To Your Health!

Tom's Gramma Irma, whom I never met, was a woman way ahead of her time.  Born at the end of the 1800s, she visited the chiropractor and was into "health food" before most of the world knew a thing about it.  It must have been in her reading of Prevention Magazine that she learned of the "Grape Cure," flushing out her system periodically by a diet of grapes.

She had owned a diner before she met Grampa and was a fabulous cook.  Tom's sister Marilee described Tom and his brother Danny chasing the chicken around the yard till it finally fell down, Grampa butchering it, and Marilee helping Gramma clean it so that she could make her mouth-watering chicken and biscuits.  It made me wish I'd been there.

Marilee recalls an experience when she was about 10 years old.  She was staying with her grandparents and Gramma Irma prepared a glass of carrot juice for her in this juicer.  The stuff was so distressing that she couldn't drink it until Gramma Irma added some pineapple juice.

We make carrot juice too, but ours also includes an apple and a peeled orange and apple juice.  We bought a VitaMix a few years ago and have had a lot of apple/orange/carrot juice, but in the last few months we have given it a workout making vegetable drinks.  The funny thing is, it was Samuel, the boy who considers the foundation of the food pyramid to be catsup and avoids all vegetables except pumpkin, potatoes, and tomatoes and lettuce (on a sandwich but not in a salad), who got us into them!

One day our chiropractor told Samuel that he needed to get more vegetables and recommended veggie drinks.  He listed the things they put into the VitaMix at their house and how tasty and healthy the drinks are.  So Samuel asked if we'd make one.  His eyes blinked a little fast and his mouth scrunched up a bit, but he pronounced it "Great!" and has never turned down one of our concoctions.

So here's what we typically use in a drink:

kale

broccoli

beets (can include the greens)

carrots 

an apple

apple juice

ice cubes

We put the juice in first then add the kale and the other veggies and the apple and, finally, the ice.  It's a great way to get your greens and a wonderful start to the day.

Photo by Marilee Drew