Cooking with Kids: Dairy at Ronnybrook Farm

Why dairy? Because fresh milk and yogurt – and even butter and ice cream – have their place in a healthy diet.

Article By: Theresa DiMasi and Lisa Chernick

Start at a nearby farm that takes good care of its cows, letting them graze and roam in grassy pastures, weather permitting. Then pasteurize your hormone- and antibiotic-free milk and leave it unhomogenized — a step that helps retain the milk’s natural, healthy enzymes. Pour, drink and enjoy as is, or turn the milk into delicious yogurt, butter and ice cream, like they do at Ronnybrook Farm Dairy in Ancramdale, New York.

On a visit to Ronnybrook Farm, the kids meet Farmer Ronny Osofsky, whose family has owned Ronnybrook since 1941. They get hands-on lessons in feeding and milking the cows, and a tour of where the milk is pasteurized, bottled and packed, as well as turned into yogurt, butter and ice cream.

To learn more about milk — from cow’s milk to coconut milk — as well as yogurt , check out these Skinny On articles.

In the kitchen

Lisa and Charlotte make Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are wonderfully creamy when mashed and blended with Greek yogurt. It's a super-healthy side, loaded with vitamin A, beta-carotene and fiber.

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Lisa and Charlotte make Double-Chocolate Pudding
A reasonable portion of a treat made with high-quality, delicious ingredients is always a good choice. Using Ronnybrook’s lowfat chocolate milk in this recipe gives the pudding amazing, rich flavor. We like it chilled, but it’s also great warm.

Watch the video

In 1941, Nana and Papa Osofsky started a small dairy farm in New York’s Hudson Valley and named it for their eldest son, Ronny. Today, the extended family of kids and cows (the latter the offspring of a long line of prizewinning Holsteins) roams those same pastures. Ronnybrook makes milk products in small batches, delivered at peak freshness.

To learn more, visit:
www.ronnybrook.com