Okay. I am pretty sure you may have just rolled your eyes at me.

I only know this because I used to do the same if someone told me my kids would ever drink anything that shade of leprechaun green.

I also know that you rolled your eyes because I am the “Queen Bee” of eye-rolling. Ask my Mom. And my husband. They both will gladly defend my title on this one.

But…I promise…This mixture actually tastes really good. I happen to have two kiddos in my house who both agree, as do some of their friends even.

And yes… much to both of their horrors, I have actually served this up at play-dates. They have really nice friends who have willingly tried it … and whose parents have obviously taught them very well to be polite and try anything I serve up …

Ahhh…the sheer embarrassment that my poor boys must endure over having me as their Mom.

And just for the record, this is definitely more of a “juice” than a “smoothie”. I find my kids like it as a thinner juice far better than a thicker smoothie mixture.

Here’s the deal. It may not be an overnight process. It might take a week. It may take 3 months. In fact, I highly recommend the low and slow 3 month method on this one.

This is my little trick … just put one little sip in the glass the first time. That’s it. Just tell them to try one sip and no more.

The next time? Do the same. And the next time? Yup. Same again. And then again. You can gladly drink up any extras yourself. But, just one sip. Any kid can do one sip of something. Give them a funky fun straw and they won’t even notice they drank it.

After a few times, add a  little more. Then some more. Then some more. Before you know it? Their palates will be used to the new healthy flavors and they will soon be able to down a whole glass of this alkalizing detoxifying juice of health!

I know it is not always easy to incorporate enough greens into your day, so finding tips and tricks along the way ALWAYS helps…so I have another one for you in case you still aren’t sold on the fact your kids (or you) will drink my Virgin Kale Cocktail above. And no. It does not involve adding liquor to it…although that’s not such a bad idea.

Recently, my trainer, of Jeremy Scott Fitness fame, introduced me to a product called pHresh Greens. I absolutely love what this company stands for. I talked with the guys behind these greens recently because I was wanting to verify that their products and their lines were truly Gluten-Free Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, and Soy-Free (great news…THEY ARE)… and the passion and excitement these guys have for health and their products is amazing.

This stuff is pretty incredible:

“pHresh greens® is made with 16 raw ingredients that were carefully selected for their high pH levels. It is a full spectrum alkalizing superfood blend of energy rich vegetables, and sea algae. pHresh greens® is highly bio-available and provides your body with a rich natural source of vitamins, trace minerals, chlorophyll and other phytonutrients beneficial to health.

It is also made with TRUE INTENTION ensuring that you will get all the ingredients’ nutritional benefits without any harmful chemicals, additives, preservatives or fillers. Its all natural organic ingredients have been carefully slow dried to help retain its life energy. pHresh greens® is made from the natural produce itself, thus ensuring you are getting the vital nutrients of the ingredients from a natural state, it’s just like harvesting produce from your own organic vegetable garden.”

**Please note that I have absolutely NO financial affiliation with this company. I just truly love this product and the stamp of health that they stand for.

And, if you decide you just can’t get your kids to drink my little concoction I mentioned above, then this is a GREAT alternative for you. Just 1 tsp, added to any smoothie, will give them (and you) a COMPLETE daily serving of RAW GREENS!

And since I mentioned it…IF you are anywhere in the Phoenix metro area, you have to come and work out at Jeremy Scott Fitness and join in on his Express 30 minute boot camps. 30 minutes of an awesome FAT BURNING workout and you are DONE FOR THE DAY! His workouts rock and they will get your buns in shape!

That is my type of workout. Short and Sweet.  Jeremy knows how to speak my language…AND deliver awesome results! Oh, and if you are not in Phoenix, he also has an awesome fitness program for you to do on your own time at home.

Summer is just about here – time to get FIT and HEALTHY!!

Here is a printable version of the Green Juice Recipe, by the way:

How do you get your kids to eat kale?

This is the age old question.

Okay. I completely understand that there are far more pressing concerns in the whole scheme of life. But this is one that I seem to get asked over and over…so I thought I would devote a post to a sneaky little secret.

