How I'm Keeping My Kids From Starving to Death

Okay, yes, I am fully aware they aren't actually going to starve to death. Most of us got through our toddler years surviving on white bread, off-brand hot dogs, and Flinstones Vitamins and we turned out fine (sort of), but my kids make me a little nervous with the whole we-only-eat-popcorn-now thing. There's a metric ton of articles out there on ways to help picky eaters - but I'm tired, I'm in a hurry, and I have a short attention span. So what's my go-to?

Smoooothiiiiiie! It's got a fun-to-say name that sounds like an animated children's show, it tastes yummy, and you can sneak in kale or cucumber or carrots or whatever veggie will smother the nagging feeling that you might be unwittingly doing something to wreck your child's chances at happiness and fulfillment as an adult.

Mmm...tastes like good parenting. 

Today's smoothie took, like, three minutes to make and contained: 

• a spotty banana, mushy bits and all
• big gloop of honey (I dunno, a tablespoon?)
• a scoop of greek yogurt (hello, loads of protein!)
• some baby carrots that were still good but nobody was touching 
• a smoothie starter pack from Costco that I use when I'm in a hurry that has strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and (hello, beautiful) kale and spinach. 

Comes pre-portioned to eliminate the need for pesky thinking. 

Other stuff I like to keep on hand to throw in:

• Frozen stuff: bananas (I buy in bulk and freeze them), blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, kale, broccoli
• Not frozen stuff: oatmeal (gives it an interesting texture), mint leaves (whenever I can keep a mint plant alive), peanut and almond butter 
• Fridge stuff: whatever anyone is ignoring in the produce drawer. Usually, some sad grapes. A couple of squishy kiwis. Floppy celery. A middle-aged cucumber. I'm sure fresher is better (am I making that up?), but this helps cut down on food waste.

Honestly, the key to making this work long-term is to not take this seriously. Don't get all crazy and go on special shopping trips or whatever or you're just not going to do it. Leave that to the people who have their lives together.

Don't go full green smoothie right away, though. This is important. My kids were like, "I'm sorry- no. Who do you think you're fooling?" You have to fool them properly.

Um, have we met? 

Start out with blends of strawberries, bananas, blueberries, honey, yogurt, etc. Only super tasty things. They may take a bit to warm to the idea, but eventually they get hooked. Then you spring the trap. Slowly start adding in carrots and cucumber (veggies that are already sweet). Eventually comes kale, spinach, etc. They won't even register it. Or I'm wrong and they'll never trust you again. What do I know?

Helps to have proper sippy cups to drink out of, too. Something with easy-to-clean crannies or you'll spend all your time cranny cleaning and you will give up. Oh, also - if it's not obvious - I drink these, too, and I will now live forever.

Hope this helps! If you think of any other awesome smoothie additions, comment below!