Kids Corner

Tips for Parents & Children

Set the Nutritional Tone of your child’s day by starting out with a fresh fruit and vegetable smoothie. When my daughter was about 10 months old, I introduced her to morning smoothies. I started off with about 4-6 oz and at age 3 she is now drinking 12-16 oz or more of a fresh fruit, vegetable and greens smoothie. After many months of making it work, she now reaches for it in the morning without being told. Persistence is key. Children need to be exposed to something many times for it to stick.

Sample Smoothie Ideas

½ cup fresh or frozen organic strawberries (or blueberries)
2 slices of fresh mango
¾ of a banana
Small handful of spinach leaves
1 tsp flax seed oil
¼ cup apple juice
½ cup water or more to turn the blades
Blend

1 cup spinach leaves
½ stalk celery
½ ripe banana
½ cup frozen strawberries
½ cup frozen pineapple
16 oz. of water or 8 oz apple juice and 8 oz of water
Blend

Tip: Freeze inside popsicle molds for homemade popsicles.

1 banana
2 Medjool dates
½ cup organic strawberries (fresh or frozen depending on time of year)
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice or 8 oz orange juice and 8 oz water
½ romaine leaf lettuce
¼ cup cucumber
Blend- adding water to thin if needed

½ Avocado (ripe)
½ Orange (no seeds, pith okay)
1 Banana (frozen)
½ Stalk Celery
½ Apple or Pear
1 tsp greens powder or dried fruit and veggie powders

Putting the greens in with the smoothies is great since we know our little ones are not too crazy on the greens. I have also used small leaves of kale, even green or red leaf lettuce, celery or cucumber. Something besides all the sweet fruit. You can also add things like dried fruit and veggie powders, hemp seeds or hemp oil, goji berries and/or kids probiotics.

Get your kids involved with food selections and cooking.
Give them two or three healthy options to choose from for meals and snacks, as kids love to be able to make their own decisions. If possible, have them help you prepare it.

Offer your kids a taste of new fruits and vegetables. Sometimes a child will refuse to eat it the first time but will then try it on the second or third offering. If after trying a new fruit or vegetable two or three times and your child still doesn’t like it, move on to new ones. This makes trying new foods less scary for them. I also make a big deal and get so excited when Jude eats her fruits and veggies. My passion for healthy eating gets her excited too!

'Do as I do' should be the saying around the dinner table not 'Do as I say'.
Children learn behaviors by watching what grown-ups do. Modeling healthful eating habits including fruit- and vegetable-rich plates is a great way to make sure your kids develop healthy eating habits. If you eat your greens, most likely they will too!

Make eating fruits and vegetables convenient for kids.
Chances are if these foods are tucked away deep in the fridge, unwashed or uncut, they will grab a more convenient option, such as chips or cookies. Place fresh fruit or sliced veggies and dip on the counter around snack time. Nibble tray idea: broccoli trees, orange wheels, carrot sticks, cut up grapes, etc in a muffin tin so they have all sorts of choices at snack time.

Kids love to have fun so why not make eating fruits and vegetables fun!
Chop fruits and veggies into different shapes and sizes. You need to use your imagination when preparing healthy snacks for kids. Make Pizza Faces with vegetables.

Add or “sneak” fruits and vegetables to your kid’s favorite foods.

Take your children to the supermarket (if possible).
The grocery store is a great place to teach them different foods and what is good what is not so good

Add a Whole Food Concentrate to your family’s diet.
Juice Plus+ is our family's choice

Great Websites & Books to Explore

Kids Recipe Ideas
Here are some recipes and ideas for your family. Personally, I am a huge fan of slipping or sneaking healthy foods into Jude’s food (like in Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld or Super Baby Foods by Ruth Yaron). When baking or making soups, I find any opportunity to put in purees of vegetables or some ground flax seeds.

Here are a few ideas that work in our home. Some of these ideas also come from The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose.

