I have one fairly picky eater (ahem, Ainsley) who isn’t a big fan of things like foods touching on her dinner plate, anything remotely “spicy,” and anything that isn’t a very familiar food. It’s been a tad frustrating, to say the least, when her siblings are happily eating whatever I serve and our oldest is complaining about what mom made for dinner.
I’ve read a lot about helping kids develop a healthy relationship with food and not forcing things too much at mealtime, so we have settled on at least having her take ONE bite of each thing served, every time it’s served, to continue to increase her exposure to the foods she doesn’t care for while also not making meal time a battle every time.
We also serve a “rescue meal” which is a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat. So if she wants, she can eat that after trying everything else on her plate. It’s been working for us so far, and seems to make meals less dramatic.
Now on to the smoothie….
When I used to develop recipes for a living, before I had kids, I always thought it was silly when moms talked about sneaking in extra nutrition for their kids. But now that I’m a mom, I get it! Sometimes I’ll take the extra nutrition in whatever form I can get it in Ainsley. š
After School Smoothie
Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup plain or vanilla whole milk yogurt
1/3 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 cup fresh spinach leaves
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons ground flax seeds
Handful of ice to desired thickness
Sprinkles (optional but very fun)
Directions
Combine all the ingredients and blend until well combined. Add additional ice as needed to reach desired thickness/consistency.
Happy eating!
Madison