green

Gerber’s Go To Green Juice

So, I’ve kind of started a new ritual in my morning. Instead of going straight for coffee in the morning, I do a couple of other things first. First, I’ll drink a glass of water with doTERRA Grapefruit essential oil. Why grapefruit, you say? Mostly because it’s my favorite citrus oil in water, but it does have many benefits! Grapefruit helps support a healthy metabolism, aids to naturally cleanse your body, and can even help curb sugar cravings. I beg of you, don’t go to your local health store and drink those essential oils. Most the essential oils in a grocery store are even labeled, “Not for internal use.” Find a good quality therapeutic grade essential oil brand that is safe for ingestion. Obviously, my brand of choice is doTERRA, but don’t just take my word for it. Do your research and decide for yourself. I’ll be blogging soon on essential oil quality!

Moving on. The second thing I like to do after finishing my water (or many times I am drinking my water while making this) is make a green juice or smoothie. I do have a green smoothie recipe already posted, so today I’m going to give you our go to green juice recipe. Yum! I like to drink a green juice before eating breakfast or drinking coffee for a couple of reasons. I think it’s beneficial to provide your body with nutrients right away. Also, our bodies can quickly absorb and digest fresh juice. The vitamins, minerals, and nutrients can easily be absorbed and then our body can use this goodness to take charge of our day full of natural energy.

Ok, without further ado, here is the Gerber’s Go-To-Green Juice recipe.

Ingredients

  • Large kale (about 1/4 of a bunch)
  • 1 – 1 1/2 cucumbers
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 1 lime
  • Handful of parsley
  • I inch of ginger
  • Pineapple (to taste)

Directions

  • Throughly wash your produce.
  • Cut the fruit and veggies as needed to fit in your juicer.
  • Juice the goodness.
  • Stir and pour in fancy glasses for you and yours.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

  • This is a rough base. However, there are some ingredients we have found to be a “must have” for our home: cucumber, pineapple, and lime. The rest you can cater to your taste, or what you have in the fridge that day.
  • I try not to use a ton of fruit, as vegetables are healthier and have less fructose. If you find you need more fruit when you first start juicing, then just slowly decrease the amount of fruit overtime so the juice is majority vegetable juice.
  • Unless you really like lime, just stick to 1 lime. I tried 2 limes this morning and it was TART. Isaac loved it, but he could eat lemons and limes as a snack if I let him.
  • Have fun and experiment! We’ve also juiced carrots, beets, apples, broccoli, and much more. Find what works for you and your family.

There you have it, my friends! Enjoy the Gerber’s Go-To Green Juice to start your day.

What’s are some of your favorite juice combinations? Share in the comments below!

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From Super Mom to Super Humbled

supermom

I can’t be Supermom today. I tried and failed miserably, and it’s only 1:00pm. I really wanted to be Supermom today. I had good intentions. We had students over for breakfast, which was fun and the boys love that. Then I did a little business on my computer. I hit a new rank in my business yesterday, so I was just looking everything over, congratulating my builders, and emailing new contacts. I made green smoothies for a snack with a little essential oil love in the mix, as requested by my 4 year old, Noah. (Yeah, rockin’ it! **Cue to roll your eyes**)

WO in smoothie

Noah had also been wanting banana nut muffins for the past few days, and I hadn’t gotten to it yet. So after our smoothie I decided to do that. Which trailed into lunch time. So I was making muffins and lunch at the same time. I slightly burnt my first batch of muffins. They tasted ok, but looked terrible. The boys were super whiny and fussy because it’s naptime and now they wanted to eat ALL the muffins.

I finally step out of the kitchen for the first time in a couple of hours and the rest of the house is a disaster. Every single toy bin was out. Timmy was running around with his underwear in his hand, and Isaac was leaving a trail of drool everywhere he went. And we’re also dealing with pink eye in the house. I lost it. I lost it and I let Timmy have it. He cried and went to his room. Noah picked up the toys and ran to his room. I changed Isaac and put him to bed without giving him his eye drops because I can’t find them ANYWHERE.

I tip toed in the boys’ room and asked Timmy if he wanted me to sing to him. He nodded and smiled. A smile that let me know he still loves me even though I yelled at him when he didn’t deserve it. I sang “Jesus loves me,” feeling like the biggest hypocrite singing the song because I sure didn’t show him love 10 minutes ago. I told him I was sorry and tried not to cry when he gave me a big Timmy kiss.

