National Eat Your Vegetable Day is June 17 and broccoli is the most popular veggie in the U.S., according to a new survey from Green Giant. Believe it or not, every person who picked it said the taste was the top factor!

Regionally there are some disagreements. The East Coast prefers broccoli, but the West Coast leans in favor of carrots. Unsurprisingly, corn is the king of many Midwest states. But every state picked one of those three vegetables as the best, pushing aside past favorites that included tomatoes and cucumber.

Also unsurprisingly, small children were not included in this survey. Green Giant collected data from more than 5,000 Americans over the age of 18. There would likely be even more disagreement among kids and we predict that green smoothies would be a top contender.

Thankfully Green Giant has an array of options for the veggie-averse members of your family. Cauliflower pizza crust, riced veggies, veggie tots and spirals, all frozen for easy side options! Feel free to conduct your own informal survey with your family—with a side of broccoli of course—to mark this week’s holiday.

––Sarah Shebek

Featured image courtesy of Green Giant

 

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Smoothie season is here! With so many fruits and veggies in season, it’s the perfect time to dust off your blender. Below, we’ve rounded up our favorite healthy smoothie recipes that kids and adults alike will love. While you’re at it, get your little sous chefs involved in measuring out the fruit and learning how to make a smoothie. Grab some spinach, freeze a few bananas and read on to get started.

Click here to save this list on your healthy recipes Pinterest board.

Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie

Lemons Zest

Brighten up your morning with this sweet-tart smoothie from Lemons + Zest. A little lemon zest gives it an extra pop of flavor, while a touch of flaxseed sneaks in some fiber. To get the recipe, click here.

Mango-Berry Swirled Smoothie

Perry’s Plate

This pretty smoothie from Perry’s Plate tastes like summer in a glass. It’s dairy-free and made with fresh mangos, frozen berries and a few other ingredients. Click here to get the recipe.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Split Smoothie

Food Network

Your kiddos will love this "chocolate milkshake," which comes together with the help of Greek yogurt, bananas, peanut butter and hot chocolate mix. It's the perfect treat on a hot summer day. Hint: Serve icy cold!

Ingredients
2 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup 1% low-fat Darigold chocolate milk
3 tbsp hot chocolate powder

Method:

1. Throw all the ingredients in a blender, and blitz until smooth!

Mango Smoothie

Mummyology

Mango is the perfect summer fruit—so why not mix it up into a slurpable concoction? With just a little orange juice and ice, you'll have a tasty treat in no time. Hop over to Mummyology for the recipe, plus lots of other kid-approved smoothie ideas.

Cake Batter Smoothie

Kendra's Treat

There's no doubt your kids will go crazy for this cake batter smoothie from Kendra's Treats. With cake mix and rainbow sprinkles, not to mention a surprisingly light list of ingredients (no ice cream here), what's not to like?

Peach Flax Smoothie

Super Healthy Kids

Flaxseed is super popular among health food nuts, and for good reason—it's got omega-3 fatty acids, which support brain development in kiddos and help maintain a healthy digestive system. This peach smoothie from Super Healthy Kids is the perfect way to introduce flax into your little one's diet without them even noticing.

Summer Delight Smoothie

Tinned Tomatoes

Make the most of that fresh farmer's market produce with this summery recipe using nectarines and raspberries from Tinned Tomatoes.

Honeydew Melon Smoothie

Artsy Momma

If your kiddo loves honeydew melon, this smoothie from Artsy Momma is bound to be a home run. Add a little whipped cream and sprinkles on top, and your kids will think they're having dessert for breakfast!

Monsters Green Smoothie

Mom Endeavors

We couldn't resist throwing a truly green smoothie into the list—after all, the foodie world is crazy for spinach-laden smoothies right now. Luckily, there's a way to make green smoothies appealing to the younger set. Mom Endeavors' clever recipe makes use of lots of fruit, a bit of spinach, and a few fun decorations to make a kid-approved treat perfect for a monster-themed party.

Beet Strawberry Lemon Smoothie

Raw on $10 a Day

Beets, strawberries and lemon juice come together to make the prettiest (and tastiest!) deep red smoothie. Check out the recipe at Raw on $10 a Day.

