Homemade juice recipes that your toddler won’t hate

As a holistic nutritionist student and parent of a small toddler, I am constantly trying to ensure that my son has enough nutrients in his diet.  Though he does enjoy the typical toddler-friendly veggies such as sweet potatoes, carrots, and corn, he is not a fan of cooked greens.  I try to serve salad with lunch and dinner but he doesn’t seem to know what to do with it (and much like his dad, he picks out the fun things from it, eating the nuts and cheeses, instead of the greens).

  I was determined to get him (and myself) as many nutrients as possible, so I decided to start making my own healthy, refined-sugar free juices.  I got my son involved in the process as much as possible, to fuel his excitement in our new endeavour.  I took him to the grocery store to pick out our fruits and vegetables, asking him what he wants to try and what juices we should create. As he is still learning to talk, it mostly consisted of him pointing at all of the brightly coloured fruits and veggies, which was good enough for me!   Then, I stood him in his learning tower and got him to watch me soak our produce in our 11.5 PH ionized water for about 5 minutes.  The ionized water works wonders for cleaning and refreshing produce.  After soaking our produce, I asked him to help me load the juicer. He clapped his hands in excitement and stuffed a carrot down, watching the bright juice spit out of our machine.  He loves being a part of the process, and eagerly points to the juicer every morning, excited to help me make our juice for the day. 

Below are some of our favourite recipes.  All recipes are enough for 2 (1 mama & 1 little).  Simple soak, rinse, chop and load into your juicer.  Aim for organic produce whenever possible, if not organic, it may be wise to peel your fruit.   Always try to get your children involved in the process, it makes for a much easier process and some great bonding time!

Mornin’ greens

• 6 celery stalks
• 3 granny smith apples
• 1 pear
• A bunch of kale
• 1 large swiss chard leaf
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 kiwi
• 1 lemon (or 3 drops of lemon essential oil)

Acceptable cesar

• 5 roma tomatoes
• 2 carrots
• 1 cup spinach
• ½ lemon
• Salt & pepper to taste

Sweet beets

• 5 beets
• 3 lemons
• 2 gala apples

Melon Chill

•   5 cups cut up watermelon
• 4 cups cut up honeydew melon
• ½ lemon
• 1 medium cucumber

 Twisted apple juice

• 4 granny smith apples
• 2 gala apples
• 1 inch piece of ginger

Mango Sweet Greens

• 3 cups cut up mango
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 lemon
• 1 cup cut up pineapple

Apple Berry

• 3 granny smith apples
• 2 cups blueberry
• 1 cup raspberry
• -10 strawberries

Grapefruit Orange Refresh

• 2 grapefruits
• 4 oranges
• 1 lemon

Watermelon Berry

• 4 cups cut up watermelon
• 2 cups raspberry
• 15 strawberries
• ½ lemon
• 1” piece of ginger