Amp Up Your Daily Smoothie With Better Boosts

From the earliest days of eating, exposing kiddos to a wide variety of flavors, textures and of course, nutrients, is every parent’s goal. Whether you start out thinking you’ll make all of your baby’s food, or head straight for the jars and pouches (or even make your own pouches!), basic blends begin most kids' introduction to nutrition via solids. Recently one of our favorites, Once Upon a Farm, even introduced Immunity Blends into their lineup, which we love!

There’s no reason they can’t keep getting their essentials in this blended format as they grow, we simply “upgrade” them to things like smoothies, which can be boosted to add nutrition benefits. In fact, on busy mornings or when the time between school and practice for soccer, ballet, violin, etc is tight, we toss a Vitaminis into our go-to smoothies for a protein packed punch of nutrients that’s great on the go.

Here are a few other ways we like to “boost” our kids smoothies, tailored to specific nutritional needs:

• Need More Healthy Fat? Try Avocados: no bananas on hand (or simply want to skip the sugar in your own morning boost)? Toss in half an avocado for the same creamy mouthfeel and the adding bonus of heart healthy fats.
• Another option for Protein? Cashews: raw, unsalted cashews are a staple in our freezers for a variety of reasons - cashew milk is delicious, they toast up beautifully for trail mix, and a quick handful dropped into a smoothie disappears while amping up protein - especially great for those who need a non-dairy option!
• Feeling like no one’s eaten their veggies?  Riced Cauliflower: a bit less traditional but these days, what can’t riced cauliflower do?  Employed in everything from muffins to pizza crust (we’re not even sure anyone’s actually just subbing it for rice anymore ha), this new-ish freezer section revelation is equally as revelatory when blended into a smoothie.  Start with a small amount to manage the taste, though you’ll likely be able to ramp up the portion based on the other flavors, especially those with cacao powder.