Green Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie

I used to brag about how much my baby/toddler liked veggies… until she, all-of-a-sudden, started refusing them! What?! She totally threw me off my pedestal and into a world of what-do-I-do-now? How will she get the nutrition she needs to continue development? Although tempted, I was warned by my pediatrician not to shove them down her throat in fear she’d reject the greens forever, so I had to come up with another solution. When complaining about my daughters new aversion to my friend Jenn, she suggested I make a smoothie to hide some of that nutrition. Trick the little bugger! Why didn’t I think of that?

I went on a smoothie-making binge… and purge. I ended up making so many bad smoothies, because I was under the impression that if I blended it, it would suddenly change the taste into something amazing. For example, I made what would have been fine smoothies without the broccoli and peas I included. I quickly learned that you can’t just put any veggie into a smoothie without ruining it. 🙂

So, after all of that painfully yucky experimentation I did (for YOU!), I came up with this awesome recipe. The quantities can easily be changed to your liking. This is not just a kiddo smoothie, but also an adult one.

I seriously drank the smoothie this way:

Classy, right?

INGREDIENTS:

-1-1/2 bananas

-2 overflowing cups fresh spinach (I didn’t compress the leaves down, so there was a lot of air in between them)

-1/2 an avocado (optional — it doesn’t really affect the taste, but it adds some good monosaturated fat, fiber, and Vitamins K, B, and E)

-1/3 cup peanut butter (natural if you have it to keep the sugar content down)

-1/4 cup Greek yogurt (To compare the nutritional content in several brands, visit Diary of a Healthaholic)

DIRECTIONS:

-Wash your spinach and then shake the water out. It is fine if some water is left in it.

-Put all ingredients into your blender (I use the Magic Bullet) with the thinner ingredients on the bottom: yogurt, pb, avocado, bananas, and then spinach.

-Taste and add ingredients to your liking.

ENJOY!