This is a super puree to introduce beetroot to your little one! The pear gives it a bit of sweetness which offsets the earthy flavour of the beetroot. It’s so simple to make!
You will need:
2 beetroots – peeled and roughly chopped
1 pear – peeled and roughly chopped
Put the chopped beetroot in a saucepan and boil till soft. You could also steam or microwave – up to you. Reserve some of the cooking juices for later.
Blend the cooked beetroot and the raw pear until smooth, adding as much of the reserved cooking juice as necessary to get your preferred consistency. You could use a bit of water instead of the reserved cooking juices if you’d prefer.
Serve straight away, pop into freezer portions for later, or spoon as much as you need into a Super Squish pouch for a fabulous meal on the go.
When I decided to do the seasonal smoothie campaign I wanted to focus on creating smoothies that are predominantly made up of vegetables with just a bit of fruit thrown in for sweetness.
While there is nothing wrong with all fruit smoothies, I’m trying to be more careful about how much sugar my 3 and a half year old has during the day. There is less sugar in a predominantly veggie smoothie than one that is mostly fruit, so that ticks this box. Also, this type of smoothie is a fantastic way to get additional vegetables into him without him knowing! It goes without saying that the smoothie had to be enjoyed by my 3 and a half year old. I wanted him to ask me for more when his glass was empty! Quite a challenge to say the least. I’m pleased to say that this smoothie passed the test!
There is an abundance of seasonal veggies in October. The most obvious of them all is, of course, the pumpkin. However, I’ve chosen to focus on one that tends to be overlooked – the cauliflower. My mission was to make a cauliflower smoothie! I don’t think you can be ambivalent about cauliflower – either you like it or you don’t! It isn’t one of my favourite veg and I don’t cook it often, so it was a challenge to come up with a smoothie recipe that made it the star. The great thing about adding cauliflower to a smoothie is that it has a rather bland flavour, and therefore can be used to bulk up smoothies without affecting the flavour too much.
Seeing as beetroot is also seasonal (and I had some left over in my fridge) I decided to throw that in too for a bit of vibrant colour. Avocado may not be in season, but I was looking for something that would add a creaminess to the smoothie. It worked brilliantly!
Ingredients:
70g fresh beetroot peeled
100g cauliflower
half a ripe avocado
2 small very ripe bananas (one large banana would work fine)
15 frozen raspberries (any frozen berries)
a small handful of ice
350/400ml unsweetened almond milk (my favourite brand is the Rude Health almond milk (a mixture of almond and rice milk), as it is naturally sweeter due to the addition of rice milk). Add milk to taste and to get the consistency you prefer.
Blitz and enjoy this yummy cauliflower smoothie!
This should fill about 5 Super Squish pouches, with a kiddie-sized glass left over for drinking straight away.
Maybe some of you have children that love beetroot. Mine does not. Not at all.
I even tried to get him to try beetroot juice once thinking that the gorgeous bright colour would make it palatable. It did not work at all and he refused to let the glass get anywhere near his lips! Off the record, I love love love beetroot juice and all things beetroot, so I can vouch for the deliciousness of the juice! So, in my quest to make the humble beetroot something that he would eat, I resorted to blending it into a smoothie. By the way, I initially tried apple instead of banana in the recipe and it wasn’t accepted by the 3.5 year old….
Fresh beetroot is in season at the moment, so should be readily available if you feel like giving this recipe a go.
Ingredients:
1 large ripe banana (try and get a very ripe banana to sweeten the smoothie as much as possible)
about 50g raw beetroot (peeled) – stains your fingers so watch out!
30g frozen raspberries (any frozen berries would work fine)
180 – 250ml freshly squeezed orange juice (or watered down according to your preference)
Bomb all of the ingredients in the blender and whizz till smooth. The colour is gorgeous!
(By the way, I initially tried apple instead of banana and it wasn’t accepted by the 3.5 year old)
Fills about 2 pouches with a little to spare (depending on how much liquid you add to taste)
TIP: I kept the smoothie in the fridge overnight and just blended it again the next day before drinking.
You will need:
