Before my son tries a new food (and sometimes before every meal) he asks me if a monkey would eat this. If a monkey would, he’s all set. This seems like an odd dietary restriction, but I think if more people followed the ‘monkey diet’, they might be better off. I looked up ‘howler monkey’ on Wikipedia to confirm:

“Howlers eat mainly top canopy leaves, together with fruit, buds, flowers, and nuts. They need to be careful not to eat too much of certain species of mature leaf in one sitting, as some of the leaves they eat contain toxins that can poison the monkey. Howler monkeys are also known to occasionally raid birds nests and chicken coops and consume the eggs.”

Seems like a good enough strategy to me. My son also does a killer monkey call. If I can figure out how to get audio on here, I’ll share. In the meantime, here’s a favorite snack of my son. It is filling, so don’t serve this one too close to dinner. It’s good for mama monkeys too.

Monkey Malt

1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana
2 T chocolate hemp protein powder
1 T peanut or almond butter
1 T nutella
milk to cover ingredients in blender

Whir together until smooth. You can find chocolate hemp protein powder at fancy groceries, health food stores, or Trader Joe’s. It’s a great way to sneak some extra protein into your kiddo.

Here’s a video from you tube that is monkey-related, and cracks my son and me up. It’s musical. If you want more fun, search for ‘school bus races’ on you tube. Hilarious!