Morning Smoothies or Popsicles

This morning was definitely a smoothie morning. You can tell when it's time for a smoothie breakfast if it is already getting warm when you let your dog out into the yard.

This recipe is less about the amounts and more about the order of things. So with Addy I tell her the steps before we start and then see if she can help me remember all of the ingredients as we go along. Then of course I let her press the button on the mixer. This accomplishes a couple things. First if the noise is a surprise it scares both her and the dog. If Addy presses the button only Suka gets startled. It also helps with her fine motor skills and hand strength as the buttons are pretty tight on our blender. I bet all toddlers love to press buttons and this lets her see, hear, and taste the outcome of her button pushing.

We have used this "recipe" for a few years now. It originally came from a pamphlet about cooking with honey from the Indiana Beekeepers Association. This fills two large glasses and a small sippy cup or bowl for Addy.

1. fill blender half way with frozen fruit of your choice (it was strawberries for us this morning)-frozen fruit means you have a nice cold smoothie and didn't have to add ice
2. drop in frozen banana-fresh will do here and allows for more hand eye coordination development as Addy had to break the banana and then reach up and drop each piece into the blender
3. a large dollop of yogurt-we like vanilla yogurt in the smoothie but you could always add a splash of vanilla and plain yogurt
4. a dollop of honey
5. add a milk of your choice to the 5 cup line (soy milk is great in smoothies)
6. blend until smooth

We had ours with a piece of toast to make a balanced and filling breakfast. Sometimes I add nutritional boosters like flax or brewer's yeast flakes. We didn't have any on hand so we skipped that step today.

If you don't want them for breakfast or have some left over, pour them into popsicle molds, freeze and enjoy. Addy sometimes doesn't like yogurt but I've found that she loves popsicles made with yogurt. Often I'll just mash some fruit into plain yogurt add a little honey and cinnamon and freeze that for her. She loves it and it is a great way to get more nutrients into her snacks.