{Guest Post}

Picky eaters? Try these 5 smoothie recipes kids will enjoy to get more healthy fruits and vegetables into your picky child's diet.

Can’t seem to get your kids to eat their fruits and veggies? You’re definitely not alone!

No matter how creative you try to be in sneaking veggies into meals, you can still find yourself facing a major battle if they realize what you’re doing.

If this sounds familiar, it’s time to try a different approach. Instead of trying to make them eat their five-a-day, why not see if they’ll drink them instead?

Combining vegetables with some fruit can make for a sweeter tasting smoothie that is more likely to appeal to kids.

This also makes it harder for them to guess that there are good things in there in the first place.

But that’s not all…

The vibrant colors of many fruits and vegetables are sure to pique any kid’s interest!

Here are 5 fruit and vegetable smoothie recipes designed with kids in mind.

Top 5 Smoothie Recipes Your Kids Will Enjoy

#1 “Chocolate” Milkshake Smoothie

This smoothie is a healthy twist on a chocolate milkshake that your kids will find delicious and it’s packed full of goodness.

Best of both worlds, right? Avocado adds healthy fats, which are linked to learning, memory and improved cognition function. Perfect for a breakfast to fuel their inquiring mind!

Ingredients:

  • ¼ avocado
  • ½ frozen banana
  • 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 4 oz almond or other nut milk

Directions:

Add all of the ingredients to your blender and combine until smooth and creamy.


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#2 Strawberry Delight Smoothie

Kids love this smoothie – not least because it’s a lot like strawberry milkshake!

The combination of strawberry, banana and yogurt means they’ll never notice that it also contains a few vegetables.

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup broccoli
  • 1 carrot (chopped)
  • ¼ cup green beans
  • ¼ cup frozen strawberries
  • ¼ frozen banana
  • ¼ cup vanilla greek yogurt
  • 4 oz milk

Directions:

  1. You’ll need to steam the vegetable ingredients for around 5 minutes or until they’re nicely tender.
  2. Once they’re ready, add them and the rest of the ingredients to your blender.
  3. Blend everything until smooth and creamy and you’re ready to hand it over to your little one.

#3 Vanilla Green Smoothie

The great vanilla taste of this smoothie will take their attention away from the green color and chances are, they won’t even realize there are any greens or fruit in it!

If you don’t have vanilla Greek yogurt, you can use plain Greek yogurt and add half a tablespoon of vanilla essence instead. For a non-dairy version, use vanilla flavor soy yogurt.

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
  • ½ cup frozen spinach
  • ½ frozen banana
  • 1 tbsp ground walnuts
  • ½ cup milk

Directions:

Add all of the ingredients to your blender and combine until smooth and creamy.


#4 Carrot & Fruit Medley Smoothie

 This smoothie is packed full of goodness and it’s naturally sweet so your kids are sure to love it!

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 baby carrots
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1/2 peach
  • 2 strawberries
  • 1/2 tablespoon honey
  • 4 oz milk or soy milk

Directions:

Add all of the ingredients to your blender and combine until smooth and creamy.

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#5  Berry Delight Kids Smoothie

This is another green smoothie that has just the right hint of creaminess and sweetness for kids to enjoy. It’s full of nutrients, antioxidants and protein but your little one(s) will never guess!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 handful baby spinach
  • 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries (e.g blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries)
  • 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup low fat, almond or coconut milk
  • 1/2 tbsp honey

Directions:

Add all of the ingredients to your blender blender and combine until smooth and creamy.


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Which Type of Blender Should You Use?

When making smoothies for kids, you’ll see how important it is to make sure your blender can actually blend to a real smooth consistency.

Not all blenders are created equally and I’ve found that any chunks that don’t blend properly can ruin the smoothie experience for kids (and adults too, actually).

I’d go with the stronger bullet blenders, or alternatively one of the high performance blenders if your budget allows it. As explained in the guide here, these two types of blenders do achieve a great smoothie consistency.

For recipes that recommend using frozen fruit, you can choose to use fresh fruit and add a few ice cubes to get the same effect. A lot of blenders don’t cope well with blending ice and this is another plus point in favor of high performance blenders.

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It’s often very challenging to get your kids to eat healthier, not to mention actually liking veggies. Smoothies make this important goal possible, and a great start would be to try these 5 recipes with a proper blender.

Once your kids realize how tasty it is, you can also let them help make the smoothie, which is a fun activity that also educates kids on healthy nutrition.


How do you get fruits and vegetables into your child’s diet? Are your children picky eaters?

Picky eaters? Try these 5 smoothie recipes kids will enjoy to get more healthy fruits and vegetables into your picky child's diet.


Daniel Pelegreen is a “smoothie guru”, founder of Easy Healthy Smoothie where you’ll discover natural, easy nutrition hacks for maintaining a healthier lifestyle and tackling excess weight, fatigue and stress. For more recipes and smoothie ideas follow his Pinterest and Twitter.


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