I can’t speak for any other parent reading this, but my kids are completely obsessed with beverages. All KINDS of beverages. They love juice, milk (all flavors!), and I’m sure they would drink soda and coffee all day long if I allowed them. Anything but water!
Well, a few years ago when my kids were 2 and 3 years old, my eldest started drinking tea. He was infatuated. And he not only drank warm tea on cold days, but he’d order it at restaurants and drink it out of adult mugs. Waiters were very perplexed by this habit. And well, so was I. (But it was either that or processed hot chocolate, so I wasn’t complaining.)
And over the course the of the next year and half we’ve gone on all sorts of tea dates.
I make it at home and we drink it at coffee shops.
Most herbal teas are safe for kids and a healthy alternative for hydration because they offer a lot of interesting complex flavors without the added sugars and colorings found in juice boxes, sports drinks, and soda. Herbal teas are decaf and come in all sorts of organic varieties, too. Just be sure to check with your doctor about which types are appropriate for your children and their health needs before introducing any teas. And consider serving toddlers a more diluted version of a kid-safe tea by steeping for a shorter time or adding more water to cool the cup down. Little ones can’t always drink what adults sip.
One of the best is roobios. Full of antioxidants and caffeine-free, this tea is so fun for kids!
Iced, hot, sweetened, unsweetened, added milk or cream or none of the above—there are so many options.
One of my favorite things to do is make a concentrated tea. I add about 3-4 tea bags to about 3 cups of hot water. I let it sit and steep for about 5-10 minutes (depending on the tea). Then, I add sparkling water, a natural sweetener, and ice. Suddenly, I’ve made soda with a fraction of the sugar and without corn syrup. There is a rooibos vanilla creme tea that I love. I do this with sparkling water and it ends up tasting like old school creme soda (root beer flavor)!
Another fun one is mint. Mmmmmm. Mint or even ginger. Two great teas for upset stomach. Adding a natural sweetener makes it great for sipping.
Chamomile is great because it’s everywhere and if you add a little honey you’ve got a wonderful nighttime relaxer.
One of our favorites is hibiscus.
But more acidic teas like hibiscus and raspberry are less sweet. They are wonderful iced and a fun alternative to other drinks like soda. Even Starbucks makes a great one too, in case you’re on the go and in a hurry. NOTE: These tart teas are not good with any added cream or milk. It curdles it’s so acidic!
Next time you’re at the store, check out the organic herbal teas (caffeine free) and play around with different sweeteners, if needed—xylitol is great for teeth and gums and honey is wonderful for the throat!
Enjoy!
– Juli
Guest Contributor Juli Novotny = Food lover. Green chef. Health advocate. Business owner. Mother. Blogger. Modern minimalist. When she’s not running her health food company Kookie Karma or enjoying the beach with her two little boys, Juli blogs and takes beautiful photographs about healthy family living at PURE Mamas.
I’m excited to share my home renovation with you. It’s been a crazy time for my family because renovations are never easy, fast, or fun. And with two little kids and a company to run, it might not have been the best-timed idea. (Ha!) But, now, with all that in the past, I’m stoked to be here, sitting back, chilling in the yard.
Instead of building up or out, we chose to keep the mid-century house small and manageable because we wanted more outdoor living than indoor space. We do live in California, after all! When building this house, I sought to make everything as eco-friendly as possible, but of course when budget is a concern it wasn’t always feasible. So, I did the best I could to find affordable “green” options. I was surprised to learn that there were many great alternatives when it came to landscape, tile, and kitchen cabinets.
To stay true to our budget, I chose more common eco-friendly products instead of large labels that read “sustainable.” We also made it priority to shop local and work with craftsman from the community. For example, when it came to flooring, we were torn. Flooring is expensive and rarely eco-friendly, unless you spend half your entire house budget on it. We could have gone with flooring materials that claimed they were “eco-friendly,” but instead we got rid of the 40-year-old linoleum floors and re-surfaced the concrete underneath. Not only is this the cheapest way to go, but it’s the most eco-friendly because we used no extra material and didn’t use any glues.
We also have a 40-year-old front door. Originally, we planned to get a new door because this one was pretty darn rickety. But we decided it was worth restoring and not getting rid of. So, we got new hardware and painted it BLUE! (And we used all non-toxic, VOC free paints.)
Sometimes eco-friendly choices are about using what you already have or using things that last a long time. Like the original owner that had not made a single change to the home since he purchased it 40 years ago (now THAT is what I see as true sustainability), we tried to keep as much of the home as we could without fully becoming one of the Brady Bunch.
I did splurge, however, on a few eco-friendly items that were very important to me. Like my kids’ bunk beds and their mattresses. I’m sure if you’ve looked into buying an organic mattress, you know what I’m talking about. The sticker shock is almost a joke, but because children spend a lot of time sleeping I didn’t want them to rest their heads on an off-gassing or chemically laden product. Similarly, we purchased their beds from a really special eco-friendly children’s furniture line. Not only are the construction and materials sustainable, but we know the beds are of a long-lasting quality—we owned a crib by the same brand that both my boys slept in and it’s now in somebody else’s home (thanks Craigslist!) being used yet again in perfect condition. That’s a great product.
