Re: Lovin' the green smoothies

Q: What is our recipe?
A: 2 cups filtered water, then gradually add chopped up greens (Kale, spinach, chard, or collards) pulse the blender to mix them all, keep adding greens until you get the blender up to the 2 1/2 cups mark.
Blend 90 seconds on high.
Then add a banana and 3 other servings of fruit.
Blend on high another 90 seconds.
If the end product doesn't taste like an awesome fruit smoothie, add another banana or 5-6 drops of stevia and that usually fixes it.

Today we had collards with 1 banana, a handful of strawberries, and 3 plums. I usually use whatever kind of fruit is on sale and often buy and freeze the over-ripe bananas. I also freeze the greens if I can't use them up fast enough. I like our smoothies, but I've heard the texture and flavor is better in a professional quality blender like vitamix. Other possible greens include (lettuce, parsley, beet greens, turnip greens, dandelion(not sprayed or near roadways), purslane(not sprayed or near roadways).

Q: Does Smoothie improve temperement, behavior, learning?A: In the last month, we've had smoothie about 5 times per week along with dramatically reduced amounts of junkfood and a probiotic for J.
Results:
1)no more wall climbing and less standing on heads (it used to be incessant).
2)J has been healthy for a month straight, the first time he's been healthy that long in a year.
3)J has much more energy than usual.
4)AP and Dad had the flu which we assume they got at Church since he went to Nursery with her, but amazingly no one else got it!!! Dad doesn't drink smoothie and still eats lots of fast food, but he hasn't had a caffeinated drink in two weeks, yay!
5)Tantruming has stayed the same, unfortunately.

About the Color
I shared green smoothie with my friend Danika's kids in Albuquerque once, they weren't put off by the color (if you don't use a red fruit, it can be quite pretty), but it was 50% greens and that was too much for the first taste, so they didn't really care for it. If you try green smoothie, use much less greens and more fruit and work your way up.

Lovin' the green smoothies

J put the strawberry on his cup to make it fancy. I just have to add that I grew that strawberry myself! *patting myself on the back*

Green Smoothie Race

In theory you should go slow on green smoothie, but our little one races through hers like she is at the state fair. She polished this one off in about 60 seconds only pausing to say "yummy" about four times. Anyway, month one of my wholefoods nutrition course "green smoothies" was nothing new, we just had them more often. We are on to month two, "eat a salad with your dinner every night" (meeting with mixed reviews so far...)

On your mark...get set..

...go!!!

Slurping smoothie loudly

Trying to get that last little bit...

I love two year olds

Look Mom! Ink! (our carpet will never be the same)
I'm washing my hands!

"P" is for popcorn, having fun while the big kids are at school.

Little AP is such a super cute 2 year old. I love her big one dimpled smile. She has really perfected the art of the coy smile as well. Along with that, she has developed some cutesie words to express herself with. She can say the real ones, but prefers to be original.
Wadi wadi=water
bookley book=book
blubbley bubbles=bubbles
ploopley poop= you guess...

In the bathtub, “Ma wants more wadi wadi and blubbley bubbles *coy smile*”
At bedtime, “bookley book, read it? *smile, bats eyes*”
In an emergency, “I need to go ploopley poop!”
When mom is busy and she wants sister to help, she summons, “Sillymiiiiillya!”

First day of Kindergarten!

On his first day of school I asked "What special day is it today?" J said, "Sunday? AJ's birthday? Saturday?" Then he gave up.
"It is the first day of school!"
"Oh" he said completely unimpressed, I couldn't believe he wasn't excited.
Anyway he wore his favorite "Phineas and Ferb" shirt. His teacher says that is her favorite show too. He came home glowing with enthusiasm because he had so much fun, so it was a good day. Also after I dropped him off I chuckled because his special blanket Bibbon was sitting in his car seat. Oh well, at least he didn't take it with him!

August Pictures

AJ's Colorful Cornbread

A rare picture of D with his eyes open

AJ holding D

First Day of School. She was so excited to go "all day long" and get "two recesses". She seems to love it although she doesn't know many of the kids in her class.

Me and D!

Here's to better health

We are sick a lot
We've had 15+ colds, infections, pneumonias, and/or flus per child and husband in the last year. J has been on flovent (and he still has only had a handful of days with no coughing attacks) for nearly a year. I get sick the least by far, however, my gallbladder is filled up like a bag of marbles with gallstones (probably due to multiple pregnancies and too-low-fat of a diet).

My kids eat mostly junkfood
I promise myself daily to stop feeding my children a steady stream of junkfood. Probably as a result of the diet my kids get, I recently found myself making a new rule
"no climbing bookshelves, windowsills, balconies, stair railings, kitchen counters, tables, couch arm rests and backs, cars, or pianos" (all behavior from one single day!) As I proclaimed this, two of three kids were standing on their heads!

School lunches have a lot of highly processed foods
I once imagined myself making super healthy home lunches for my school kids. After signing AJ up for school lunch, I guiltily got online to see what they would be feeding her, I couldn't believe my eyes
typical day:
"...Vegetable Protein Product (Isolated Soy
Protein, Magnesium Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Niacinamide,
Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin B12, Copper Gluconate,
Vitamin A Palmitate, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine
Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin),
Seasoning (Salt, Sugar, Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten, Spices,
Sodium Tripolyphosphates, Dried Onion, Dried Garlic,
Partially Hydrogenated Soybeans And/Or Cottonseed Oil..."

This list of processing ingredients went on for pages! Anyway, I make home lunches. I hope I can get my money back for the first month of school lunches.

I make a goal to feed my family better, there are 12 steps
That does it! Time to finally give Robyn's "12 steps to better health" designed for busy mothers of young children a try. I've been aware of her program fo two years, but assumed she couldn't teach me anything I didn't already know, but now I hope she can. I want my family to get well.

Month 1 of 12 (this should be easy for us!)
1. Green Smoothies
How to get tons of leafy greens into your diet, painlessly, spending less
than 10 minutes a day in the kitchen

Wish me luck