Favourite high calories smoothies

pamfin

Hi, I'm looking for inspiration for smoothies to plump up my 14 year old son.

He's 5'4" and weighs 81lbs. He had a health condition for a long time that reduced his appetite and, now he's recovered, he's finding it hard to eat very much. We're seeing a dietitian who's prescribed some nutrient dense milk shakes but he doesn't like them.

What I need are some recipe ideas to smuggle in some high calorie extras such as peanut butter or banana as he doesn't like them or a lot of other things (including all the really useful 'smuggling' foods like mashed potato, butter, yogurt, cream etc).

Any ideas would be welcome.

JaydedMiss

anything with peanutbutter. Peanutbutter banana = perfect. Weird kid lol. Maybe try dates. Avocado. Dates and avocado would probably be delicious with a bit of peanutbutter.

TavistockToad

If he doesn't like peanuts there are plenty of other but butters available?

Seeds, dried fruit, hummus, avocado, bagels, olives, olive oil? Why does it have to be a smoothie?

livingleanlivingclean

Coconut butter is delicious in smoothies. Nutella works too. Does he like ice cream?

Raw desserts are calorie bombs. The have lots of nuts, coconut oil, cacao butter, dates, agave syrup etc. Perhaps google some recipes if you think he'd enjoy those - cheese"fake" is yum!

JaydedMiss

Look up fat bombs ...bars/balls that are "energy balls" made with nuts and oil and dates and oats and stuff. Not a smoothie but sounds like hed like them, Delicious and like candy lol

kpsyche

When I got out of hospital towards the end of last year I had no appetite and couldn't eat much at all. I wanted to eat, I just couldn't. I made milk shakes with crushed up macadamia nuts in them, although any type of nuts would do -- they're all pretty nutrient and energy dense.

You can probably hide bananas in banana bread (just don't call it banana bread LOL). Maybe you can hide quinoa in the it's-not-banana-bread-loaf as well -- blend it to a pulp before sneaking it into the mix. I have no idea what that would taste like though

pamfin

Thanks all. I hadn't thought of nutella (which he loves!) in a smoothie. Fat bombs could be a possibility too. He doesn't like avocado but it's got quite a mild, easy to disguise, taste so that could work with something like berries. He likes peanuts and a few other nuts, just not nut butters (I think it's a texture thing, hence needing to disguise it).

He's generally more receptive to drinking than eating and he's so fussy that blending a selection of things he wouldn't eat if they were presented as food seems to be the way to go. He's currently two thirds of the way through a 'peach smoothie' which contains greek yogurt and banana (neither of which he likes) as well as the peaches, agave syrup and milk.

@kpsyche That's it exactly! He wants to eat more (and gets quite emotional about it because he's not taking in enough energy to do what he wants to do) but when he sits down to eat, he says he's full after only a few mouthfuls. On some days he eats less than he did when he was a toddler.

Davidsdottir

I like to use a combination of whole milk and heavy cream as the base.

Cbean08

Start with an ice-cream and whole milk base. Add a scoop or 2 of protein powder and any other mix ins that he'll like. I've actually put hard boiled eggs in a smoothie before and I couldn't taste them in there. You could also blend in cottage cheese for additional protein and it'll be masked by the ice-cream and any fruit that you use.

Agave and honey are great ideas! You could also use any of the Torani or DaVinci syrups (think Starbucks drinks.) Avocado tastes like nothing when blended into a smoothie and it makes it so creamy. Try doing orange juice, avocado and honey together.

Get his feedback on the flavors he likes and tweak them yourself to add in other stuff.

djeffreys10

1 cup whole fat milk
1 cup vanilla greek yogurt
1 banana
2 tblsp peanut butter or nutella
2 scoops vanilla protein powder

blend and drink

extras to add for more calories
1-2 raw eggs
whatever amount coconut oil

pamfin

Thanks all Those sound delicious!! I'll give them a go.

WilmaValley

What great suggestions!!!!

Frequently_Fabulous

His past health condition may affect which foods would work best for him. So, if he has trouble digesting fat (like with a gallbladder or intestinal absorption problem) high fat foods like butter and peanut butter would not work well bc they’d not be absorbed well, and just cause gas and diarrhea. In that case, straight carbs/sugar would be the way to go (like m&ms or baked potato) with the goal of feeding high carb and low fat.

But going with your original premise of just looking for calorie dense recipes, and it is preferably liquid, most energy bars nowadays are very sweet tasting (from sweeteners), have a ton a protein added in the form a whey (milk) powder. You could buy a few different brands (Rx and Gatorade make particularly high calorie bars- like 400-450 cals), and put it in a blender with a little cow milk or coconut milk.