This is one of my toddler’s favorite Green Smoothies! Perfect for those days when it seems like your kids hate your cooking and won’t eat anything but snacks and air (it seems!). We like this one too, the peanut butter addition is good! I like to add a scoop of protein powder to this for my breakfast – I like Vega Whole Food Optimizer or Ultimate Meal powder. I make this in my Vitamix, best blender for Green Smoothies! I get most of my smoothie ingredients from my CSA box, delivered weekly from Abundant Harvest Organics and Squeeze Play Organics!
Kid Friendly Green Smoothie
- 2 ripe bananas – can use frozen
- 1/2 organic apple, core removed – granny smith is good, gala and fuji too (I get THE BEST apples from my CSA!!)
- 1 pear, seeds removed (CSA Delivery favorite!)
- 2 dates, pits removed (Halawy are my favorite!)
- 1 heaping teaspoon of peanut butter
- 1 small cucumber
- 1 or 2 handfuls of fresh spinach (extra here, again from my CSA!)
- 1 large leaf of dinosaur kale (without thick stem)
- 1/2 cup of almond milk, hemp milk, coconut milk or soy milk
- 1/2 cup of orange juice (or just add an extra orange)
- Optional but really good – mint leaves, ginger, celery
- Blend & Enjoy!
Learning how to use a straw cup
I let her lick the peanut butter spoon... as you can see!!
Kid Tested Firefighter Approved 
i give my kids green smoothies too…although i’ve never done anything like the above… why does the little girls checks appear to have a rash? is it an allergic reaction to something she is eating? Just curious? My daughter breaks out w/a rash around her mouth w/certain fruits to include spaghetti sauce/tomato’s… i try not to put to many fruits in their smoothies as it causes stomach upset/rashes…
That’s my daughter, she has KP (keratosis pilaris) and it’s on her cheeks, arms and legs. It’s hereditary, I have it too. I had it on my cheeks as a kid too, it’s better now that I’m older but still there. Not food related at all, I’ve had it checked out many times. Not a whole lot you can do for it but that’s okay, it doesn’t hurt it just looks red. Poor kid! 🙂
thanks for letting me know… have you heard of the hallelujah diet? i wonder if they have anyone who ever had this and got rid of it? i’m always wondering “crazy” things about ailments/hereditary stuff and if we can change it…. anyways their website is http://www.hacres.com if you wanna check it out and call them and see if anyone has had this and if they got rid of it somehow?
No, I have not heard of that diet. I’ve done a ton of research on it and I really don’t think you can ever really get rid of it, maybe I’m wrong. I’m okay with it, really. It doesn’t bother me and after having two kids it’s the least of my worries! LOL!! 😉 I hear you on the “crazy” things, there are SO MANY out there! It’s hard to know what to believe sometimes. I’ll check out the site, thank you for passing on your knowledge! Glycolic acid scrub and lotion helps the most out of the million things I’ve tried but I’d rather not use it.
April, I’m really enjoying your blog and our CSA ! I made your broccoli chipotle quinoa soup 2 weeks ago and we just could not get enough ! I also made your wasabi dip and our vegan friends were beyond excited.
I love this post – we started making green smoothies about 2 months ago when I just couldn’t get through all our CSA lettuce and spinach every week (we are new at this vegetable thing – it takes getting used to 🙂 and now it’s all I crave when I get home from an overnight before heading to bed. Our favorite these days is a mix of spinach, celery, apple, pear, OJ, coconut milk, mint, ginger and we throw in some chia and hemp seeds at the end. Ryan just made me one that I was sipping on as I was heading over to work tonight – worth a billion coffees ! I had not thought of adding peanut butter. Will try next time.
What protein powder do you like to use ? I’ve always thought of it as chemical stuff so it has never occurred to be to even look into it – but I’m overall just ignorant about it I think ! Now that we’re eating a LOT less meat I probably need to increase the protein intake somewhere other than just piling the fruits and veggies !
Yay!! Which CSA do you use? Can’t remember if you use the same one I do or not. That soup is good! I bet you would like the Potato Cheeze Cabbage one too, that is one of our favorites! I made it twice this past week 🙂 So glad you are enjoying the blog, nice to know! That wasabi dip is always a hit at parties, the best combo.
Green smoothies are so good, I crave them too. I love the mint and ginger addition too! I like to juice too but I think I like the smoothies better. I really like my Omega juicer – carrot, apple, ginger, beet juice is yummy!
For protein powders, I use:
NutriBiotic Organic Brown Rice Powder (Original Flavor)
Nutiva Organic Hemp Protein Powder (I use this one the most)
I’m trying out The Ultimate Meal right now… I mainly use these meal-type replacement powders when I’m too busy to eat
I like the Vega Whole Food Meal Optimizer too – one of my favorites
As far as the protein intake level, you would be surprised at what you “need”. I’ve studied A TON about vegan nutrition and I’ve always followed the 0.5 grams protein per pound of body weight rule – striving for 15% of your TOTAL daily calories from protein. I’ve found that you really don’t need as much as you might think, we live in a very protein obsessed society and diets with higher levels of protein are actually damaging as well as cancer encouraging. Have you ever read The China Study? Seen Forks Over Knives? I completed the Cornell University Plant-Based Nutrition program, that’s where I learned the most about this topic. It was awesome!!
So glad you are enjoying the blog, thanks again for your support!!!
April 🙂