Yogurt is such a great food for babies, toddlers and kids! Smooth, cool, creamy and packed with nutrition. Unfortunately, many store-bought fruity yogurts are also packed with added sugars and other unnecessary ingredients. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about making your own yogurt at home. (But if you do that, you rock! And you amaze me!) I buy plain Greek yogurt (which is just one ingredient) at the grocery store and make my own fruit mixes to add to it. No sugar or added sweeteners needed. And the fun thing is, you can come up with any combination of fruits you want! Plus, you can add in some greens. I always add raw spinach or kale (whichever I’ve got around) to my fruit mixes. It purees in and doesn’t have any taste, just lots of bonus nutrition. Also, I tend to use frozen fruits for this. They are picked at the peak of ripeness and frozen, so they are just as nutrient-rich (and in some cases, more so) than fresh fruit. I’ve got my freezer stocked with a variety of frozen fruits year-round, so I’m not beholden to what’s in season in my area. (Though you can certainly use fresh instead for any of these.) Here are some of our favorite combinations.
Fruity Yogurt Combinations:
Strawberry-spinach Blackberry-mango-kale Mixed berries (sold as such in a freezer bag) and spinach Pineapple-mango-spinach Blueberry-mango-spinach Blueberry-strawberry-kale Mango-raspberry-kale
You can make up as many as you can imagine! (And if you have other ideas or favorites, please leave a comment below and share with us!) I make a batch of these fruit mixes for yogurt every week to use for my kids’ school lunches. And I just vary it week by week depending on what I’ve got on hand. You can start with your child’s favorites and once they are hooked, experiment from there to expand their horizons. Note: For babies, I recommend the highest-fat yogurt you can find. Babies need fat! Cabot brand makes a plain Greek yogurt that is 10% milkfat, which is the highest I’ve found. (Pictured above, scroll up.) Most other brands make 4% or at least 2% milkfat plain Greek yogurt. For older children, non-fat or light plain Greek yogurt is fine. (If you’re not sure, check with your pediatrician and they can advise you.) Goodbye, store-bought flavored yogurts. Hello fun homemade fruit (and veggie!) mixes. Enjoy! XO, Kathryn Here are some of our favorite combinations:
Strawberry-spinachBlackberry-mango-kaleMixed berries (sold as such in a freezer bag) and spinachPineapple-mango-spinachBlueberry-mango-spinachBlueberry-strawberry-kaleMango-raspberry-kale
