Use real food to hydrate and get nourishing snack time fuel with a real food drinkable yogurt!
A new snack idea for a new summer routine!
Sometimes the coolest recipes in my kitchen are born out of very real needs that crop up with the kids! This summer, my youngest has early morning practices that are long enough that she cannot just wait until lunch to have another meal. She decided after the first couple of practices that she wanted something cold (it is summer after all!), and drinkable so that it was fast and easy to eat.
The drinkable yogurt hunt…
She had mentioned seeing kids at school with drinkable yogurts, so I decided I’d try to find one that she might like. I wasn’t thrilled about the idea feeding her drinks with cane sugar added to the tune of 9 or more grams 4 days a week, though! She certainly needs the carbs, but I knew we could do it in a way that wouldn’t inflame her body with processed sugar at the same time. I decided it couldn’t be that hard to duplicate with some fruit and honey. And of course yogurt!
The purposeful ingredient line-up!
- Fruit – packed with naturally hydrating electrolytes and micro-nutrients, fruit is nature’s hydration!
- Yogurt – a creamy tang, and some satiating protein and fat make yogurt a great snack ingredient!
- Raw Honey – especially for growing kids, or if you are using this for your athletes to fuel before, during, or after practice, the carbs from the fruit and also a touch of honey are vital for fueling muscle energy tanks!
- Pinch of sea salt – this will help replace salt loss during exertion during your athlete’s sports, and helps the water they are drinking to actually absorb to hydrate them!
So let’s talk about the yogurt!
One of the benefits of making our own drinkable yogurt is being able to source the yogurt as we like. I couldn’t find a store-bought drinkable yogurt using an organic A2/A2 yogurt, so this is an ideal solution for that! Use whatever yogurt your budget can afford. If you have access to raw dairy, of course, that would be ideal, as well! Kefir will also work great for this recipe.
The fruit choices
Because I was aiming for hydration (and because it is summer!), watermelon made such a great fruit choice! We also added strawberries since they are in season. I have used both fresh and frozen strawberries. All 3 of my kids love the flavor, and there is room for switching things up as well. I think just about any frozen fruit or frozen fruit combo (like those tropical fruit bags or mixed berry fruit bags!) would be perfect.
What if we don’t have watermelon? Or don’t like the flavor of watermelon?
My youngest has already asked what happens when summer is over, and watermelon is gone! There are a few options for swapping:
- Replace the watermelon with hydrating coconut water. You can find this in just about any grocery store these days. If you do this option, use more strawberries (or other frozen fruit you like) for the flavor.
- Use all fruit, and a little bit of a good electrolyte powder if you want the electrolytes.
- Or, just use all fruit and the yogurt with a pinch of sea salt. The fruit itself has hydrating electrolytes!
What if my kids don’t like the taste of honey?
You truly could leave the honey out. Especially if you have really little kids, the fruit is sweet enough to flavor the yogurt. I added honey because my kiddo that is practicing hard for 4 hours at a time, needs the carb boost. Other natural sweeteners that would work would be maple syrup, coconut sugar, or even a few dates to blend in for even more minerals!
Let’s make the drinkable yogurt!
Everything goes into the blender to puree, and that’s it! That is a real food copycat that I can get behind making week in and week out! Fussy copycats aren’t always worth adding to the weekly food prep schedule!
Serving the drinkable yogurt
The way that I have this recipe portioned out makes 4 little 1-cup (8 oz) bottles of drinkable yogurt, which has been the perfect amount for her, and her 4 practices a week. I have been making them on Sunday night for the whole week. Of course, there are so many different sizes, so pick the size that works for your crew! You could, of course, make them to serve in a little cup to your little ones right away, too. OR, you could use something like these BPA-free sleeves or pouches to store them in! You can freeze the pouches of drinkable yogurt, and put them in lunchboxes frozen to thaw by lunchtime like GoGurts®!
Real Food Electrolyte Drinkable Yogurt
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups watermelon cubes
- 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh or frozen strawberries
- 1 cup yogurt, Greek yogurt, or yogurt alternative of choice
- 1/4 cup raw honey to taste
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to your blender, and blend until smooth.
- Pour the drinkable yogurt into the containers you wish to store them in. See the Notes section for options here.
Notes
- If watermelon is out of season, using coconut water as a substitute is a great, natural electrolyte option. Or, you can use more fruit of any kind.
- You can swap the strawberries for any fruit you like!
- We have been using these glass, 1-cup portion bottles for my 12-year-old’s practices. It seems to be the perfect portion for her. Obviously, you can portion them into larger portions for older kids or smaller portions for younger children.
- These BPA-free bottle options would be great for packing in lunchboxes this fall! OR, you could use something like these BPA-free sleeves or pouches to store them in! You could freeze the pouches and put them in lunchboxes frozen to thaw by lunchtime like GoGurts®!
