For all you parents out there, listen up! My best friend, Kelli Morgan, registered dietician and mommy-extraordinare is now contributing a once-a-week blog post with all of her tips and tricks for keeping kids healthy. Kelli has two beautiful children, Madilyn and Merrick. We have been friends for going on 15 years now (yikes — makes me feel old!) and Madilyn is my goddaughter. I’m always super-impressed by the stories Kelli tells me of everything she’s feeding her kids and all of the fun activities they do together. I’m so happy to welcome Kelli to katieleehome.com and I look forward to many more blog entries from her. Hope you enjoy her first entry!

Kelli with Merrick and Madilyn

A Little bit about me

I’m not sure which box I belong in. I would say I’m your typical all American girl. I married my high school sweetheart and we raise our two amazing childen in the beautiful Arizona desert. I studied dietitics in college because I knew the only thing I wanted to be “when I grew up” was a mommy. I figured I could blend my love of food, cooking and health into a career that would also make me a better mommy. My goal is to be as healthy and natural as possible while still having playdates at Chickfila and without serving my child a bran muffin for their birthday. I am happy to say my whole family eats very healthy, has great appetites and are open to trying new things.

Got Juice?

Over the years I have found the more my daughter helps me in the kitchen, the higher her intake of fruit and vegetables are. One of her favorite things to do is go thru our fridge and pull out fruits to help me make homemade juice. I love to feed my family fresh juice to infuse their bodies with live enzymes to help keep their immune-system running strong (espcially with the new school year coming up!) I notice when I am faithful to my “green drink” I have more energy to keep up with them as well! (not to mention my skin and body looks better too!!)

I own the 850 watt Breville Juice Fountain. It is the same one Martha has. I always say “if it is good enough for Martha, it is good enough for me!”

Green Drink: there are many different recipies on the internet and in healthbooks. This is my favorite:
5 oz fresh spinach
1/2 green tart apple
1 stalk celery
1/4 cucumber
1/2 lemon
1 inch ginger

Madilyn’s Sunshine Juice:
1 apple
1 orange
1 pear

Merrick’s Carrot Juice: since Merrick is still a baby, I don’t want him to have a lot of fruit juice. Luckily, he is a big lover of carrots!
2 large carrots
1/2 apple