Do you have problems getting your kids to eat their veggies? I do, unfortunately. There are some my daughter will eat including broccoli and carrots and corn, but my son will not eat a single veggie unless it comes in the form of a pouch.
To get them both to eat a few more veggies in their diets, including some neither one of them will touch, I created three hidden veggie smoothies smoothies that are perfect for breakfast or for an afternoon pick me up. If your kids are on a diet of nuggets, granola bars and air too, try these recipes at home. They all make about two to three servings.
Hidden Veggie Smoothies – Strawberry Banana Surprise
This is one not only my kids will eat but I will eat it too. In fact, I started drinking this while I photographed these, which is why in the photo with all three of them I hid it in back. It’s half gone.
Orange bell pepper generally has a mild taste when compared to other peppers and it is available year round in the grocery store. According to Livestrong.com, one orange pepper contains 190 percent of the daily recommended vitamin C intake for an adult and vitamin C makes it easier for you to absorb iron. Recently, we found out that my son is severely iron deficient (because he refuses to eat any chicken even in nugget form) so we have to give him supplements.
Orange peppers also include antioxidants, vitamin B-6 and two grams of fiber in each pepper.
Now, this won’t taste exactly like a strawberry banana smoothie so don’t tell your kids that’s what it is. They’ll see right through you. The texture of this is different than a straight fruit smoothie and if you don’t get enough banana in you will be able to taste the pepper.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of frozen strawberries and bananas
- 3 cups of vanilla almond milk
- ½ cup of ice
- ½ cup of strawberry Greek yogurt
- ½ an orange bell pepper
There are no steps to follow here since you basically chop all the ingredients and dump them in. However, I would use the liquidly setting on your blender to make sure you get the pepper pieces as small as possible.
You can use fresh fruit that you have frozen, but I always use pre-chopped, frozen fruit when I make smoothies. For some reason, the fact that it’s frozen taste better to me and the fact that I don’t have to chop it is a time saver.
Hidden Veggie Smoothies – Tropical Hurricane Smoothie
This smoothie combines pineapple, mango, banana and carrots. Carrots are one of the veggies that my kids will eat, at least they will eat them raw. It never hurts to get more of them into their diets though.
Carrots are a good source of fiber and antioxidants. They include vitamins A, C K and B8 and are a good source of beta-carotene, iron (Fabulous!), copper and manganese, according to organicfacts.net. Eating carrots on a regular basis is said to reduce cholesterol, help your immune system and digestive health.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of frozen pineapple, mangos and bananas
- 3 cups of unsweetened, vanilla almond milk
- ½ cup of ice
- ½ cup of mango or pineapple Greek yogurt
- 1 whole carrot, shredded
Again, make sure you use the liquidly setting on your blender. You want to make sure that the carrot is a chopped up as possible or it can add a texture to the smoothie. While it’s not specifically a bad texture, it is different and I know some kids have issues with textures.
Hidden Veggie Smoothies – Berry Berry Good Smoothie
I saved the best for last! This one is actually my favorite and uses kale. Kale is a leafy green that I love, but my kids won’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. You can’t taste it at all!
Kale is again high in iron and low in calories. It also has antioxidants, vitamins A, C and K, and plenty of other good nutrients according to WebMD that give it the dark, green color.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of frozen berries – raspberries, blueberries and black berries
- 3 cups of unsweetened, vanilla almond milk
- ½ cup of ice
- 1 cup of kale
- ½ cup of blueberry Greek yogurt
I hope these help you squeeze a few more nutrients into your littles, and maybe you too!
Happy eating, friends!
I don’t know about the kids, but this mama would like these smoothies. I am a huge smoothie fan! I will be trying these.
Yes! I loved these.
I have been hiding veggies in my kids food for nearly 12 years now. It’s brilliant and works like a charm 🙂
So sneaky about that orange pepper! I had no clue – and really excited to add that into my smoothie. I love the strawberry banana ones, so this will be a great experiment for me!
I must be a 26 year old kid because this really spoke to me and hit home hahahah. I can’t wait to try all of these!!! I love that you added the benefits of eating all of these nutritious foods!
