Smoothie Help

I echo the recipes below. I also add a tablespoon or two of wheat germ for an extra health bonus. It has a light nutty flavor which you don't really taste in the smoothie. You can buy a jar at Jewel in the cereal aisle. Store it in the fridge once you open it.

Costco carries a yoplait brand that is YUMMY! It's in the freezer section, and all you have to do is add milk. It's a little easier (and more expensive probably) then trying to keep fresh fruits on hand all the time. It's very handy to have it all in one pack! It makes two full glasses per serving, and there is 8 packs in a pkg I think at Costco.

If you don't belong there or it's too far....Target has the same thing (Super Targets) in the freezer section in single packages.

Hope that helps!!

Hi D.!
My son is 3 1/2 and has been loving his morning smoothie for over a year now.
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup frozen strawberries (organic)
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
handful of fresh, baby spinach leaves
1 Tbsp. flax oil
5 drops grapefruit seed extract (not grapeseed extract)

After blending in the blender, I pour into a colored cup (the spinach doesn't change the taste much, but it makes it look kind of gray) and stir in some liquid DHA. Pop in a straw and it's ready to go. This recipe makes enough for about 2 cups (I keep one in the fridge for the next morning if I'm pressed for time). Also, I usually just double all of the above amounts so there's enough smoothie for me, too.

Hope this helps!

However you make your smoothies, it should have a protein, fat and carb to make it balanced and to help keep you full for at least a couple of hours.

Some good protein bases are:
-Rice protein powder or pea protein powder, both easily digestible and safe for young kids to ingest. Nutribiotics makes a decent rice protein powder. Jay Robb makes an egg protein powder, but it is just ok. Stay away from soy, for it is too hard for kids to digest, whey is not bad either, Designer Whey is lactose free and pretty good. Any Whey is also great, it is instanstized and tasteless, which can be added to virtually anything, including pancakes, pasta sauces, etc.
-2T of any type of nut butter is great protein source, anything more goes in your fat category
-if your yogurt has more than 7g of protein, then it can be considered part of your protein, anything less is considered a carb.

Kids need at least 7g of protein for bfast, one egg is considered one serving of protein, for example.

Some good fat sources:
-Flax seed oil or grounded flax seeds
-coconut oil or coconut cream (think pina colada smoothie!)

Carb sources:
Frozen Fruit is best, it makes the smoothie nice and thick
Milk is a carb, yes, sorry folks!
Wheat Germ (high in Vitamin E)
Yogurt

PB/Chocolate/Banana Smoothie
Half Frozen banana
1 cup of rice milk
2T of nut butter (sunflower butter is great!)
1 scoop of chocolate protein powder

Sweet Tart Smoothie
1/2c frozen blueberries
1/2 c frozen pineapple
1c of rice milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder

Black Forest Smoothie
10-15 frozen cherries
1 c of rice milk (I sometimes add cold coffee to this for myself)
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 tsp of chocolate syrup
you may need to add some ice to this one
2T of Grounded Flax Seeds
2T Grounded flax seeds

I prefer to use real fruit, but do use orange juice to make them, I'll use 1/2 of orange juice and a 1/2 c of water or milk depending on the recipe I am making. I have a magic bullet and it makes individual serving glasses, easy clean up too! Good luck, have fun making your own creations, kids love to invent things!

1 handful of frozen blueberries
1 handful of frozen strawberries
1 handful of baby spinach leaves (try it, it really tastes great, your son will never know--I promise!)
1 scoop of vanilla whey protien powder
1 Tbl flax meal
1 Tbl flax seed oil
2 cups water

Delicious!

