Green Smoothies.

At the beginning of the year I set to it in my mind to try and feed my little men some better food options during the day. Most of the time they eat what Drew and I eat for dinner, so we're pretty good there. But during the day it's hard. It's just so much easier sometimes to feed them waffles and chicken nuggets. That's why I was SO excited to try green smoothies. A couple of my friends had mentioned them in the past, but it wasn't until I was trying to figure out how to get some fresh greens down the boys that I remembered these things. Yall, they are awesome! No sugar added, just TONS of fruit, a lot of spinach, and even some greek yogurt for the added protein.

I've looked online and there are a slew of recipes. In the end I just kind of threw together the stuff I had here at the house. The great thing about this is that you can adjust everything to your taste and preferences. There's no right or wrong way to do it. I would just recommend that you not add sugar (or if you feel like it needs to be sweetened I would use honey or agave nectar). And for those of you wondering-- no, you can't taste the spinach. I'm not sure my boys would eat these if they could taste that-- they're both pretty picky about their green veggies these days :)



(please note these are not green once they are blended. This is because of the blueberries. I for one am not complaining, as I am almost sure that if my toddlers saw green in their drink they would say "I don't wike it" before ever putting it to their lips.)

ready to be served
Lindsey's Green Smoothies
1/2c-1 c. apple juice (no sugar added) (you'll just have to eye this... it depends greatly upon how much spinach you use)
2 large handfulls of spinach (this takes up about 3/4 of my blender)
3 slices fresh mango
1/2 small apple
1 whole Cutie orange, peeled
1 kiwi
4-5 whole frozen strawberries (make sure you buy the no sugar added variety)
1/3 c frozen blueberries (we buy our blueberries locally in the summer and then freeze ours, but if you buy them from the store make sure you get the no sugar added variety)
6 oz greek yogurt, any flavor
milk (optional)

Pour the apple juice into blender and add spinach. Blend until you are unable to see any pieces of spinach (you might have to shake up your blender to get this consistency-- it will basically look like green juice). Next add the rest of the fruit, blending well after each addition. The frozen blueberries and strawberries will make the smoothie thick (this is not a super thick, icy smoothie though). Add the greek yogurt last, blending well. I sometimes add milk to thin it out if I feel like it needs it, but it's not necessary. Pour and enjoy! (If you have kids that are using sippy cups, you may have to cut this with milk until it's able to flow through the sippy).

These are Brayden's instructions:




take a sip from your big boy cup

make sure you share with your little brother

smile because your momma makes delicious "smoovies"

make sure you drink it all, and smack your lips when you're done.