Somehow I have managed to convince my kids that kale and other greens are actually pretty cool. It could be some stroke of insane luck, or it could have just been the repeated efforts of shoving it in front of their faces over the years.

Either way, they no longer look at me like I have a third eye or a wart growing on my nose now when I serve them up a hearty kale salad…or when a pile of kale chips shows up on their plates…or when a bright green smoothie happens to accompany their breakfast.

And now that I no longer have to plead my case in order to get them to down those hearty greens, I can look back in retrospect to see how this little miracle came to be.

Of course, I did consistently make batch after batch of Kale chips before I found a version they liked. And I did consistently make pitcher after pitcher of Kale-based smoothies until I finally found a concoction they would drink.

BUT… I came up with an even better idea! Because my husband seems to have a love-affair with my Excalibur 9-tray Dehydrator and because it tends to make an appearance on our counter more often than I would like (and if you ever have seen how much space on a counter these things can take up, you understand my feelings), I happened to one day decide that I could just dehydrate all of my Kale and Chard from the garden, crumble it up, and use it on…well, just about darn-tootin’ everything.

So that’s just what I did.

And then? I sprinkled it here. And I sprinkled it there. I started to sprinkle it everywhere. In eggs, and on pizzas. In pastas and soups. In chicken and tacos. And in any old goop.

{Okay. I will stop channeling my inner Dr. Seuss now and get back to the subject at hand}.

The best part was that no one even thought about what it was. The kids never questioned those tiny green flakes. And as the subtle hint of kale flavor spiked most of their meals, I also noticed that when I served up the actual fresh stuff, they were not so quick to turn their noses at it.

AND…because all of those greens shrink down FROM THIS…

TO THIS….

…that teaspoon of green flakes that you sprinkle on that food will be JAMMED PACKED WITH NUTRITION!!! A little bit goes a looong way.

This powder works awesome in smoothies and is especially perfect for those without a high-powered blender, like a Vitamix or a Blendtech! NO chunky greens left over! You basically have made your OWN Supergreens Nutrition Powder!!

So…I thought I would share my little secret with you here today just so that you, too, can channel your inner Dr. Seuss.

The perfect way to get your kids to EAT KALE (or any greens for that matter). Make your OWN Green Powder!!

Okay. So now that you know how to get your kids to eat that kale, I have a surprise for you.

My friend, and ultimate Kale lover, Hallie Klecker of Daily Bites, has created an E-book for you dedicated to all things Kale. Crazy for Kale has over 40 Kale Recipes in it and I want to make sure to let you all know about it.

• Crazy for Kale is available for $5.99.
• It contains 40 recipes – 33 are Paleo/Grain-Free and 31 of them are Vegan or have Vegan Alternatives
• It is absolutely beautiful and the perfect way to give you ideas to add more Kale in your diet!

If you want to discover some fun new ways to incorporate Kale into your diet, then this is the book for you.

Check it out and get your copy today!

This Allergy-Friendly Watermelon Strawberry Slushy “Recipe” is one of the quickest treats you can throw together on these sweltering summer days

….and I use the term recipe verrrry loosely since it almost really isn’t even one.

…and I only say sweltering because it has been 110 here for the last seven days straight…with no end in sight.

This is such an easy drink to throw together…just throw the ingredients into the blender…turn on…viola. Simple Slushies.

And the best part is that you can also throw any of your leftovers into your popsicle molds and end up with a frozen treat just an hour or so later!

So if you are looking for simple ideas to stay cool and healthy this summer… this is an easy one.

Plus, just check out all of the great reasons you should be including watermelons and strawberries into your diet anyway…

Some Health Benefits of Watermelon.

Watermelon are:

• A powerful antioxidant – rich in Vitamin A and Vitamin C
• Extremely high in Lycopene – great for supporting vision, the immune system, and cancer prevention
• Rich in B Vitamins – so an excellent source of energy production
• High in Citruline, an amino acid that our bodies use to make Arginine, another amino acid that is used in the urea cycle to remove ammonia from the body
• Exceptionally high in hydrating water content

Some Health Benefits of Strawberries.

