It is a bit of a “grey” day outside, not yet raining, but it looks like it is trying to and my daughter has come down with a runny nose.
My kids actually enjoy their veggies, however, as anyon
e with kids (or anyone who has babysat and tried to feed a child) may appreciate, they don’t always like to chew, or swallow their veggies. Some times just because they gobbled it yesterday, doesn’t mean they will love it today (or even sniff it) and sometimes when they feel “off” they just aren’t in the mood for food. All these factors make getting good quality nutritious food into kids a bit of a challenge (and …ok some adults too!!;-). So here is something that works with my kids on grey days, sniffly days, when they are sick or some times just because we can…we make a carrochino…
Ingredients:
- 3 organic carrots (wash thoroughly or peel)
- 1-2 organic apples (washed thoroughly and cored)
- either 1 Lebanese cucumber (washed and peeled if it isn’t organic or a regular cucumber) or 6 snow peas thoroughly washed with the strings removed)
- 1 small piece of fresh ginger root (peeled) I use a piece which equates to 1cm cubed or smaller, a little goes a long way and the kids don’t tend to like it too strong)
- 6 juicy strawberries
Method:
Chop all the fruit and veg into pieces that will fit into your juicer, and juice!
Makes approximately 1-2 cups of juice (depends on the size of the carrots and apple and if you use cucumber).
I split the juice into 2 serves (one for each of my kids with a small taste for mum).
This recipe is: dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free, nut-free, vegan.
How to alter this recipe:
- If you don’t like or cant tolerate ginger, then remove it. Additionally you could add a squeeze of lemon juice or lime to the finished juice or even some fresh pineapple (depending on your taste buds and what you or your kids can tolerate).
- If you can’t tolerate strawberries, as with the ginger, just omit it and use one of the other options. I find the main sweetness comes from the nice combo of carrot and apple, I like to add the strawberry for a bit of “red”. You could substitute with a different fruit, or just omit all together. It’ll still taste nice.
- I like to add a green veggie to the carrochino and I find that the cucumber or sweet pea has a nice flavour that doesn’t overpower the juice, and also the cucumber, being a juicy vegetable adds some water too (another way of sneaking some fluid into the kids).
Anyway, it is a bit corny, but the kids love the carroty-froth and they love the juice, and I love it because – they drink it without drama and it takes about 15 minutes to prepare and make (and if you wash the juicer right after, it’s a lot less of a nightmare to clean!!).
Enjoy!!
