Getting Their 5-10 A Day

Some days it seems like my kids will only eat bread, pasta and crackers. Other days my kids want meat, little carnivores that they are! To be fair, my kids love certain fruits and vegetables... but I keep thinking about the other amazing vitamins and minerals they're missing out on because they refuse to eat (or even try) the rest of the food I offer them.

While I'll admit that I could've been a bit more adventurous with the foods I offered my older child in her early years, one habit I'm glad we got into was making smoothies. On those days when it seems I will never get more than one or two fruits or veggies into my little ones' tummies, I can always count on a smoothie to do the job for me. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it!  They are delicious, and despite the fact that there is a large handful of baby spinach in each one, my kids eat 'em up! My daughter even helps make them and thinks it's fun.

Smoothies make a great breakfast on-the-go and are fabulous at snack time. With the hot summer weather, they are very refreshing, too!

Enjoy!

Recipe for kid-approved smoothies:

plain yogurt
frozen blueberries (I like wild ones best... small and sweet!)
frozen raspberries
frozen strawberries
handful of baby spinach (I buy the triple-washed, ready-to-go kind)
orange juice

*We make ours using the Magic Bullet because it's fast and easy, but you can do this in any regular blender, too. If using the Magic Bullet, put the ingredients into the cup in the order stated... for some reason it turns out best this way (we've tested it out a LOT!).