Yogurt is such a great food for babies, toddlers and kids! Smooth, cool, creamy and packed with nutrition.
Don’t worry, I’m not talking about making your own yogurt at home. (But if you do that, you rock! And you amaze me!) I buy plain Greek yogurt (which is just one ingredient) and make my own fruit mixes to add to it. No sugar or added sweeteners needed.
And the fun thing is, you can come up with any combination of fruits you want! Plus, you can add in some greens. I always add raw spinach or kale (whichever I’ve got around) to my fruit mixes. It purees in and doesn’t have any taste, just lots of bonus nutrition.
I tend to use frozen fruits for this. They are picked at the peak of ripeness and frozen, so they are just as nutrient-rich (and in some cases, more so) than fresh fruit. I’ve got my freezer stocked with a variety of frozen fruits year-round, so I’m not beholden to what’s in season in my area. (Though you can certainly use fresh instead for any of these.)
Here are some of our favorite combinations: * Strawberry-spinach * Blackberry-mango-kale * Mixed berries (sold as such in a freezer bag) and spinach * Pineapple-mango-spinach * Blueberry-mango-spinach * Blueberry-strawberry-kale * Mango-raspberry-kale
The sky is the limit. I make a batch every week to use for my kids school lunches and vary it week by week depending on what Ive got on hand. You can start with your childs favorites and experiment from there to expand their horizons.
Note: For babies, I recommend the highest-fat yogurt you can find. Babies need fat! Cabot makes a plain Greek yogurt that is 10% milkfat, which is the highest Ive found. (Pictured above.) Most other brands make 4% or at least 2% milkfat plain Greek yogurt. For older children, non-fat or light plain Greek yogurt is fine.
Don’t worry, I’m not talking about making your own yogurt at home. (But if you do that, you rock! And you amaze me!) I buy plain Greek yogurt (which is just one ingredient) and make my own fruit mixes to add to it. No sugar or added sweeteners needed.
I tend to use frozen fruits for this. They are picked at the peak of ripeness and frozen, so they are just as nutrient-rich (and in some cases, more so) than fresh fruit. I’ve got my freezer stocked with a variety of frozen fruits year-round, so I’m not beholden to what’s in season in my area. (Though you can certainly use fresh instead for any of these.)
Yogurt is such a great food for babies, toddlers and kids! Smooth, cool, creamy and packed with nutrition.
Here are some of our favorite combinations: * Strawberry-spinach * Blackberry-mango-kale * Mixed berries (sold as such in a freezer bag) and spinach * Pineapple-mango-spinach * Blueberry-mango-spinach * Blueberry-strawberry-kale * Mango-raspberry-kale
And the fun thing is, you can come up with any combination of fruits you want! Plus, you can add in some greens. I always add raw spinach or kale (whichever I’ve got around) to my fruit mixes. It purees in and doesn’t have any taste, just lots of bonus nutrition.
If you’re looking for more breakfast ideas here are a few other recipes that you might enjoy!
I start each morning with a bowl of Greek Yogurt with Fruit for Breakfast. Create your homemade yogurt parfaits using seasonal fruit and plain Greek yogurt. It’s a healthy and more satisfying alternative to cold cereal.
If you need ideas for combining different ingredients for your family’s yogurt parfaits, then this post will hopefully help you.