Thick, creamy, and oh-so-kid friendly, this chocolate spinach smoothie is packed with healthy ingredients both big and little kids love!
Ted is in complete shock that I created a chocolate spinach smoothie recipe. Seriously. Every morning he makes a smoothie for himself and the boys and I always politely decline [or not so politely depending on the number of wake-ups the night before] a taste. The only liquid I want in the morning is coffee. That’s it. But when it comes to afternoon or post-nap snacks, a smoothie hits the spot! And because green smoothies are all the rage, I thought I’d share my little secret for making them even better: dark chocolate cocoa powder.
While I’m not one for hiding veggies on kids besides the pureed stage of feeding babies, I’m all for smoothies. Why? They are convenient, full of nutrition if you add the right stuff, and they are a great way to get an extra serving or two of veggies, fruit, and dairy into your child’s diet. I don’t know about you, but some days I think my kids should be eating three smoothies a day based on what actually gets eaten off their plates. Does that mean I stop serving the solid green veggies? Nope. It just means the broccoli on the floor doesn’t bother me so much if I know the day before they gobbled down this chocolate spinach smoothie.
Do not take this chocolate spinach smoothie as a recommendation to liquefy all fruits and veggies for your children [unless you medically need to do that for them]. While it’s an easy recipe to make, nothing beats exposing your kids to the “real deal,” aka broccoli, spinach, kale, etc. Yep, THOSE veggies. Just remember we can all use a little more green in our lives, and if one serving is in the form of a smoothie [with chocolate I might add], we might be more apt to enjoying the solid form too! Or so that’s what I keep telling myself…. Joey and Anthony? Well of course they’d prefer slurping down the smoothie!
Get great taste + lots of nutrition in this chocolate spinach smoothie! Click To Tweet
- 1 cup fat-free milk
- ½ cup vanilla yogurt
- 1 ½ tablespoons dark chocolate cocoa powder [I used Hershey’s—regular cocoa powder works just as well]
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup frozen blueberries
- 1 medium banana, peeled
- 1 ½ cups fresh spinach
- Ice to taste
- Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender. Puree until smooth.
- Add a handful or two of ice if you’d like your smoothie extra thick and cold. Pulse again until smooth.
- Pour into a glass and immediately.
Note this smoothie is NOT very sweet. But I tried to sweeten it as naturally as possible with yogurt and fruit. AND my smoothie connoisseur [Ted] let me know Almond milk makes it even sweeter… but I’m a dairy fan and don’t want to make the switch!
Oh yum, this looks delicious! I’m a hug fan of smoothies for my daughter and I to get in a little extra veggies for both of us. I wouldn’t have thought to add chocolate to a spinach smoothie, but I’ll have to try this out!
I love that you mentioned that we should’t hide all veggies. I agree and I am also in favor of getting veggies in whenever possible. So I give this two thumbs up!
I love this! I agree that smoothies are a great way to get in an extra serving of fruit or veggies in. Sienna is a huge chocolate fan so I will definitely be trying this one!
Works for my husband too, right? K thanks 🙂
I love smoothies in the morning…perfect way to start on my five-a-day 🙂
Hi!:) Great smoothie idea, I loved it.
Although, I did change a few things around. I did this for a reason and if
you take just 45 mins of your time to watch this video, I’m sure you’ll
know what and why I made these changes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K36Zu0pA4U
So excited to try this for my daughter!!! Thank you!!!
You are so welcome!!
I found this through Pinterest. Just made it for my girls. They drank it! I’ve been making green smoothies for a long time and trying to get them to like them, but they just don’t… maybe someday. Then this morning I thought about adding chocolate. Thank you so much! They got a serving of spinach without knowing it. LOVE IT. I did add a scoop of chocolate protein powder, still turned out great. Thank you!!!