Summertime is smoothie time

Looking after children this summer? You’ve probably thought about how to keep them busy, but it’s worth considering what you’re going to eat too. During the summer holidays your routine changes, there are ice creams and sweet treats everywhere you turn, making it a real challenge to maintain your ‘five a day’.

We all need fruits and veggies for complete nutrition. But getting the solid form into children can be especially challenging, even more so when there are alternative, sugary snacks on offer. A smoothie is a fun way to encourage children to eat more.

Smoothie or Milkshake?

A smoothie is a finely blended juice made of raw vegetables, fruits, and dairy products like milk or yogurt. Smoothies can also be 100% fruit, and free of dairy products. Smoothies for children are healthy and easy to make and can be had any time of the day.

What makes a smoothie appealing to children is the creamy texture it gets due to its ingredients but, unlike a milkshake, the sweetness is from natural sugars and not additional sugars, e-numbers or colourings.

Homemade is best

All of the major supermarkets stock ready-to-go smoothies in different flavors but nothing beats the taste of a fresh, homemade one.

Tips for tempting children

Make the idea of smoothies exciting – get your children involved in the process. Let them make smoothies with fruits of their choice, on the condition that they will drink it!
You are lucky if your child likes eating vegetables. Otherwise, you can disguise the tastes of vegetables with fruits or dairy products like cream or yogurt. For example, if you want to add broccoli or spinach to the smoothie, you can add a strawberry, banana, or grapefruit to give it a sweet and tangy flavor
Make it part of their routine; a filling breakfast smoothie or a cooling afternoon snack; children will get used to having them and look forward to helping you make them too
Pick your own! Strawberry picking is a fun activity and a perfect ingredient for a smoothie

Get the gear

Investing in a good blender will not only help you to make great smoothies for the summer, but they can be used in colder seasons for making soups too; another clever way of hiding food from vegetable dodgers!

Stellisons offer a large range of blenders to suit every budget and kitchen

Happy Smoothie making!

Recipes ideas

Simple strawberry

You will need:

8 strawberries or frozen strawberries
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Ice cubes

How to:

Thaw the strawberries if they are frozen
Add the berries, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract to a blender and blend them until you get a smooth, frothy mixture
Add ice cubes and blend for another 30 seconds.
Serve fresh.

Preparation Time: 6 Minutes
Servings: 2 Nutritional Value: calories – 160, carbohydrates – 30.3g, protein – 5.6g, fat – 1.1g, cholesterol -5mg