Holiday Meal Organization: A Three Day Plan

Oh how I love the holidays.

I love the baking, music, decorations, special dishes, being with family, and the general excitement that tends to overflow from even the youngest members of our family.

But, as much as I love the holidays, they can come with a unwanted stress level.

Come on, you know what I'm talking about.  The stress that returns to our faces right after smiling for that perfect family photo...yeah...that stress.  It can take the joy right out of the holidays.  So, as I am beginning the planning process for our celebration of Thanksgiving this year, I thought I would share how we organize holiday meals in our home.

I tend to do all the holiday cooking with the help of my hubby and kids because we have no family in town.  Family coming in town would have a hard time bringing holiday dishes to share so we just take care of the food.  This is okay by me because we have a unique blend of southern/southwestern dishes that are traditional for our family and it just wouldn't be the same without them.

Over the years, we have come up with a three day food prep system that seems to serve us well.  I thought I would post it here for anyone looking for planning ideas.

I do grocery shopping every two weeks so it does take some planning to make sure that I have everything that I will need on those three prep days.  Many people shop sales and stock up but I really just honestly don't have the time for that at this busy phase of life.  I make out the meal plan, list the ingredients, check my pantry for items I already have, and add any needed non-perishables to my normal grocery shopping list. I will run back out a few days before the holiday for the perishables.

Once I have all the ingredients, I plan to do three kitchen days.  On these days, we will eat very simple means for dinner or go out for pizza so that we can focus our attention and kitchen supplies on preparing for the holiday meal.  This year I doubled a few soup recipes the week before so that we could just warm up the homemade soup in a crockpot:)

Day 1 (This would be Tuesday for the Thanksgiving holiday.):  Early in the day, I will place the frozen turkey in the refrigerator to thaw.  Then, I will bake pies, sweet breads, cookies, rolls, and the spicy trail mix that we like.  All of these items could be frozen if space is an issue or I can just stick them in the refrigerator.  I try to remember to load and start the dishwasher before bed so that I have fresh supplies for day two.

Day 2: Day two is mostly veggie prep.  We are peeling, slicing, dicing, sauteing, baking, and steaming veggies.  This is a great place for little helpers to get involved.  My younger ones like to peel, the middles can slice and dice, and my older ones can saute.  I go ahead and prepare the veggies with all of the seasonings and then place them in gallon ziploc bags in the refrigerator.  For example, I will combine all of the ingredients for my green bean casserole except toppings and then seal it in the gallon ziploc bag.  I then prepare any toppings and place them in smaller ziploc bags.  Next, I bake my cornbread for our cornbread dressing, saute the onions and celery, and make the cranberry sauce.  If I have frozen any of the previous day's baking, I pull it out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator or counter and...try to remember once again to load the dishwasher before bed:)

Day 3:  First thing on day three, I like to get some of our favorite music going.  This sets the mood and creates an atmosphere that everyone enjoys.  It's amazing how music produces a peaceful environment.  I prefer Christmas, classical, or worship music but some of my older kids like to dj so I better get started with what I like early because when they roll out of bed, the music will soon change.

Well, on this day, most of my food is prepared and in the refrigerator waiting to be warmed...ahhh.  I can now focus on the breakfast that my family has come to expect on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We traditionally have homemade monkey bread, a protein dish of some type, and a self-serve, hot drink station.  My older kids love helping with these things and each have their favorite places to work.  This year, I am going all out and picking up some petite quiches from Costco for the protein portion of breakfast...haha.  The easier the better!  We will also use paper plates for breakfast to keep the kitchen from becoming overloaded:)

As soon as breakfast is out of the oven, the turkey goes in.  We have just one oven in our current home so timing is important.  This is always my husband's job as he enjoys it.  He loves to try different seasonings, rubs, stuffings, etc..  I don't really enjoy pulling the gizzards from the turkey so this suits me just fine:)

While he gets the turkey in, I get the sides going.  I take the cornbread that I baked on day one, crumble it, and create the dressing.  The cornbread dressing goes into a large crockpot and I move on to start warming the other sides.  I like to utilize all my crockpots on this day.  We have two large ones and one three crockpot station.  I get out my three crockpot station, grab the prepped veggies in ziploc bags, and dump them each in their own pot.  I let them warm until about an hour before mealtime and then place the toppings on them.  This way I can stir them if needed without ruining the toppings.  Once the sides are all warming, I whip some cream to top the pie and place it back in the refrigerator.  Now, I can relax until the turkey comes out.