Strawberries are:

• Packed with high levels of Vitamin C, Potassium, Vitamin K, and Manganese – they are completely nutrient dense
  
• Full of powerful Antioxidants to aid in strengthening the immune system
  
• Exceptionally beneficial in fighting inflammatory conditions and aiding in cancer prevention
• Beneficial in eye health and bone health
• Helpful in Rebuilding Tooth Health

And just a note of advice…with all of this red goodness, perhaps these are best consumed outside…

This happened less than 2 minutes after I sent my boys and their drippy sticky fingers and faces outside and off of my couch…mama’s intuition!

And just in case, I don’t “see” you around here before next week…

May your Fourth of July be full of glittery skies, dripping in exploding rays of lights, and squeals of laughter….from the children and from you.

Does anyone have any fun activities planned for the holiday??

Water Kefir.

Totally Allergy-Friendly. Gluten-free, Dairy-free, and, of course, Egg-free, Nut-free, Soy-free. And most everything else-free, too. It is a wonderful Vegan beverage option.

As I am finishing up my Vision Board for this coming year, I have determined that one of my goals on it is to Make More Kefir, especially Water Kefir, since it is so completely allergy-friendly.

Water Kefir is also so full of health benefits and a wonderful healing beverage:

• It is a natural supplier of various strains of healthy bacteria and yeasts (probiotics) to our digestive tract and can help to bring balance to your inner microflora
• During the fermentation process, it becomes an excellent source of Vitamins B1, B6, and B12
• It has a tonifying and cleansing effect on the intestines
• It is perfect for a Vegan Diet
• It has antibiotic and anti-fungal properties
• In addition to the good bacteria and beneficial yeasts, it also contains many vitamins, minerals, and amino acids
• It strengthens the Immune System
• It has a cleansing effect on the entire body
• It helps to eliminate Candida issues
• It can help to normalize metabolism
• It helps to treat skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, and acne
• It can reduce inflammation in the body
• It can improve the function of the liver
• It can increase energy levels and lend an overall feeling of good health
• It is very inexpensive to make

**Do remember that by adding these wonderful live probiotics to your diet, you are going to be changing your internal ecosystem. There may be a brief period where you will experience “die-off” (such as headaches, diarrhea, body aches, etc) as some of the good bacteria replaces the bad bacteria.  You body is just working on eliminating the bad toxins. This does not happen for everyone but it is a possibility. Just add the Water Kefir into your diet slowly and this will help your body to adjust without many side effects. 

And it is so so easy to make, dairy-free or dairy-full (you just use Milk Kefir Grains for the Dairy version), that I thought I would teach you all how to do it, so you, too, can possibly make it one of your goals for this year too.

To sum it up, Kefir is a wonderful healing aid. It provides so many benefits to our health and well-being. And for something that is so easy to prepare, we really should have no excuse for including it into our diets more often.

And it goes along perfectly with this month’s theme for Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free being hosted by Maggie, from She Let Them Eat Cake.

Her chosen theme, and incidentally, one of my favorite topics of all: Foods That Heal. 

She will be sharing information from wonderful bloggers that bring us ideas on how to bring health and nourishment to our bodies, our minds, and our souls.

I would definitely say that Kefir is right up there in that category. I am encouraging you to give it a try and come back and let me know if it helped to improve your health in any way! 

Rather, make that a…Mocha”CHIA”no…

One of my favorite morning rituals is to sit outside in my backyard and drink my coffee while I listen to the birds and start to focus my day.  I wait until the kids are off to school. The house is quiet.  Breakfast madness is over. There is a calmness.

I make my plans to attempt productivity for the day.

During the beautiful fall and spring mornings we have here in Scottsdale, Arizona, I love to sip on my mug of hot coffee while I sit out there.

