Smoothie: Get Kale in Your Kid's Diet

Every mom and dad struggles to get enough vegetables into their offspring's diet. This goes double for green vegetables and triple for greens.

But research has shown greens to be beneficial in so many ways it is hard to even quantify.

Various campaings to turn kids on to green have cropped up over the years.

Popeye was a nutritional pioneer and kids like me ate spinach and Brussels sprouts because we wanted to be big and strong. But kids' tastes are fickle and, alas, Popeye has lost his appeal.

Kale is one of the most nutrient dense foods around and it is a huge hit for healthy adults all over the world. Getting kids to eat is is a different story.

Thanks to Jamba Juice and innumerable other smoothie outlets, Seed to Feed has discovered a way to get your kids to eat kale and love it. This eureka moment occurred while filming Pacificans Hunter and Daphne making .

Turns out Hunter is pretty much a foodie and had a number of ideas he would love to share. Smoothies kept coming up because he and his friends like to make them when they are hanging out. That's when Hunter disclosed the secret.

"[My friend) Daniel makes one with kale, and it's really good," he said.

Now, my daughters love smooties and one especially enjoys making them for the family, but they are mostly the straight forward fruit, yogurt, juice and ice variety. Hunter and Daniel have a novel approach and today we will see two of their recipes. Hunter will share his version of an Orange Julius and Daniel will demonstrate his kale smoothie which may just change your child's mind about greens. I watched these two polish off an entire carafe. Alright, I had some too.

Being athletes, Hunter and Daniel know that nutrition is a key component of their potential. Daniel loves baseball and Hunter is a fan of Gaelic Football and Hurling.

Daniel expresses his creativity through performing arts and has been in many local stage productions including SOTA's production of Seussical and a number of . Hunter's creative needs are filled by building elaborate Lego scenes and making stop motion movies, as well as playing bass with . Hunter hopes to be a guitar and bass teacher when he grows up.

Hunter's recipe comes from something he had at a good friends house. The balanced combination of orange and creamy vanilla evokes nostalgic memories of Orange Juluis and a creamsicle. Hunter says you can mix it up with the juices for some variety and adjust the texture by adjusting the ice cream to juice ratio.

Hardcore Orange Julius fans should try a teaspoon of malted milk powder and some ice; you will be pleased.

Creativity is ideal for these two recipes, so change it up and have fun. 

Orange Julius Recipe

-2 cups orange juice

-4 scoops vanilla ice-cream

Blend well and enjoy

Kale Juice a.k.a. The Green Smoothie

-2 cups frozen mango

-2 cups shredded kale

-1 1/2 cups orange juice

Combine and blend well

Don't miss next weeks Seed to Feed when we sample Jenna Monroe's family recipe for lentil stew!

Download the movie

Download the movie