Sneaky Mom Smoothie Hacks

We eat mostly Paleo in our home. We still enjoy treat foods and celebrating with food when we are with friends, but I do my best to not buy foods to store in our home that are not good nutritional choices ( we have no will power).

As a mom of five kids, I can tell you that it is not always easy to feed my kids healthy foods all the time. I have learned to be sneaky.

My number one sneaky vehicle is a smoothie. I can pack that this full of nutrient dense whole food, and they will normally suck it right down (although, I have had some fails along the way.)

I do a couple of varieties, but will normally choose from the lists of ingredients below. Check it out.

Whole Food Smoothie Ingredient List

Veggies – Kids should be getting at least 8 servings of vegetables per day.

That is a lot, and it means we need a veggie at every meal and snack. Check out this podcast about healthy family eating habits.

Here are some veggies that I love adding to our smoothies.

· Kale

· Spinach

· Romain lettuce

· (any other fresh green leafy from our garden)

· Avocado (I love to add these – they bring so much creaminess to the party)

· Beets or beet powder

· Carrots

· Lemon juice

· Ginger

Any leftover veggie in the fridge that needs to be used

Nutrient Dense Kick

· Collagen

· Cooked Chicken Liver (this is a secret weapon – I pressure cook these over the weekend and sneak them in smoothies)

· Supplements (I always use my kids smoothie as a vehicle for whatever supplement we need at the moment) – usually vit D/k drops, vit A, vit C, fish oil, etc.

· Almond Butter – I will add a spoon of almond butter if this is a meal replacement (quick breakfast)

· Cacao powder – The kids love the chocolate flavor

· Handful of nuts (we love cashews)

Fruit

· I try to keep the fruit content low, but here are some things that I will drop in to sweeten up the mix (not all at one time)

· Frozen Blueberries

· Frozen Strawberries

· Dates – these add a great sweetness

· Bananas

Liquid

I normally use a combination of the items listed below

· Coconut Milk

· Berkey Filtered Water & Coconut Cream

· Almond Milk

I do not like prepackaged smoothie mixes because you can’t control what is in them.

Also, the plastic packaging always makes me uncomfortable.

Let me know how you make your whole-food smoothies. What other sneaky things do you add? Leave a comment below.