As kids get older they become aware of lots of things you probably wish they wouldn’t. For example, I’m sure we can all remember the first time our little ones took note of the inviting cartoon faces on the sides of sugar cereal boxes at the supermarket. The more tuned in kids become, the more they will start to ask you for things you want them to stay way clear of.

Recently, to my dismay, my kids have become transfixed by the delicious fruit based juices at our local Farmers’ Market. Every weekend, lined up on the tables of the prepared food stands sit enormous glass jars filled with a rainbow of flavored lemonades, watermelon fruit juice and a creamy, milky drink called Horchata. Kenya has started regularly begging for a horchata to accompany his weekly Farmers’ Market pupusa. I was fine with it the first couple of times, but he’s now addicted to them and there’s just way too much refined sugar in all of these juice drinks for me to let it become a regular thing. But not wanting to deprive Kenya of something he loves, I decided to come up with my own recipe.

There are different varieties of horchatas from Spain to Latin America, but the inspiration for this one comes from Mexico, where rice is used as the base for the drink. Even though this drink looks just like a cup of milk, it’s not made using any milk at all. The whitish tan color comes from the starch of the rice that gets ground, strained and mixed with the other ingredients. My recipe is a bit different because it contains a lot less sugar then most pre-made horchatas, but it’s still unbelievably delicious. Instead of white sugar I let the kids squeeze in some honey or agave until we think the flavor is just right. They also have fun getting to toss the cinnamon stick in the blender.

Even though it’s still tough dissuading Kenya from wanting to have a big cup of horchata at the market, the excitement of waiting to get home and make our own ultimately wins out and is certainly worth it’s weight in fun!

Horchata (Serves 4-6)

1 Cup White Rice
5 Cups Water
1 Cinnamon Stick
Zest of 1 Small Lime
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 Cup Agave, Honey (or 1/3 Cup Sugar)

1. Place the rice, cinnamon stick and water in a large bowl and let the mixture sit covered for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
2. Place the rice and water mixture in a blender with the remaining and blend on high for 2 minutes.
3. Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a pitcher.
4. Chill, stir and serve over ice.

*As the horchata chills in the fridge, all the sediments will sink to the bottom, therefore you will need to stir the horchata each time you serve it.

I’m determined to start a movement to get kids all over the country to start drinking more tea. Tea? Really? Yes, tea! From the time both of my kids were able to hold a glass and drink on their own, they’ve been enjoying “cold hot tea” as they call it. I never understand why parents succumb to buying overpriced, sugary jugs of juice at the supermarket when they could be offering their kids a wide variety of naturally tasty and highly affordable herbal teas. Tea is so calming, refreshing, and downright delicious, I bet your kids will love it too!

I’ve been a huge fan of Mighty Tea for years. I like their whole approach to tea: from their packaging, to the names of their blends, to the flavors. Have you ever tried them? My kids’ favorite Mighty Tea flavors are Chamomile Citrus and Organic Mint Melange, while hubby and I drink the Organic African Nectar daily with a splash of milk. If your kids ever miss the sweet taste of juice, you can always add a touch of honey.

If you’ve never tried Mighty Tea, now’s your chance. Mighty Tea is offering six weelicious readers a box of their assorted teas (honestly, it’s almost a year’s worth) to try with their families. To enter the giveaway, just tell me briefly in the comment section below what your favorite drink is to give your kids. Six
entrants will be chosen at random.

Tea you later!

Our family went to a friend’s birthday party a few weeks ago on a cold, chilly afternoon. As we walked into the house, we saw a huge group of kids gathered around something in the kitchen. My first thought was they must be attacking an enormous plate of holiday cookies, but as we got closer I realized that they were all standing in line for hot Apple Cider. We quickly joined the queue. You didn’t even have to taste it to know how good it was going to be. The entire kitchen was filled with the incredible aroma of apple and spices, drawing all the little guests to the stove like an aromatic Pied Piper!

It’s remained pretty cold here in California and I’ve been brewing up my own pots of cider,
treating everyone to something perfect at this time of year that is sure to warm their
tummies! It doesn’t get much easier to make, so you can enjoy this special treat with your family all winter long.

Spiced Apple Cider (Serves 4)

1- 64 oz Apple Cider
12 Cloves
2 Lemons, juiced
2 Cinnamon Sticks

1. Place all the ingredients (including the juiced lemon rinds) in
a saucepan and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
2. Serve (obviously don’t ladle the cloves, cinnamon or lemons into the cups!).

I’ll start off by saying that I’m pretty lucky to have kids who eat their greens. But even if I didn’t, I think this Spooky Green Smoothie would be irresistible to them. If you have a kid who avoids eating his or her greens, this drink treat (just in time for Halloween) may just be the answer to your prayers.