Most years we just serve up our plates buffet style and then head to the table.  I have transferred the sides to dishes and placed on the table before but it creates an enormous amount of dishes to be done and honestly, I'd rather take the frisbee and football to the park than scrub tons of extra dishes.

Well, I'm off to start making my list of dishes and ingredients.

How do you organize holiday meals?

Large Family Organization...The Sunday Morning Rush

 The Sunday Morning Rush...

Even if you don't have a large family, you know what I am talking about...haha.  The rush around like a chicken with it's head cut off, letting careless words slip, wounding spirits, and then putting on a big smile for those at church.  Well...maybe you don't know what I'm talking about and it's just our family that struggles.  In any event, I though I would share about how I have put the head back on the chicken and slowed things down a bit for Sunday mornings.

When we have to get out the door by a particular time and have everyone presentable, it is a challenge! I found that Sunday mornings were not peaceful in our home and that was frustrating...and my fault.  It doesn't exactly put us in the state of mind to worship when we have been fussing all morning.  So, I started finding little things to assist with a smooth Sunday morning.  Over time, I have compiled a very specific list of things that I need to get done on Saturday evenings to make Sunday mornings work.  If I stick to the list, we can have a peaceful morning, get out the door, and be presentable...most of the time:)  But, when we are running behind, I just have to decide in my heart that it's more important to have a peaceful morning and maintain a good relationship with my family than be on time.  So, sometimes we run on "large family time"...haha!

Here are the things that I do to make Sundays a "Day of Delight".

Music: This might seem like an odd beginning, but hear me out.  Over the years, I have found that some worship or classical music can bring a real peace to the home.  So, during the times that I most want peace in the home, I turn on peaceful music.  I often forget until things start getting crazy but on Sunday mornings, it's great to create an attitude of worship in our hearts. 

Breakfast:  I usually do a "self-serve" breakfast and the older four kids just help themselves to cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, toast, bagels, boiled eggs, etc.. And, we don't worry too much about the clean up.  Right now, we are going through Paul Tripp's marriage class "What Did You Expect" before worship service so we have to be ready even earlier,  However, the kids eat breakfast in their class so that helps out with the morning rush for the earlier departure time. When we are not doing a study before the worship service, the kids eat breakfast before getting dressed to preserve the Sunday clothes and keep us from having to change anyone (again...and again) before leaving.

Clothes:  I make sure that clothes are laid out for everyone in our family...even Peter and I.  This includes socks, shoes, hair bows, diapers, etc.  Anything that each child (and adults too...haha) will need to be completely ready is laid out Saturday night before bed.  Here is a picture of how I lay out the littles' clothes on the changing table.

Church Bag:  Because we have our children sit with us in church, we bring a church bag.  This is a bag that we keep full of things to help them sit still and pay attention.  For the older three (10, 9, and 7), we have notebooks and pencils.  We encourage them to take notes and have created special notebooks to help them get started.  For the littles we bring a sippy cup/bottle, snack, and several "quiet things" like felt books or small toys/games.  I check that all of these things are in the church bag and fill all sippy cups/bottles the night before.  The next morning I can just grab drinks from the refrigerator and the bag is complete.

Diaper Bag:  I check and refill the diaper bag on Saturday evenings to make sure that I have at least two diapers for each baby, plenty of wipes, and a change of clothes for all three of the littles.  I place the diaper bag and the church bag together by the "goodbye couch".

