My husband and I are smoothie fanatics. It is a delicious and dare I say indulgent way to inject healthy fruits, vegetables, and a dose of protein into your diet. So when Kristin O'Connor of Nourish This sent in her "Wild Smoothie" to share on Go Dairy Free, I jumped at the recipe.

Kristin said, "With berries, spinach, protein powder and flaxseed, the Wild Smoothie has important nutrients that growing bodies need. It's a great recipe to get kids involved with, and it's tasty!" She isn't kidding either. Kristin shows us just how kid-friendly this recipe is in a demo video on Healthy Child. So read on for the recipe, and head over to Healthy Child for her helpful how-to video ...

Kristin's Wild Smoothie
4 servings

Recipe from Nourish This, by Kristin O'Connor

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup frozen, organic blueberries
• 3/4 cup frozen, organic strawberries
• 1 cup almond milk (can use cows, soy, rice milks as well)
• 2 TBS frozen spinach, thawed
• 2 TBS maple syrup
• 1 scoop high quality protein (I use pure rice protein)
• 1/2 cup crushed ice
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 TBS flaxseed

How To Prepare:

Using your standing blender or immersion blender, add all of the ingredients above and blend until smooth! On trick to getting your blender to blend easier is to add the liquid first, then the protein powder and everything else on top of that. If your mixture is too thick, add more milk.

Notes:

This is just a basic smoothie recipe, and a way to sneak in a great veggie like spinach, but you can mix this up by using other fruits (banana, peach, mango, blackberries, raspberries, etc.). You can also add yogurt instead of protein powder, or cocoa powder instead of cinnamon for a chocolaty taste! Mix it up and
have fun!

Naturopathic Doctor Says: When surveying our patients' diet diaries, we have found that many are low in their protein intake. A healthy smoothie is a wonderful way to balance this (and sneak Popeye's spinach in as well). A protein shake can help balance blood sugar for the whole day. We recommend looking for about 20 to 25 grams of protein with the protein you use.  Rice protein is very low allergen. Other protein sources are soy, pea protein or hemp.  Blueberries add a healthful dose of bioflavonoids and cinnamon will also help balance blood sugar. Flaxseed is an excellent choice to add healthful soluble fiber - one note about flaxmeal is to only add to drinks to be consumed immediately, for the fiber content will absorb the surrounding water and create a gelatinous substance that will not travel well.  Anyone with kidney disease should not add extra protein amounts into their diet.

Optionally Free of the following Allergens: gluten, peanuts, dairy, soy, peanuts, fish, shellfish, corn

Nutrition Facts: Calories 78, Fat 1g, Saturated Fat 0g, Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 1mg, Sodium 28mg, Total Carbohydrate 17g, Dietary Fiber 3g, Sugars 10g, Protein 5g, Vitamin A 21%, Vitamin C 30%, Calcium 9%, Iron 5%, Vitamin K ~38%