I love playing around with recipes and creating new ones and my latest favorite thing: hiding veggies in everything I can! Did you know that a smoothie with strawberries and broccoli is actually really delicious? What about spinach? Did you know that by adding it to a variety of different things doesn’t really even alter the taste, that you can hardly taste the spinach in a lot of things?
My latest hidden-veggie creation was a spur of the moment thing. I made a big batch of old fashioned oatmeal to use most of it in a muffin recipe but I had enough left over for a couple servings for breakfast. My toddler loves oatmeal, and bananas, so that was easy. I simply mashed a whole banana into the oatmeal and added cinnamon. This is her favorite oatmeal mixture.
But then I saw the container of baby spinach in the fridge and I immediately thought of adding some in! Perhaps she won’t even notice.
- 2 cups cooked oatmeal
- 1 large handful fresh baby spinach leaves
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 banana
- 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
- Mash the banana and mix it into the hot oatmeal. Mix cinnamon in well.
- Blend the spinach and yogurt together in a blender or food processor until relatively smooth. Add the spinach mixture to the oatmeal and mix well. Serve immediately.
I ended up mixing a large handful of baby spinach in my vitamix with about 1/4 cup of plain greek yogurt. (we love the one from Trader Joes – it’s the lowest in sodium that we have been able to find and it’s super high in protein – 16 g per serving!), then I added it to the banana oatmeal mixture and sprinkled a little more cinnamon on top.
The verdict: my daughter loved it! She ate her entire bowl full and then asked for more! 🙂
Genius! When the recipe said spinach, I thought you meant the raw stuff & I wasn’t sure that sounded too good. But baby food spinach? Would have never thought of that! My granddaughter is SO picky, I might have to try and sneak in some veggies into her meals. Thanks for the ideas!
We are big on hidden veggies at our house as well, with two picky kiddos. I’m pinning this recipe to try later. Thanks!
My son is picky, but loves banana and cinnamon. Would love to sneak some veggies in there – this could be a hit!