A Green Smoothy for Picky Eaters of Any Age

One morning I looked in my kitchen and was pleased to see my husband had done a good job grocery shopping job the night before. I’d gone to bed early due to…just being tired!...and missed him when he got home. I gave him a call to let him know I appreciated it, and then he mentioned the organic spinach he’d gotten and suggested I make green smoothies for Lily and myself. And I figured, why not? I had almond milk, bananas, peaches and honey, and really, that plus the spinach is all you need to make a green smoothy that doesn’t taste like grass!

Delicious Green Smoothie

1 cup almond milk

1 cup spinach (or other green such as kale)

1 banana, broken into chunks

1 peach, chopped (or other sweet fruit, such as an apple or ½ a cantaloupe)

1 tbsp honey (stevia can also be used)

Put all ingredients into blender; a good technique is the layering technique, which would go: banana, spinach, peach, honey, almond milk. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses (or sippy cups). Enjoy. It’s that easy!

How good does that look?

I was even surprised at how great this tasted, and we’ve been drinking them ever since. Tastes much better than those powdered shake mixes, that’s for sure. You can use just about any greens and sweet fruit, but always keep the banana to give it that thickened quality. If you want it even thicker, add a few spoonfuls of yogurt. If you use sweetened almond milk, then you can leave out the extra sweetener if you want (depends on how sweet you and your child like it!).I like also like to keep it vegan so it's healthier, but you can definitely use cow's milk or soy milk instead of almond, but if you haven't tried almond milk, you may want to- it's a really good alternative to conventional milk.

It’s really that simple. And most kids like green things that look weird thanks to Nickelodeon, and are unlikely to be turned off by the color. So, don’t let on if you think it’s weird then they might follow suit and not taste it. There was definitely a time I couldn't imagine drinking any "green" drinks, even the thought of wheatgrass turned me off. But, one day I gave one a try (I think it was by Naked) and liked it, then gave wheatgrass a go and that wasn't so bad either, and now I don't have any issues going green with my beverages!

Health food stores and gyms offer energizing smoothies as an alternative to coffee and sugary carbonated drinks, but they are very simple to make at home, and less likely to hurt your budget! Don’t be fooled by places like Jamba Juice though- their drinks are full of hidden sugars and fillers- mainly in the free “Boosts”. Just have a look at their menu. On this menu, sugars are not listed in the Boost ingredients, but if you see the menus they have available at the registers, you will be shocked at how much sugar goes into them (at least they were listed when I used to buy Jamba on the regular years ago, so things may have changed). They have also been criticized for using artificial flavors, although I could not locate any reliable source for this on the internet, but I wouldn’t be surprised since the colors are so bright.

But, anyway, enough with dissing Jamba Juice. Truth is, the drinks are delicious and still better for you than soda, but quite pricey too! So, if you have a few minutes, make your own fruity energy drink at home. They are chock full of vitamins and minerals without having to add anything synthetic; you don’t even need to add any vitamin powder unless you want to take your vitamins that way, but in my experience, those types of drinks always just end up tasting gritty because the powder never dissolves properly (and I’ve tried quite a few of those types of powder supplements).

Greens are super good for you and mixing them with fruit isn’t as icky as it sounds. In fact, have you ever had a strawberry and spinach salad? You’d be amazed how great that combo is! Here’s a little bonus recipe from one of my favorite magazines.

When experimenting with smoothie recipes, if you find a combo you really love, please share in the comments! Thanks for reading!