It's the Little Things...

I am so excited!  I made my little man chocolate milk for breakfast and he LOVED it!  This might seem like no big deal to most of you (Really, Sarah?  This is the sort of stuff that excites you?  Perhaps you've lived in rural Minnesota for too long!), but it is pretty thrilling when you consider the constraints on my son's diet.  Have you ever tried to make chocolate milk without sugar?  How about without milk? 

One of the first and biggest challenges in our transition to a sugar free family came at breakfast time.  All three of my children drank juice with their breakfast.  They were already not thrilled with all that our new diet entailed, but going from juice to water at breakfast was the last straw.  We decided to make a smoothie our breakfast beverage of choice.  We've been on this diet for six months and we are all still very enthusiastic about having a smoothie every morning.

This morning I found myself missing a key ingredient for Ezra's smoothie.  I decided that I would try something different.  Here's what I came up with:

Chocolate Milk Smoothie

1 C Vanilla Rice Milk

1 small banana 

1 heaping tablespoon nut or sunbutter (I used my own recipe, any will work)

Slightly heaping 1/2 t cocoa

Blend ingredients well.  Enjoy!

Understand that this is not going to be Nestle's Quik.  If you are used to huge amounts of sugar, you will be disappointed.  I probably would have added a tiny bit of raw honey if I had any on hand.  Feel free to add a little sweetener, but give it a try without first, you might be surprised.