Of course, that would be too good to be true! But how about a quick, easy and healthy alternative that could be served for breakfast or an afternoon snack?

During the chaos of the morning routine, when kids are refusing to wear socks on a rainy day and the cat is leaving you a hairball in the middle of the hallway, it would be nice if something would go smoothly.

Stage left: enter a blender, some fruit (fresh or frozen), a little yogurt and voila, a Smoothie saves the morning! Kids will love to place their orders with you, so that you can create their special faux-ice cream breakfast. Instead of trying to please the troops by taking out 4 boxes of cereal and 2 kinds of frozen waffles, try these simple, healthy ideas instead.

Smoothie Basics:
1. Pour the liquid ingredients (juice, milk or yogurt) into the blender first.
2. Dump in your fruit. Frozen fruit makes the smoothie thicker, so it feels more like a milkshake.
a. If you have some bananas that are turning brown, peel them, bag them, and then throw them into the freezerthey will be the perfect addition to your smoothies!
b. Feel free to add extra stuff to your smoothie, like flax seed meal, which is high in Omega-3s. The smoothie will taste so good, they wont even notice!
3. Blend until smooth. (You can use a hand-held stick or immersion blender, which is a little easier to clean than your larger margarita/daiquiri blender.)

Wish We Were in Hawaii

cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
Splash: orange juice or milk, if desired
cup frozen pineapple chunks
cup frozen mango
1/3 frozen banana

The Blue Banana

cup lowfat milk
cup vanilla yogurt
banana
cup frozen blueberries

(These make 1 kid-sized smoothie. To be more efficient, double this recipe and drink some, yourselfIt is better for you than your usual coffee-only breakfast!)

Michelle Stern, founder of What’s Cooking (http://www.whatscooking.info ), was a high school biology and environmental science teacher for 5 years prior to the birth of her daughter. At present, she balances the parenting of her two wonderful children with running her growing business. She trains and manages an excellent team of instructors, develops curriculum for our growing after school program, and teaches a variety of other What’s Cooking classes. Michelle’s connections through What’s Cooking have lead to a variety of wonderful and unexpected food-related events. She was invited to assist her friends, the owners of Spread, in their catering job for the Celebrity Poker Tournament at the 2006 Emmy Awards. She also assisted her colleague, Jennifer Carden, in food styling for a Thanksgiving-themed Satellite Media Tour for Food Network Star, Guy Fieri.