Generally speaking my kids are very good about eating their fruits and vegetables, but sometimes they go through phases where they only eat fruit, and they steer clear of all veggies (Cameron has never loved vegetables the way Paige does, but even Paige has her weeks when she refuses them). I use smoothies as a vehicle for vegetables (mainly spinach), as a way to get rid of foods that are going bad in the fridge (mainly bananas), and as a way to get more dairy/calcium/vitamin D into my non milk loving three year old. The best part is, if they don’t eat the smoothies, I do (hint: make smoothies that you will enjoy in case your children refuse them!)
Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
1 banana
3-4 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp cream peanut butter (“not crunchy” – says Paige)
Enough milk to cover the ingredients (we use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
Optional: Chia seeds for more fiber, and/or 1/4th of an avocado
Ok, next; I have a favorite night time snack that consists of milk and blueberries, and cocoa powder blended up. Sometimes I add a dollop of whipped cream on top or a scoop of vanilla Greek yogurt. I turned this into a smoothie, Paige didn’t like it, Cameron loved it.
“I don’t like it”; Paige
If Cameron could talk he would have said; “Mom, this is the sh*t”
He ate it so fast I was afraid he would get brain freeze
Blueberry Chocolate Smoothie
3/4 cup frozen blueberries
2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
Optional: 1/4 cup packed fresh spinach, chopped fine
Enough milk to cover berries **
(** If you’re feeding your young one, use full fat milk (cow or soy or coconut), otherwise I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
Last is my favorite; Spinach with banana and mango. Paige didn’t like this one, but Cameron absolutely loved it (and was whiny when it was all gone). Truthfully, Paige didn’t even try it since it was green. Yes, that can be a problem when you add spinach. I could have added blueberries to this, and used less spinach and it wouldn’t have been green, but I wanted it to be green! One good thing did come out of this smoothie creation; Paige saw mango and asked to try it (she’s had it before but it’s probably been a couple years, we rarely buy it) and she loved it. So, toddler tries newish fruit and likes it, that’s a win.
Green Mango Smoothie
1/2 mango, fresh or frozen
1/2 banana
Handful of spinach, fresh, chopped
Enough milk to cover the top
** I used whole milk because I knew my 14 month old son would be consuming it. If I had made this for myself I would have used unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I bet this also would have been good with Paige’s favorite; Horizon Vanilla Milk (I hate that she loves this stuff, it’s loaded with sugar but oh well. I’ve been cutting it with regular milk at times to wean her off!) &&
“I want more!”
He almost sucked the straw in too.
Summer time means smoothie time, so I’ll be making more smoothies for sure (and posting them on Instagram most likely). Here are a couple others from my previous blog posts; Kiwi Basil Smoothie and Peanut Butter Green Monster Smoothie. Also, have you ever added an avocado to your smoothie?! It’s amazing. Give it a try.
