I’m officially calling it snack week here at Marin mama cooks, so in honor of snack week I’m going to be posting two of my kid’s new favorite snacks. Yippee! I mean who doesn’t love a good snack, right? I figured this was the perfect week to focus on snacks, as the days are getting longer and spring sports are starting to ramp up. As a result, kids tend to be hungrier this time of year (at least in my house) and need some fuel to power them through the afternoon until dinnertime. I don’t mind feeding my kids a snack, but I prefer it to be on the healthier side when possible! I think I scored with these two snacks, as they both satisfy their sweet craving, while providing them with a healthy snack.
The first snack I’m posting is this easy, 3-ingredient smoothie that gets a double thumbs up in my house by both kids! Eli is a total smoothie kid, and he will happily down a smoothie for breakfast, lunch or after school.
My little friend Tatum helped me come up with this smoothie concoction! We were making up smoothies one day and I asked her what type of smoothie sounded good to her, and she said, “strawberries, yogurt, banana and a bit of honey.” Bingo! Well done Tatum! I love the simplicity of her recipe, as it only requires 3 simple ingredients, a ripe banana, fresh or frozen strawberries and some vanilla Greek yogurt! Easy peasy and super tasty! This is the perfect spring-time smoothie, as strawberries are starting to come in season, at least in Northern California.
This is also a kid tested and approved smoothie, as I’ve made this up for 8 different kids and all of them rate this a 10+. It’s the perfect smoothie to serve up for breakfast, lunch or as an after school snack. It satisfies kid’s sweet craving while providing them with a healthy snack. Can’t beat that!
strawberry banana smoothie:
serves two 8oz glasses (or 2 kids)
- 1 cup chopped fresh, ripe strawberries (about 4-5 large strawberries) or 1 cup frozen strawberries
- 1/2 cup (overflowing) Greek vanilla bean yogurt or 1 3.5-ounce container – Using vanilla Greek yogurt is key, as it has a richer texture and flavor than normal vanilla yogurt.
- 1 large, ripe banana, fresh or frozen
- 3-4 ice cubes if using fresh strawberries and fresh banana
Three simple healthy ingredients, you got to love that!
If you’re using fresh strawberries, check out my post on how to keep strawberries fresh. It really works folks!!
As you can see, one 5.3-ounce container of yogurt is a bit over 1/2 cup, so if you’re using a larger container of yogurt, then you can let it overflow a bit. I love this vanilla bean Greek yogurt fromWallaby! I prefer using Greek yogurt over traditional because Greek yogurt has a thicker texture, fewer carbohydrates and sugar, more protein than regular yogurt and it just tastes great! It’s a win win in my book!
Get out your blender and toss in the 1 cup strawberries, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, banana and a few ice cubes.
Turn on the mixer, give the smoothie a whirl until well blended. Easy peasy!
Pour the smoothie into two 8-ounce glasses, add a fun straw and call in the kiddos!
I think this smoothie is perfectly sweet, but if you want it to be a bit sweeter, you can add a touch of honey like my friend Tatum likes to do!
As I said earlier, we LOVE smoothies. Here’s a few of my kid’s other favorite smoothies..
Pineapple, mint and banana smoothie.
Strawberry, mango and banana smoothie.
Spinach smoothie! Kid rated 10! Yes, I’m not lying, my kids actually rate this smoothie a 10, even though it has 2 cups of spinach in it! Gotta love that!
I personally love to drink this kale and spinach smoothie when I’m feeling like I need a bit of a detox!
- 1 cup chopped fresh, ripe strawberries (about 4-5 large strawberries) or 1 cup frozen strawberries
- ½ cup (overflowing) Greek vanilla bean yogurt or 1 3.5-ounce container - Using vanillla Greek yogurt is key, as it has a richer texture and flavor than normal vanilla yogurt.
- 1 large, ripe banana, fresh or frozen
- 3-4 ice cubes if using fresh strawberries, or fresh banana
- If you're using fresh strawberries, check out my post on how to keep strawberries fresh. It really works folks!!
- Get out your blender and toss in the 1 cup strawberries, ½ cup Greek yogurt, banana and a few ice cubes.
- Turn on the mixer, give the smoothie a whirl until well blended. Easy peasy!
- Pour the smoothie into two 8-ounce glasses, add a fun straw, and call in the kiddos!
- I think this smoothie is perfectly sweet, but if you want it to be a bit sweeter, you can add a touch of honey like my friend Tatum likes to do!
Up next are these no-bake dark chocolate peanut butter granola bars that I created for Zoe because of her love for the peanut butter dark chocolate Kind bars!
Jackie, you can also add 1/4 cup of oats before blending for a little staying power. Just an idea and something I’ve done. Raw whole oats. 🙂
Jackie
Hi Jackie! Great idea! I wanted to try oats in a smoothie, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Going to try this next time. Thanks for the tip! xoxo, Jacquelyn
Yum! I’m with Eli, you can’t go wrong with a strawberry banana smoothie! looks so creamy and good:)