BY LIZ GRANGER

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

You've distributed the presents and recycled the paper. Now it's time to enjoy the real gift of the season: spending time with the people you love.

And we have found the perfect recipe for kids as winter break comes to an end.

Meet the PBRB, a quick, nutritious and delicious pressed sandwich that blogger and author Catherine McCord dreamed up while glancing at her appliances one day.

"We have all of this equipment in our kitchens, and (it's) used for just one thing. We have rice cookers for rice and a waffle iron for waffles, but I'm always looking to make that equipment stretch," says McCord, who includes the recipe in her new cookbook "Weelicious: One Family, One Meal" (William Morrow, $27.50).

With the PBRB, McCord uses a waffle iron in lieu of a panini press.

She unites fresh raspberries, bananas and nut butter between two slices of sandwich bread into a morsel that begs to be warmed by a press of the simple (and big kid-friendly) machine.

Let the little kids prepare the filling for these sandwiches by mashing together raspberries and banana.

Once this mixture is heated, McCord says, it becomes a simple jam.

"Instead of uber-sugary preserves and jelly, it's naturally sweet," she says. "You're getting the fiber from the raspberries, and all sorts of vitamins."

McCord says that involving your kids in cooking can stave off picky eating.

When they smash the "bright red raspberries with the yellow banana," they watch the color, texture and flavor change.

For a savory bite, McCord swaps olive tapenade and cream cheese for the fruit filling. She also likes to riff on grilled cheese with avocado and tomato!