How on earth do you get kids to eat raw food? You give ‘em PB & J sandwiches and Chocolate shakes – Raw Food style! As you can see in the photo, these secrets work on ‘big kids’ too!

Before we get to that, there’s a couple of things to go over. The first and foremost trick of getting kids to eat raw foods is if at all possible to get them involved in helping you make it. This depends on their age, of course.

It’s all about substitutes for their ‘habitual’ cooked foods. You can make fast almond milk in place of regular milk. If you have a dehydrator you can slice up fruits to make your own fruit leathers and you’ll know there’s nothing funky on there! There are delicious recipes for terrific and fun foods like Nutmeat tacos, (a favorite of Bam’s 16 year old son), and Raw Pizza and learning how to make ‘wraps’ with speed and gourmet flavors and nutritional density intact! For beverages, you can use Sparkling mineral water mixed with fresh fruit juices to make a soda substitutes. You can even add agave nectar to sweeten it!

The hardest thing is to get kids of just about any age, (yes that means you as well!) to consume dark, leafy greens. Wanna know a simple method that’s fast and tastes good? Green lemonade! Yep. All you need is a blender and an optional strainer. This is a staple drink in our house and whenever we’re pressed for time we just look at each other and say it in stereo, “Let’s make a fast green lemonade!”

GREEN LEMONADE
2-5 Kale leaves, or spinach
1-2 cups of cold, filtered water
2 lemons peeled
1 orange peeled
1-3 tablespoons of agave nectar (to taste)
2-6 filtered water ice cubes (again to taste)

Blend the kale or spinach and water first. Get it as well homogenized as you can with your blender. Then add the rest. Pour it through a strainer to get the seeds and scary bits that kids won’t like out of the beverage. Then drink the Green Lemonade and enjoy!

Now on to the PB & J and of course a Chocolate Blueberry Shake. There’s no end to the raw desserts you can make in the raw world. Wow! This was something we knocked up today and I thought it was so funny we decided to include it here. (Check out this post for Hot Chocolate – your kids will love it!)

Bam had already made the Pumpkin/Apple bread in the dehydrator so we had this delicious sweet bread to use.

PB & J (without peanut butter and without jelly)
Raw organic almond butter (we use Living Tree’s brand)
Fresh organic raspberries or strawberries
Ripe banana

First spread the almond butter on your flatbread or cracker. Then in a separate bowl, mash together with a fork the berries and banana into a lovely sweet mixture. Spread the sweet stuff on top of the almond butter. Voila!

Chocolate Blueberry Shake
1-2 ripe bananas
Fresh or frozen blueberries (at least 1/2 cup)
3 heaping spoonfuls of raw cacao powder
3-6 ice cubes
1/2 organic vanilla bean (or 1/2 teaspoon of extract)
1 Tablespoon of raw organic almond butter
Agave nectar to taste

*OPTIONAL:
1/2 Tablespoon each – Maca Powder, Lucuma Powder, Mesquite Powder.

Blend on high and drink with joy.

Please leave comments on what works for you with your kids and what doesn’t. We believe the secret lies in making food a joyous event. Create harmony in your home with nutritious meals. But if your child comes home from a sleepover with candy bar wrappers shoved in their pockets, just let it go and let them know you love them. After all, that’s what really matters.