Another non-negotiable design feature was the boys’ bathroom. I wanted the entire thing to be tiled. As if you were walking into one big shower when you entered the door. Tile is very expensive, but I found honed marble tiles (a natural stone that will last for years) on sale for $7 per square foot and that was a total steal.
Our kitchen was something we couldn’t restore! It had to be torn out. We went with a European kitchen cabinetry from Poggenphol. It’s the same kitchen they used in the first ever LEED certified home in California. Even cooler was that it was extremely affordable.
As far as landscaping, I had one major request: Everything planted must either require little to no water or be edible! So we have avocado, meyer lemon, apple, fig, lime and plum trees. Along with a small herb garden. (A larger garden will be done later and documented on my blog Pure Mamas, so stay tuned for that.) This not only reduces our carbon footprint, but also teaches my kids about caring for the environment and healthy eating.
Due to foundation cracking and other problems, we were forced to remove a very beautiful old tree on the side yard. So, instead of discarding it, we upcycled it and turned it into a kids table and chairs. We are also using the rest of it to create a natural obstacle course for our kids.
That’s about it! It’s a relief to be done, but creating a healthy, eco-friendly home (and finding affordable sustainable options) was well worth it. Thanks for reading and hope you like it!
– Juli
Guest Contributor Juli Novotny = Food lover. Green chef. Health advocate. Business owner. Mother. Blogger. Modern minimalist. When she’s not running her health food company Kookie Karma or enjoying the beach with her two little boys, Juli blogs and takes beautiful photographs about healthy family living at PURE Mamas.
Being a mom has been the most challenging, eye-opening experience in my life. Even after starting a business at a young age, having a home birth, launching a blog, renovating a home…(blah blah you get what I’m saying), it’s at the top of the list.
For somebody who likes a schedule, a basic routine (for the most part), is a homebody, and loves control over my day-to-day life, this whole mommy thing has been a very difficult.
And on top of it, being in the health food world for the past 10 years, I had an even more challenging time as a new mom. I wanted my kids to eat well, get not only basic nutrition but AMAZING super-food nutrition. I wanted for them what I didn’t have as a kid. I ate Wienerschnitzel and McDonald’s Happy Meals.
And the first year and a half was AMAZING. My kids ate kale, brown rice, and super-food smoothies. They would drink fresh pressed veggie juices. Then about six months later, everything changed.
One of the things I want to explore with HONESTLY PURE is feeding kids (and ourselves) well. It’s more important than anything for growth, mental health, skin (acne), energy, brain focus and, of course, diabetes, and obesity. All those things we worry about for our families definitely can be helped at home just through our diets, education, and lifestyle choices.
A healthy diet is one that provides us with not just fat and carbohydrates, but the right vitamins, enzymes, minerals, essential fatty acids, amino acids, and micro nutrients that help our bodies work properly—keeping our skin supple, brains quick and focused, hormones in balance, oxygen to our blood cells, arteries clear, gut flora healthy, and our immune systems strong.
When are you doing your most crucial growing? As a child, of course! And the foundation a child builds is extremely important for later in life.
What I mean is…
I’ve had to find a way to help my children LEARN to like these healthy (AKA “gross”) foods!
A few things I want to explore are:
How to grow a garden with kids.
Showing them how to make a smoothie or make a sandwich.
Let them choose the spices and ingredients that go into their meals or snacks.
Explain to them what protein is. What a fruit is, why it grows, and how it digests.
Allow them to sample fruits and veggies without forcing them. Keep trying. Ask them over and over.
Explain to them that cake might taste good but it won’t give their bodies the proper nutrition. Or work together to make a healthier version that uses beets, zucchini, or carrots.
When we eat well, respect our bodies, and take care of ourselves, our children will want to do this as well. Being aware of our eating and lifestyle habits is always good. Dessert after dinner? Is it necessary? Or can it simply be berries with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon?
And not to worry. No need to throw everything out in your pantry. There are ways to still make your favorite dishes a bit more healthy…even milkshakes! If you have a favorite dish that you’d like to see made healthier. Let me know.
There is no judgment. No need for fear when it comes to kids’ diets or HONESTLY PURE. Together, we will be honest here. Nobody is perfect and perfection isn’t our goal. Doing our best. Experimenting. Learning. Encouraging. And, again, being completely honest about ourselves and our families is what I encourage.
I try my best at my house and that’s all I can do. We eat junk food, it’s inevitable. So relax, have fun, and be mindful as you try new things. It’s always a great idea to step out of the box and our comfort zones, opening our minds to new things.
Like every mom, I’m still learning and it’s so fun to share the process and make mistakes along the way. After all, that’s how we learn. Saying “I’m sorry” is as crucial for a mom, as it is for a kid.
Stay tuned for wonderful tricks, tips, and recipes to help your children learn and want to eat healthy. And, of course, we’ll share ways to “hide” important ingredients into our picky eaters’ meals (because sometimes we just have to).
