fruit smoothie recipeDo your toddlers eat a rainbow of foods? And I don't mean jelly beans or those red, white and blue popsicles that kids love, but a variety of healthy fruits, veggies, protein and carbs.

Experts say helping your toddlers to eat all the colors on the spectrum is a great way to ensure they are getting all the good stuff they need. For instance, a lot of the foods toddlers love are too "yellow": pasta, cereal, and bread. All carbs and few other nutrients.

Sandy Foster is a blogger at Rainbow on Your Plate, offering tips on how to be smart about what you eat and what you feed your kids, as well as recipes and label reading advice.

She shares today's Toddler Meal, a creation from when her girls (now 7 and 10) were 2. They loved frozen fruit (grapes, blueberries, pineapple), but slowly thawing frozen fruit was pretty messy for the car. So she and her girls grabbed a blender and started to experiment, and Whatever's-in-the-Fridge Smoothies were born.

"Our creations are never exactly the same, it all depends on what we've got on hand when the mood strikes. And smoothies are a great way to sneak in otherwise not-so-cool-but-healthy ingredients!" says Sandy, who also runs Indigo Rabbit, the healthy cookie store.

Whatever's-in-the-Fridge Smoothies

Prep time: 5 mins.

You'll need:

1 cup nonfat milk (cow, rice, soy, almond -- whatever works for your family)

1 cup nonfat yogurt (plain, vanilla, strawberry ...)

About 1/3 cup ice cubes or crushed ice

1 banana

1 cup strawberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1 tablespoon wheat germ

1 teaspoon flax oil

honey to taste (optional)

Make it:

1. Put all ingredients into a blender and whip to desired consistency. (Sometimes it's fun to keep the mixture really thick with lots of ice so you can scoop it with a spoon.)

2. Another option -- pour the mixture into popsicle molds, freeze, and enjoy later as hot day treats on a stick!

 

C'mon, don't make me come up with these toddler recipes all on my own. I want to know what YOU feed your toddler's for lunch and dinner. Send me a PM and share your recipes so I can feature them here!

Past Toddler Meals:

Israeli Couscous Salad

Oscar's Gross Green Popsickles

Turkey Burgers with Sneaky Veggies

Red Noodles from the Hillbilly Housewife

Confetti Potatoes

Mini Meatloaves

Alex Guarnaschelli's Homemade Granola

Happy Face Baked Pancakes

Yogurt Fruit Salad

Vegetarian Chili

Fruit Salsa With Cinnamon Crisps

Taco Cups

Sweet-and-Sour Chicken

Italian Goulash

Parmesan Risotto

Chicken Sausages

Easy Quesadillas

Barbecue Cups

Healthy Ketchup

Cinnamon Raisin Roll-Ups

Hot Dogs with Mashed Potatoes