I am a huge fan of the smoothie. They’re a delicious way to get a bunch of nutrition in a single sip.  Mostly a fan of fruit smoothies, I was wary of oatmeal smoothies for a while. But I decided I couldn’t knock it until I tried it … So I finally found a complete and simple recipe, at Mindfully Frugal Mom. And you know what, it was delicious! More importantly, two of my kids loved it! I like to think of smoothies as a sort of mommy genius, sneaking nutrition and protein into my kids that they might otherwise not have eaten.

I admit that moments after this picture was taken, I had to transfer her smoothie into a sippie cup with a permanent straw. And she’s still learning the secrets of straw drinking, so she got about half of it down before it just became too messy of a game. But they can’t learn if they don’t practice, right?

Ella is my true lover of smoothies. She sucked this down in a minute flat.

Here’s the recipe:

• 1/2 cup milk (or any milk of your choosing)
• 1/2 cup Vanilla Yogurt (I used what I could find at Smart & Final)
• 1/2 cup quick oats, soaked in 1/2 cup water 5-10 minutes (regular Quaker Oats work great! Avoid steel-cut.)
• 1 banana
• 2 tbsp peanut butter (or other nut butter of your choice; use sunbutter if you’re nut-free)
• 1 tbsp chia seeds (optional)
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder (optional)

Pour everything into your blender, and blend for up to a full minute. The more you blend, the smoother your smoothie will be.

I haven’t tried the chia seeds, because I didn’t have them, but they are a great way to add a little extra nutrition to your smoothie. I did use the cocoa … because it’s cocao, people. Why WOULDN’T you use it?

In her blog post, Frugal Mom suggests making your smoothie the night before. Though I haven’t left one overnight, I did make one in the morning, put it in the fridge, and then had it for a snack that afternoon. It was fully chilled and delicious!

Smoothies also taste best when using a pretty straw. Just FYI.