During the summer, however, I am forced to drink my coffee indoors. It is just too hard to drink a cup of hot liquid when it is already ninety degrees at eight o’clock in the morning.  There is just something not right about it.

With temperatures teasing us this week with potential record highs, I have shockingly not been in the mood for a hot cup of coffee. GASP!

Because I would quite likely have a headache by noon if I were to fore-go my coffee all together, I decided to try and whip up a caffeine-laced concoction in the blender that would satisfy my java needs.

After throwing a little of this and a bit of that into my rocket-motor of a blender, I was shocked at the relatively healthy treat that I came up with.  Without trying to, I somehow came up with a morning indulgence that I think I just might be drinking all summer long.

And, for the record, I know it is not summer yet. However, with our spring-time temperatures rivaling summer temperatures around much of the rest of the country, it is not too soon to be thinking up ways to stay cool.

You will be amazed at the frothy creamy flavor that this Mocha”CHIA”no has. And, you guessed it. I even managed to sneak my chia seeds into this one as well (among some other healthy additions).

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Mochachino – aka Mocha”CHIA”no

Ingredients:

10 frozen coffee cubes – made from Certified Organic Fair Trade Coffee, if possible (simply pour leftover coffee in ice-cube tray and freeze at least 4 hours)

2 medium bananas

1 cup Plain Coconut Milk Yogurt (I use So Delicious) OR 1 cup Plain Kefir (Dairy-free version)

1 cup Dairy-Free Milk Alternative (I use Almond Breeze Almond Milk – Original/Unsweetened)

2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder, unsweetened (I use Rapunzel Organic Cocoa Powder)

2 Tbsp Ground Chia Seeds

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Unrefined and Cold-pressed, preferably 100% Organic

3/4 tsp Sweet Leaf Vanilla Creme Liquid Stevia

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1.  Empty frozen home-made coffee cubes into your high-speed blender.  Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

Do you have a morning ritual? Tell me what it is.

I am going to give some lessons today. All of these are lessons that I learned the hard way.

These lessons focus on how in the world you get your children (and your spouse) to drink a smoothie that is packed with greens and other hidden and amazingly nutritious gems.  It is possible. I promise.

Just do not do what I did.

There truly is no better way to give your children almost a full day’s worth of their fruit and vegetable intake than in one single glass. In fact, nothing makes me more excited. There are many nights that I do not fret that the vegetables on their dinner plates do not get finished. After all, only I am keen to what their smoothies were jammed with only hours before.

But…I made many mistakes along the way with my first son (and my sweet spouse). These mistakes forced me to put my smoothie making on a brief hiatus. I had to re-group. I needed to come up with a new game plan.

I learned some tricks with my second kiddo, however.  And now? My little three year old can down a smoothie within seconds. I actually caught him pouring the rest of his big brother’s leftovers into his own cup yesterday when his back was turned. I pretended I did not see it, though. Really. It was not like he was stealing candy.

I previously did an entire post about one of my favorite smoothie secret ingredients: Kefir.

Kefir is so abundantly good for you that I got a bit over-zealous with my additions to my smoothies. And plain Kefir (especially home-made kefir made from raw goat’s milk) can be VERY tart. Oh, so very tart.

And that, my friends, is where I went a little wrong.  It actually turned my husband off of smoothies with kefir in them for well over a year. My son – a much easier convert – came back to the “green” side within a few months.

Considering I can chug plain kefir straight, I have a feeling my biased taste buds were not telling me the true story of what a mid-thirty year old and his half-way picky son would actually think of the concoctions whirring away in my blender.

So..these lessons will be short and sweet. They are so simple, I actually wonder how I did not know these to begin with.

In fact…maybe I should actually re-name this post:

5 Lessons on How NOT to Turn Your Kids (and Husband) Off of Smoothies.

LESSON 1:  When they ask what makes the smoothie green, tell them it is kiwi turning it that lovely shade of murky swamp. Do not mention the avocado, or the kale, or the spinach, or the mustard greens. Omission is not the same thing as lying. Right? This actually brings me to another lesson. No. Not about lying.

