Here are some of my favorite secret ingredients:
Flax Seed: My kids take a multivitamin and mineral supplement everyday, but I have never been able to find an Omega 3 supplement they could tolerate the taste of, until now. Flax seed oil is one of my favorite secret ingredients. It is chock full of three very important things: Omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and good ol' fiber. And it is so versatile, you can use the oil in smoothies and the seed in everything from pancakes and bread to salad dressings.
Spinach: I recommend using this with blueberry unless your kids are nothing like mine and weird colors don't freak them completely out. If my kids spotted green in their smoothie...game over. Where do I begin with spinach? Well, it is another great source of Omega 3s and antioxidants. Not to mention phytonutrients, iron, calcium, flavanoids, and Vitamins K, A, C, B6, B2, potassium...and the list goes on and on. And if you can manage to cover that nasty green color, it has a very mild taste that my kids never notice. It is also very versatile and I manage to sneak it into all kinds of things like spaghetti sauce, pizza, and soups.
Emergen-C: 1000mg of Vitamin C...enough said. I don't care if your kid goes to school or is home schooled, somewhere, sometime they are going to come into contact with some other snotty-nosed kids whose Mama hasn't taught them to wash their hands or cover their mouths and noses when they cough or sneeze. (P.S., teach them to cough and sneeze into the crook of their arms and that will keep a lot of the germs off of their sweet little patty-caking, candy-sharing hands.) I just empty one of the tangerine flavored packs into the blender and they never know the difference.
Just a few more words of smoothie-friendly advice:
1. Never let your kids watch you make a smoothie. The second they see you put all that stuff into the blender they will assume it is gross and won't touch it with a 10-foot pole.
2. I always make my kids try a sip. I never let them assume they won't like something. Nine times out of 10 they love it, and when they genuinely don't, I never force them to drink it.
3. Smoothies will fill a little belly up, and we always treat them like a meal or a heavy snack. The hungrier the kid, the less picky they will be.
4. A little honey will always sweeten things up!
5. Star Wars glasses make EVERYTHING taste better.
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frozen pineapple chunks frozen mango chunks banana vanilla almond milk Stoneyfield Banilla yogurt flax seed oil |
