My Newest Favorite Smoothie

Ever since I snuck pumpkin into my kids' smoothies and they actually LIKED it, I have been slyly adding veggies in at every step. Part of me is conflicted about this. My children don't eat greens when they are presented with greens. But they will eat them pureed in a smoothie or some other such place. I am concerned that I will stop pushing them to eat greens and live contented knowing that they are consuming them in some way. But what happens when they get older? Will the magically come to a rational age where they will see me eating greens and they will try some and like them? Does that really happen? I am far more concerned that by not getting them to try some that they will grow up to hate greens, even though they may be the most important food to get into your diet. Perhaps I will simply table the issue. Next year after all, the Things will be 2 and 4. Our years of parenting are far from over. It is just that I don't know what is ahead, and I have a very intense sense of urgency on some parenting issues. This sense of urgency helps me at the office, but I am not sure how to turn it off when I get home.

Anyhow, I ran out of pumpkin puree last week and have not been feeling like staying up until 11pm to make more. So I came up with another combination!

PURPLE SMOOTHIE (makes two apx 6 oz kid sized smoothies)
1 Frozen Banana
Frozen Wild Blueberries (I never measure--I don't know, a quarter cup? A Third??)
One handful of Kale
Plain Whole Milk Yogurt (Again, it's a smoothie a half a cup??)
1 Tablespoon of honey
Vanilla to taste
Milk to thin it out if the mixture is too thick

I whirred everything together. It was the first time that I found a combination that tasted sweet without adding too much extra sugar. You could not taste the kale at all, which is a good thing. Also, the blueberries were purple enough to cover the color of the 'green puree' which I have been hiding with colored plastic glasses. It was nice to make something that I wasn't nervous about what the kids would do with it. They of course drank it. Be still my heart.

A note about the Blueberries:
Where I live in Manhattan, it is relatively easy to search out local honey, yogurt, milk and even kale if you are resourceful and can make it to one of the many farmer's markets. I do buy imported organic bananas. But the berries are trickier. There is a local farm that will sell frozen berries over the winter. But I know they are not organic, and they are $8 a pint!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is alot of money. But I found a company a long time ago, Wyman's of Maine. They sell frozen wild blueberries. The berries are billed as wild, which is almost a tag word for organic if it is true, because it basically means uncultivated. And most stuff that grows wild grows organically unless I guess if it is growing too close to a highway (I'm kidding). But I am not sure that 'wild' is a USDA regulated term. But they might? Regardless, the berries comes from Maine, the land of blueberries. And that is closer to me than California. And they come from a smaller manufacturer as opposed to some major brand name. They are $4.99 for 15 ounces. So I am okay with this choice. It is nice to find that some of the foods I have been eating for years actually pass the new rules.