Going in line with the whole picky eating thing, I feel like we’ve accomplished a major WIN these days in our home: we’ve found a green smoothie acceptable to all of us. Commence jumping for joy, right now!
The green smoothie trend is huge. You see the bright grassy colors in celebrities hands constantly, Whole Foods has them at the end of every aisle, Gisele Instagrams pics of her little one slurping it right out of the blender. Of course if Gisele is feeding her kids green smoothies, we all need to be feeding our kids green smoothies. I’ll do what she’s doing, thank you very much.
Except I had one little problem.
‘Mom, this is disgusting!’ (Please, don’t spare your feelings for mine).
‘Mom, this tastes like GRASS!.’ (I would have to agree with that).
‘Mom…..no. Just no.’ (When is it ever YES?)
‘Mom, how is it green if there are no green vegetables in it?’ (Because I lied to you).
Huh. It wasn’t exactly working on these two. Even dates out to Jamba Juice post haircuts I was the only one ordering something green. The boys ordered something appalling like ‘orange sherbet tango’ or something like that. Why is that even an option at Jamba Juice, why?
I had to crack this code. There had to be one that they liked. The problem were the recipes. They all got a bit too over the top. Adding in weird powders, large handfuls of raw kale (come on) and ingredients I can’t even pronounce. All that was happening were my boys were rejecting them more and more and I was left with an abundance of creepy ingredients I really don’t want taking up space in my pantry.
Then I had a thought. A green smoothie should be healthy, yes, but it doesn’t need to be so….intense. Let’s just get a bit of spinach in there. Minimal sugar. No dairy. And a banana for staying power.
After some serious playing around I finally cracked the code. It’s a win. Two thumbs up, we slurp these down a few times a week and the little one even got over the fact that it was, yes, green because we call it a ‘superhero’ smoothie. I also tell him not to drink it all because he will grow too big, so, obviously down it goes.
I so hope these are a hit with your little ones! I’d so love to hear if you try it out.
- 1 cup green grapes
- 1/2 cup pineapple or mango
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1/2 ripe banana, peeled
- 1/2 cup coconut water (or plain water is fine)
- 1 cup ice cubes
- Blend the above ingredients together and enjoy!
- I really like using coconut water although this may be tricky to find one you like. Some coconut waters are just awful. We love the Harmless Harvest Brand. It is found in the refrigerated section.