On a vegetable nutrition ranking, spinach is way up at the top in terms of vitamin and mineral richness. Packed with Vitamins K and A, magnesium and folate — just to name just a few — there’s no doubt why Popeye ate so much of the stuff. It gives this delicious drink a beautiful green color as well as a mild, sweet flavor that will surprise you. With the added (healthy) sweetness from banana and agave, this smoothie will be the perfect Hallo-WEE-N treat for your kids and their friends this holiday. My hope is that they like it so much, you’ll be making it year round!

Spooky Green Smoothie (Serves 4)

2 Cups Vanilla Rice Milk
4 Cups Fresh Spinach, packed into the measuring cup
2 Large Bananas
1 Tbsp Honey or Agave

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and puree on high for 1 minute until smooth.
2. Serve.

Some mornings I get into the rut of making my kids the same old breakfast recipes. While I’m comforted by the fact that they love what I make them (Chloe could eat egg and cheese omelettes until she is blue in the face and Kenya, as you may know from last week’s post, is obsessed as of late with museli, it can make me feel like I’m a lazy mom. The biggest issue for me is time. Between me not having a lot of it in the morning and the amount of it it takes my little ones to eat (Kenya can nurse a bowl of cereal for what seems like an eternity), I have to make things that are reasonably simple, but still loaded with as much nutrition as possible.

Recently, I added this breakfast recipe to my rotation and it has quickly become one of our new favorites. I call it Smoothie Your Way because the recipe all depends on what you’ve got sitting in your fridge or freezer or the things your kids enjoy the most. I’ve listed the basic formula for one serving, but don’t let it stop from you improvising to make it just the way your family likes it best. And since you can always change up the ingredients, you never again have to worry about getting into a breakfast idea rut. Each day can truly be your way!

Smoothie Your Way (Serves 1)

1 Banana
1 Cup Fruit (of your choice fresh or frozen such as mango, berries,
papaya, pineapple or cherries)
1/2 Cup Plain Yogurt or Kefir
1/2 Cup Milk (I like to use Vanilla Rice or Almond Milk)

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.
2. Serve.

Hubby and I have been taking a parenting class with a group of our friends in hopes of finding better strategies to keep the peace with our kids when times get challenging (can anyone relate to that?). We rotate houses each week and whoever hosts provides a light dinner to fill everyone’s bellies before we sit down to some pretty intense — but fun — conversation. One of my friends is a total closet gourmand and while she couldn’t be more humble about her culinary talents, just one taste of her food betrays how awesome she is in the kitchen.

As we sat around eating before class started, my hubby turned to me, offered up his drink and said, “Catherine, taste this, it’s delicious!” I took a sip and agreed completely. The drink had a beautiful purple color and was unbelievably refreshing — only I had no idea what it was. I asked my friend and she said it was an agua fresca. It sounded so fancy, but she said it couldn’t be more simple to prepare. All she did was make a simple syrup (sugar and water) with fresh ginger and mix in frozen blackberries. I knew I had to try and replicate it for weelicious.

The next day, I set out to make a much simpler version of agua fresca for a group of kids coming over for a pool party. Kenya was ready as ever to be my taste tester as we took to the blender and whipped up my own version of a blackberry agua fresca. Kenya took one sip and exclaimed “it tastes like pomegranate juice”! Only my kid.

After I let it chill, I offered the kids glasses asking, “would you like to try some blackberry agua fresca?” The kids looked at me totally perplexed until their mothers leaned in to them and said, “it’s juice.” That’s all it took. Within minutes it was all gone, the only evidence being the purple mustaches on everyone’s happy little faces. My husband, however, was less than happy to discover the empty pitcher when he got home from work. I’ll save that for our next parenting class.

Blackberry Agua Fresca (Serves 4)

1 1/2 Cups Blackberries, rinsed (or Frozen Blackberries, defrosted)
4 Cups Water
2 Tbsp Agave
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1. Pour the blackberries, water and agave in a blender and puree.
2. Pour the blackberry mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a pitcher.
3. Stir in the lemon juice.
4. Refrigerate until cold.
5. Serve.

Every Sunday when we go to our local farmer’s market, Kenya fervently looks forward to two things — a pupusa with tons of cabbage slaw and a big flavored lemonade. It’s so incredible for us as parents to watch how monumental this ritual is for him. Many of the central and south American food stands at the LA markets feature huge clear barrels of various naturally flavored lemonades. In addition to the tried and true original lemon version, there is also raspberry, strawberry, watermelon and various other fresh combinations, their gorgeous colors luring anyone who passes by — as well as Kenya.

As the weather gets hotter, so does our family while we shop the market, and we inevitably find ourselves wilting in the heat every summer weekend. There have already been numerous days these past two months that were so hot, shopping for food became difficult and we all started salivating as we (along with Kenya) looked at those gigantic clear vats of lemonade calling our names. I’m always more then happy to indulge Kenya with this special treat, especially considering how thirsty the rising temperatures makes us this time of year. But I also know these lemonades are made with a good deal of sugar and so when possible, I try to sway Kenya towards a nice tall bottle of water, so we can make homemade strawberr-wee lemonade with our food purchases from the market when we get home.

