If you can't get your kids to eat it – get them to drink it! Let's face facts: on the whole kids just hate eating veg. They don't mind a bit of fruit from time to time, but sit them down to some raw broccoli and they're more likely to stick it in some soil and shout ‘bonsai' then actually eat the stuff!
However, turn it into nature's finest liquid fuel, mix it with, say, some fresh pineapple or apple juice, and bingo – they're licking their lips in seconds. Kids are mesmerised by juicing. When they see fresh juice coming out of a solid vegetable like a carrot, they're transfixed. Little Molly, my four-year-old adopted niece who pops round most mornings for her morning juice, loves veggie juice. Yes, you heard it right, a four-year-old who drinks vegetable juice! Not only does she drink ingredients such as beetroot, celery, cucumber and carrot, but she even makes the juice herself (with supervision, of course!). She's not the only one either. I now know hundreds of kids, from age two upwards, who are consuming the finest body – and brain- builders known to wo/man on a regular basis. In fact, juicing and smoothie making is simply the best way of getting raw live fuel into your kids without the usual nightmare of trying to get them to eat it.
Kids Chute Juice
Juicy Ingredients
- 2 apples (Golden Delicious or Royal Gala)
- 1/3 lemon with rind (unwaxed if possible)
- 1 pear (conference are best, but use whatever you can get hold of)
- Ice
Juicy Instructions
Put one apple in the chute, followed by the lemon and pear. Sandwich the other apple and juice. Add ice to cool.
Why this is good for you
Kids' Chute Juice has been designed with whole fruit juicing in mind. All of the ingredients fit into the chute, you push down and boom – juice done! If you don't have a wide funnel juicer, you can clearly still make this juice; it just means you have to spend some extra time cutting, chopping and feeding into the chute. This gorgeous-tasting fruit smoothie packs more nutrients than you would think.
So Berry Good
Juicy Ingredients
- 1⁄4 medium pineapple (fairtrade wherever possible)
- 1 handful blackberries
- 1 handful blueberries
- 100g low-fat live yoghurt (if vegan, replace with something like cashew nut yoghurt))
- 4 ice cubes
Juicy Instructions
Juice the pineapple and place all the other ingredients in the blender – blend until smooth.
Why this is good for you
Incredibly sweet and delicious, but also one of the healthiest smoothies you can make. If you are at all concerned about your kids' health, pour one of these in a flask and stick it in their packed lunch every day.
Kids' Veggie Special
Juicy Ingredients
- 1 small beetroot
- 2 apples – Golden Delicious or similar
- 1⁄4 small pineapple
- 1 stick celery
- 1 small handful spinach
- 2.5cm slice cucumber
- Ice
Juicy Instructions
Simply juice the lot and pour over ice! The beetroot will make this juice very red so you can tell the kids it's some kind of berry juice – sometimes a little white lie can be for the good.
Why this is good for you
Can't get your kids to eat their veg? Well, ever thought about getting them to drink them? This is a way of mixing some highly nutritious vegetable juices with fruit so that the kids never know they are drinking live vegetable juice.
Just don't tell them what's really in it!
Fruity Special
Juicy Ingredients
- 1 juicy orange
- 1 Golden Delicious or Royal Gala apple
- 1⁄4 banana
- 1 kiwi
- Ice
Juicy Instructions
Juice the orange, apple and kiwi. You can juice the kiwi fruit with the skin on, but this can often be harsh on the back of the throat, so it's your call on that one. Place the banana in the blender, along with the juice and ice. Blend until smooth.
Why this is good for you
We all know fruit is good for the kids, but very few realise just how good. You may think a carton of fruit smoothie is a healthy alternative to a refined white sugary drink, and you would be right, but few understand the power of a freshly made fruit smoothie.
Choctastic
Juicy Ingredients
- 1 orange (peeled, but leave on the white pith)
- 2.5cm thick slice of a medium pineapple
- 4 pieces organic chocolate (use fairtrade, above 80% cocoa solids)
- 1⁄2 banana (fairtrade if possible)
- 3 tbsps low-fat live yogurt
- Ice
Juicy Instructions
Juice the orange and pineapple. Grate chocolate into the blender (mind your fingers!) and add banana, yoghurt, juice and ice. Blend everything until smooth – sooooo tasty!
Why this is good for you
It may come as a surprise that chocolate has made it into a recipe for the little ones, but the only chocolate used here is over 80% cocoa. It is also organic and fairtrade (the most important aspect).
Editor's note: Another delicious recipe is the one in our Juice Corner – Red ‘n’ Sweet Delight
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