Why Smoothies are Good for Your Child

Getting your kid to eat fruits and veggies, especially greens, is definitely a challenging task. A very good solution for this challenge would be to blend them into a thick smooth drink with yogurt, milk or ice cream. Most kids love this sweet cold treat.

A smoothie (also spelled smoothy) is a thick blended beverage with shake like consistency, normally pureed in a blender containing fruits and/or vegetables as well as an added liquid such as fruit juice, vegetable juice, milk, ice cream or even yogurt. A smoothie contains much higher levels of fiber, carbohydrates, fruit sugars and vitamin C, so one glass is nutritionally more satisfying and can be a good dessert or breakfast option for kids.
Traditionally, most smoothies consist of three parts: some type of liquid (often called the "base" of the smoothie), an assortment of fruits and/or vegetables, and ice. If frozen fruit or vegetables are used, the cool temperature can be achieved without using ice.
Here are a few recipes which your kid might love...

Dry fruits Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup non-fat yogurt
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 2 dried figs (and/or date)
• 6 almonds (or any other kind of nut that is suitable for your constitution)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/6 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/4 cup coconut powder
• 2 tablespoons cereal (optional)

Method:
Mix all the ingredients above in a blender, add your favourite cereal on the top if you like and enjoy!

Prune and orange smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized banana
• 5 prunes
• ¼ cup fresh orange juice
• 1 cup plain low fat yogurt
• 1 tbsp pure flaxseed oil

Method:
Place the banana, juice, yogurt and oil into your smoothie blender and process for 30seconds.

Green Globin Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 medium orange peeled and segmented
• 1 banana peeled and chopped
• 3 large fresh strawberries
• 2 cups spinach
• ½ cup yogurt

Method:
Place the orange slices, banana, strawberries and spinach into your smoothie blender and process for approximately 30 seconds.