School is under way. That means two things.
- Mornings are busy.
- The germs are spreading.
That doesn’t mean throw in the towel, buy boxes of cereal and say a prayer your child stays healthy.
No way! That means it’s time to get smart and start the day with a nutrient boost that supports the immune system and provides critical vitamins and minerals for focus and energy.
Nutrition In A Blender
I serve smoothies for breakfast several times a week. They are easy. And you’d be amazed how much good stuff I pack in there. This blueberry spinach smoothie is no exception.
I’m sure you’ve seen (and made) smoothies with blueberries and spinach before, but I think you’ll be amazed at how much we can pack in there and still be palatable for the kids!
What makes it so nutritious? It’s loaded with:
- Desiccated Liver – provides vitamin A and protein
- Grass-Fed Collagen (use the coupon KS10 for 10% off!) – provides easy-to-digest protein and amino acids. Collagen also gives the smoothie great texture since it does not have any dairy or dairy substitutes.
- Bone Broth – provides vitamins, minerals and protein (You can add additional gelatin to your bone broth, whether you make it homemade or buy high quality broth online or even broth powder)
- Unrefined Sea Salt – provides trace minerals and sodium Use the code kitchenstewardship for 15% off of your first purchase
- Camu Camu – provides vitamin C and helps boost the immune system
- Moringa – provides B vitamins, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron and amino acids
- Probiotics – helps digestion and overall gut health (or try special probiotics for kids like WellBelly, Mary Ruth’s or Buddies in my Belly)
- Fruits – blueberries provide vitamin C and antioxidants. They are also great for energy.
- Vegetables – spinach provides calcium, vitamin A and vitamin C. It is great for bones and teeth.
- Lard – provides healthy fat and vitamin D (truly – lard is good for you, but it’s hard to find quality lard unless you render it yourself)
Want to know what it doesn’t have?
- Processed food
- Preservatives
- Allergens
- Artificial flavors
- Food dyes
- High fructose corn syrup
But that’s not even the best part. The really great thing is that you prepare it the night before. Just toss it all in the blender. Then in the morning blend for 60 seconds and pour.
Breakfast is served.
Yes, it is really that easy. Even faster than pouring cereal and milk! And you can let your kids do it themselves.
I know what you’re thinking. How can all of that taste good? And how am I going to get my child to drink it?
Trust me, they will. It really just tastes like blueberries. I add a little bit of maple syrup to bump up the sweetness. Then there are no traces of liver or spinach flavor. My five year old literally drinks a huge glass of this before I can even finish getting the rest of breakfast on the table. And my two year old loves it too!
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Turn A Smoothie Into A Lesson
I recently read a book with my kids called Give It A Go Eat A Rainbow. The book teaches what each color of fruits and vegetables does for your body. For example, blue and purple give you energy.
So now when my kids ask what is in their smoothie I tell them what colors. And they get excited! The more colors the better.
Instead of cringing at the word spinach my children are happy that they start the day with some green for strong bones and teeth.
Change It Up
Maybe your child just is not a fan of spinach no matter what you do to it. No problem. Change up the combination. One of our favorites is a squash cherry smoothie. The squash is naturally sweet and gives a great flavor. Kale can be swapped for spinach. Strawberries and raspberries have a strong flavor to cover up veggies. Peaches are great too! Use whatever you have that your kids like.
If you do not have allergies to contend with you can add even more nutrition to the smoothie with raw egg yolk and avocado. They add extra creaminess without changing the flavor.
Smoothies can be used for breakfast, lunch or a snack any day of the week. This blueberry spinach smoothie is bursting with both nutrients and flavor. Your kids are sure to love it.
Beth says
I read many years ago that kids will drink anything if it looks berry colored, sweet, and served with a straw. I like to peel and add a raw beet to the smoothies to give it a bright berry color. Even if it’s pureed salad with sweet fruits added, they’ll drink it. I’m looking forward to trying this since we cannot tolerate whey based protein powders. Thank you!
Mary Voogt (Contributing Writer) says
Great tip, Beth! Yes, colors for the win!!
Karen says
I’ll have to try that! My kids are turned off by green smoothies and won’t drink them.
Nicole says
Serve them in the reusable squeeze pouches and then the kids don’t know they are green! 😉
I make a smoothie of fresh spinach, cucumber, peanut butter, berries, banana, plain yogurt, a little raw milk, and sometimes frozen broth cubes. The peanut butter really does hide any vegetable flavor! Thanks for these tips because I’ve been wanting to work more “extras” in there! Liver is a good idea.
Mary Voogt (Contributing Writer) says
I bet they love the pouches, Nicole!!
Karen says
I was so excited to see a coupon for Vital Proteins! I just tried to use the coupon code but it didn’t give me a discount. Is it only valid on the green canister collagen, or can I use it on their other products? Thank you.
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says
Hi Karen!
The coupon should work on everything – I just tried it and it worked fine. Couple troubleshooting places:
1. Make sure it’s capitals.
2. Don’t have any spaces before or after (if you copy and paste that’s easy to do).
3. You do have to click through from this page, because VP attaches the code to my site somehow so that only my readers can use it. If you might have clicked from another blogger’s site previously, clear your cookies and try again.
Thanks for your interest – hope one of these solutions works!!
🙂 Katie
Karen says
Thanks, Katie! I just checked out and it worked. I’d been eyeing the collagen peptides for a while!
Gary P says
Great article. I was curious – what about coconut oil vs lard?
Mary Voogt (Contributing Writer) says
You can absolutely use coconut oil, Gary! It does get very hard when it’s cold, so it’s a little trickier. We don’t use it because my toddler is allergic to coconut. And I love that lard is packed with Vitamin D.
Michelle says
Well I never thought to use broth!! Cooked spinach has a strong taste to our family so I will try raw first. I do buy frozen broccoli which might work too and does not have the oxolate issue. I keep a “superfood bar” with the following in jars, and the kids get to choose 2 or 3 per smoothie: in addition to what you have listed above, rose hips powder, maca powder, alfalfa powder, astragalus powder, mesquite powder, chlorella, spirulina, turmeric and, ashwaganda. Some need a little more doctoring up than others but my kids consider any if these normal, healthy foods!
Mary Voogt (Contributing Writer) says
I’ve tried broccoli before, Michelle…it ended up with a strange texture that my kids didn’t like. The spinach flavor really is covered up. We jsut started also adding fermented kale and aquatic greens (spirulina and chlorella). So many great options to add nutrition!
Becky says
How do you make those cool smoothie jars?
Mary Voogt (Contributing Writer) says
I got the bottles as a gift. If you do a search for “glass milk bottle with straw” you’ll find quite a few to choose from!