Goodbye Couch:  The goodbye couch is the place where the kids park themselves when they are ready to go...all the way down to hair and shoes.  They sit on the "goodbye couch" with a book or pen and paper.  When everyone is on the couch, we know we are ready to go.  It doesn't always work that smoothly but it does help us to know who is ready and who needs a little help.  And, it's amazing how quickly the littles follow the lead of the older kids and just go sit on (or sometimes by) the couch.

Lunch:  Lunch was a problem for so many years.  Having something ready to eat when you get home with a hungry family is really challenging.  If we know that there is nothing at home, we are tempted to go out to eat and that usually isn't in the budget...haha.  I have started using my crockpot almost exclusively for Sunday lunch.  Last Sunday we made "Chipotle style" burritos.  I have a triple crockpot and so I was able to put roast in one, black beans in another, and corn in the third.  I had the toppings and tortillas ready and made some rice when we got home.  We were ready to eat in 10-15 minutes. 

 If you are looking for ways to make Sundays a day of delight, check out "A Day of Delight" by Doorposts.  This has been one of the most influential books for me in helping our family to enjoy and look forward to Sundays.  I highly recommend it...and they are not paying me to say so...haha.

Meal Planning, Food Budgeting, Grocery Shopping...How I Manage the Details

I have had a request to blog about how I handle meal planning, grocery shopping, and budgeting for food. I'm not sure that my method is the most efficient, but here it goes...


I will start with meal planning.  Every two weeks, I sit down with a chart that is really a calendar that I keep in "My Brain" and plan out the meals for the next two weeks.  Here is my meal plan for October.  You can see that we were eating out every Thursday.  We try to plan for eating out and not eat out unless planned.  (This is a budget category outside of groceries.)  In October, Thursday afternoons were quite busy.  We were going from PE to the library and then straight to soccer practice.  This means that we were out of the house from about 1:30-7:00pm.  So, we decided for the soccer season just to eat out Thursday evenings.  We have a favorite family friendly pizza place just around the corner that has a great "family meal" that is really cost effective:)  Now that soccer season is over, we are not eating out weekly.

Breakfast:  I don't plan individual breakfasts but have things available that the kids can get independently such as instant oatmeal, whole wheat bagels, whole grain cereals, bread for toast, fruit, etc..  Or, I will have steel cut oats in the crockpot...so good on a cold morning.  It has taken a little trial and error to understand just how much we will eat in a two week period but I have it down to a science...for now...it will change over time as kids grow and eat more:)  I will add a few things like eggs that I can make on Saturdays when we have a more relaxed schedule and we can all have fun cooking in the kitchen together.  I also buy fresh and frozen fruits and greens to make green smoothies (which I have exclusively for breakfast on a normal school day). 

Lunch: Lunch planning is much like breakfast in that I ensure that we have supplies for sandwiches and salad to last the two weeks.  I also get supplies for mac and cheese to make a few days as this a favorite in our house.  Some days the kids will eat dinner left overs instead of sandwiches and salad, but I stick to spinach salad most days as I have so much more energy and actually feel less moody when I am eating all of those raw veggies:)

Dinner:  Dinner gets the most planning.  However, even this is a really simplified process.  I need to plan fourteen dinners, but I really only plan seven and then repeat the next week.  For example, this next two week period, we are having soup & wheat bread on Mondays, tacos (taco salad for the adults) on Tuesdays, baked potatoes on Wednesdays, spaghetti and meatballs on Thursdays, waffles or pancakes on Fridays, fish and veggies on Saturday, and a crockpot meal that I can put on Saturday evening and wheat bread that I can bake on Saturday for Sunday lunch.  We usually have a movie night with popcorn for dinner on Sundays.  I also plan some kind of dessert and buy grape juice as part of our Sabbath Celebration...just because everyone loves these:)

I create my lists by store, so I will have a Costco, Wal-Mart, and Sprouts list every shopping trip...but all on the same page:)  Occasionally I will have other stores listed that I need to visit, but these are the staples.  I also try to list things according to the path that I take through the store (because it is hard to backtrack with six kids!).  For some reason, I tend to make a counter clockwise circle in the stores and rarely go down the center isles.  I guess the basics are around the edges:)