I’ve seen the kale and carrot additions, but I would have never thought about peppers. Brilliant! I’m fortunate that my daughter has always loved veggies, so we didn’t have to worry about the hiding thing. I think everyone can benefit from adding veggies whether or not we like them. 🙂
I love these smoothies. I always told my kids what was happening, like when I put spinach in their banana bread and they always knew up front. They also knew that it tasted really good.
Omg yum! All of these smoothie sound amazing! I will definitely have to make these for me! Haha! They would even trick me into thinking there were no vegetables.
Yes please, I have a few kids who really won’t eat anything healthy at all but I can get them to drink a smoothie sometimes so I am totally going to try these! Thanks
I really love smoothies. I dont have kids so I am gonna use this list for myself. I can hide the veggies from myself lol.
These all look and sound so delicious. I need to have more smoothies. I dont drink nearly enough of them and they’d really help me get everything I really need in my diet!
Yum these look amazing i love fruit smoothies. xx
These looks great! My kids love smoothies and I always sneak little spinach or kale in them! haha Our moms secret! 😉
I’m thankful my two boys will drink smoothies. It’s one of the best ways to get my picky 6 year old to ingest veggies!
My kids love smoothies and I try to sneak as much as I can in them. I never thought about adding orange bell pepper and I didn’t know they had so much Vitamin C!
My kids and I LOVE smoothies! It’s such a quick and easy way to get fruits and veggies in and the kids think it is a treat!
My kids and I have been making a ton of smoothies lately! I’m trying to hide as many good things in them as i can think of!
I love veggies in a smoothie. They are so much better for you that way. A good way to get a kid to consume them to, however I would’ve never had a smoothie as a kid!
I am so here for this. There’s nothing I hate most than a veggie smoothie and I can taste the VEGGIES. Ugh! Thanks for the great recipes. Guess what my food planning looks like this week? Haha
I love veggie smoothies too so if you don’t mind I’ll be using this amazing recipe for myself. Those smoothies look so yummy and fresh!!
Oddly, I don’t really have to hide any veggies since both of my children love vegetables. Strange kids! 😉 They love smoothies, too, so I’ll have to try out some of these recipes sometime. – HilLesha
I absolutely love smoothies and juices, mainly because you throw something in there you may not normally eat and it tastes fine with the rest of the ingredients! Love this idea of sneaking it into your kids’ food 😉 xx Adaleta Avdic
I’m not a big smoothie person & I don’t have kids but these do look quite good. Going to share with my MIL she drinks smoothies like their going out of style.
Smoothies are a great way to take the necessary nutrients on a daily basis. Your recipe is a great one, Rachel!
would almond butter work instead of greek yogurt? One of my kids has a dairy allergy and did not like the lactose free yogurt options.
I’ll have to make these for my kids! I’m sure they’ll love them. Heck, I’d want one as well.
I’ve never thought to add bell peppers! I’m so trying this! We routinely do spinach but I’m looking forward to mixing it up~
My kids are some pretty picky eaters when it comes to veggies. These would be perfect for them!
So smart! I’ll be bookmarking this to use these tips later.
We did this for our toddlers! Had to hide the veggies in stuff so they didn’t know they were there!
Admission time, I am not a fan of veggies in my own smoothies as an adult lol. I need to try these ideas because I do love my smoothies!
What a great idea to get kids to eat a bit healthier. I love smoothies myself
We do smoothies a LOT! Thanks for some new ideas!
I love smoothies, but never tried adding kale in it. I would love to try this. Looks good. And I hope my picky eater would love it too. 🙂
Smoothies and juices are the perfect ways to sneak in veggies. I do it all the time and it’s so tasty.
This is perfect. My son will not touch a fruit or veggie except bananas. I’m going to try these next week for the morming.
Oh my goodness! I love hiding veggies in smoothies for my picky girls. I’m definitely pinning this to save. Great recipes!
Never imagined adding bell pepper to smoothies. This new flavor of smoothie is new to my taste buds. Gonna have to try this and I’m excited to know what would it taste. Thank you for sharing these three veggie smoothies.
Why does the milk say 5-2 cups? Do we just choose how much we want?
Can you replace the almond milk with just regular milk?