sparkling apple, pear & ginger juice recipe, sick kids and painted fabric roads
This past week has been a long one, again. We are entering into round two of the dreaded cold, in just under two weeks. After a relatively sickness-free summer it was so easy to forget how damn hard life can get with kids in the winter months. We’ve been hiding indoors for most of the week out of the chilly wind, Ada’s been off kindy and Si’s out of town for work. *Sigh*
In a bid to knock the kids colds on the head I have been making them freshly squeezed fruit juices, topped up with sparkling mineral water. We love them.
So far this is our favourite. Naturally sweet pear and apple juice with a good dose of fresh lemon and ginger. The lemon adds a welcome zing, not to mention vitamin C and anti bacterial properties. It also has the added bonus of stopping the juice from discolouring, like it wants to naturally. I tend to go mad on the ginger in fresh juices, and while the kids do like a little, they get mad if I put too much. In steps sparkling mineral water. I use it to water down their juice, making them not so sweet and less gingery. And I have to say, the bubbles are always an added bonus when kids are involved are they not?
Remember from my recent “favourites list” those cool homemade fabric roads? Made from cut up jeans? Well, we made them. The kids helped to paint the centre lines ‘yellow and white mama, because that’s what real roads have’, insisted Ada. So funny how observant kids can be, and how everything has to be exact.
It didn’t take long for them to turn the tracks into a whole town set-up. Old toilet paper rolls became trees (with a little help from mum); cardboard boxes destined for the recycling bin became shops, while one of Ada’s little wooden tables turned out to be perfect for a café. For three days now, they have played. Each day setting up the roads in different patterns. The little bits of cotton that pulls off are rather annoying on the carpet, but I’ll happily get over that if it means not buying plastic tracks that brake in two seconds, ending up in the bin. And for mums that can actually sew (sadly not me), I’m sure you could hem them to stop fraying.
Thankfully there are two pockets on jeans, and two legs. See, we have two kids. And two kids that don’t always like to share. Heck, who am I kidding? They very rarely share. That photo up there, of the two of them playing? It didn’t last long. No worries, they got one leg each, complete with their own handy pocket for storage. Problem solved.
sparkling apple, pear & ginger juice
This really isn’t a recipe as such. More of an idea. Below is how I make my juice, but feel free to adjust to your tastes. I love ginger, so I’m pretty heavy handed when it comes to it in juice. Use less if you are more cautious than I. You can adjust the proportions of juice to sparkling mineral water to suit your tastes, I usually go half/half or about 3/4 juice:1/4 mineral water (although this does mean less fizz). Serves 1-2 (makes approx 500ml of juice).
2 apples, cored and chopped small enough to fit into your juicer
2 pears, cored and chopped small enough to fit into your juicer
2 lemons, peeled and roughly chopped
2 thick slices of fresh ginger (or to taste)
chilled sparkling mineral water to serve
Juice the apples, pears, lemons and ginger in a juicing machine. Pour into glasses and top up with sparkling mineral water to taste. Serve.
You are so clever ! I find it hard getting my kids to drink fresh juice , but sparkling water added , perfect ! Must make some roads with boys such a neat idea .Tthink of you daily as I sip my k efir , which is growing like crazy !
This sounds wonderful even to drink when not sick. I haven't ever tried juicing pears so thanks for the idea!
Love the pics of the fabric roads. How do you do the black and white with some parts of the picture colored?
Sounds delicious! I also can be a bit heavy handed on the ginger, I do love the spiciness! I am currently on an elimination diet from my Naturopath which include no apples or pears, so my juicing has been non-existent lately, but I am looking forward to getting up and running again soon for goodies like this one 🙂
love love your newly found blod, creative and out of this world recipies and play ideas. Going to op shop tomorrow for jeans to make such a clever thing. we have had the snotty nose and cough for more than 2 months now. And yes really hard when it is so cold and bleak outside.
Hope all is on the mend soon.
xxx Jill
~Haidee, you just reminded me, I have to track me down some water kefir over here. I miss it. So glad you are enjoying it! Xx
~Raj, Pears are wonderful to juice. Super sweet and they add a little bit of body to the juice, making it a little thicker than usual if that makes sense? Those black and white pics with yellow in are taken on my canon S5 IS, there is a mode called "colour accent" where you can choose which colour it picks up, while leaving the rest B & W. I love it!
~Amy, I do hope you and all your family are okay after that big after shock today. I thought of you instantly when I heard the news. Xxx p.s good luck with your elimination diet, it really is the best way to suss things out.
~Jill, thanks for stopping by! Hey a tip for buying jeans from the op shop (we didn't bring any old jeans over to Perth with us, so got a pair from the op shop too)… buy the biggest pair you can find. Mens size 16+, that way you will have loads of material to cut into!