If you have more time to chop fresh fruit I LOVE this one--and I feel so great after drinking it:
1 fresh apple
1 fresh orange
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 Tbl lemon juice (optional)
2 Tbl flax meal
1 Tbl flax seed oil
1 scoop vanilla protien powder
2 cups water (adjust for desired consistincy)

I prefer to start with Dannon vanilla yogurt. It has the natural cultures your tummy needs. Add banannas, berries,any favorite fruit, a splash of juice or milk. Here is a good looking web page...(you might have to copy and paste it)
http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/recipes/breakfast-brunch/...

our favorite is...

frozen strawberries (4 or 5 big ones)
a banana
orange juice (about a cup to sweeten a bit)
plain soy milk (about a cup)
flax (about a teaspoon)
--sometimes blueberries or blueberry yogurt

this makes enough for me too

I use plain non fat yogurt, two cups or so for two smoothies, some orange juice, about a tablespoon of flax seed oil (don't use the flax seed meal), then frozen blueberries and/or strawberries and a cut up banana. If you don't have frozen fruit, add a couple of ice cubes for better texture. I also cut up my bananas and freeze them. If I don't have any orange juice on hand I put a squirt of chocolate sauce in and milk. Then blend until smooth. If it is too thick add some more milk or orange juice. A good rule of thumb is have enough liquid to cover your fruit. My kids and I drink one everyday for either breakfast or morning snack. They go great with a granola bar or a oatmeal raisin cookie!

I recommend using any type of frozen fruit that you enjoy. To save money, I shop at aldi. they have some great bags of frozen fruit for only around 3 bucks. also, I use some light vanilla yogurt and pineapple juice. you can also purchase some protein powder and add a little when you are blending. my 13 year old loves this!

Hi D.,

Our favorite and simplest is:
1 cup orange juice
4-5 frozen strawberries (or fresh)
1 small banana

Blend until smooth.

I always add my Zesty Flax (Natural Ovens) to the mix for more fiber & Omega 3 and you can't tell it's in there.

A great website is allrecipes.com, with tried and true recipes.

1 cup juice
1 cup lowfat/nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 banana (this gives it a smooth mouth feel)
2 peeled fruits in season (like peaches or pears or strawberries) or 1-2 cups frozen fruit

Having made hundreds of "freakies" (don't know why my son called them that, but the name stuck), add liquid ingredients to blender first.

Frozen fruit makes it thicker and, obviously, colder.

Avoid blueberries and grapes as the skins don't break down.

This will probably not fill your son up until lunch--so I would serve this in place of a juice/fruit.

J.

My daughter looovves smoothies! I usually slice a banana, squeeze juice from a few oranges, and add 4-5 frozen strawberries (I clean and cut the tops off of store-bought strawberries and put in the freezer. You can do this with any of your berries and bananas.) Sometimes I add mango, too. The mango and orange are great natural sweeteners, so no need for any sugar:) Blend and sip through a straw- YUM:)

I just use vanilla yogurt, frozen strawberries and banana, and some juice. I never add sugar. We love it.

My kid's and I love this smoothie and its cheap!
1-bannana
5 or 6 - frozen strawberries(you can replace this with any frozen fruit we like to swich it up with blue berries & or kiwi)
5 or 6 - pieces of ice
a dash of orange juice ( sometimes i dont have this in the house so i wont add it and it still comes out good)

I will blend it all up until its smooth then devide it into sandwich bags and put them in the freezer. One batch will make at least 4-5 servings. Its feeling and healthy. It only takes a couple minutes in the sink in cold water to defrost enough to eat. Or you could get those disposable(reusable) small snack containers with lids to make it so you dont have to transfer the smoothie into another dish. I hope this helped. These get eaten really fast so sometimes i will make two batches of different kinds and put my name on one or two so i make sure i get some...haha. Yes, that good:)

Hi D.,

I noticed no one mentioned tofu... My kids do not eat much protein, I add just a little bit, they can't tell. Also, I read on the back of whey protein label it's not for kids. Double check on that. We LOVE the Vanana Organic yogurt from Trader Joes, we eat about 3 large containers a week. We blend that plus all the other goodies people mentioned. Pineapple makes it super sweet.

