Green Smoothie
If you make smoothies green from the start, your child won’t know anything different and they will expect their smoothies to be green! Green veggies are full of vitamins and minerals that are important for growth. Because green veggies are hard for little kids to chew, I like to put them into smoothies. This yummy peanut butter banana flavored smoothie is sure to win over any green smoothie skeptic.
Ingredients
1 cup milk
1 ripe banana (previously peeled and frozen)*
1 cup packed spinach or kale (fresh or frozen)**
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
3-4 ice cubes
½ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
Instructions
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Blend all ingredients on high speed in a blender.
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Drink immediately
TIPS
* I buy discounted ripe bananas at the grocery store, they are usually half price. Then I peel them and keep them in a ziploc bag in my freezer and use them for smoothies and banana breads
** Start with spinach if you are new to green smoothies, it has almost no flavor. Kale can be bitter. I keep a bag of spinach or kale in the freezer at all times for smoothies. If you have a salad mix that is starting to go bad, you can just put it in the freezer and then put it into your smoothies later! Greens last for months in the freezer.
*** If you don’t have a high power blender, you might want to mix your spinach with the milk first. This will ensure that the spinach gets blended very well. Then add your banana, ice cubes and peanut butter. I have found that adding ice cubes one at a time while the blender is going seems to work best when I’m not using a high powered blender.
