The Berry-Beet Smoothie Experiment
A while back I was read blogs and a mom mentioned they were having beets for dinner. And her kids liked them!! My reaction was admiringly, “WOW” because I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t go too well over at my house. I mean, I can barely get my kids to eat cheese-covered broccoli or carrots swimming in ranch. Yes, the healthy foods/veggie thing is a constant battle for me.
Behind the scenes at OAMM we work a month ahead, and so as I was preparing for the May menu I noticed beets are a seasonal vegetable. My brain cogs started turning as I remembered that supermom and I thought, maybe it would be a good opportunity to come up with a recipe with beets so that I can introduce the new food to my family! Because, really, honestly, I don’t know how beets would go over–we’ve never tried them. And I’m willing to try everything, at least once.
I decided a good way to introduce the veg might be sneaky-chef style in a smoothie, with something else dark red to mask the color (and maybe flavor?). I went with strawberries–another seasonal produce–and breakfast seemed like a great time to test it out.
This is how well it went over.
Time to break out the breakfast cookies. Honestly, I could barely make it through one swallow myself because the smoothie tasted like dirt. So, I guess I’ll need to do a bit more experimenting if I’m hoping to make strawberry-beet smoothies a favorite around here!
I’m DEFINITELY intrigued with the idea of sneaking more veggies into my kids’ diets though, and smoothies are an easy way to go, so I’m not giving up completely. One of my friends swears by spinach smoothies, and “orange” smoothies have been popular with my kids in the past.
So, what about you? Have you been successful sneaking veggies into your kids’ diets? Do tell!!
And what about beets? Do I have hope?
I have a friend to thank for the Incredible Hulk Smoothie idea. It’s made with fresh raw kale (stems removed). I use frozen bananas to make a banana yogurt smoothie add the kale and sweeten with honey. Kale isn’t as strong tasting as spinach. Make sure to blend it until smooth. It turns green, hence the Incredible Hulk Smoothie (thanks Carissa). I also take Kale leaves and rip them into bite size pieces and spray them with olive oil, sprickle them with sea salt and bake them until crispy to make Kale Chips. My kids gobble them up.
2 of my 3 love veggies, my 3rd is picky but does ok. We tried beets, parsnips, and brussel sprouts a couple months ago. My older 2 now love brussels and parsnips went unoticed in the roasted veggie mix with carrots and potatos. The beets went well with the older 2 and my DH, but the smell of them when peeling made my stomach flip. I did not like them, but when roasted they’re ok. It might be easier to mask it baked in a bread or I’ve heard choc cake or even in a stew.
Sweet potatoes are very easy to sneak into French toast. Add up to 1/4 to your batter, and it gives the bread a nice golden color, and the flavor is hardly noticeable.
I always add pureed squash (winter) or carrots to soups, mac n cheese and even mix it in ground beef or turkey for burgers & meatballs. I also add cauliflower to mashed potatoes – but only about 1/3 is cauliflower otherwise they say the potatoes taste funny.
Did you add the beets cooked or raw? I imagine raw would be really harsh, but a small amount of cooked beets would probably sweeten the smoothy.
I received lots of beets in my CSA share one year, so I decided to make a beet quickbread. I took a loaf to work and set it in the breakroom. The beets gave the bread an earthy flavor that wasn’t hidden. The red color of the shredded beets turned brown, so nobody knew what the mystery ingredient was before tasting it. Half the people loved it and half couldn’t stand it. I liked it, but haven’t had the courage to bake another loaf after the strong feedback.
Oh that is funny. I am NOT a beet fan but was intrigued by your trying to sneak them in. I hope your future experiments go better!
Try beets in your pancakes! Not only does it turn the pancakes a very fun shade of pink, but you really cannot taste the beats at all! Here’s the recipe I use:
http://suchakingdom.blogspot.com/2009/09/pancakes.html
Have you tried roasting golden beets with potatoes and carrots? They are not as strongly flavored as the red sort, and roasting them brings out their natural sweetness.
My kids really love beets in every color, but roasting them seems to be the favorite way of preparation. When one of my kids was a little balkity about the beet thing (he now loves them) I reminded him that SUGAR comes from beets. That did the trick.
I add all kinds of pureed veggies into meals. Love “The Sneaky Chef” book!!! The first time I “snuck” was in my step sons birthday cake, white bean puree. You couldn’t taste it at all and it made the cake more moist! Now I have all the purees in the book made and frozen in 1/4c containers in the freezer ready to pull out and add to everything I make! My almost 3yr old isn’t a veggie fan and either am I, but I’ll eat the veggies I sneak in just like they do and I can’t tell at all!
Definitely a challenge here too! LOVE the idea of an Incredible Hulk smoothie – definitely trying that and would never have thought of kale!
I also puree cauliflower, carrots, sweet potatoes, and zucchini into stuff – find them all quite easy to hide. My kids absolute fave dish is from Deceptively Delicious – mac & cheese, with ground chickpeas and pureed cauliflower (plus the cheese & milk!). I can even throw in sweet potatoe (although they will eat this on their own).
I can’t get my daughter to eat ANY vegetable or anything cold so I’m at a loss. But I love roasted beets. Will she eat soup? Maybe you could make a borscht?
Oh, I totally thought it would be great! Good to know. LOL! Perhaps spaghetti sauce? :)
my kids LOVE fruits and veggies. i have never tried beets with them though…. but since they BEG me to buy “weird” things like artichokes or asparagus i think it may be safe to say they’ll like beets! i’m anxious to try beets with them now. lol let us know how the beet smoothie turns out… it LOOKED good!
I laughed out loud when I read about the beets making your smoothie taste like dirt. I have never had red beets that didn’t taste like dirt and when I described them that way to someone who actually likes them, their response was, “And just how do you know what dirt tastes like?” Good luck on the experiment.
beets in spaghetti sauce is good — make your sauce base by simmering beets, carrots and tomato juice. let it reduce for awhile so the veg is mush and the water from the juice evaporates.
I saw a recipe for redvelvet cake made with beets at safemama.com. I like to cook, but I don’t bake as much, so I have never tried it myself. It sounds good, though!
I recently shredded raw beets and added it to a green salad. The beets were tasteless. It was my first time eating them. They are very healthy. They did turn my lettuce a little red on the edges but it was fine.