Quick and easy smoothies for picky eaters
When my son was at his pickiest, we were lucky that he would still drink smoothies, and we found that was a great way to get a load of fruit, protein, dairy and sometimes veggies into him. Now my daughter is 1.5 and teething again, they are once again a daily ritual for us, both kids love them, and the colder the better on the sore gums!
We’ve had a few chats about smoothies in our facebook parents support group recently, so I thought I’d share a few of our favourites and our tricks for making them quicker and more nutritious. I don’t have exact quantities, this is just an idea of what you need, then adjust for your kiddies taste, texture and temperature preferences.
Tips
- The banana, mango or avocado make it creamy, if you add too much of these it might get too thick to drink, but you can always add some more milk. Then really add any other berries or fruit for flavour and then a cup or so of milk and a little honey if your kiddies need it.
- Have at least one of the fruits frozen (this also makes it cheaper to buy and means you always have ingredients ready!), if you don’t have any frozen fruit, then add some ice.
- You can try vegetable purees in with the regular fruit smoothies, e.g. I put some pumpkin puree in with the funky monkey the other day, I did tell Mr picky so as not to surprise him with the new taste, and he wasn’t sure at first but did actually drink it. Old baby puree sachets could work well too.
- I’ve heard of people putting zucchini and cauliflower in, but I haven’t tried it myself yet. Anything goes if it tastes good!
- Our local supermarket also does ready made up packs of frozen smoothie fruit – even easier!
- For extra nutritional value, if the kids will accept it you could add:
- Handful of spinach leaves
- A few kale leaves
- Weetbix
- Oats
- Greek yoghurt
- Protein powder (age appropriate)
- Chia seeds
- Flax seeds
The classic – strawberry and banana
The favourite in our house, and especially now with the current strawberry issues in Australia. We have been buying more of the cheap strawberries to support the farmers and just making sure we chop them up, easy and delicious! I would use either frozen bananas or frozen strawberries to get a nice cold drink.
Ingredients:
- 1 ripe banana
- Handful of chopped strawberries (or other berries work fine too)
- Large spoonful of greek yoghurt
- Teaspoon of honey (if it needs sweetening)
- Around 200mls of your milk of choice
The funky monkey
My favourite, and lots of protein with the nuts
Ingredients:
- 1 ripe banana
- Teaspoon honey
- Large spoonful of peanut butter
- Around 200mls of your milk of choice
The tropical
A summery smoothie
- Half a mango
- Half a peach
- Peeled and chopped kiwi
- Large spoonful of greek yoghurt
- Teaspoon of honey (if it needs sweetening)
- Around 200mls of your milk of choice
The hulk power smoothie
We’re in the superhero stage…
- Half an avocado
- Small handful of spinach leaves
- Handful of berries
- Large spoonful of greek yoghurt
- Teaspoon of honey
- Around 200mls of your milk of choice
We’d love to know if your kids like smoothies and what their favourite ingredients are!