Crossover Blog: Getting my toddler to eat green veggies

One word: Smoothies

This cool treat has gotten my toddler to eat more green veggie than I have ever. Don't get me wrong my little munchkin eats pretty good. Her favorites are bell peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and she'll try most stuff if forced or bribed. But if it's green, it gets pushed to the side. So I started making her smoothies and she loves it. She also gets a cool straw to use when she drink them, so that doesn't hurt either. 

As I mentioned in Refrigerator/freezer/pantry Staples I like to keep frozen fruit on hand. I mostly buy store bought frozen fruit, but some fruit I buy in season and freeze myself. Since bananas are not typical a fruit you can buy commercially frozen, I freeze my own bananas and strawberries. Commercially frozen fruit is fairly sweet. It's usually picked at peak seasons then frozen. Also if you use frozen fruit, you don't have to use ice and water down your drinks. As the fruit begins to melt, it will liquify a bit more.

I keep peaches (also used for my teething baby boy), pineapple and mango on hand. Then I add any fresh veggies I have in the fridge (carrots, spinach, kale). I also throw in some ginger for good measure especially during winter, try to boost the immune system and ward off the germs. I normally add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of fresh juice or almond milk. I recently tried just using natural no sugar added applesauce and no liquid, it worked..so excited about this revelation! And then I blend.

Until recently I was using my food processor for my frozen treats. Mainly because I was put on a kitchen moratorium until we moved into a place with a bigger kitchen. Plus I wanted one of those $600 blenders, which was way out of my price range. So I settled for a Ninja which I have been pleasantly surprised with so far. It blends well, even the tough stuff. My biggest gripe is that fact that you have to continuously hold the button down for the individual cups, you can't just put it on low or high.


Here are a few of my smoothie combinations, that have been hits:

Peach, Spinach, Ginger, Pineapple, Juice

Peach, Mango, Pineapple, Ginger, Juice

Applesauce, Pineapple, Ginger, Strawberry, Spinach, Banana

Carrot, Pineapple, Ginger, Mango, Applesauce


Also I make banana ice cream you can sneak protein into this using nut butter or even plain nuts. Go wild.
2 frozen bananas
1/4 cup milk (you don't need this liquid, but it gives it a frozen yogurt consistency that I love)
1 tablespoon peanut butter (optional)