Smash a Cup of Greens in a Drink Before School!
In Australia only 5 out of every 100 kids are eating the recommended 5 serves of vegetables a day. Rather than try to get all 5 serves on our dinner plates, I’ve made it a way of life to get some vegetables into our kids day before school, then in their lunchbox so that we’ve already smashed a few of the day’s servings. A green smoothie is a great way to boost the veggie intake.
I tend to give my kids a green smoothie every day before school. It’s a great way of filling them up and getting some extra veg into them before school.
So our mornings look like this:
They have their first breakfast at around 6.45am (this is usually one of these – overnight oats, eggs, sourdough with homemade baked beans, banana pancakes, homemade banana bread with yoghurt etc).
Then about 7.30am, they have a green smoothie. This One Cup of Greens In A Drink Before School is their current favourite.
You can’t even taste the greens in this because of the fruit, yoghurt and milk. This Green Smoothie means the kids have essentially had a piece of fruit before going to school too, I only need to pack one piece of fruit in their lunchbox to ensure they are getting their 2 serves of fruit a day.
Ingredients
1 orange
1 banana (or green apple)
2 handfuls of baby spinach
½ avocado (optional – if they are too expensive, I just skip this)
½ cup coconut flakes
2 tbsp natural greek yoghurt
1 and ½ cups of coconut water/milk or milk of your choice
4-6 cubes of ice
Method
1. Throw everything in a blender and blitz until smooth and creamy.
Another 2 ways
1. Freeze the green smoothie in reusable pouches – it’s great to take them to school or to have in the afternoon
2. Add some mint to the mix before blending, then top with some cacao nibs for a great choc mint green smoothie – yum!
Find more healthy, wholefood, kid-friendly recipes on Bel’s website, The Root Cause.
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Thankfully now he has grown out of most of his allergies and has undergone desensitisation for his most serious allergies at the Royal Children’s Hospital, to which he is slowly responding. 
1. 1 ¼ cup warm water, 
5. Knead in mixer 3-4 min. Remove from bowl and shape into a ball.
Fish with bones are an excellent source of calcium. An easy and inexpensive way to consume fish with bones is in the form of canned fish like salmon (with bones) and sardines (with bones). The bones become soft during the canning process so they can be easily chewed and consumed with the fish. Since these foods are also a good source of Vitamin D, they enhance digestion of the calcium and make it more usable. I get my boys to eat sardines by grilling them in a bit of olive oil so they become a bit crunchy and they taste great with eggs or as a spread on sourdough toast with avocado. Also, use wild tinned salmon in homemade fish burgers.
Dark leafy greens are another great dietary source of calcium, though some are better than others. Collard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, kale and broccoli are all ranked really well for being absorbable sources of calcium while spinach and seaweed ranked low on the list. Dark leafy greens are also great sources of folate, Vitamins A, C, E and K and B-vitamins. My boys will have dark leafy greens in morning smoothies and bok choy in stir-frys. I also sneak these dark green leaves in my spaghetti bolognaise sauce and blitz them along with a ton of other vegetables.
This is a surprising one, but