—Susie Foresman

Featured photo: ElementDigital5 via Unsplash

 

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Bye-bye summer, hello fall leaves and early morning chaos.

Back to school is an impressive balance of breakfast prep, readying the kids, and homework check as we get ready for our busy workday. Last-minute reminders dropped in our lap as we get out the door. Getting to drop off and seeing the other frazzled parents reminds we’re not alone.

As a Silicon Valley software engineer, and as a mom to a pre-teen, I’ve spent the last 20 years optimizing tech to make our lives easier. I knew there had to be a better way.

So I connected the skills from my previous career at PayPal, Target & now at Ford (in its Connected Vehicles space) and the thousands of parents I talk to daily on our app S’moresUp, to create a template for a game-changing morning routine.

Here are my top 5 Back-to-School Tips:

1. DESSERT & SCHEDULING: We do a weekly ‘snack & schedule’ time when the whole family sits down around a special dessert and goes over their week. This bonding brain-drain feels like the family’s ‘master plan’ time together time. The entire week gets reviewed keeping everyone up-to-date on after school activities and homework assignments.

2. OUTFIT HACK: I love Steve Jobs’ outfit hack: Think about your outfit only once! Plan out everyone’s clothing for the entire week and lay them out in a designated area of the house. Cubbies or drawers in your kid’s closet to store each day’s outfit ready to grab and go. Hanging closet shoe organizers work great for younger kids. Knowing exactly what you’ll start the day in will simplify your week and mentally rehearsing what the day will require allows you to be ready for anything and ahead of the game. Patent leather tuxedo flats are a great day to night comfortable work shoes for the modern busy woman.

3. CREATE A COMMAND CENTER: Designate an organized corner of the house where all back-to-school materials will live: backpacks, teacher notes, assignments, etc. No more running around the house looking for lost items. Consider baskets by the door or towel racks or hooks to keep everything in one spot.

4. DIGITAL ASSISTANT: The Echo Dot Kid’s Edition helps wake your kids up, schedules teeth brushing and eating, and Alexa’s skills can also help your kids do their homework after school. Kids can pick the music they wake up to including any positive reminders they’d like to start their day. Your digital assistant gets the morning process started or adds reminders as you attend to breakfast and the other children.

5. GRAB AND GO BREAKFAST: A cooked breakfast is a nice treat once a week but the rest of the week can be made to order. Hard-boiled or deviled eggs can be left in the fridge in baggies ready to take. Muffins, bars, and fruit on the counter allow choice and ease. Green apples sliced long, form the bread holding a peanut butter granola apple sandwich. Pancake batter waiting in mini muffin tins to pop in the oven is another quick warm option. Mini egg frittatas pre-baked can be heated up and eaten in the car. Veggie apple green smoothies are a quick and great —if we can make them sweet enough to get them to take their morning “superhero potion.”

A little planning goes along way in avoiding chaos, panic, and that “I’m not doing this right” feeling we all know too well. In case you haven’t been told today: You’re doing great, your family is lucky to have you, and it really does take a village (and a lot of planning).

Priya Rajendran  is a developer and “Silicon Valley tech mom” who’s created S’moresUp an innovative iPhone and Android solution to the problems of managing family’s day to day life, with over 100,000 moms and dads already on board.  She’s a technology veteran who lead the team behind Paypal's Wallet.

 

Photo: Maxpixel

We’ve all seen her on Instagram: she’s the mom who does it all. Her hair is curled, she drinks green smoothies and her kids all wear coordinated-but-not-matching outfits. And her house? Oh, that place is also perfect. Everything magically stays white in spite of the kids running around. It’s shabby chic and it stays that way all day long.

And then, there’s me.

I always pictured myself becoming the mom I described above, the one whose house looked great no matter how many kids she added to her brood. But, now that I’ve actually become a mom, I’ve realized that’s not my aesthetic at all. At. All.

Instead, I’m going with a “lived-in” vibe from now until my kids go to college. Here’s why.

