Banana spirulina smoothies

One of the best things I did was encourage my eldest child to drink spirulina smoothies. It has helped in those times when she has steadfastly refused to eat a perfectly good dinner.

I am a big fan of spirulina because it is jam-packed full of lots of lovely nutrients and I feel that it goes some way to replace the green vegetables that she sometimes does not eat every day. She probably had her first one when she was around eighteen months of age, but I have introduced them to my son now and he is sixteen months old.

Here is my smoothie recipe:
1 banana
250ml milk
handful of frozen blueberries
1 kiwifruit
1 teaspoon of spirulina powder
1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil

Place all the ingredients into blender and blend and thick and smooth.
Serve with a straw (child to choose the colour).

A few special notes:
Do not forget to use full fat milk if child is under two years of age, and low fat milk if over two years of age.
The blueberries are full of antioxidants and vitamins and are regarded as a superfood. Frozen blueberries are more economical and make the smoothie nice and cold.
Spirulina and blueberries make lovely stains that are very hard to remove, so protect clothing etc.
Kiwifruit are great for Vitamin C, digestion and she likes them.
I like adding the flaxseed oil for the extra health benefits. Remember to keep your flaxseed oil in the fridge and use within a month of opening the bottle.

Sneaky trick.....
Because the spirulina and blueberries are strong in flavour and colour, it is easy to add other things to the smoothie without your child knowing. I have added strips of plain eye fillet steak that she refused to eat, to the smoothie, whizzed it up, and she drank it all down none the wiser. This also works with plain vegetables.

However beware of trying to add too much or adding things that have a really distinctive flavour. This happened once and she took one sip and said that she did not like it because it tasted like dinner. She was very suspicious of her smoothies for a while after that, but lucky she has moved on and is drinking them again without a taste test first.