Love that you had the kiddos help paint the stripes on the roads! Glad they had fun playing with them! The frays are kind of annoying. You could use Fray Check on the ends to try to help stop that without having to sew. Or maybe pinking shears to trim the edges? Thanks for linking to my blog too!
Ha yeah I have no clue when it comes to anything to do with sewing! My sister is amazing so I just rely on her (but now she's all the way back home in NZ). Thanks for the tips, I will look into it if they fray too much. Xx
Yum!! KB and I just pulled out the juicer and made this scrummy drink. Had no fresh ginger so used dried. It was yum – so lovely to be reminded of healthy remedies for both KB and I, especially as I am pregnant. So we are off to come up with a recipe to use up the pulp now. Thanks heaps – have a lovely day with your treasures xx
That looks very refreshing. I love sparkling anything really and the ginger will come in handy should there be any Winter sniffles 😀
Great roads!
I experienced sickness in a babe for the first time a couple of weeks back- man, it's unbelievable how much a 10 month old suffers from a head cold! poor little cherub. I'm a sucker for ginger, too, btw. I've a habit of blowing people's throats out with my juices. The sparkling water's a good trick. Thanks emm, you're turning out to be my shining star 🙂
Oh yes, the worst thing about when they are that young is they still try to breath through their (blocked) noses 🙁 It so doesn't work. Thanks for your lovely words Angela 🙂 Xx
12 Responses
You are so clever ! I find it hard getting my kids to drink fresh juice , but sparkling water added , perfect ! Must make some roads with boys such a neat idea .Tthink of you daily as I sip my k efir , which is growing like crazy !
This sounds wonderful even to drink when not sick. I haven't ever tried juicing pears so thanks for the idea!
Love the pics of the fabric roads. How do you do the black and white with some parts of the picture colored?
Sounds delicious! I also can be a bit heavy handed on the ginger, I do love the spiciness! I am currently on an elimination diet from my Naturopath which include no apples or pears, so my juicing has been non-existent lately, but I am looking forward to getting up and running again soon for goodies like this one 🙂
love love your newly found blod, creative and out of this world recipies and play ideas. Going to op shop tomorrow for jeans to make such a clever thing. we have had the snotty nose and cough for more than 2 months now. And yes really hard when it is so cold and bleak outside.
Hope all is on the mend soon.
xxx
Jill
~Haidee, you just reminded me, I have to track me down some water kefir over here. I miss it. So glad you are enjoying it! Xx
~Raj, Pears are wonderful to juice. Super sweet and they add a little bit of body to the juice, making it a little thicker than usual if that makes sense? Those black and white pics with yellow in are taken on my canon S5 IS, there is a mode called "colour accent" where you can choose which colour it picks up, while leaving the rest B & W. I love it!
~Amy, I do hope you and all your family are okay after that big after shock today. I thought of you instantly when I heard the news. Xxx p.s good luck with your elimination diet, it really is the best way to suss things out.
~Jill, thanks for stopping by! Hey a tip for buying jeans from the op shop (we didn't bring any old jeans over to Perth with us, so got a pair from the op shop too)… buy the biggest pair you can find. Mens size 16+, that way you will have loads of material to cut into!
Love that you had the kiddos help paint the stripes on the roads! Glad they had fun playing with them! The frays are kind of annoying. You could use Fray Check on the ends to try to help stop that without having to sew. Or maybe pinking shears to trim the edges? Thanks for linking to my blog too!
Ha yeah I have no clue when it comes to anything to do with sewing! My sister is amazing so I just rely on her (but now she's all the way back home in NZ). Thanks for the tips, I will look into it if they fray too much. Xx
Yum!! KB and I just pulled out the juicer and made this scrummy drink. Had no fresh ginger so used dried. It was yum – so lovely to be reminded of healthy remedies for both KB and I, especially as I am pregnant. So we are off to come up with a recipe to use up the pulp now. Thanks heaps – have a lovely day with your treasures xx
That looks very refreshing. I love sparkling anything really and the ginger will come in handy should there be any Winter sniffles 😀
Great roads!
I experienced sickness in a babe for the first time a couple of weeks back- man, it's unbelievable how much a 10 month old suffers from a head cold! poor little cherub.
I'm a sucker for ginger, too, btw. I've a habit of blowing people's throats out with my juices. The sparkling water's a good trick. Thanks emm, you're turning out to be my shining star 🙂
Oh yes, the worst thing about when they are that young is they still try to breath through their (blocked) noses 🙁 It so doesn't work.
Thanks for your lovely words Angela 🙂 Xx