Smoothies for the Veggie Hater

Is there any kid out there that loves veggies? As Lorelai grows, we can pinpoint exactly what traits came from her mother vs. her father:

Taste in Foods: Mother. She only eats carbs or things that are sweet.

Sleep Habits: Father. She easily sleeps 12-13....sometimes 14 hours a night in addition to her 2-3 hour nap. 

Dance Moves: Mother. She can't dance and neither can her mother. 

Looks: Father. She is the spitting image of her dad. 

Stubbornness: Depends on who you ask. I claim she gets it from her Father, while her Father firmly believes it was from me. That probably just shows she had no choice but to be a stubborn child. 

The veggie hating comes from her father, but the need for all foods to be sweet comes from me. As a growing girl, she needs her veggies and we sneak them in daily with a smoothie.

Here is how we make her veggie filled smoothies. I eat them as well regularly...and can honestly say you can't taste the greens! 

Veggie Puree

I've found the easiest way to make smoothies, is to do a batch veggie puree and freeze it in cubes for later use. My veggie puree contains some of the following: 

Steamed bag of broccoli/Cauliflower mix- The cauliflower is basically tasteless in a smoothie, and the broccoli is so very healthy. It smells...like veggies...which is why we opt for making this puree and freezing it, or else our fridge would smell with the refrigerated steamed veggie. If you want to do other steamed veggies, I suggest trying a sweet potato mix or something similar that blends well.

Bundle of fresh spinach- you can fit an entire bundle of spinach in a blender if you blend it a few times, add some more etc. It will not all fit the first go around.

2 Avocados- You can do as much or as little as you want, but this mixture makes around 8-16 smoothies, so it is about 1/4 an avocado per smoothie. Yes, 8-16 is a large range, but it completely depends on how much veggie you want in your smoothie. We put a lot in, so 8 is pretty accurate. Avocados make smoothies incredibly smooth and they are full of good nutrition. 

Enough water to blend. You could also use juice, but we try to keep juice out of her diet too much, because of the added sugar. I would not suggest using milk as a liquid here, as it gets very frothy. 

Blend all of that goodness up (yes...it looks and smells terrible, but it is full of all sorts of healthy things kids need...and don't want to eat). Then place it in icecube trays for freezing. Once frozen, throw it in a container of some sort. 

Assembling the Smoothie 

Now for the smoothie making. You can take this puree and add 3 cubes per serving (you can do anywhere from 2 to 4 without starting to taste the veggies) or so veggie cubes to blender. Then start building your smoothie!

Half a banana (per serving)- Bananas are great at knocking out any veggie taste. I find a full banana for a toddler is a lot of banana. 

Blueberries or other frozen berries- They help with taste, but also to make it a deep purple color, which is more appealing to older kids who may care about color.

Greek yogurt- We use a few spoonfuls of plain greek yogurt (I prefer a full fat for Lorelai) to make it a bit creamery. Although I use plain yogurt, but you could get creative and use flavored as well for taste. 

You likely need a bit more water as well to get it blended! The photo to the right will make 2-3 smoothies easily. I would by no means expect Lorelai to eat an entire blender of smoothie every day. They keep well for 2-3 days, but with the banana start to look a little brown rather than deep purple.

Other additional options for smoothies: chia seeds, protein powder, or spoonfuls of peanut butter. We also add blended oatmeal (blend this first to make it a powder) at times when we are using it as a meal for her. I've added unsweetened applesauce when we are low on other fruits, prune juice if she is in need of some digestive assistance...basically anything that I happen to have on hand.

The best part is, Lorelai absolutely LOVES these. We give her one almost every day now, and she still thinks she is a big girl with her smoothie. I often double it, making one for myself as well, because I promise...you can't even taste the veggie. Not every adult likes to eat their veggies either!