Posted by Joanna | 2 Comments
Smoothie Recipes For Kids (and Adults): Healthy Green Smoothie Recipes To Enjoy
Your children (and quite possibly your adult family members too) may be resistant to the idea to trying smoothie recipes with any green ingredients added, however, don’t despair!
In my experience, green fruit smoothie recipes for kids are always a success!
But, yes, you may need to use some tricks to encourage their consumption initially.
The great thing about green smoothies is that they disguise what might otherwise be unwelcome ingredients, including healthy leafy greens that may be eaten rarely or avoided completely.
How to Make Sure Your Kids Drink Their Green Smoothies
Most kids and adults love these smoothies from the first sip and may never know they are drinking their vegetables unless you choose to tell them!
However, if you can’t get your kids to eat spinach or kale in their dinner salad, you will probably be doubtful whether you’ll be able to convince them to have a green smoothie.
Here are a few tips to help you to get you started if you have picky eaters in your house:
* Start with preparing mostly sweet smoothies with lots of fruits. Add only a little bit of mild tasting greens (such as spinach). You may also add natural sweeteners, if you feel the smoothie is not sweet enough for your child.
* Use sweet, ripe fruits that your child loves. For example, strawberry, pineapple and blueberry are all time favorites.
* Use well ripened bananas for creamy texture.
* Think how to make the smoothie making and drinking fun. One way that may work well for younger kids, is to come up with a cool name for your smoothies. Some ideas are: Bey-blade Blaster, Enter the Dragon, Shrek’s Favorite Smoothie, Cinderella’s Cocktail, Transformer’s Fuel, or other, depending on what your child’s favorite’s characters are at the moment.
* Use a pretty glass with a straw and a cocktail drink umbrella.
* Or use a non-transparent cup with a straw to completely mask the color of the drink.
* Ask your child to drink green smoothies before the child eats other things. My son drinks a green smoothie first thing in the morning, before he eats anything else. He usually gets another glass 1 hour to 30 minutes before dinner.
* Educate your children about the benefits of drinking green smoothies. Explain it to them in simple terms. You may be surprised how eager they are to learn.
* Freeze green smoothie into a popsicle.
* If nothing else is working, consider a reward system. Although, I am not in favor of reward systems, especially when it comes to food, however, if your child is highly defiant, and all other methods have failed, you may find that using some kind of incentive is effective. Just, please don’t use junk food as treats for reinforcing good eating habits!
For best results, it’s important invest in a quality blender. The reason being you really want a your green to be as smooth as it can be, and not all blenders will be able to handle the job of blending, e.g. kale or collard greens, to perfection.
Most likely, your child will refuse to drink anything with touch pieces of kale or celery stalk. Read my review best smoothie blenders and comparison of Blendtec vs Vitamix. Both are excellent blenders for making green smoothies.
Also, although I recommend that you start with spinach, add different greens as well. It’s important to rotate your greens, and not use the same ones all the time.
Delicious Smoothie Recipes for Kids (and Adults too!)
How about a healthy strawberry pineapple smoothie recipe to start off with?
The tangy taste of pineapple adds a wonderful flavor to smoothies. If you learn how to pick a pineapple that is ripe, you will also get a sweet-tasting smoothie. Cutting a pineapple ahead of time and storing the slices in an airtight container in the fridge will save time when making the smoothie. Canned pineapple often comes with added sugar or preservatives, so using it may not be such a good idea if your focus is on healthy nutrition.
Strawberry Banana Smoothie Recipe
1/2 cup strawberries
1 banana
1/2 cup of spinach leaves
1 cup water
Healthy Strawberry Pineapple Smoothie Recipe For Kids
1 cup fresh pineapple cubes
1/2 cup strawberries
1 banana
1/2 cup of spinach leaves
1 cup water
One to two drops of vanilla essence
One cup of yogurt and add a teaspoon or two of honey for sweetness (optional)
Blueberry Pudding
2 cups blueberries
1 banana
1 stalk of celery
1 cup of water
Blend well and enjoy!
Also, feel free to experiment and mix and match the ingredients! Have fun!
Optional Ingredients
Milk or yogurt . You may experiment with various kinds of milk. Try cow’s milk, rice milk, almond milk, chocolate milk.
Ice. Many smoothie recipes call for ice cubes. Personally, I’m not a fan of adding ice cubes to smoothies, except in the summer. Drinking a cold smoothie is not great for our body and digestion.
Sweeteners. My 7 year old son finds fruit smoothies pretty sweet on their own, so I never add sweeteners, but I know some people like to sweeten their smoothies. Experiment with adding honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, a few dried figs, or any sweetener that your child will like.
Enjoy! And here I share some pineapple juice recipes. (If you are not receiving my free e-mail tips yet, please join my circle of juicing friends. You will also receive 3 totally free e-books when you add your name.
Smoothie recipes for kids: Even the picky eaters will drink their greens!
Getting children to eat healthy, balanced meals is a concern that MANY parents have. They are especially concerned about the lack of fruits and vegetables their kids are eating and it is no wonder… modern convenience foods marketed to kids are lacking in nutritional value. As a result children are not developing tastes or cravings for the nutritional powerhouse foods they need the most…fresh fruits and leafy green vegetables.
With green smoothies, healthy nutrition is easy. With a few simple smoothie recipes, you can easily turn your blender into a tool for creating super-healthy fruit smoothie recipes for kids!
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this smoothie recipes blog for others to enjoy too!
I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!
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A whole food diet is the key to a long and healthy life. New recommendations encourage consuming more fruits, vegetables and whole grains every day. This is easily accomplished by eating terrific-tasting, nutrient-rich whole food meals made in the Vitamix machine. Imagine...
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These are great tips, that apply not only to kids but to adults as well! How many of us as kids were told over and over again to eat our spinach…they even tried propaganda with Popeye. But smoothies make such pressure tactics so unnecessary, because it makes greens actually taste good! Like a treat to look forward to. I’m not going to lie, as a “grown up” I find that I still enjoy green smoothies over straight up salads
Smoothies are a great way to get kids to get their daily veggie intake without them even realizing it. There are even juices out now that you can mix into the smoothie that taste great and have added veggies in them, too.