LESSON 2: Always add frozen blueberries or cherries. A lot of them. You may have more stains to clean (on clothes, the carpet, etc), but your smoothies will no longer be green. I am not sure that there is really a named color on the spectrum for what color it turns them, but I would never call it any shade of green.

LESSON 3: Do not get carried away with the ingredient that you think to be the most healthy. Use the low and slow method. The taste will be in there in the beginning, even if very subtle. You can slowly add more as they get used to the flavors over time.  This is where I went wrong with the Kefir. I went big from the start. More is not always better. Not when it comes to picky husbands or cautious children.

LESSON 4: Do not serve your children a smoothie every single day for a solid month. It will lose it’s novelty. Anything done too often really will lose it’s charm, no matter how much you love something.

Even if they love your smoothies on Day 1, on Day 12 they will be bored. On Day 30, they will be repulsed.

I tried this experiment with Chocolate Chip Ice Cream not too long ago. Chocolate Chip Ice Cream is our favorite dessert.  So, I let my children have a small bowl of it every evening after dinner for what I intended to be thirty days. On Day 1, they jumped for joy. On Day 12, my oldest asked for a different dessert. My youngest left his bowl untouched until it was a soupy mess. On Day 20, I told them that this was the only dessert left in the entire house. On Day 21, they both asked for an apple for dessert. I ended the experiment early.

LESSON 5: Do not act too excited. Really. Do not say, “Wow! This smoothie is amazing! You have to try it. You do not know what you are missing. Hey. I mean it… try it. It is SO good.  Mmmmm….I am going to drink it all. Don’t you want a taste before it is ALL gone? Please? Pretty Please? I will buy you a new Lego set.”

Do not do that.

It does not work. Instead? Try this. “Wow! This smoothie is so good I think I am going to keep it all for myself.” Then pour a big frosty glass of it. Leave it on the counter and walk away without referring to it again. Place their favorite snack next to it. Place a really cool straw like the one below in the big smoothie glass. We have those sunglasses straws. The kids will drink anything through them. Oh…my husband will too.

Note. That is not my child. This picture is off of Stupid.com. Don’t judge. It is the only place I could find a picture of this crazy straw.

I tell you these lessons with a bit of tongue and cheek, but the underlying element behind each of these is totally true. I mean it. Omit, but do not lie. Embrace purple stains (a small sacrifice for health). Remember that less is best (at least to start). Take breaks. Pretend you do not care. Get these Straws.

And now…I will give you the recipe for the base of one of our favorite concoctions here.  This one is a great starter. It is packed with so much goodness, yet the kids will enjoy it.  Over time, I have managed to increase the greens to triple the amount below and have replaced the water with more kefir by using the low and slow method with my boys.  I also tend to get creative with leftover vegetables in the refrigerator (as I mention below). However, I follow my rules in order to keep this momentum going.

NOW HIT ME WITH YOUR FAVORITE LESSON TO GET YOUR PICKY EATERS TO DRINK SMOOTHIES!

This post is linked to Real Food Weekly over at The WHOLE Gang.

So it is not even summer yet, but with this weekend presenting us with the possibility of crossing the triple digit mark here in AZ, the kids are already upping their demands for smoothies.  I am more than willing to oblige them this request since I tend to think of my smoothies as magical little health concoctions in a glass!!

I try to pack as many nutrients and health benefits as possible into my smoothies without tipping the scales to the side of “Ewww! That tastes disgusting!”  And I honestly think that one of the most important ingredients in my smoothies is Kefir.  Kefir is a fermented milk that can be made from dairy based milks such as cow, goat, and sheep, or from non-dairy sources such as the milk of  young coconuts, rice milk, soy milk, and even water.  It can be made to be friendly to any food allergies.

Amongst it’s many reputed health benefits, the antibiotic and antifungal properties are at the top of the list.  Health enthusiasts have used Kefir to treat endless disorders ranging from metabolic disorders, allergies, digestion issues, candida, cancers, chronic fatigue syndrome, herpes, depression, sleep disorders, ADHD and too many others to mention here.

