Have you seen that tip that's all over the internet, the one that says you can throw a handful of spinach in a smoothie and your kids will be none the wiser?
Ha! I say. Ha!
My New Year's resolutions have fallen by the wayside (good thing Lent is coming), but I decided this morning to do better. I was going to make a blenderful of delicious nutrient-packed smoothie for breakfast, and I thought I'd try the spinach trick.
Now my boys are reasonably adventurous eaters, but spinach for breakfast -- in a smoothie -- is just not going to fly. (Maybe in an omelet, but not in a smoothie.) I was trying to add the spinach stealthily, on top of the fruit and underneath the plain yogurt. My oldest kept wandering in and out and I would jump to interpose my body between the blender and his line of sight so he wouldn't say "Spinach? Smoothie? That's disgusting." Usually I let the frozen fruit sit for a few minutes so the blender doesn't have to work as hard, but the vigilance got too exhausting so I cranked up the motor.
I blended, and blended, and blended, but the small green bits would not disappear. I added more frozen strawberries, all I could grab from a bag of mixed fruit, but there wasn't enough pink to disguise the green flecks. I poured Pete a speckled glass. "Yum!" he said, but I knew the older boys would be more discriminating. I needed some blueberries, or something dark, but we had nothing in the freezer.
Cocoa! Chocolate smoothie! Who doesn't love a little chocolate in the morning? I added a tablespoon of cocoa powder, and then another, but we still had an RSVP (Recalcitrant Spinach Visibility Problem). Suddenly I noticed that the blender was spraying out green-flecked brown droplets from behind. The bottom had started leaking and I had a mess on my hands. I threw paper towels at it and served up my sludgy concoction.
I said brightly, "Look, guys, chocolate smoothie!"
They replied skeptically, in unison: "Chocolate?" Alex tasted it and said, "Could I make myself a bagel?" Marty tasted it and said, "Me too?" Joe didn't even want to try it. Who knew that chocolate would cause more nose-wrinkling than spinach?
At 7:45 I am more interested in getting them fed than in broadening their culinary horizons, so I sighed heavily and let them get bagels. I am, however, far too cheap to pour out my sludge, so I am drinking it myself.
It might take awhile.
Anybody want to come over for some antioxidants?
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