creamy fruity protein smoothie

You know your kid is self sufficient when you get out of the shower and hear "Mommy!  I have a surprise for you!", the sentence that ALWAYS makes me nervous when Liam says it, walk to the kitchen and see this...

Luckily he was waiting for me to plug in the blender because he knows he's not allowed, but then he's not supposed to climb onto the counter either.  Hmm...

What's in a toddler made smoothie you ask?  Apparently anything he could reach.  He included an orange (with peel of course.  No knives yet!), some Crystal Light iced tea liquid concentrate, and some olive oil.  Three of his favorite things.  Yeah, he has weird tastes for a little kid.  Not that he has ever combined these three flavors before.  By the way, he not only pulled out the blender, filled it, and set it on the stand with the lid fully on, but he pulled a little cutting board out of the drawer for me!  I love the thought processes of kids.

I complied with his pleas to help him off the counter gladly, and he immediately put his hands up towards the blender and yelled, "Ta da!"

Naturally.

Once I rinsed the iced tea concentrate and olive oil out of my blender (sorry kiddo!) I added back the orange.  Peeled this time around.  I pureed this before adding the other ingredients because sometimes the pulp and other fruity pieces need a little extra blender time.

Once my orange was pureed I added two small frozen bananas, a cup of low-fat vanilla yogurt, and two scoops of vanilla cream whey protein powder.  If you don't have frozen bananas, just use room temperature ones and toss in several ice cubes.

This smoothie is very thick and creamy.  If you prefer yours to be a bit less so, just add a little orange juice to thin it out a bit while keeping the yummy flavor.

Can't smile.  Too busy drinking.  :)

ingredients:
1 orange, peeled
2 small frozen bananas
2 scoops vanilla cream whey protein powder
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt (I love Tillamook)

directions:
1.  Puree the orange solo.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend until liquified.  Add a bit of ice cubes, or orange juice to thin your smoothie out or make it icier.  Drink immediately.

Serves 2

Enjoy!