have a healthy day!