Celebrate your child's love of learning

© Wondertime

Pick berry. Rinse. Insert into mouth. Enjoy. IF that gets old, try these recipes.

Recipes:

• Raspberry Trifle
• Easy Raspberry Tartlets
• Raspberry Iced Tea

Berry Care 101

Don't wash the berries until you're ready to eat them. They'll keep for 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator but are best eaten right away.

If you want to save some fore later, spread unwashed berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet, freeze for a couple of hours, then transfer to a freezer bag and freeze for a day or a year.

5 Berry-licious Ideas:

1. Put a raspberry on each fingertip, of course.
2. Fill bigger berries with drops of orange juice and have a fairy "tea" party. When you're done, eat the cups.
3. Make pink milk by mashing in raspberries and straining. Add to cereal of just drink.
4. Use the mushy ones as edible finger paint and make messy raspberry art.
5. Stack them: How high can you go?

Raspberry Trifle

Cake + berries + whipped cream = 3 layers of yum.

Makes 4 (1-cup) Servings

Ingredients:
Angel food cake (about half a standard 12-ounce cake, or enough to make 2 cups when torn into pieces)
1 cup whipped cream
2 cups raspberries (9ounces), rinsed and dried

Instructions: Tear cake into roughly 1-inch pieces (enlist the kids). Then layer cake, whipped cream, and berries into glass cups or bowls finishing off with more whipped cream and a few berries.

Easy Raspberry Tartlets

My kids aren't above using crackers as the base when we run out of cookies.

Ingredients:
1 (8-ounce) container mascarpone cheese (in the dairy section)
1/3 cup cold heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
20 vanilla wafer cookies
1 cup raspberries (4 1/2 ounces), rinsed and dried

Instructions:
Beat mascarpone, cram and sugar in a large bowl with handheld mixer on medium-high until stiff peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes.

Dollop some cream mixture onto each cookie. (You can also transfer cream to a sealable bag, snip off a bottom corner, and squeeze it onto the cookies.) Top with a berry. (You'll have about a cup of the cream left over. Spread it on a cinnamon-raisin bagel; make a decadent sandwich with jam on brioche; or sneak spoonfuls after the kids go to bed.

Raspberry Iced Tea

in 5 minutes

In a large heat-resistant pitcher, pour 5 cups boiling water over 5 decaf tea bags and 2 cups raspberries. Let steep 5 minutes, then add sugar to taste, and chill. Serve with orange wedges (and maybe paper umbrellas).