Fruit smoothies are a staple at our house. Dannon lowfat vanilla yogurt is my favorite. Add some fresh (peaches, bananas, strawberries, mangos, blueberries, pineapple)or frozen fruit, some cold liquid (milk, OJ, apple juice, various canned nectars, pineapple juice), ice and blend away. My stick blender is the perfect tool for this. No need to get out the full sized blender. I make sure to take advantage of blueberry sales and freeze them for smoothies all year round. This helps to offset the cost of frozen blueberries. My husband has become a smoothie expert too. It helps to use up fruit that is getting abit overripe so there is no waste. As an occasional treat, I will add a drop of food coloring to make it fun for the kids. Mix up your various recipes and have fun!!

I use yogurt, milk or orange juice in our smoothies. I always add fresh fruit and a little frozen fruit. The frozen fruit make it taste more like a milkshake, and my kids think they are getting a treat!

I make smoothies on a regular basis and the key is to use frozen fruit. I buy blueberries and strawberries at Trader Joe's. The only other ingredients I use is low-fat yogurt and OJ.

All the recipies sound great. I use many myself so I won't repeat. I will add though, that using whole milk yogurt instead of non or lowfat yogurt is probably better for little growing kids. It's creamier too.

Mix a fruit yogurt with 1-2 oz. milk, couple of ice cubes, chunked frozen banana and a scoop of vanilla whey protein. Yummy. That's my breakfast and I love it; my daughter too.

here's my husband's recipe:

yogurt, any flavor.
frozen fruit, any kind.
fruit juice (any) or milk.

blend in blender...drink.

i suppose you can add anything else you'd like to "hide" in there, but those are the main ingredients, and it tastes great.

All of these recipes are great, I especially like adding flax meal and spinach because it makes the smoothie healthier and the kids don't notice!! I also use Spiru-tein Junior by Natures Plus. It has lots of vitamins and minerals, 50% of the daily recommended value. My kids like the chocolate flavor. I add milk or yogurt, frozen banana or cherries, and blend. I also add whey protein powder when I make other smoothies and I am not using the Spiru-tein junior.

We love using vanilla yogurt, banana, milk and frozen strawberries or blueberries or mixed berries. We add a little sugar to the tarter berries like raspberry. If you use a lot of frozen berries and less milk and you can make it really thick like a milk shake. My 2 year old and 8 year old love it.

My kids enjoy a smoothie made from:

frozen mango chunks
fresh or frozen strawberries
1 banana (or two if small)

If you use all frozen fruit, add some water because the mixture will be thick.

They also enjoy

pineapple
mango
banana

topped with fresh blueberries

Here is one that I make a lot. Banana Walnut Smoothie:

1 banana
1 cup of vanilla yogurt
1-2 tablespoons of walnuts (protein & omega)
splash of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of honey
1/2 cup of ice

Delicious! Ladies, thanks for the other recipes. I will try them!

We use Frozen fruit (from Trader Joes or Aldi's. If you don't have these stores by you, Schwan's home delivery has a good fruit blend). Then I use apple juice/plum juice or coconut water/juice for a liquid, almond or rice milk (vanilla flavor) and Nutiva Hemp Protein/fiber powder. That way it's non dairy, no soy, no gluten but has fiber and protein. (my husband who has major food allergy issues)I add the fiber powder to probiotic mango juice that I found at Whole Foods called Good Belly. i throw it in a magic bullet blender cup and make our own different ones daily while i'm getting things ready to leave for work.

We also don't use chemical sweeteners such as splenda or nutrasweet, so if it needs a little sweet, I add in some agave syrup, or stevia (a no calorie sweetener from a plant, not a factory ;) ) or perhaps a little brown rice syrup. I have it down to about 2 & 1/2 mins prep, 30-45 blend, and then I pour it in a flip lid nalgene bottle for him to not spill it doing work out in the yard or garden.

Shoot where is brimhall anyhow, I could use a good plumber!

D., my husband and I make smoothies a few times a week. We buy the bag of frozen berries from Costco (I think there are blackberries, raspberries, and boisenberries but don't quote me). We put ice, the berries, 2-3 bananas, and some milk into the blender and voila we have a fabulous smoothie. The only thing is that the berries are very seedy so you might need to floss afterwards : ) You could always add a little non-fat yogurt if you wanted as well. Hope this helps!