A carrot smoothie is excellent for tricking a child into consuming vegetables (image via Smoothies Recipes)
Naturally, her father and I can’t allow that to happen, so we find ourselves using trickery to find ways to get anything close to the recommended daily allowance of fruits and vegetables into her diet.
One thing that has worked for us: smoothies. Although we generally encourage her to drink water, she thinks of juice as a special treat, so she’s happy when we break out our juicer and/or blender. There are things she’ll drink when juiced (kale and beets come to mind) that she wouldn’t touch as whole vegetables. It’s been a huge relief, because when she’s happy and getting her veggies, mommy and daddy are happy, too.
Here’s a recipe, via SmoothieWeb, that’s not unlike what I throw together (I generally find that a base of carrots and ginger makes any juice better):
Carrot smoothie
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice
1 cup cooked, chopped carrots
1/4 cup natural, unsweetened applesauce
1/4 inch piece of gingerroot, peeled
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
Combine apple juice, carrots, applesauce, gingerroot and cinnamon and blend from low to high until creamy. Season with salt and cayenne pepper to your taste.
Have you made juices or smoothies for your kids? What recipes do they like?