I Have a Lot Going On

You might have heard, but, just in case you haven’t, I’m going to let you in on a little secret—moms are busy. Whether you have an infant or a preschooler or both, there’s just a lot to do. During the first month of my baby’s life, I was feeding her a dozen times a day. That will taper off, but the other responsibilities—everything from playing to changing diapers to cleaning spit-up to rocking my baby to sleep—will continue to be there.

Then, of course, there are the non-baby things I have to do. My preschooler keeps me running around like crazy. When I can finally get both girls down for a nap, I spend those hours working. Did I mention that I also work in this very lived-in home? The last thing on my list is to decorate my Pennsylvania home. And we all know what happens to the last thing on the to-do list—it never gets done. And I’m okay with my house being imperfect for now.

There’s No Use in Perfection

My baby is currently immobile. In a few months she’ll be old enough for tummy time and then I can look forward to her crawling, walking and wreaking havoc house-wide just like my older girl does while I’m trying to work. If I had a perfect home, the future of two little girls running around would only damage all of that carefully curated cuteness.

Let’s face it—kids are messy. They throw up, they have accidents, they spill their sippy cups. They grab markers and draw on every surface. Crumbs fall out of their mouths and into crevasses that the vacuum may or may not be able to reach. Sure, I can learn how to remove stains from my sofa, but how many times can a beautiful piece of furniture withstand that type of trauma? In my opinion, I’m better off with the basics so I can worry less about what will happen to it throughout the next 18 or so years.

I Don’t Need the Stress

Another big thing that comes with motherhood is stress. It’s not a problem that affects only moms—according to a 2017 Gallup poll, 79 percent of Americans said they felt stress sometimes or frequently throughout the day. So, there are a lot of us who experience this on a regular basis, considering more than 325 million people live in this country.

But, of course, once I gave birth to my first girl, my stress multiplied. I now have to worry not only about myself and her but also about the helpless little human in my charge. Is she crying weirdly? What does it mean? Does she have a fever? Is she still breathing in the middle of the night? These are all thoughts that race through my mind all day long and I am doing all I can to assuage them by reminding myself we’re all okay.

With this in mind, I know that my lived-in house is the perfect place for me to raise my children. I don’t feel like I need the added stress of maintaining an aesthetically pleasing design scheme. Plus, I’d worry about my girls damaging the furniture and accessories I had so thoughtfully chosen for each room. Like—to every mom with a glass coffee table—how do you not have a panic attack every day? I don’t think I want to spend my time stressing over decor when I’m already anxious enough about the responsibilities of motherhood.

I Kind of Like It Anyway

Finally—and maybe most importantly—I like the way my imperfect house looks. It might not be Instagram-worthy, but my home is the first place where my husband and I lived post-wedding. It’s where I stared in complete shock at a positive pregnancy test. And it’s where I very carefully carried both my girls through the front door for the first time. In other words, it’s special to me, no matter how it looks.

I’d like to think my lived-in vibe welcomes everyone into our home and tells them they can relax here. We’re proud of our place and we keep it clean in the hygienic way, but we also don’t care if things get a little bit messy. And, as a mom and a woman who works from home, I know that they will—so I’m just going to stick with my chill decorating st‌yle until my girls are old enough to handle a little glam.

Jennifer Landis is a mom, wife, freelance writer, and blogger. She enjoys long naps on the couch, sneaking spoonfuls of peanut butter when her kid's not looking, and binge watching Doctor Who while her kid's asleep.  She really does like her kid, though, she promises. Find her on Twitter @JenniferELandis.

An easy way to give your child a balanced, nutritious diet is to serve a rainbow of healthy fruits and veggies. The fun mix of colors will grab baby’s attentionand supply a range of vitamins and minerals. We’ve gathered up 12 kid-friendly recipes that feature every color in the rainbow. Keep reading for ways to brighten up your meals.

Red: Tomato-y Chicken

White Blank Space

Try out this tot-approved take on chicken nuggets from White Blank Space, inspired by Korean seasoned chicken. The spices are toned down for a young palate (the sauce is similar to ketchup, and is made with tomato paste), and the cornflake coating makes the nuggets extra crispy.

