One of the best snacks I can have waiting for the kids when they get off the school bus in the afternoon is a smoothie. And this Strawberry Banana Smoothie is one of their favorite flavors!
I am not entirely sure what goes on at school after lunch, but I do know whatever it is makes my kids awfully hungry. When the bus pulls up, they race down the hill, crash through the backdoor and start clamoring “What’s for snack? What’s for snack?” No “Hey mom! How are you? How was your day?” No “Guess what happened at school?” The only greeting I get is demands for immediate nourishment!
Because of this I always try my best to have something on the table, ready to go. (Get my tips on on how to up your game in the after school snack department here!) They rarely complain about what I’ve put out for them…they only complain when I haven’t prepped it ahead of time! And while they’ll eat anything in their frenzied state of hunger, they definitely get more excited about some snacks than others. And one they always go nuts for: smoothies!
Smoothies are pretty quick and easy to make once you get in the habit of having the ingredients ready to go. And luckily you probably have everything you need in your kitchen already: fruit, yogurt, juice. There are endless combinations of smoothies and you really don’t even need a recipe. But I will share a few tips that I have found to take your smoothies from good to great.
- A Good Blender – First of all, you need a good blender to get nice, smooth smoothies. I have a Nutribullet Pro 900 Series blender and this thing rocks. (Not trying to sell you on anything! I just genuinely love this blender.) Of course you can make smoothies in any blender. But the Nutribullet is just super powerful and quick and SO easy to clean!
- Frozen Fruit – Next, smoothies are best when they are super cold. Ice works, but I find it never really blends well and then you get these annoying little chunks of ice in the bottom of the drink. But, if you freeze the fruit, you get that same icy coldness without chunks! If you have a great blender, the frozen fruit just gets pureed and works beautifully to give you a nice, cold, thick smoothie. I buy tons of bananas and berries and just take 15 minutes to put them on a cookie sheet and freeze. I’ll come back later in the day, once the fruit is frozen solid, and place it in freezer zip bags. Then it’s ready to go whenever the smoothie craving strikes!
- Sneaky Nutrition – If you were to ask your kids to have a little spinach salad after school, what kind of reaction do you think you would get? (And good for you, all you lucky moms who have kids that LOVE spinach!) But you can take a little handful of spinach, kale or whatever greens you have on hand and drop it in that blender and no one will be the wiser! Seriously. The smoothie will turn green if you have more spinach than fruit, but a small handful packs a big nutrional punch without changing the color, texture or taste of the smoothie!
So if you haven’t done so already, try your hand at an after school smoothie and see what your kids think. And with school ending, think about smoothies for breakfast, an on-the-go meal, or an anytime snack!
- 1 frozen banana
- 6 frozen strawberries
- 1/4 c. baby spinach leaves
- 1 c. vanilla yogurt (we like Greek yogurt, but regular works too!)
- 1/2 c. orange juice
- Place all ingredients in blender up and blend until smooth! If too thick, add a little more juice or water and blend again to thin.
- Serve and enjoy! Cute bottle and straw optional!
These look delicious! I love smoothies, they are sooo tasty. I would prefer to drink the smoothie than eat the ingredients, is that weird?!
Ha Francesca! Not weird at all…that’s the whole reason we make smoothies so often. My oldest will not eat any fruit. At all. But he’ll drink smoothies so it’s the only way I can get that fruit in him!
We love smoothies, too! Strawberry banana is a favorite. Yum. Your kiddos are adorable!
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Aaah banana strawberry. A comfort food! I like how you put orange juice in it. Natural sweetener 🙂
One of my all time favorites! YUM!
We love smoothies around our house! I love your bottles also. Very cute!
My kiddos love smoothies! In fact, I’m getting ready to make the almost exact smoothie for them right now. I’ve never tried orange juice in it. I’ll have to try that next time!
This would be a great way to get my picky eater to eat his fruits and veggies!
Love this soooo much!!! I cannot wait to try out your recipe and make it for my little ones! And your idea of offering it as an after school snack? Genius!! Why do they always come home so hungry?? Thanks for sharing!
Great tips, Stacy!! I need to look into that blender. I despise cleaning my big fancy one so I use an old magic bullet that I end up cursing mid-blend.
Smoothies are great, me and my kids love it too 🙂
It’s a pretty normal oil we use here in Sweden for cooking. But no, it doesn’t add any flavor. You can use any oil you like, but maybe not olive oil 🙂
I love a good smoothie and this one looks delicious! I’m going to have to keep this in mind for breakfasts in the morning, I’ve actually never out greek yogurt in one before so I like that idea!
oh I’m super excited to try this. We just learned how to make yogurt in the crock pot so I’m gonna try it out! Thanks for the idea!
Banana strawberry smoothies are my go to smoothie. I like to make mine with almond milk and a little pomegranate juice. Frozen bananas and strawberries are great to keep on hand so you have the ingredients ready to go. I also like to add a little green from spinach or kale.
Oeh I love banana strawberry smoothies, and the little guy is crazy about them as well! Haven´t tried it with spinach leaves yet so will definitely add that to try it out 🙂
Yum! We love strawberries in this house so I imagine we’d love this.
I think the little would enjoy this!
Your smoothie recipe looks great! I love the bottles with the straws!
My girls enjoy smoothies too. I love that I can add greens in…but sometimes I don’t sneak them in too well and my daughter will ask me to put less salad in next time. 🙂 I think I need a more high-powered blender to ensure that they get blended up better!
Too funny, Emily! I really do love the Nutribullet Pro…I wouldn’t make smoothies before I had it because I hated cleaning the blender. But now I make a green one for myself daily!
We do a lot of smoothies around here – it’s the only way for me to make sure that my 16 year old gets any nutrition during the day since she chooses her own fast-food lunch (zero nutrition). I love those bottles you’re using for smoothies!!!