Hey Folks! Cooper here. I know it’s been a long time since you’ve heard from me so here I am! Today I want to tell you about one of my favorite things— SMOOTHIES! Every morning I beg my mom to make me one. Some days she jumps right to it and other days she tells me to go drink my milk. Yesterday was the best because we got to make smoothies at breakfast together. She pulled up a chair for me to stand on at the kitchen counter and let me put a few things in the blender. I’m totally not allowed to touch the power cord or the button that starts the machine but that doesn’t stop me from pretending to! I like to see how she reacts and it makes me laugh. This morning she almost forgot to put the green leaves in that blender thing. Can you believe that? My monster smoothie isn’t very monster-like if there’s no green in it! I pointed that out to her and she was thankful. I’m very helpful, you know.

My mom wants me to tell you that this smoothie has a healthy dose of greens, fruits, protein and fiber…whatever that means. All I know is that it’s sweet & tasty and I have to be really careful when I drink it. Since it’s kinda thick, I can’t drink it in my sippy cup. You know what that means?? I get to drink out of big boy cup with a cool straw!! When my mom’s not looking I put my hand in the cup and then toss a few things in there…like raisins…bits of toast…bananas. When I’m not looking, my mom sneaks a few sips for herself. That’s right mom, I’m onto you.

OK so here’s what we do:

First we add the green stuff in. Then we pour in the orange juice & vanilla soy milk.

My dad taught me to call it “gross milk” even though it tastes really good.

Then we put in 1 frozen banana, chopped up.

A few frozen strawberries. They’re sooo cold! Mom lets me try a few.

And then we get a spoon and take out this stuff called flax seed. I dunno what it is.

We add it to the strawberries and then my mom puts the lid on and the motor goes really FAST!

She pours it into my cup. She never does it fast enough for me. I can’t wait! GRRRR.

And then she puts it right in front of me…..and then I take a big sip!

My mom says I have a mustache. What’s that?

I love my smoothies.

Now excuse me….

I need to get into some mischief.

Strawberry Banana Spinach Smoothie

Serves 2

• 1 handful spinach leaves
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup vanilla soy milk
• 1 frozen banana, cut in half
• 3 frozen strawberries
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seed

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth!

We’ve been known to add a few other ingredients to the mix:

• a scoop of mango sorbet
• handful blueberries
• frozen raspberries
• regular milk instead of soy