Having trouble getting your kids to eat their veggies?

I may have a solution. The power juicer. Now I know this is not something new. These have been around for a long time.

Actually in all honesty, I don't have a problem getting my kids to eat veggies. They love them. Bug especially. He will take a plate of broccoli to a plate of chips any day. It is very bizarre, but hey, there are worse problems.

We have had this juicer for a couple years and use it on average about once a week. Year round. no exceptions. It really was the best investment.

Anyhow, I thought I would document this claim and back it up with pictures this time.

Behold....a giant bowl of produce. In this bowl is 2 lbs of spinach,about a lb of broccoli, about 5 lbs of carrots, a pineapple, apples and a pint of strawberries.

Then you run it through your handy dandy juicer.


The result....


Two thumbs agree.... green sludge chased with some fruit = AWESOME!!


A green mustache would not lie.

And then came the green beans....

So to follow in the obsession......today was dilly bean day. I think I may have a problem here :)

Check these beauties out though I mean c'mon!! It may be too bold to just come right out and say it, but shucks, I am going to do it anyway....I RULE!!!!



Also in other news, but totally related to the above and past couple days.....something I have suspected for quite sometime. It turns out I would make an awesome 1930's housewife. Who knew? See if you can beat me score.

72 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

And then come the blackberries....

This year we decided to go across the street for our blackberries. Every year I pick them and make up jam, but this year we didn't have too far to go. We have a protected wetland across the street from us that is a but overgrown. The kids discovered a bunch of blackberry bushes over there last week, so we all grabbed a couple of baskets and went out. We got about a flat or so.

I thought instead of just doing it, I am going to employ the kids help making this jam. That and what better way for them to learn how to this for themselves. This is how I learned many of my domestic skills, by watching and helping my mom and grandma in the kitchen. These are good skills to know .

Everyone took their turn squishing the berries through the sieve. Then the kids had to count the pops of the jars once they went through the canning process to make sure they got sealed. A good time was had by all.

Next on our list....peaches.

Necterines!!!!

Tonight we had a treat for dessert. I chopped up some fresh nectarines and added some milk and a sprinkle of sugar. Who needs a spoon?

Just dig right in!

Oh HECK YES!!!!!

There is really nothing quite like homemade jelly that only yesterday was still on the the bush.

I am pretty sure most kids would agree that homemade is way better than some crummy high fructose version of what people try to pass as jelly at the store. Maybe I'm just partial to homemade.

Although I have a sinking suspicion that I may not be the only one :)

It's berry pickin time!!

I love this time of year because all the berries come into season. We went out and picked a flat of raspberries this afternoon. I almost made the fatal error of just buying a flat (mostly because it's just easier) but to buy a flat is $27. To pick your own is $14. Gee I wonder what I ended up doing. I am just that cheap.

Luckily I found a great reason for having a ton of kids. You can get your picking done pretty fast. Between the 5 of us (well, really only 4) we got a whole flat picked in less than an hour. Not too bad. I was a little surprised how eager the kids were to make it a contest to see who could pick the most the fastest. Although I think more eating was going on than picking.

But all in all we had a fun afternoon.

Tomorrow it will all be made up into jam and in jars.