I have a general "base" list of things that I buy every trip or every other trip that I can jot down by memory.  For example, I know that at Costco I will buy three boxes (2 gallons each) of milk, one gallon of orange juice, and so on every shopping trip.  But eggs (5dz) and butter I buy every other shopping trip.  I put the date of the shopping trip on the top of each list so that I can have multiple list going at once.  This way I can jot down things that I will need to get on a later shopping trip for a specific event.  I can also add items to these lists that I notice are getting low around the house like olive oil, trash bags, etc. right when I notice that they are low...because I won't remember later:)  I can also add occasional items like little boy's socks that need to be purchased soon (these items can be adjusted to a later list if I am tight on the budget that trip).

Here is the list that I have started for my next shopping trip...pretty bare but it will fill up!  The numbers that you see in this list are how many I need of that item but I do put the price also...more on this later.

After I have the basic items listed, I add the items that I will need for meal planning.  So, for my shopping list, I know that I need to add double items for soup, wheat bread (berries that I buy in bulk every few months), tacos, baked potatoes, spaghetti and meatballs, waffles, fish, veggies, two crockpot meals, and popcorn.  Then I add in the breakfast items, and lunch supplies. 

I usually run back over the meal planning for each day thinking about each meal and the items needed and check that against my list to make sure that I am not leaving anything out.  Then I do a quick check in the pantry and kitchen drawers for things like paper plates, ziploc bags, etc..

Now that I have my list, I am ready for the budgeting.  I start by going through my shopping list and putting a small number next to each item.  This number is an estimate of how much that item costs.  Sometimes it is exact because I have purchased that item hundreds of times (like milk) and sometimes it is the most that I am willing to pay for an item (like socks...so I might end up buying a smaller package of socks to stay within budget and then buying more later if needed).  I then add up what I am spending at each store and write the total at the top of the list...total the totals...and compare to my budget.  If I am over budget, then I look back over the list for things that I can remove (like black olives for tacos...not a must).  There are months (like around the holidays) when we purposefully increase the budget to buy special treats or items to take to events.

If I end up under budget, then I can add in any "extra" things (like socks) from the next shopping list...this rarely happens:)

Now for the actual shopping.  I do most of my shopping with all six kids at this phase of life.  I don't have any kids old enough to babysit the little ones and I like to spend time together as a family when Peter is home.  So, we will take a morning field-trip to Costco and Wal-Mart every two weeks.  Sprouts I do in the evening either alone or with just one of the older kids for some one on one time:)

I LOVE the shopping carts at Costco.  I can put my two littlest kids in the front of the buggy.  I have one of the older boys be the "list master" and read off the next item to purchase.  Because the list is already in order (for the most part) of our path through the store, we can walk together and the little kids can be sent to grab the items that we need.  This works well for Costco and Wal-Mart because I am buying very little produce (I get mine at Sprouts when I have just one child with me and I can teach them how to pick out good produce).  As an item is placed in the buggy, it is crossed off the list and the "real" price (rounded up to the nearest dollar) is exchanged for my "estimate number".  This is the job of the "list master".  See...it really is a learning experience worthy of being called a field-trip!  After I get all of my items I do a quick count of what I am spending to ensure that I am not going over and then check out.  (I have a small calculator in my purse.) 

It can be difficult to keep kids behaving in a store but getting them involved in the process helps so much.  It seems like it takes longer at first but it is SO much quicker and more peaceful than dealing with melt-downs or fighting from bored children!  I will post later on different age appropriate jobs and entertainment ideas for kids while shopping:)

So, now I have made my list, checked it twice...well really once:), budgeted and adjusted the list, gone through the store and purchased what we will need for the next two weeks.  I repeat the same thing at Costco and Walmart although I usually have the baby in a backpack at Wal-Mart as their buggies have only one seat and I despise the huge "train" style ones (I mean really...It's hard enough to shop without trying to manage bushing a train too!.  I did push one the other day when I was out with only the little ones to get a few items for Lit. Club because they begged me.  They loved it and I enjoyed saying yes to their pleading little faces:)  But, it is not the norm.)

