Juice!

My kids know that some juice comes in a little box with a little straw, some chicken nuggets are actually chicken (not salmon, as I've tried to convince them), some milk shakes contain milk (not avacado and silken tofu), and Chick-fil-a waffle fries can pretty much make your day.

It doesn't stop me from teaching them that real food starts with real ingredients and not hydrogenated, trans fatty, refined grains and salt. It's a labor of love because, more often than not, lots of foods are rejected. But, Eli finally eats raw carrots and Turner will pick out red pepper and tell you it's one of his favorite foods and my babies are healthy! While I do still "hide" some things (like spinach and blueberries in my super awesome chocolate chocolate chip pancakes) but I also present them whole on their plates. If broccoli isn't the flavor of the week, they can take a "no thank you" bite and are exempt from eating it. I'm not forcing things here, just trying to open their eyes early. Most toddlers who are picky are that way because they've been labeled. I'm not expert, but, when you think your child is a carb-oholic (will only eat yellow foods or exists solely on hotdogs and cheerios) you will eventually fall back on the food you know he'll eat. What parent doesn't want their child to head to bed with a nice belly full of dinner? My kids don't try everything on their plate all the time but, I'm not a short-order cook nor do I ever intend to be one.

One thing we make every week (or every other week) is our own juice. Fresh juice just lasts a day or two but it's worth getting these foods, concentrated, just a few times a week. Both boys love "orange" juice (carrot & pineapple or carrot, apple, celery) and we experiment with different foods: more grapes or apple for sweetness, more cucumbeMy kids will even dump out lemonade to make room for our green juice! Weird...maybe...but when they're putting fresh organic ingredients in the juicer they're learning that not all good things come pre-packaged!

This week's green juice: organic celery, one apple, english cucumber, organic baby spinach, grapes. The usual recipe is two apples but the grapes were on hand. I love using about an inch of fresh ginger and the juice of one lemon.

Tuner loves to help and Eli's still not sure of the noise.

This juicer has taken a beating in a year and a half. I think I proved to myself that it's a kitchen gadget that is used enough it's worth investing in a better model.

If the juice were just for adults, I wouldn't add about a tablespoon of agave...but, the kids are the main consumers. A little agave goes a long way.

The color scares most people, but it's very sweet!