Spiced up Smoothie

I've been wanting to try a "green" smoothie for a long time. We struggle getting the kids to eat veggies, though Adalyn does love her broccoli. Shane is hyper sensitive to new foods, textures and the color of food. Just getting him to take a vitamin in the morning is a daily challenge.

As of late, Shane has been a bit more daring in trying new foods. He LOVES watching cooking shows and I've found that really helps him with his willingness to try new things. He also like to help me bake or prep dinner food.

Honestly, I was flat scared to try a green smoothie because of the rejection I was sure to experience. Then one day a mommy friend of mine posted a picture of a smoothie on her Facebook page that she had made her son. She said her kiddo had drank it up in minutes. I saw the picture and knew instantly that was the way to my son's heart. It was all about the presentation. Marketing can easily add to any Mommy's resume!

It is all about the whip cream, sprinkles, fancy cup and straw. Those factors seemed to detour Shane from the fact that there were green specks in this smoothie. He was so excited to try it that I didn't get ANY questions about what was in the smoothie. Truly Amazing!

The first time I made it I did it with him still at school. That way he didn't see the ingredients that I put in. I was very worried the moment he saw me throw some green items into the blender, the chance of him trying it would be slim to none.

When he got home I hyped the heck out of this thing. I told him about the yummy special surprise I had for him and that Adalyn and I had tried it and it was super good.

Man, was I nervous! But he liked it and liked it a lot. 

The next day he ASKED for another smoothie at lunch time. Um, yeah, I can make you one! I asked him if he thought he wanted to help and see what was in it, or if it was better I surprised him with it. I was still nervous that if he saw what went in it, he'd never consume it again. As he helped me make it, I reminded him about he much he liked it yesterday.

As the green items came out and went in the blender, he asked what they were, but was going with the flow. Again, can you say Amazing!

He gobbled it down and I was super relieved.

Day 3 and 4 he asked for them again. Each day we talked about how it tasted a bit different and rated which one we liked best and how it tasted different. Like it tasted more bananaie, or rasperberryish, etc.  I had been missing the honey ingredient the whole time. Finally I got some and on day 5 added the honey, against Shane's will. How bad can honey be, we survived the greens!!?

He tried the smoothie with honey on day 5 and refused to drink it. Darn it. He said he didn't like the honey at all. Really?!!? I can say after drinking mine, I was very surprised by how much the honey stood out in the flavor. Fingers crossed tomorrow I can get him to drink it with out the honey. I sure hope I didn't ruin our smoothie drinking.

Below is the recipe I used (Thanks, Melissa for sharing it!). Each time I made it the amount of ingredients varied slightly.

1 Banana
1/2 cup strawberries
1/4 cup raspberries
1/2 cup applesauce
1T. chia seeds (I didn't use these)
1 small container of plain yogurt
1cup kale
1 cup spinach
1T honey (or not)
splash of water (I use milk)
 5 ice cubes