Healthy Hollywood: Healthy Smoothies For Picky Eaters

In today’s Healthy Hollywood feature: Healthy Hollywood’s good friend, chef Candice Kumai offered to write up today’s blog. I absolutely adore Candice. She’s not only the author of the fabulous new wellness book, “Clean Green Drinks,” but she’s also a true health junkie with lots of sound advice.

Thanks, Candice, for the item below…

Getting kids to eat their greens is one of the oldest parenting challenges. In fact, a recent study by the University of Chicago backs up what moms and dads have known for eons: children reject nourishing food simply because they know it’s good for them, and once they know that, they assume it won’t taste good.

So when it comes to getting kids to eat healthy on the regular, I have two rules: make it fun, and make it taste delicious. That’s why Clean Green Drinks should be a staple in any health-conscious, kid-friendly kitchen—100+ delicious, low-sugar, nutrient-rich treats that will delight the pickiest of eaters. The best news? You can blend up these beauties in less time than it takes to make a box of macaroni and cheese.

Here are a few of my favorite kid-tested recipes from Clean Green Drinks that the whole family will enjoy, any time of day—guaranteed!

The Strawberry Mango Morning Smoothie

(Serves 4 Kids or 2 Adults)

Watch your kids eyes light up when you serve them this brightly-colored “milkshake” for breakfast (or dessert!). The vitamin-rich frozen strawberries and mango add a tropical sweetness and ice-cream-like consistency that masks a generous serving of baby spinach. Unsweetened coconut milk drink, not to be confused with canned coconut milk, is a lighter non-dairy milk that’s rich in lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid also found in mother’s milk that has natural antibacterial and antiviral properties.

• 3/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut milk drink (add more or less liquid, as needed)
• 1/2 cup baby spinach
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• 1/2 cup frozen (or fresh) mango
• 1/2 cup ice

Add ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

The Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie

(Serves 4 Kids or 2 Adults)

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes (and I’d bet money on it being a kid favorite too!) This better-than-a-milkshake treat hides a healthy ½ cup of baby spinach in every kid-size serving. While your kids sip down the green stuff, you can feel good about swapping high-fat dairy, ice cream and chocolate syrup that’s typical of a chocolate shake for unsweetened almond milk, frozen bananas and antioxidant-rich cocoa powder. Nut butters are my favorite source of high-quality vegetarian protein for kids. Dreamy!

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 frozen banana
• 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup ice

Add ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

Clean Green Ice Cream

(Serves 4 Kids or 2 Adults)

Clean Green Drinks is packed with life-changing nutrition tips, and frozen bananas are one of the most valuable. Turns out that with a little less liquid than you’d use in a smoothie, a blitzed frozen banana has the creamy taste and consistency of a decadent ice cream. Keep a handful of peeled bananas in a ziplock bag in the freezer, and voila! Ice cream for the kids in seconds! This is the original recipe, stay tuned to candicekumai.com for many more flavor combos!

• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 2 large frozen bananas
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup baby spinach

Blend until a creamy, ice cream–like texture forms.

— Candice Kumai, for Terri MacLeod