Sweet & Savory Kitchens

As I’ve mentioned before, I have a little boy, Desmond, who is now 21 months old.  He and I go to a monthly attachment parenting meeting at Be By Baby, a Chicago baby store that you should really check out if you live in the area!  Our last meeting was about family nutrition, and many of the mothers brought up the concern that they have about their toddler not eating anything more than Goldfish crackers and Cheerios.  A lot of moms had really great ideas for getting your toddler to eat better foods, which was really nice for me as well because we just went through a few days of Desi not eating anything but…you guessed it…Goldfish.

One of the things we talked about at our meeting was the use of flax seed.  Flax seed has a ton of nutrients in it, and is great because you can add flax seed meal to things and your little one won’t even notice.  One of the moms in my group suggested making a smoothie with flax seed in it, so I came up with this one for Desi.  He absolutely loves it!

Fruit and Yogurt Smoothie with Flax Seed Meal

1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 banana
4 strawberries, or a handful of blueberries or raspberries
1 tbsp flax seed meal(or more…I’ve been slowly increasing the amount as he gets used to the flavor)
apple or white grape juice (used as a sweetener and thinner…use as much as you’d like depending on how thin you want the smoothie to be)

Pulse the yogurt, banana and berries in a blender a few times until the fruit has broken up a bit, then puree it on high for about 30 seconds. Add the flax seed meal and a little juice, puree for another 30 seconds or so until smooth. Add juice as needed and blend.

I serve the smoothie to Desi in a small cup with a straw, but if your little one isn’t using a straw yet, I recommend buying one of the “First Years Take N’ Toss” sippy cups (Target has them), or some other cheap sippy cup, and cutting off the end of the spout so that the thicker liquid can come through.

You can save the smoothie for a day, so I make two and save the extra for the next day so that I’m not getting the blender out every day.

Other uses for flax seed meal:

It’s good on hot cereal…Desi doesn’t even notice that I’ve been putting it on his oatmeal in the morning.

You can add it to baked goods like pancakes, muffins, or quick breads.  Just mix a couple of tablespoons in with the dry ingredients.

Add it to your granola if you make your own like I do (yes, I’m a serious hippie sometimes).