Making a smooth transition to veggie-boosted treats
We're a smoothie family.
Since the boys were little I've used smoothies as a way to make sure they get their recommended number of fruits. My go-to smoothie contains orange juice, frozen bananas, canned pineapple and vanilla yogurt. Recently I've added protein-rich Greek yogurt to the mix.
I've sneaked carrot juice into the blender on occasion without being discovered, but an attempt at kale smoothies met more resistance. The vibrant green puree sure looked lovely in the glass, but the boys couldn't get past the color. It didn't matter that it tasted pretty good, they just could see that it wasn't their normal morning beverage.
Next time I'll follow the advice of blogger-turned-cookbook author Deborah Harroun: “Colored cups are helpful if you have a child who is picky about the color of the smoothies. Green smoothies can be hidden away easily inside an opaque purple cup with a lid.”
Harroun's latest book, “Best 100 Smoothies for Kids” (Harvard Common Press, 2015), hasn't left my kitchen counter since I brought it home. The recipes cover the meal spectrum from breakfast to bedtime and incorporate all manner of produce from acai to watermelon. Harroun passes along great tips like using chia seeds to pump up a smoothie's omega 3s (especially important if your family doesn't eat much fish), adding oats to give a smoothie staying power and sweetening with mild agave syrup and even dried dates.
The pages are full of tempting quaffs including Coconana, Carrot Mango Orange and Kiwi Strawberry. One smoothie in particular jumped out at us for its rich purple hue. Pineapple Red Cabbage and Banana. Henry, understandably turned his nose up at it, leaning toward testing the citrusy Creamsicle.
The next morning I added shredded red cabbage, pineapple juice and a couple frozen bananas to my Blendtec (Harroun recommends a high-powered blender especially when incorporating veggies) and poured the thick chilly liquid into a couple of cups. Not quite the intense purple saturation I expected, but it still looked pretty good. The result was tasty but didn't have the texture we're used to so I added a scoop of vanilla yogurt. In my mind, dairy (or dairy substitute) adds the “moo” to smoothies.
Another thing we like about smoothies is that there's never any waste. We pour any extra into plastic molds for frozen treats that refresh on a hot day. No added sugar, no artificial color and the bonus of a serving of fruits and veggies.
Henry says: I like smoothies because you can throw anything into the blender and come up with a delicious drink. Pineapple, orange and mango are my favorite fruits for smoothies. Strawberries are good too. I like smoothies to be smooth — not too crunchy with ice. Smooth, just like the name says.
I didn't think I'd like the red cabbage smoothie, but it looked like a fun color and tasted good. I liked it better once we added the yogurt. They were even better as frozen pops. Some of my friends ate them and didn't even know they were healthy.
• Deborah Pankey, former food editor at the Daily Herald, is the mother of two boys. Her youngest, Henry, is a sixth-grader and a picky eater who is finally beginning to explore new foods.