As soon as the produce is unpacked, Kenya is up at the counter rolling the lemons (one of his favorite kitchen jobs because he knows that’s the best way to release the juice). With just a rinse of the berries, a touch of natural sweetener, a quick puree and a brisk stir, our healthy lemonade is ready for us to gulp down and enjoy!

Strawberry Lemonade (Serves 4)

1 Cup Chopped Fresh Strawberries, stemmed & washed
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Agave or Honey
2 Cups Water
Ice for Serving

1. Puree strawberries and honey (or agave) in a blender or food processor until smooth and transfer to a pitcher.
2. Pour the strawberry mixture, water and lemon juice in a pitcher and stir to combine.
3. Chill and serve over ice.

When I was pregnant with Kenya, I had 2 cravings: vegetable stir fry for breakfast (weird, I know) and sparkling water. Not once in my life had I ever desired a sip of fizzy water and there I was, for nine months straight, chugging gallons of it morning, noon and night. Throw in the juice of one lime and you have no idea how happy a 16 oz. glass of sparkling water could make a human being. I felt as if I was enjoying the most delicious cocktail known to man. I became so addicted to it that after two pregnancies, it’s still my daily drink of choice.

We’re not big fans of juice or soda in our house, but I still want the kids to have fun, tasty and hydrating drinks that are also good for them. Kenya loves watching me make my lime “soda” and recently got in on the act by creating his own version because he thinks mine is “a little too sour”. It’s delicious. With just a squeeze of juice and a bit of agave or honey, you too can turn ho-hum water into a cocktail any kid would love!

Kiddy Cocktail (Makes 2 Servings)

1 Tbsp Lime Juice (about the juice of 1 small lime)
2 Tsp Agave Nectar or Honey
2 Cups Cold Soda Water, Selzer Water or Sparkling Water
Ice

1. Pour the first 3 ingredients into a pitcher and stir until honey or agave nectar dissolves.
2. Pour in two glasses with ice.
3. Serve

**Tip: if you drink a lot of sparkling water in your house, I recommend getting your own sparkling water maker. I can’t abide buying bottled water anymore. It costs too much and I think is a waste of plastic. If you invest in a sparkling water maker it pays itself off pretty quickly and your cost per bottle is literally pennies. Plus, there are few jobs in the kitchen more fun for kids than getting to pump one of these. I got mine at www.sodaclub.com

We’ve been going to a small, but fantastic, farmer’s market near our house on Saturdays in order to satisfy my husband’s recent obsession with tropical fruit. One of the vendors there sells pineapples, papayas, mangos and bananas that taste so fresh, you’d think you were on a tropical island. By mid-week, if I’ve cut up all of the fruit but there’s still some left in the fridge, we love making smoothies with it. Not only are smoothies nutritious and fun for kids of almost any age to help prepare with you, they’re also a great use of any fruit you have laying around that may be overripe and otherwise going to waste.

In these economically tough times, going on vacation may be hard, but whipping up a batch of these creamy smoothies can bring the vacation to you!

Tropical Coconut Smoothie (Makes 3-4 Servings)

1 Cup Coconut Milk (regular or low fat)
1/3 Cup Plain Yogurt (I use Greek Yogurt)
1 Banana
1 Cup Pineapple, cubed
2 Tbsp Agave or Honey*
Hand full of Ice

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.
2. Serve.

*Do not add honey for children under 12 months for allergy reasons.

We’re big on making smoothies in our house. Frankly, I don’t know many kids that object to tossing foods in a blender and then getting to press the “on” button to pulverize them. As I’ve said time and again, if you want to get your kids to eat food that’s good for them, get them involved in the preparation process. Making smoothies is one of the most perfect, fun and simple opportunities to do just that.

Recently, Kenya and I have been switching things up a bit in the drink department and making lassis instead of smoothies. A lassi is a Southeast Asian yogurt-based drink containing milk, honey and/or spices. It’s technically not a smoothie, but you’ll never know that from the way it tastes. I thought that adding cumin (a traditional lassi ingredient) might be a bit too bold for this recipe, so I opted instead for a bit of lime zest and loved the refreshing result.

So, power up the blender, grab your little one and have a great time preparing a uniquely delicious and nutritious treat for the whole family.

Tropical Lassi (Makes 3-4 Servings)

1 Cup Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 Cup Mango, chopped (fresh or frozen)
1 Tsp Lime Zest
1/2 Cup Yogurt
1 Cup Milk (you can use rice, almond, soy or cow’s milk)
1 Tbsp Honey
12 Raw Almonds
1 Large Handful of Ice

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender on high and puree for 1 minute or until smooth.
2. Serve.