Smoothie Ingredients

The one I had for breakfast this morning was ice, a little coconut milk, a few chunks of fresh pineapple, a banana, 5 blackberries, a tspoon of pulverized flax, a dash of honey and a kiwi.

With kids, be careful about adding "protein" powder. Kids' kidneys, cannot process all that protein or if it is too much or too concentrated.
Protein powder "serving sizes" are per Adult, proportions. Not kids.

Things I use in Smoothies:
Whatever I have on hand, or
Peanut Butter
Apples
Bananas
Nectarines
Peaches
Blueberries
Strawberries
Carrot Juice
Apple juice
Yogurt
Milk
Honey
A sprinkling of Ovalitine

I don't use ice in mine.

You just use things you want, and per your tastes. There really is no right or wrong way to make a smoothie.

For veggies, use vegetable juice. Carrot juice, mixed veggie juices etc. Because this will blend INTO your smoothie, better than using raw whole chunks of the veggies. Making it smoother to drink. Not chunky with hard pieces.

ALSO, you can Google Search "Jamba Juice Smoothie Recipes" online, and you will get the recipes for it.

I don't use ice...just frozen fruit...so not diluted and packed with flavor! I use yogurt, and POM Juice for liquid. The POM Juice gives it zing! Greek yogurt is good, but not essential. I also don't freeze my bananas. You can add Agave Nectar or honey if not sweet enough for your little guys. Frozen blueberries, pineapple, straberries, peaches, sweet cherries....YUM!

Pretty much any frozen fruit combo is good for smoothies.

Fresh spinach leaves are really easy to hide in a smoothie. When the leaves are raw, they have a very mild taste that is easily covered up by the fruit.

Be careful with the protein power though. I've found that this can make the smoothie taste chalkie.

Pretty plain over here: Frozen strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, frozen banana, fruit juice, and yogurt. Ok, that's what my kids get. Mine is double strength coffee with chocolate ice cream.

i hear you can sneak in spinach and other greens, plus carrots too.

As for me, I personally love a little bit of yogurt in mine (lemon tastes good in smoothies), plus a little sherbet too. Any flavor sherbet is good to me, but we prefer orange or pineapple.

Have fun. I think the sky's the limit as far as what you can put in there to blend up.

added: Read up on the flax. There is confusing info out there. They say flaxseed is like soy as far as the hormones it contains. Such controversy over soy and men eating a lot of soy and even little girls and babies and soy.
Good stuff about it: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&db...
My mom told me that her doctor told her NOT to eat flaxseed. Not sure if it was because of her hypertension or b/c she had breast cancer. But ask your doctor first, perhaps. Eduate yourself about soy and flaxseed before feeding it to your kids and family daily.

Here is the basic smoothie recipe I do:
* 1 cup yogurt (start w/ plain & experiment from there) or 1 cup milk (yogurt is better for you and more filling, imo)
* 1 cup frozen fruit (start w/ blueberry or strawberry & experiment from there)

You can add to that:
* protein, in the form of whey powder or soy protein powder
* for "good" fats-- flax seeds or avocado
* vitamins/minerals, in the form of wheat germ (about 1 heaping T)
* flavors--use 2 heaping T of instant pudding powder; we like chocolate, but lemon w/ lemon yogurt & blueberries or peaches or mangos are good.
* more sweetness - use very ripe bananas. I cut mine up and place them on a wax paper on top of a cutting board & pop into the freezer

BTW, I don't know if you have Krogers in your area, but they often carry their store brand (Private Selection) frozen mango, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and berry blends.

For a variation, I'll add 1/2 cup OJ, and do OJ + mango + peach, with or w/o yogurt.

You can add some
* cooked carrots
* raw baby spinach
* pumpkin puree

You can use opaque juices (like OJ, mango, carrot, etc.--any juice that you cannot see through)--these are generally better for you then transparent juices (like apple, for example).

My husband makes them for my 2 year old daughter a few times a week, and it is always a GREAT way to get so many fruits and veggies in her diet. The days she drinks smoothies for breakfast and lunch, I don't worry so much about whether she's eating all the good stuff at dinner...since she's turned 2 she is really exercising control over what she chooses to eat ;-)

Organic Baby Spinach
Carrots
Fzn Fruit--mango (great vitamin A), berries
Avocado--makes it really smooth
Dates--sweet, but SO many nutrients
Banana
Fruit Juice
Greek Yogurt--lots of protein

I purchase the ripe bananas at the store where the huge brown paper bag is filled and only l$2.00 for the whole bag!
I take it home and peel all of them and wrap them in 1/2 cup hunks in saran wrap and then into ziplocs.

I either purchase frozen strawberries, frozen mixed berries , and Frozen mangos. I always have them in the freezer.

Pineapples, coconut milk, yogurt can be added.

The base for ours is usually cold apple juice.

Baby spinach, carrot juice, pom, juice, peaches, apricots. all of these can be added.

I purchase the fat straws and we try to reuse a drink bottles. Soak those bottles so the slime and dried fruit is easier to wash. You may want to purchase a bottle brush.

Make sure and leave the seeds--like in avocados and apples. Leafy greens are great. If your kids don't like the green color, use some blueberries.
Check out lilyfresh.net for more great healthy ideas.

-Organic baby spinach - can't even taste it
-Milled flax seed (or the oil, I prefer the milled)
-Avocado (will thicken the smoothie slightly) - you will have beautiful skin and a healthy heart!
-Any frozen fruit - a few top antioxidant ones are blueberries, cherries and strawberries
- Greek Yogurt ( I don't add if I am using avocado)
- OJ or any juice
- bananas - my fam likes the bite the flavor provides- and they provide essential nutrients

Research "Green Smoothie Recipes" - you will find tons of ways to hide veggies in your smoothies! I hide kale, spinach and all sorts of things in ours and my kids drink them up!

Holy yumminess Batman!

I'm printing these out for my husband. He drinks one a day but I bet there's stuff he's NEVER thought of.

For my smoothies I always put milk (my kids don't drink milk so I am always looking for ways to get more calcium in them), orange juice, protien powder, very green powder (buy at Trader Joe's), usually a banana and whatever frozen fruits I have on hand.