“What We’re Eating”: Getting your Kids to Ask for Green Veggies

Posted at 6:58 am on October 6, 2009 by April

This is the first in a series of posts about vegetarian food for families and kids.  A warm welcome to April, one of DuPage Mamas newest writers!

We are your typical, “all-American” family. We live in suburbia America, Daddy works and Mommy (me!) stays home with our two children. We have a girl, Kiddo, who is 3 and a half years old and our baby son, Buddy Boy, who is seven months old. My daughter started preschool this year as well as ballet, so the shuttling of the children has officially begun. And of course, I don’t have to explain how adding a second child has increased the amount of work I have to do on a daily basis. Phew! Our household has gotten busy lately and I’m sure it’s not going to stop anytime soon!

In the midst of all the activity, work, chores, to do lists, crafts, story time and other things that fill our daily lives, I am a mama who loves, loves, loves to cook. And in the past two years or so I have started to have a passion for good, healthy, comforting food.

I, like most of you, wonder how can I get my child to eat her veggies without an argument or bribes (or dessert!) every night. A little over a year ago, I heard of something called “green smoothies” and I tried it out. They were so tasty that I was instantly hooked. On a whim, I decided to give some to my daughter and see what she thought. At the time, she had just turned 2 years old, at the height of refusal for eating. I told her it was a “special shake”, less to be sneaky and more to give her a name that she understood (as she wouldn’t get what a smoothie was). With one drink, she loved it and has been hooked on them as long as I have.

So, big question-what is a green smoothie? It is your basic smoothie, but instead of being all fruit and/or juice and/or yogurt, you add in some raw, leafy green veggies, like spinach or kale. Now I know-some of you are thinking that you, let alone your child, would never drink this, but I promise you as a mama just like you, you cannot taste the vegetables. My personal recipe for a green smoothie is about 2 cups leafy green vegetable and 2 cups fruit and/or juice. This blends up to about 2 cups of smoothie. It is around 300 calories, perfect for breakfast. For my daughter, I half that, and she gets about 1-2 cups of green vegetable and 1 cup of fruit. This means your child is getting 2-3 cups of fruit and vegetables just in her morning breakfast! Many kids don’t get that amount in their entire day!

Here are some quick tips for your own green smoothies:

• Be creative with your ingredients-you will find you can make some yummy combinations if you just try something new.
• Use up what you have already in your fridge-you would never think that cantelope and green grapes make a good smoothie, but they do!
• Adding a banana (per person) helps make the smoothie super creamy and smooth.
• If you or your kids just can’t stomach the green color of the smoothie, then add in some berries-black berries or blue berries work best-they will turn your smoothie into a purple color and no one is the wiser.
• Make sure you compare prices-as the season comes to an end, sometimes fresh fruit is cheaper and sometimes frozen fruit is cheaper. Don’t assume one or the other is always the cheapest option.
• Just as in meal planning, plan your smoothies around what is on sale. If strawberries are 2lbs for $3, I guess you’ll be having strawberry smoothies for breakfast this week!
• Finally, it might be worth it to invest in an inexpensive smoothie recipe book. Smoothies were quite popular several years ago, so you could probably find a good book at a resale shop or a garage sale.

Have fun, enjoy your smoothies and see you soon!

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