Over the years we have struggled with getting our boys to drink healthy. We always have bottled water and milk in the refrigerator, but they are always asking for soda. Today I’m sharing a new cookbook with you – Best 100 Juices for Kids by Jessica Fisher and her recipe for Fruit Salad in a Cup.
Best 100 Juices for Kids has great tasting drink recipes for kids (and adults really) without the sugar, corn syrup, artificial flavors and cost! Jessica, fellow blogger from Life as Mom and Good Cheap Eats is a Mom of 6 who knows her way around the kitchen.
In the cookbook, Jessica shares her desire to be a “Yes Mom.” Like so many of us, she didn’t want to be the Mom that was constantly saying No, but she also knew that sweet drinks, juices, soda and sports drinks all had too much sugar. So she did what the best thing she could, she decided to start making juice from fresh ingredients to serve to her children.
The book offers the basics of Home Juicing, and Jessica explains which fruit and vegetables work best in which juicer. And the differences between blenders and all the different juicers. She also covers which produce is best and how to prep it.
And how about storing and freezing juice? Jessica writes “One of the benefits of drinking homemade juices and smoothies is that they are as fresh as it gets. Additives and preservative are included in the prepacked versions for a reason: to maintain color and extend the shelf life of the product. To make the most of the nutrients in your homemade drinks, enjoy them the day they’re prepared, preferably right away. If you want to pack them for the road or store them in the fridge for a few hours, consider adding a little lemon juice to prevent discoloring. Fresh apple juice in particular turns brown fairly quickly, so drink it up right away.
If you’ve got leftover juice, don’t throw it out. Freeze it! Both juices and smoothies freeze and thaw well. Freeze fresh juices in single serving cups with lids to make it easy on the other side of thawing. Freezer safe Mason jars work well for this. You can also make ice pops with leftover juice.
We chose to make Fruit Salad in a Cup Recipe made with berries, grapes, kiwis, grapefruit and orange. In the cookbook, the recipe is made into juice, but we chose to make a smoothie. We have a Juicer, but after trying a couple recipes, it just didn’t work very well. I think I need to purchase one that Jessica recommends. So instead we used the Oster Versa Blender to make a Smoothie, and it worked fine.
If you have a Juicer that you love, I have included the directions in the recipe below.
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Fruit Salad in a Cup Smoothie or Juice
Serve up a glass of fruit in this delicious juice. Recipe on PocketChangeGourmet.com
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 15–20 ounces 1x
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups strawberries,cleaned and cut in half
- 3 large kiwis, cleaned and cut in quarters
- 1 large ruby red grapefruit, peeled and cut in quarters
- 1 medium orange, peeled and cut in quarters
- 2 cup seedless green or red grapes
Instructions
Smoothie
- Put all ingredients in Blender and mix until smooth
Juice (directions from cookbook)
- Remove the hulls from the strawberries, peel the kiwis, cut the grapefruit and orange in half.
- Juice the strawberries, kiwis and grapes according to the directions on your juicing machine
- For a larger yield and less waste, juice the grapefruit and orange with a citrus juicer or reamer. Peel the fruit first, if desired
- Pout the two juices into a pitcher and whisk to combine
- Add water to taste if you or your children prefer a milder juice
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
Disclosure: We were given Best 100 Juices for Kids Cookbook for our review. As always, all opinions are our own.