– Juli
Guest Contributor Juli Novotny = Food lover. Green chef. Health advocate. Business owner. Mother. Blogger. Modern minimalist. When she’s not running her health food company Kookie Karma or enjoying the beach with her two little boys, Juli blogs and takes beautiful photographs about healthy family living at PURE Mamas.
When it comes to quick healthy dinners at my house, I stick to what I know best: Green salads and fresh in-season farmers’ market vegetables.
But the tricky part is getting my family to crave these things the way I do and making something fast and fairly mess-free that doesn’t just look like a leafy green blob on a plate!
Imagine taco night meets pizza night. Now re-imagine them with sprouted grain tortillas, fresh homemade salsa, herbs, avocado, and kale.
Sound too earthy for you? Here’s the trick – whipped garlic sauce and Parmesan cheese. I’m talking the fresh grated stuff, not the tall green can.
Yep, layer these ingredients before throwing in the rest of the leafy greens and veggies! You will have a gourmet Italian style wrap. You won’t even know it’s healthy!
You barely need any cheese because the garlic sauce is so freakin’ fantastic. If you don’t have any of these at your local health food store, you can buy them online or try making your own. It lasts for weeks in the fridge.
KALE WRAP RECIPE
Makes endless wraps, but 1 head of kale makes about 4 wraps. Plan accordingly.
Kale
Mix everything in a large salad bowl. Let sit and marinate while you prep the rest.
Salsa
Mix everything in a medium sized bowl.
The Rest
Optional: Arugula, corn, anything else you like in tacos. You can also add meat but you will NOT miss the meat if you leave it out, I promise. Kale is VERY hearty and filling.
WHIPPED GARLIC RECIPE
In a food processor pulse the garlic and the salt until garlic is in small pieces – almost like a paste. About 1 minute. Slowly mix in a little lemon juice. And then a little of the oil. Pour VERY SLOWLY. Keep repeating this until the mixture is fluffy and all mixed up.
You can store it in the fridge for a few weeks.
*Again, you can buy your whipped garlic. I don’t usually make my own. I buy it already made at Whole Foods Markets: Garlic Garden’s Original Lebanese Breeze, Majestic Garlic (the best garlic sauces ever!), and Fresh ‘n Nova (based in Pasadena, CA).
INSTRUCTIONS
If you have a moment in the late afternoon, you can prep these wraps by soaking the kale in a bit of sea salt and olive oil. Chop tomatoes and mix the salsa up beforehand as well. Then, set everything aside until you’re ready to eat.
Once you’re ready to eat, heat a frying pan on medium-low. Add the tortilla. Then layer 1 heaping Tbsp garlic sauce under 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese (or as much or little as you want). Add the kale and salsa (or anything else you might want). Remove from heat when cheese barely starts to melt. And wrap it up! Voila. Simple as that.
Once you get the hang of it, this will take you no time at all. It might seem like a large list of ingredients and steps. But it’s really not. You can do whatever you want with these and have fun!
Eat as many as you’d like.
Seriously I had these for 4 nights in a row one week. And I’m still not sick of them. When I make these wraps people freak out because it takes no time at all and yet they taste like a gourmet meal.
Oh wait, one more thing, depending on the ages of your kids, you can teach them to make wraps themselves. Now that’s probably the best part of this entire meal. (wink)
Enjoy! – Juli Novotny of PURE Mamas.
Sign up for free at Honest.com and get $10 off your first purchase only using code Wraps10OFF. Limited to one per customer. Coupon code expires May 1, 2013.
I’m very honored to be contributing to The Honest Company’s blog today…and from here on out. What a treat it is. So, what better recipe to share than our favorite Summer treat at my home?
The Watermelon (any type of melon, actually) Slushy. Better described as the “Healthy Slurpee” because these drinks have that same icy sweet flavor but without the added sugar, food colorings and contain REAL fruit. It’s really easy. And very refreshing for super hot days like today. All you do is add melon and ice to the Vitamix (or other high speed blender) and blend until completely smooth.
Kids love them.
If I’m making them for adults, I add fresh herbs like mint or spices like cardamom to add a more gourmet flavor. Add a pretty straw and voila! And of course, if you want an even more advanced adult beverage, you can add other ingredients as well. I haven’t actually tried that but I imagine it’s pretty tasty! (wink)
My all time favorite is cantaloupe and a dash of honey or watermelon with chopped mint (as shown here). But frozen banana mixed with cinnamon and cardamom isn’t bad either. So amazing!
We store them in large containers and bring them to the beach.
What’s your favorite combination? I’d love to hear a few?
Happy Summer! Enjoy!
- Juli Novotny of Pure Mamas
DISCLAIMER: Content on this site is not a substitute for professional medical or healthcare advice, diagnosis, treatment, dietary, or safety advice, and may not be used for such purposes. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified expert with any questions you may have regarding a medical question, condition, or safety concern. Reliance on information presented on this site is at your own risk. This site contains the opinions and views of others and does not represent the opinions and views of The Honest Company. Given the interactive nature of this site, we cannot endorse, guarantee, or be responsible for the accuracy or efficacy of any content generated by our users or bloggers.
