Slurping our way to better nutrition!

For the past several years we've made a concerted effort to improve the health and nutrition curriculum at Northampton Christian Preschool. The children are taught how to distinguish between healthy foods and treat foods and the importance of filling our plates with an abundance of healthy foods. Our snack menu has evolved from teddy grahams and juice to one rich in fresh whole veggies and fruit. Today we tried something new; Green Smoothies!

When my children were young I had difficulty getting them to eat veggies. When they did try an occasional carrot or celery stick it always seemed to be smothered in a high-fat dip. To make matters worse, my children were terrible breakfast eaters. I wish I had tried smoothies back then. Not only is it a wonderful way to sneak veggies into a picky eater's diet but it's quick for families rushing out the door in the morning.

My co-teacher, Mrs. Lori starts each day with a smoothie and she graciously shared her "magic bullet" with us this morning. A blender or food processor works too. After perusing several recipes online, we adapted our own. Here's what we used:

• frozen banana chunks 
• frozen peaches 
• green apples, peeled and sliced 
• fresh spinach 
• a little bit of juice for thinning 
• ice cubes 

First we blended the fresh spinach with the juice. Next came all the other fruit and ice. The finished product looked like this: 

You can mix fruits and veggies for a variety of combinations. It's a good way to use up those brown bananas or the last few wrinkled strawberries. Although many recipes call for yogurt or milk, we omitted it this time.

The best part is the kids loved them!


If you have a favorite  smoothie recipe, please share it in the comments below. We'll be trying several more varieties before the school year ends!