Breakfast Ideas
Homemade French Toast
Use sprouted whole grain bread with organic eggs. Top with 100% pure maple syrup or agave nectar and cinnamon. I add 1 tsp of freshly ground flax (or “brown sugar”) on top. Start small and keep adding 

Homemade Pancakes
Make a batter using spelt, buckwheat, kamut or whole wheat flour, organic eggs and almond or rice milk. I always add in some blueberries and ground flax seed to the batter. Top with 100% pure maple syrup or agave nectar and cinnamon.

Sprouted Grain Toast with Goat or Greek Yogurt (or sometimes we spread raw honey or agave nectar (after 1) on it)

Fresh Smoothies & Shakes (see above & smoothie section)

Organic or All-Natural Granola
Served with almond or rice milk, chopped bananas, ground flax seed sprinkled on top with pure maple syrup if needed.

Lunch/Dinner Ideas
Sprouted Grain Tortilla Wraps
Filled with hummus-covered veggies or veggies with avocado and salsa. Annie’s Naturals has some great creamy dressings to add in the wrap as well. The Goddess is my favorite. We dip our “broccoli trees” in it.

Pizzas
I don’t think I know a kid that doesn’t like pizza. I either make a whole wheat crust or buy the natural whole grain pizza crusts from the health food stores and add organic sauce, either goat or organic cheese and then create a pizza face out of the veggies. This really works! I make a red bell pepper mouth, broccoli nose and mushroom or pea eyes. I create hair with shredded carrots and line the entire pizza with either corn or peas. Then we play a game where she has to eat the pizza’s nose, etc.

Veggie Sandwiches
Cheddar-style Goat Cheese or hummus with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, sprouts & mustard on a sprouted grain bagel

Soups & Stews
I use my crock pot a lot and make garden-vegetable soups with beans, lentils or whole grain pastas. See below for a sample Vegetable Soup recipe. A good healthy crockpot book is called The Healthy Slow Cooker by Judith Finlayson.

Organic Chicken, Brown Rice & Vegetables
This is a great way to sneak in a lot of veggies. I use small pieces of organic chicken mixed in with brown rice or quinoa (cooked in organic veggie or chicken broth) with cooked carrots, green beans, zucchini, bell peppers, peas, etc., whatever veggies you have.

Quesadillas
This one comes from The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose.

3 sprouted grain tortillas
5 oz. organic pasta sauce (she suggests Seeds of Change)
4 oz. cheddar-style goat cheese, thinly sliced (Alta Dena-raw)
1 avocado, sliced

Place 1 tortilla in a skillet. Spoon the pasta sauce evenly over the tortilla and cover evenly with cheese. Top with a second tortilla. Layer the slices of avocado evenly, and finally top with the last tortilla. Cook over a high heat until the cheese melts. Grill both sides until slightly brown. Remove from heat and serve like a pizza. I have dipped them in salsa as well as add other veggies like spinach, tomatoes, onions and bell peppers.

Sweets & Snacks
Smoothie or Juices
I am a huge fan of blending foods and making juices. Anytime I am looking for something to feed my daughter, I always go to making a smoothie or a juice. Having children make the juices is a fun way to get them involved.

Keep Fresh, Cut-Up Fruit in the Fridge
Having grapes, apples or whatever fruit is in season around can be a great snack and the kids will eat it.

Replace Mainstream Candy Bars with Organic Pure Candy Bars
Popular brands are Dagoba and Green & Black. We are loving Raw Crunch Bars which are low in sugar and gluten-free

Replace Mainstream Chips and Crackers
Look at products like Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies, or Mary’s Gone Crackers or Guiltless Gourmet.

Bananas & Almond Butter
Sometimes I will use the sunflower butter instead.

Frozen Fruit Ice-Cream
If you have a gear system juicer like a Champion, Samson or Omega, you can take frozen fruit like bananas, grapes, pineapple, mango, etc., and run it through a juicer with a blank screen and make ice-cream. If you don’t have a juicer, sometimes I just take frozen red grapes and dates and put it in my food processor to make a grape sorbet… Very yummy. Any frozen fruit can be blended in a food processor to make ice-cream.