Healthy Breakfast Drink

From Meg's Son's Kitchen

Big news in our family - our granddaughter was born 3 weeks early and we got to visit with her this past week.  Oh yeah, we also got to visit with our younger son and his charming wife.  Granddaughter is beautiful, healthy and amazing. The parents are doing well trying to adjust to 2 hours of sleep followed by 2 hours of wakefulness.  Thankfully their guestroom is sound proof so we were oblivious. 

Our younger son has always been a "meat and potatoes and milk" guy from the very beginning.  At 6 months old we started him on baby food.  After one or two spoons of mashed fruit or vegetable he would stop eating.  Since I was still breastfeeding, I thought he was full.  But after he was weaned I slowly came to realize that there were very few fruits and vegetables that he would eat.  And even his "preferred" choices often went uneaten.  So imagine my surprise when I watched my son make me a really healthy smoothie for breakfast.  It was huge and I could not finish it but he finished it for me, after already downing one for himself.  He commented that this was the way he tried to get fruits and vegetables into his diet. Yea! I (and/or daughter-in-law ) have had some affect on his diet.

I find most fruit smoothies to be too sweet.  And kale smoothies just don't excite me.  The son made a combo fruit and vegetable smoothie that was really good.  This is one of those "eyeball" recipes - no exact proportions or ingredients .  Make it up as you go along and use what is available.

Healthy Breakfast (amounts are estimated)

1 cup frozen berries (you can buy them fresh and freeze them yourself)
1 cup spinach leaves (packed)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup ground peanuts (many stores that have make your own peanut butter machines have pre-ground peanuts nearby.  Or get your own nuts and grind them and freeze them )
water - amount depends on how thick or thin you want your breakfast

Blend all the ingredients and enjoy.

Variations: 
add half a banana (you can freeze bananas, they look awful but taste great in a smoothie)
use vanilla yogurt for a bit of sweetness
substitute kale for the spinach
add shredded carrot
substitute milk for the water

Use your imagination when making your smoothie but keep it healthy and stay away from sweetners like honey or agave - you don't really need them. And, this doesn't have to be a breakfast food - lunch, dinner, snack - it is always a good choice for a balanced meal - fruit, vegie and protein .