Admit it, eating healthy feels good!

Since Sophie was born, I have found myself deeply devoted to eating well. This was easy at first, because I made our own babyfood. (Which I highly recommend doing, both for the health of your baby and your wallet!) So while Sophia ate pureed carrots, I snacked on potato chips. :)

Fast forward a couple months and things get a bit trickier. It's after school, I'm sitting down at the table with our girl and I offer her some broccoli with parmesan cheese sprinkles. She starts eating it up. I reach into my bag of cheddar bunnies. Sophie reaches for them. I hand her broccoli. She pushes it away and wants only what I'm eating. Of course, I don't give her any. I put the cheddar bunnies away and reach down for a bite of broccoli. Yuck! I smile anyway. She eventually finishes the broccoli reluctantly...the next day we both sat down to a bigger portion of parmesan broccoli to share. My life with potato chips was officially coming to an end.

Now, for the most part, we eat the same things at every meal. Don't worry, I still sneak in Little Debbies or Oreo cookies during her nap time every once in a while. Luckily, Sophia is a better vegetable eater than me. There are several she likes that I don't: mushrooms or butternut squash, for example. But I used to not touch many vegetables with a ten foot pole not too long ago. Now, I happily eat broccoli several times a week. Carrots are great too. Spinach and lettuce is an easy one for me, and I l-o-v-e bell peppers, but am still working on hummus. Needless to say, I'm always on the lookout for ways to incorporate more vegetables in our meals and snacks.

During one of Sophie's nap times last week, I found myself researching types of vegetables, because it's important not only to eat a variety of vegetables, but a variety of types of vegetables. There are five! Who knew? Here is a convenient list of vegetables organized by type- I keep it on the inside of the pantry door.

I also found this great printable that is also on the inside of our pantry door. I use them both in creating our weekly meal plan, or for serving snacks on the fly.

Dark, leafy greens are easy for me to get in, but Sophie is less of a fan. I have found, the best way to sneak them in is to drink them! Here's the recipe for an all time favorite snack: Green Monster Smoothie.

1 cup chopped spinach
1 cup chopped kale
1 cup berries
1 refrigerated banana

Combine in a blender or food processor, and then pour in your favorite of the following until desired consistency:

almond milk
apple juice
vanilla yogurt

(if you use the yogurt, you will need to add some of the apple juice or almond milk to help thin the mixture, unless you want to feed it like you would normal yogurt, with a spoon. I'm thinking of trying that myself!)

Happy healthy eating for the love of kids!