How Do You Get Your Kid To Eat Spinach and Kale.....You Don't...You Get Them To Drink It!

Have you ever tried to serve your child spinach or kale? I have.......It doesn't go so well. I'm always trying to make sure G is being exposed to different types of fruits and veggies all the time. Besides the obvious reason of nutrition, I want him to be an adventurous eater. I was a picky eater growing up (I made my mom cook my food separately without the additions that I deemed "uneatable") and I just don't want my kids to grow up saying "I hate this" or "Make me something different." I have since outgrown my pickiness and enjoy eating new foods. I serve G exactly what we are eating and he has to at least try it before he says that he doesn't like it. I hope that if we start young eating all different kinds of foods, it will help in the picky eater stage that most kids hit. I'm not saying that he won't probably go through a picky eater phase but I hope that he can learn to love most foods before he gets old enough to think "healthy food is gross." He loves carrots and celery, quinoa, cottage cheese, and fruits of all kinds. Most things I would think a three year old would run away from (besides the fruit....most kids do like fruit) he eats right up. Now I'm not saying he doesn't love his fair share of chocolate and fruit snacks, but for the most part, I like to think he's a pretty healthy eater for being three. In an effort to get more greens into our family's diet, I started making "green smoothies" about a year ago. When I first started seeing these on Pinterest I thought, "There is absolutely no way that I am going to add spinach, kale, etc. to a smoothie......that's just NASTY!" I kept hearing people say "You can't even taste the greens" so I decided it was worth a try. We mixed up a batch of "green smoothies," took a taste, and have been drinking them ever since. They are DELICIOUS (unless you add a bunch of weird stuff like my husband sometimes does, right CJ). You really can't even taste the greens. If it tasted like you were drinking a salad, I don't think G would ask for one almost every morning. If you are looking for a way to get your kids (or yourself) to eat more fruits and veggies, why not try a green smoothie. If they hate it, they hate it and you can go on about life, but I'm guessing they will think it tastes pretty darn good! My little man does! Here are two of our favorite green smoothies.

 My personal favorite has spinach, banana, frozen peaches, and fresh pineapple. I also about two tablespoons of ground flax seeds.

 Next I add unsweetened original almond milk.

Thanks almond milk, you saved me. I almost stopped nursing and started using almond milk as formula but your warning saved me!

 Blend that baby up!

 I also add plain greek yogurt (you can use flavored but I buy plain to cut out added sugar) and a little more ice because I like mine pretty icy.

 Let it go for another spin.

 Stick a straw in it and drink it up! Yes, this one is VERY green but tastes amazing!

He loves his smoothie!

 Another favorite in the Dyas house has kale, banana, strawberry, and blueberry. Flax seeds and greek yogurt have also been added. Almond milk is the liquid of choice again.

 Some notes about what I have learned in experimenting with smoothies. 

1.ALWAYS use a banana (at least in our house). The banana gives the smoothie the sweetness it needs. We have run out of bananas before and tried to make our smoothie without it and the smoothie does not taste nearly as good. 

2. Keep it simple. Rem thought that he would make his smoothie "extra" healthy one morning and decided to add tomato, peas, celery, apple, spinach, banana, strawberries, blueberries, yogurt........you get the picture. It tasted awful. If something doesn't taste good, you won't drink it. Who cares if it has 10 different vegetables in it if it tastes so awful you won't drink it.

3.Keep trying until you find a flavor you love. We have tried many different combinations of fruits and veggies and the two I have posted about have turned out to be our favorites. Maybe they won't be YOUR favorites so experiment with fruit flavors you already love. Don't like yogurt- don't add it. These smoothies are super customizable.

A favorite breakfast of mine. Homemade oatmeal with blueberries and a smoothie. I actually eat this pretty much every single morning. I know, how boring! But, I love it and why fix something that's not broken. The other half of my smoothie usually goes to G.

And because who really cares about pictures of smoothies and oatmeal, here are some shots of my two cuties playing this morning.

Our day will more than likely consist of playing inside (kids) and trying to get this house in order (me). Can I switch with my kids? Rem has been busy this morning helping out at the Paden's farm (they go to our church and Rem has been helping them this past few years) and he will have FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes, he's the leader) right after school and following that he will have track practice. Think he's done? Nope, after track practice he will head to LIFT, which is a once a month community youth group, held up at our local teen center. The boys and I miss him when he's gone all day but we are so thankful that he is such a hard worker and is making a difference in so many people's lives. This evening the boys and I will probably go to our church's Lent soup supper. Gav loves seeing his little friends there and I don't have to cook! It's now nearing noon and I have accomplished about zero percent of what needs done around here and my kids are still in their pajamas so I suppose I should probably try to go make it look like I have been doing something so when my husband comes home for lunch he's super impressed with me ;). Oh wait......he's probably going to read this so my cover is blown! I guess it needs done anyway so off I go!