Another Way to Get Your Kids to Eat Veggies: Juicing!

I am constantly trying new ways to get my kids to eat their vegetables (I've written a few posts on the subject: see here).  My older son is pretty good about it but my younger son is one tough customer.  Among other methods, I've tried:

• pureeing cooked carrots, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and squash and hiding them in marinara (not all of them at once), mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches or hamburgers
  
• adding spinach to fruit smoothies
• making cute faces with them (green bean as mouth, carrot as nose, zucchini slice as eyes)
• bribery (I'm not proud).  

But until recently, I hadn't tried juicing.  Juicing has many health benefits - I encourage you to read more about them here.  I was astonished at what I'd been missing by not incorporating this "delivery mode" into my diet.

So here is how it unfolded: I picked my older son up from school and told him about the exciting activity I had planned: he could make his own juice!  We could try all sorts of vegetables and fruits!  We could combine them and see how they tasted together!  (I used a lot of exclamation points in my pitch.)  He was very excited by the time we got home.  My two sons and I made our own fresh apple, pineapple, mandarin orange, carrot, spinach/carrot, and apple/orange juices.  It was really fun.  I had made fresh squeezed orange juice before but had no idea how great other fresh juices can taste.  Tonight, before dinner, my younger son asked for carrot juice.  Now that is success!

The juicer I bought is powerful, quiet and easy to clean.  It does not do as good a job with green leafies as a really high-end juicer, but it serves my needs quite well.  It's the Jack Lalanne PJP Power Juicer Pro Stainless-Steel Electric Juicer.