Have Blender, Will Nourish

As anyone with a couple of busy kids knows, every so often there's a morning when they need to be fed in a hurry. Murphy's Law dictates that these times often coincide with the times when said children don't have any interest in eating. Of course.

Early morning soccer game? They're busy trying to find their shin guards, and I'm trying to figure out what they can eat in the car without making a mess.

Foray to the farmer's market? We're up and out early, and it's our custom to have pancakes when we return. Still, we can't leave without eating anything.

The solution was only a few spins away: Blender, meet yogurt. Yogurt, meet a whole new world.

Sure, I'd made my kids the occasional strawberry-banana smoothie before… yogurt, a banana, a handful of ripe berries, and a splash of milk if it got too thick. They'd always liked them, but it was nothing we'd made a habit of doing. The novelty would wear off, and I'd offer one and be told "I'm just not feeling banana-y today."

It turns out that there's little you can't blend with plain, fat-free yogurt to make a delightful, nutrient-rich drink. Really!

Now it's a game. I fix their smoothies before they come downstairs and then they have to try to guess what's in them. Strawberry-banana is always easy for them to identify, but I had them stumped for hours when I served up orange-mango with a liberal sprinkling of cinnamon (my son's new favorite). My daughter can't decide if blueberry-vanilla with honey or peach-pineapple is the best.

I cut up and freeze fruits in snack-size bags, ready to grab and toss in the blender on those busy mornings. Any fat-free or low-fat yogurt will do; I buy it by the quart.

As for the picture up there? Don't tell my kids, but those berry smoothies contain my secret SuperMom ingredient -- fresh spinach.  The yogurt masks the taste, and it's an extra boost of nutrition. Yum!