For the Love of Smoothies

I think my son is part fruit bat. Not sure what side of the family it comes from but since he could eat solid food, that boy has eaten EVERY kind of fruit there is. He's always been a little guy and he's reached the "finicky years" so it's been a challenge trying to get him to eat things with more substance and get him a little further on the growth curve.

Enter the smoothie. Let me go on record to say I was one of those mom's who pshawed the idea of smoothies being a universal dietary solution to kids. Surely a mix of fruit and yogurt would not fool them if I were to say, add in instant breakfast or protein powder. Consider me corrected! My son loves smoothies, loves making them and so far has experimented with a variety of yogurts, breakfast mixes (we still have an affinity for Carnation instant breakfast), fruits and other add-ins like peanut butter and Nutella. 

This particular creation in this picture was vanilla yogurt, fresh strawberries, diced pears and pineapple chunks with a few added ice cubes. Clearly this is not an unpleasant experience:

Might I add we don't have a traditional blender and instead use the kitchen tool known to save me on many an occasion, my stick blender! Not to mention, after Josh makes his smoothies, he drinks them right out of that plastic cup!