Thursday, July 26, 2012

Breakfast of Champions

Green Smoothies...ahhhh!

I strive to feed my boy as many healthy meals as I can, but I was really struggling getting quality veggies, especially greens, in his diet.  Because he tends to be a bit selective regarding vegetables with certain textures, I dealt with a lot of foods being, in a more polite term, "rejected." I figured getting some more veggies into breakfast would be an extra chance at fueling him up with vitamins and minerals.  However, breakfast to me was full of fresh fruits, dairy, and carbs.  Still good, but I wanted to go for the rainbow of colors...you know, "eat a rainbow" (which translates to needing more green).  Then I came across some green smoothie "pins" on Pinterest.  Lightbulb moment!  We set to work right away and the result, with a little tweeking from the original pin, was the single most amazing thing to happen in our kitchen this year.  Now, every morning, Ben starts his day off with a (mostly organic) smoothie made fresh of a mango, a banana, several handfuls of baby spinach leaves, generous amount of ground flax seed, a little yogurt, a splash of OJ, a scoop of peanut butter, and a squirt of honey.  Of course, don't forget plenty of ice!  Voila!  This 2 year old kid sucks these things down and often times ask for a refill.  I couldn't be happier knowing that he is getting fruit, greens, dairy, fiber, and protein all in one delicious cup.  Do you know about the benefits of flax seed?  Read about it here and here.  


If you are skeptical, just know that you really can't taste the spinach.  I've gotten some friends and their picky eaters hooked on these, too.  You can try adding other fruits in it too, just be aware that adding strawberries and blueberries will give the smoothie a browner color.  It still tastes decent, but you might want to play around with the amounts of the fruits and the spinach if you want a prettier color.  I made what I would call a "garbage" smoothie last week that consisted of leftover chopped kiwi and strawberry, along with the aforementioned ingredients.  It tasted interesting.  If you're nervous about introducing green smoothies to your family, start by adding a small amount of greens and work your way up.  Why don't you go ahead and give it a try!!

You can find the original article that prompted me to start this wonderful breakfast tradition at Publix GreenWise website here.  Enjoy!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Our Runaway Adventure to the Circus...


We had been counting down the days until the circus would finally arrive. When the day finally arrived, we enjoyed some necessary animal crackers in preparation for the night show (disappointed that they don't seem to have the traditional crackers in the boxes). Ben had a great time at the circus! When we arrived, he said, "Circus tent!!"
When we walked up to the tent, Ben spotted the elephants outside. He was fascinated! Then, we walked into the tent!!
Then, Ben got to take his first pony ride! He had so much fun :)
Seating was tight, Ben thought it was funny to keep poking the guy in front of us. When we kept asking him to stop, he leaned over to hug him.
Ben enjoyed watching the tigers and the silly clowns!
Close encounters of the weird kind...
Ben said goodbye to the circus and enjoyed all his souvenirs..

Friday, September 30, 2011

Circus Parade

The circus is here...and I have never been so excited! Ben is obsessed with anything circus- thanks to Yo Gabba Gabba. We've had that episode on our DVR for quite some time and a few weeks ago it was tragically deleted without our knowledge (ALWAYS set to save until manually erased) . Ben will "march" around and ask for the "circus parade" or the "happy clown" and we have been unable to deliver...until now! For weeks, Chris and I have been counting down the days until we get to take Ben to his first ever visit! Ben has now been saying "real circus." Let's see what this 21 month old actually thinks about the circus. Hope he's not too disappointed when Muno, Foofa, Brobee, Tuti, Plex, and DJ Lance aren't there. Oh, and who could forget Weird Al?! I managed to find a few clips from the episode that Ben loves so dearly.


Also, see more here: http://www.nickjr.com/kids-videos/yo-gabba-circus.html