I DON'T EAT GREEN STUFF!!!!

Favorite words of our 4 year old little boy, which pretty much means almost ALL vegetables…ESPECIALLY the green ones.  There have been several battles of wills attempting to make him at least TRY them (how can you say you don’t like something you have never tried it right?).  Although we were frazzled from dinner time being held hostage by an extremely stubborn child...WE DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS!  What is a parent to do?   I don't know if we actually won or lost those battles, but everyone involved was drained.  He can’t go his entire childhood without eating vegetables, but NO ONE wanted to repeat the broccoli debacle of 2013!  How could we make sure he ate healthy AND keep our sanity? Turns out we just needed to be sneaky.  Let the covert operations commence!

Our kids love smoothies.  Yes they like the kind you buy at the store made with yogurt and TONS of sugar, but since I choose to limit their sugar intake as much as possible that was not an option.  Sugar makes my already energetic son bounce off the walls and listen even less than the average headstrong 5 year old, which in turn gives me a migraine (this is a balance of my sanity and their health).  We opt for natural and homemade as often as we can and the smoothies were no exception. The ones I make are all fruit and vegetable with no dairy (they eat plenty of that already).  I discovered I could mix kale, broccoli, squash, zucchini and even spinach all together as long as I blended in some fruit to add to the taste and mask the suspicious GREEN color.  Pineapple chunks and apples add a bit of sweet to it and strawberries or blueberries are great to add a fruity taste while making it a bright color.  If you need a little more liquid pineapple juice or even a little water do the trick. The Vitamix we have now works wonders, but the 25 year old blender I had prior to that worked just as well.

My son had NO IDEA he was eating vegetables…much less GREEN ONES!  Score one for Mom! Victory at last!  I didn't bother to mention the fact they were in there until a week or two later when he asked for more smoothies.  I giggled to myself and revealed to him he did in fact like and eat GREEN VEGETABLES.  At first he turned up his nose in disbelief…were there really vegetables in there?  Then he became quite proud of himself…He ate BROCCOLI!  “Ok Mom, but I’ll only eat them if you make me a smoothie.”

Great! I've figured out how to get him the nutrients he needs without screaming, crying, protesting, pouting…hooray!  But who wants to drag out the blender and deal with all the ingredients on a daily basis… especially at 6 pm after a long day at work while cooking the actual dinner?  NO ONE!  Convenience is one of the reasons the pre-made ones at the store are such a hit.  However, thanks to a creative idea (yes from Pinterest), I was able to find a much easier way to get around that…ICE CUBE TRAYS!  

On the weekend I would make up a batch or two of smoothies, pour them in the trays and stick them in the freezer, the next day pop them out and stick them in a gallon size freezer bag and you can use them as you need them by popping them in the microwave for about 45 seconds. Usually 3 or 4 cubes at a time do the trick.  

Fresh fruit and vegetables are much preferred over the canned ones because they have more nutrients without the added sugar, but they aren’t always cost effective or convenient.  Many times I use both frozen fruit and vegetables.  We harvested both kale and spinach from our garden in early summer and sometimes pick up a big bag of either from the store and I freeze them.  Not too good to use for a salad after being frozen, but perfect for smoothies.  Frozen broccoli is easily found and afforded at any store.   We also save the cores from fresh pineapple when we get them and freeze them until the next batch of smoothies are made.  Frozen strawberries, blueberries or peaches are relatively inexpensive as well.  There are so many little tricks that can be used to incorporate fresh foods while not breaking the bank.  The leaves off of the broccoli we grew also made a great addition to the smoothies.  Once washed, I stuck them in a freezer bag and saved them for later use.  ¼ of a lime wedge (rind and all) is also a tasty additive to cover the taste of the vegetables.  I use that for my own smoothies which have a much higher ratio of vegetables. 

There is no specific recipe for the kids.  I pretty much just use whatever I have on hand.  I started off with a 50/50 fruit to vegetable ratio and then as the kids got used to having them slowly added more veggies and less fruit each time.  I have not yet made a batch the kids didn't love.

The parent-child battles are numerous, exhausting and dynamic. Bedtime tantrums turn into curfew controversies.  Yes you have to take a bath will one day become "For the love of ...will you get OUT of the shower!"  The idea of choosing your battles wisely is absolutely applicable to parenting, and I am thrilled to have circumvented the impending vegetable crisis!  Today GREEN VEGETABLES...tomorrow listening when I speak!  Okay, maybe the vegetables are easier.