My kids will not eat anything green. It kills me. I've tried everything to get them just to try a veggie but it ends in a meltdown every time so I stopped. One day, while walking with my kids on Melrose waiting for my husband to finish his audition, I came across a juice and smoothie bar. We walked in and I was determined to get my kids to have some greens. I spoke briefly and softly to the gentleman behind the counter so my kids couldn't hear me. I could totally tell he could see my frustration. He just looked at me and said, "I got you" then said to my kids "Hey guys, do you want to try Santa's favorite smoothie?" We celebrate Christmas and they believe in Santa so of course they went berserk. I watched as the man put kale, spinach and broccoli along with some fruit in it and I immediately thought "oh boy here we go, meltdown central about to happen here in 3-2-1"
He handed me the smoothies and I handed them to the kids. They took one sip and couldnt stop drinking and dancing around the place. From then on, I started to make them "Santa's favorite smoothie" everyday mixing and matching what the guy at that smoothie shop did. I even started making popsicles out of it so they can eat them throughout the day and really get their daily dose of natural immunity.
I typically pick up my ingredients at the local health store or farmers market and prepare the fruits weekly. I buy already frozen cherries, peas and Acai and then fresh organic blueberries, bananas and strawberries and put those in baggies to store in the freezer. That way everything is ready to put together daily.
While I don't mind throwing the ingredients into my vitamix and juicer, I am really hoping this phase will not last much longer.
Even though I am constantly mixing different fruits and veggies it all seems to taste very similar to the original "Santas Favorite Smoothie" and my kids never know the difference. Who knew a smoothie with that many veggies in it would taste so good?
Below is a sample smoothie that I will also make into ice pops with the left overs.
ORGANIC INGREDIENTS INCLUDE:
Kale and/or Spinach
Broccoli
Frozen Peas
Frozen Strawberries
Frozen Blueberries
Frozen Bananas
and Unsweetened Acai
Not shown is the liquid base which is freshly juiced organic carrots and pink lady apples. I sometimes use a base of organic coconut or almond milk and add flax, chia, almond butter and cacao nibs depending on what is available and how the kids are feeling.
I am so grateful to that man for helping me get my kids to eat their greens!
