Tag Archives: yogurt

After School Snack: Strawberry Banana Yogurt Smoothies

11 Apr

Great for sore throats, warm weather, a healthy snack!

We had an unusually warm, hot actually, March this year. The weather broke all kinds of records and we loved the taste of summer that came during spring. It meant a couple of things for us though: First it meant that springtime allergies kicked in early, so everyone started with sore throats and runny noses in March instead of April. Second, it meant that the daily “can we get ice cream” and “can we get frozen lemonade” questions started early as well.

When I pick my kids up at school we drive by one of our city’s popular ice cream drive ups as well as past our favorite frozen lemonade stand. On occasion, on super hot summer days we’ll stop there after school as a treat, but I wasn’t really ready to start that in March. Not yet. It’s an expensive treat, one we don’t do too often.

One particularly hot afternoon, as an answer to their pleas, I decided to make smoothies, something I often do as an after school snack, but not usually in March. On this particular afternoon though, I had fresh strawberries in my fridge, (frozen works well too) and I had bananas in my freezer, which I often use for banana bread, but they work well for smoothies too. I had some vanilla yogurt in my fridge, so I felt I could easily pull off some smoothies for an after school snack.

A blender doesn't have to be expensive to make a delicious treat!

My “recipe” isn’t exact, but into my blender I threw: a bunch of strawberries, two frozen bananas, milk, about a cup of vanilla yogurt, and some ice to make it have a frozen feel, like a milkshake, but healthier.

I added a dollop of whipped cream and a straw and I had a restaurant-quality summer beverage for my kids for after school. Not bad! Everyone was happy and I was glad there was even enough for me to have some!

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How many of these foods do your kids eat?

26 Mar

Recently I came across a list on Babble, which listed 10 Super-Foods Your Kids Should Be Eating Now. I was immediately intrigued. I wondered what the foods were, and whether or not any combination of my kids were eating them. Below is the list and I’ve shared with you how my kids fare. How many of them do your kids eat?

1) Blueberries: All three eat these

2) Sweet Potatoes: Elizabeth likes them

3) Natural Nut Butter (for kids without allergies to nuts): My kids eat chocolate peanut butter but I don’t think that counts. They eat regular peanut butter, but it’s generally Skippy so that’s not all natural either.

4) Avocados: Alex and Liz like them

5) Broccoli: they all like it

6) Yogurt: They all like it, especially if it has crushed up Oreos in it, or is Boston Cream Pie flavored, which I’m not sure is quite what they had in mind here.

7) Tuna and Salmon: They all liked salmon the last time we had it, they all like tuna and spaghetti and Liz likes a regular ole tuna sandwich, even just tuna in a bowl.

8) Eggs: They like em’ hard boiled, fried, scrambled, and Caroline even likes just whites.

9) Beans and Legumes: Here we fall short. Alex and Liz like peas and Liz likes Lima beans, but overall they’re not huge bean eaters other than string beans, which Caroline in particular, loves.

10) Seaweed: Unless it’s wrapped around sushi, which we get to have only once in a blue moon, they don’t really have a whole lot of seaweed opportunities here. Two out of three like sushi though.

So now that you’ve seen the list, how did your family fare? What do you think about the list? As I read it I thought of several other really good for you foods that my kids do eat, so even though we missed a few things on the list, I know there’s other really good things that they eat also and that makes me feel good!

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