It is similar to yogurt in that they are both cultured milk products.  However, they contain different types of beneficial bacteria. Yogurt contains beneficial bacteria that tend to be transient (they do not take up residence in the intestines). Kefir, however, contains beneficial bacteria that actually colonize the intestinal tract.  These bacteria actually remain there to continue to provide positive health benefits.

Kefir is such a balancing nourishing food that greatly contributes to a healthy immune system.  It contains many vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes.  Some of the most notable are calcium, magnesium, B2 and B12, phosphorus, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and Vitamin D.  Tryptophan, known for its relaxation benefits to the immune system, is an essential amino also abundant in Kefir.   The large number of live enzymes (especially in kefir made from raw dairy) lead to even more health benefits.

Kefir enhances cell growth, maintenance and energy.  It restores gut flora and establishes a balanced inner “ecosystem”. It really is a perfect food!

At this point, I think I probably sound like an advertisement here.  However, I have seen amazing miracles in my own son, due in large part to Kefir.  I think that it has contributed to the amazing intestinal healing that he has experienced over the last few years and I, therefore, am a total believer in it!

You can make your own kefir by getting your own starter grains and following the directions listed here (it really is not that hard).  However, I actually buy my kefir from a farmer’s market here.  Our family prefers our kefir made from raw goat’s milk (no comments please) so that we get all of the health benefits possible.   Since you cannot get this year round (they dry the goats up in the winter/spring so that they can “kid”), when spring is coming to an end and summer shows it signs of promise, I become full of anticipation of what will soon be whirring away in my blender.

Fret not, however, if you are not anxious to run out and find your closest farmer’s market to pick yourself up some of this tart and tasty beverage.  You can buy wonderful pasteurized Kefir at most local health food stores.  I am continually amazed at the options of Kefir at our local Whole Foods stores – you can get Cow Milk Kefir , Goat Milk Kefir, and now Coconut Milk Kefir (that I must add is quite delicious).

I do want to say here, though, that if you do have any underlying health issues (such as candida), you would probably want to introduce kefir into your diet pretty slowly so that your body can adjust to the health promoting properties of it.  The best way is to start out with just a few ounces in the morning on an empty stomach, and build up from there.

Now, if I have not lost you yet and you are still reading, first I thank you, and second, I will stop touting the glories of this beverage and will instead  list the ingredients to a typical smoothie in my house. This one is packed full of berries and greens, however, my oldest son’s favorite blend involves bananas, sunflower seed butter, kefir, raw honey, and raw coconut butter. But that one we’ll save for a different day, a different post!

BERRY GREEN SMOOTHIE:

1 (or 2) fresh organic bananas (or frozen banana pieces if you have them)

2 cups frozen or fresh organic strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries (really whatever berries you have available – we love strawberries)

1 cup frozen organic cherries

1/2 cup frozen or fresh organic spinach (or kale or any other greens – if using kale, make sure you have a strong blender.  Vitamix does an awesome job with kale)-You won’t taste it, I promise!!!

1 cup kefir (or more) made from any dairy or non-dairy milks (Cow, goat, coconut, rice, soy – all will work)

1-2 Tbsp raw organic coconut butter made from the flesh of the coconut(full of vital enzymes, vitamins, and proteins) OR organic coconut oil

1- 2 Tbsp raw honey (full of vital enzymes)

DIRECTIONS:

Throw in the bananas, berries, cherries, greens, kefir, coconut butter (or coconut oil), and raw honey.  If you are not using any frozen fruit, you should probably add some crushed ice to make it nice, cold, and refreshing!  Blend all together for about a minute, or until really creamy and smooth!  You can add more liquid (kefir, organic juice, or water) to whatever your desired consistency is.  Smoothies are so forgiving, so you can really play around to make your own “magical concoctions”.

I have also been known to toss in a number of other intestinal healing supplements into the smoothies, but shhhhhh! The boys have no idea.  What they don’t know… will only make them healthier.