To be frank, I’ve never seen a recipe quite like this in my life! It came to us care of Travis’s March issue of High Five magazine, and has multiple steps that are sure to delight your sous-chef in the kitchen. Pineapple with noodles? Yes, apparently this is a thing.

You can find eggless egg noodles, but I was unable to this time around. Instead, I chose a bag of curly pasta, both because the curls are reminiscent of the way wide noodles loop after they cook, and because it came in the right kind of bag instead of a box (more on that below!). Curly noodles also have the advantage that you won’t need to cut them into much smaller pieces for young eaters.

Ingredients:

For the noodles:

• 1 (16-ounce) package eggless wide noodles or curly pasta
• 6 tablespoons Earth Balance butter
• 4 Ener-G eggs
• 1 cup plain unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 (12-ounce) container non-dairy sour cream
• 1 recipe vegan cottage cheese*
• 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained

For the topping:

• 2 cups organic corn flake cereal
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons Earth Balance butter

1. Adults: cook the pasta according to package directions in a large pot; drain and set aside. Make sure to reserve the pasta packaging for step 6!
2. Cut the butter into small pieces and have your child add the butter pieces to the warm pasta. Travis was very interested to see how quickly the butter melted!
3. In a bowl, whisk together the Ener-G eggs, milk, and sugar.
4. Stir in the sour cream, prepared cottage cheese, and pineapple. Travis insisted on stirring all by himself.
5. Add the pineapple mixture to the noodles and stir to coat, then transfer the mixture to 13×9-inch glass baking dish coated with cooking spray.
6.  To prepare the topping, place the corn flakes in the empty pasta bag, and seal; crush with your hands. This was – hands down! – Travis’s favorite part.
7. Add the sugar and cinnamon; seal and shake to coat.
8. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the noodles, and add the remaining butter, cut into small pieces.
9. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes, until browned at the edges. Let stand at least 5 minutes before serving.

*To make a quick vegan “cottage cheese”, combine 1 package firm tofu and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a bowl. Mash with a fork until the mixture resembles cottage cheese curds. Refrigerate until ready to use.