I left his room and by now all the boys are in bed. I know I should be exercising but my body is exhausted, drained from all the emotions that went on the past thirty minutes. So I decided to write. And to tell you, fellow mom or dad, if you just blew it with one of your kids… it’s not too late to start fresh. Give them a hug, tell them you’re sorry and you love them, but you need Jesus just as much as they do. I need Jesus to help me make it through the day with enough grace and strength to love on these boys that He has blessed us with. There’s no way I can make it without Him. He is my Rock when my emotions create a storm within me. He is my anchor that keeps me grounded. He is who I can turn to when I know I didn’t act out of His love, and extend me His grace to try again. So, that’s my goal for the rest of the day… Not to have the perfect workout or work for another hour in my business or make a 5 star meal for dinner… My goal is to try and love like Christ loves me. Because if I don’t have THAT as my primary goal, then the rest doesn’t matter … my day is wasted without His love.

So, how ‘bout it? Are you with me? How will you show God’s love today?

Gerber’s Go To Green Smoothie

So, before I had children I always (wrongly) assumed that children who didn’t enjoy eating vegetables were picky because their parents didn’t expose them to a variety of vegetables on a regular basis. How quickly I realized that this just isn’t the case. No matter how much colorful vegetables I put on my boys’ plates, there are some that they just won’t eat. I will be the first to admit that getting them to eat their daily amount of vegetables can be a real challenge. I have however found one way to ensure they get dark leafy greens (full of iron and calcium!) in every day: green smoothies!

Today I am going to share our go-to green smoothie recipe that we make fairly often. Of course, this can be catered to your family’s own tastes and whatever you have on hand. Also, just a warning: I do not measure, so these are rough estimates. When I say “handful” keep in mind I am talking about my hands which are kind of petite, and when I say “spoonful” I am referring to the bigger spoon that usually comes in a cutlery set. Lastly, this recipe yields enough for two adults and two toddlers (usually two 16 oz. cups and two 6 oz. cups). Here we go!

Ingredients
– 3 generous handfuls of greens
– 1 banana
– 3 spoonfuls of Greek yogurt, your choice (we usually use either plain or vanilla)
– 2 spoonfuls of flax or chia seed
– 3 handfuls of frozen fruit (we use mixture of strawberries, pineapples, mangoes and peaches)
– Enough juice to make your desired consistency (we use half orange and half apple juice)

Directions
1.) Place ingredients in your blender in the order listed.
2.) Let your toddler lick the yogurt spoon.
3.) Be sure your have enough juice to get your blender going, adding more if needed.
4.) Serve the green goodness and enjoy!

Now, you are sure to enjoy this recipe as it is, but again feel free to experiment however you wish! Some days we are just in a strawberry-banana mood, so we leave all the other fruits out and it is still yummy. Also, if you wish for the smoothie to be dairy-free, by all means leave the yogurt out or replace it with coconut milk yogurt. If you don’t usually keep flax or chia seed in your house it is not necessary, I just try to look for ways to get some in my system ever since I developed gallstones my second pregnancy.

I hope your family enjoys this recipe as much as mine does!

Do you have other creative ways to get your children eating their veggies? If so, please share!

Gerber’s Go-To Green Juice

This past Christmas my husband and I received a juicer that we absolutely love. We probably juice at least 4 days a week in our house, and I wanted to share our “go-to” juice recipe. It’s delicious!

1 apple
5 kale leaves (not the baby kale, I’m talking the big sturdy kale)
1 cucumber
1-2 stalks celery (I had to start with one stalk, now I can handle two)
1 lime
About ½ an inch of ginger
1/3 of a pineapple

This is the order I put it all in the juicer, but I don’t know if that makes a big difference because when it’s all done I like to mix it with a spoon. It makes a beautiful green color. This makes about 32 ounces, which we split between my hubby and I and Timothy. Noah is not a big juice fan, but he’s never liked any sort of juice, but he DOES drink smoothies!

We kind of use this as our “base” recipe and add or replace things here and there. When I can get to the farmer’s market early enough I’ll snag some beets to add to our juice, which turns it a gorgeous deep purple color. Sometimes we replace celery with carrots, or add broccoli to the party. A friend from church gave us some oranges from her tree and the juice was so refreshing with an orange in the mix! You can play around with it and find out what your taste buds enjoy. Happy juicing!

Post below with your favorite juice recipes and I’ll give them a try!