A Dose of Health

Parents know how difficult it is to get kids to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a week, never mind daily.  How many times have you emptied your trash only to find your child’s dinner serving of green peas, carrots, or vegetable du jour? The minute you turn your back, they get rid of the vegetables any way possible as long as they don’t have to eat them.

A Sweet Solution

I’ve found that by encouraging a daily morning ritual of juicing, kids actively participate in selecting and juicing their 5 serving of fruit/vegetable requirement. It takes a little pre-planning and it may not occur all 7 days of the week, but 4 or 5 days a week is better than none.

Here’s What You’ll Need

1. A juicer – preferably a centrifugal juicer of the type that Jack La Lanne sells because it’s so easy for kids (and adults) to operate.  It’s not as intimidating as some of the masticating juicers.
2. A selection of vegetables – preferably organic.  However, if you can’t continually buy organic vegetables, non-organic will do.

Here’s What You Do

Wash, clean and remove as much pesticides form the fruits and vegetables as possible. In an earlier post I share the method I use.

Leave the juicer on the counter, kitchen table or any place where it’s easy enough for the kids to access the juicer (very young children require parental supervision).

In the morning, place a large bowl of cleaned fruits and vegetables next to the juicer.

Have the child pick out a few of her most favorite fruits/vegetables.  Keep in mind that the Jack La Lanne juicer makes a nice quantity of juice per fruit or vegetable, so if your little one gets a little overzealous when picking fruit, be prepared to drink the excess juice (Hint – every once in a while throw in a vegetable such as a carrot or piece of celery.  They’ll soon realize that the juice tastes so good that even a vegetable can’t make it taste bad).

Allow the child to make her own glass of juice.  Children love making juice and the juice tastes so good, they love drinking it.  One word of caution, too much fruit/vegetable juice at one time will keep your little one in the bathroom, so start slowly.

My kids are older, but they still appreciate a tasty glass of freshly prepared fruit/vegetable juice.  I wait until the morning rush is over and everyone has had their morning beverage before I wash the juicer for the next go round.

Relax at Dinner

If you know your child has had most of her required daily allowance of fruits and vegetables during the day through juicing, dinner is a lot less stressful.  So what she doesn’t eat her peas at dinner time.

In today’s day and age with prices rising with no end in sight, people may accidentally start eating healthier. It’s cheaper and healthier to cook from scratch. Every cloud has a silver lining and maybe a healthier society is the silver lining on this cloud of increased cost of living.

Although it is not absolutely necessary to buy all of the latest gadgets to make cooking from scratch easier, there are a couple of gadgets that I’ve found useful over the years. These gadgets have helped me to save money, cook healthier and preserve and store the excess food for a later day. Here’s my current list:

• The Magic Bullet: The Magic Bullet is what I use pretty much every day. It’s great for making a quick batch of peanut butter, small batch of pancake batter, a strawberry and more.

• Food Processor: For the heavy-duty large quantities (too large for the Bullet) I use a food processor. When I need to make large portions of vegetarian burger, homemade chicken nuggets, or if I have to shred cabbage for cold slaw I use a food processor.

• Crockpot: Slow cookers allow busy people to cook meals while they’re not home. Just add the ingredients and turn it on. It’s also a great way to cook a second meal while you’re cooking the first meal. The slow cook method makes even the lesser expensive cuts of meat taste great.

• Vacuum seal: A vacuum seal reduces waste. It preserves food by sucking the air out and creating an airtight package that can be frozen. Additionally, vacuum sealing leftovers in the airtight canisters adds new shelf life to last night’s meal. The vacuum seal also helps to season meats much quicker than the traditional season and wait a day method. The vacuum sealer cuts the seasoning time down to an hour or two.

• Dehydrator: although I don’t use this as much, it is a great gadget to have for making homemade fruit snacks or for drying fruit just before they go bad. You can also make jerky, whether it be chicken or beef. Personally, I’m not a jerky fan, but if you can make your own, why not give it a try?

• Juicer: Nothing tastes better than fresh made juice from organic fruits and vegetables. The juice is a healthy and delicious and it’s a great way to sneak some vegetables into your children without them ever knowing it.

• Blender: Blenders can take the place of a Magic Bullet and food processor (for some tasks). They’re good to have around.

The above gadgets are not necessary for better eating, but they sure make life easier. If I had to choose one or two gadgets that I could not live without, it would be the Magic Bullet and the crockpot.