Yes, I am one of those moms. You know the ones. Always sneaking nutrition into my child in an easily disguised form. Blending up concoctions I wouldn’t dream of eating myself, only to turn around and serve them to my most precious little person. Green hummus, green toast toppings and green smoothies.
OK, I jest (somewhat), but I still sometimes shudder to think about what goes into that blender as I am creating a smoothie for my two year old. Now mind you, he loves them. And I have tasted them and you really can only taste the fruit. But the color is, um, unique, and so are some of the ingredients. However, I think I have made an art out of whipping up a truly disgusting, if not nutrition-filled, smoothie.
I start with half a banana and a small handful of blueberries. This gives taste, potassium and antioxidants. I always throw in a tablespoon or so of almond butter, as I do not believe in protein isolates or soy. We like our nutrition to come from whole foods. Now for the “fun” stuff . . .
A little virgin coconut oil, for the healthy fats and the yummy taste. Some of Owen’s nutritional sprinkles (made of chlorella, spirulina, ground sunflower, sesame, flax and pumpkin seeds). A quarter to a half of an avocado. Flax oil, of course. A bit of green barley powder for good measure. Sometimes, Body Balance liquid whole food supplement. Often, a few raw kale leaves.
Add enough rice milk to get a consistency that will easily be sucked up through a sippy straw cup and the revolting smoothie is born. The toddler? Gulps it down and begs for more. I kid you not. And he hasn’t turned green yet . . .
You don’t have to be quite as neurotic as I am to create a delicious, nutritious, palatable smoothie for your children. My rule of thumb? A “hefty” fruit (banana, mango, peaches, etc.), a berry (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries), healthy protein from a whole food (almond butter, peanut butter, tahini, you could even toss in some chick peas of white beans), good fats (virgin coconut oil, flax oil) and something green (barley grass powder, spirulina, chlorella, any raw leafy green you have hanging around the kitchen).
Other tips? Keep plenty of frozen berries on hand, freeze bananas that are starting to get too ripe to eat and you’ll have them later for your smoothies and always keep something green in your fridge or freezer. Then you too will be able to whip up a truly revolting smoothie at the drop of a hat.
Author by Debra McDuffee