Strawberry Watermelon Smoothie

Tara’s Multicultural Table

Smoothies tend to be a hit with the little ones, and this strawberry watermelon version from Tara’s Multicultural Table is no exception. It’s super refreshing and perfect for warm days.

Orange: Green Bean Fries with Sweet Potato Dip

Frugal Mom Eh!

We love the vibrant orange color of this delish dip from Frugal Mom Eh!—and it pairs perfectly with green bean “fries.” You can also dip tortilla chips or pieces of bread in the sweet potato-based dip.

Carrot, Potato and Sausage Soup

Where Is My Spoon

Next time you’re stumped on what to make for dinner, try this soup from Where Is My Spoon. It’s easy to make (most of the work is chopping veggies), and the flavor is a guaranteed kid-pleaser.

Yellow: Egg and Cheese Mini Muffins

The Seasoned Mom

Keep it simple with these 3-ingredient mini muffins from The Seasoned Mom. They’re the perfect size for tiny hands and an awesome way to sneak more protein into baby’s diet. Paired with some fruit and toast, you’ve got the perfect breakfast.

Broccoli Cheese Quinoa Bites

Family Food on the Table

Sneak veggies and protein into your baby’s diet with these tasty bites from Family Food on the Table. Adjust them to your family’s taste by adding a different type of cheese or vegetable. They also freeze well so you can always have some at the ready.

Green: Green Macaroni and Cheese

Weelicious

Mac and cheese is always a winner with kids, and this green mac and cheese from Weelicious wins over parents with the addition of spinach, broccoli and peas. Great for St. Patrick's Day and all year long.

Green Smoothies

The Natural Nurturer

Your littlest ones can get their veggie fix with this tasty smoothie from The Natural Nurturer. Adding mango, pineapple and banana to the mix covers the spinach flavor, and avocado adds creaminess plus healthy fats. 

Blue: Blueberry Peanut Butter Pancakes

Also the Crumbs Please

Your Sunday breakfast inspiration is here, thanks to Also the Crumbs Please. These blueberry pancakes are kicked up a notch with the kid-approved addition of peanut butter.

Frozen Yogurt-Covered Blueberries

Peanut Butter & Peppers

Make snack time a little healthier with this clever recipe from Peanut Butter & Peppers. The blueberry bites come together in no time using just two ingredients: Greek yogurt and blueberries.

Purple: Cherry Ice Pops

Cantillon Kitchen

Get inspired by Cantillon Kitchen to whip up a batch of healthy ice pops. These are made with cherries, bananas, orange and coconut cream for a juicy, creamy flavor your child will love.

Fruit Roll-Ups

A Mind “Full” Mom

You'll never buy fruit roll-ups again once you've tried this healthy, easy version from A Mind “Full” Mom. You can experiment with different fruit combinations based on what’s in season. 

 

What colorful foods do you like to feed your baby? Let us know in the comments below!

—Susie Foresman

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Pinky Pie Punch

This sweet knockout smoothie is sure to please with its healthy one, two, three punch of potassium, fiber and protein. Jen Hansard and Jadah Sellner, the brains behind this recipe and Simple Green Smoothies, tell us that beets are great to add to smoothies for kids because this versatile vegetable adds a vibrant pink color without overpowering the taste of the recipe’s sweet fruits.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 cup spinach
2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
2 clementines, peeled
1 banana
1 cup strawberries
2 tablespoons peeled and chopped raw beet

Method:
1. Blend the spinach and coconut milk until smooth.

2. Add the clementines, banana, strawberries, and beet and blend again. Pour into 2 glasses and top each with a dollop of coconut whipped cream, if using.

What type of smoothies do your kids love? Do you serve up veggie- and fruit-packed smoothies? Leave a comment below!

Reprinted from SIMPLE GREEN SMOOTHIES by Jen Hansard & Jadah Sellner. Copyright (c) 2015 by Jen Hansard and Jadah Sellner. By permission of Rodale Books. Available wherever books are sold.

Photo credit: Lindsey Johnson