I have all the kids help with the unloading when we get home and then I put things away in the pantry, fridge, freezer, etc..  It is usually time for lunch at that point:)

Feel free to post any ideas that you use to get your shopping done.  I'd love to hear other ideas!

There is NO secret ingredient...or is there?

I remember going to a session at a homeschool convention that was going to be about how to "get it all done" (I put this in italics and quotes because we all know that moms never really have it all done).  I can't remember the name of the session but just that I was excited to finally get the answers that had been alluding me all these years (as if there were some magic formula).  I had four little ones five years old and younger and felt that I was always a few days behind in everything that needed to be done.  And, I had long since given up on perfection and decided to go for survival...haha.  Still, I was having trouble getting it all done.  With great anticipation, I watched the speaker go up on stage as I balanced my newborn baby on my lap with paper and pen in hand.  I was ready to jot down the secrets.  This was going to be my breakthrough.  The secrets to the universe would soon be mine...haha.  The first words that the speaker said went something like this..."I'm not going to talk about how I get the dishes and laundry done.  I'm going to focus on how I get the schooling done."...or something like that.  I felt the wind go out of my sail.  I wasn't so worried about how to get the school done.  My kids were still little and we were having a great time going through the Science based theme units that I had designed around the days of creation.  What I really wanted to know was how to get it ALL done...the dishes, house cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, time with preschoolers, individual tutoring with older kids, grading, quiet time, time with my husband, staying in touch with family members, writing "thank you" notes, etc.  I can't remember anything else but the opening line from that session.  However, over time I have had different moms share with me some of their secrets to "getting it all done".  The biggest secret is that there is no secret...haha.  It took me years to finally learn that.  I was really looking for that one secret or magic formula.  It is much like the line in Kung Fu Panda "There is NO secret ingredient".  Although in my case, there is no magic...but there is a secret ingredient...or several actually:) 

Through the years, I have taken suggestions from other moms, changed a few around, and finally pieced together a good reliable plan that works for our family and will allow me to get it all done...well, most of it anyway...on a good day:)  I wanted to share them here in the hopes that somewhere out there in cyberspace is that young mom with four kids five and under, that was me a few years ago, looking for some "ingredients" that will help to create a smooth and workable homeschool experience.  So, take the ones that work for you and leave the rest behind.  As my dad says "Eat the watermelon and spit out the seeds"...or eat the soup and spit out the noodles...or something like that:)


I have a great deal to get done EVERY day.  I know you are all shocked upon hearing this...haha.  I get up, have my quiet time, feed the baby, get little boys diapered and dressed, wake older kids, start laundry, get breakfast, adjust laundry, check to see if chores are done, adjust the laundry again, get out the curriculum that we will be going through that day...and did I mention laundry?  And, this is all before nine in the morning.  Whew.  I get tired just listing it all.  Here is what I do to "get it all done"...the vitals anyway.

1. I have a daily schedule.  I used a great book "Managers of their Homes" http://www.titus2.com/ecommerce/products/prod_listing.php/1100 to help me put together a workable schedule.  Every child has a place to be and an activity (sometimes free time and yet scheduled) to be doing all the time.  Our days are scheduled from wake up to go to bed.  Now, I can see you all running for the hills.  Come baaaack!  It really isn't that bad.  I can choose to NOT follow the schedule any day.  But, it is there for me and if I stick with it everything will get done...most days:)  When we stick to the plan, I get to have time alone with each older child...and Peter does too.  And honestly, the days go much smoother when we stick to the plan.  Everyone knows what to expect and the little ones get to stay in a good routine.  Here is a picture of the detailed schedule that we follow...most days:)

Notice all of the white blank spots at the beginning of the day?  I am NOT an early riser:)

2. I have lists...yes the plural is intentional.  There is a list on my bedroom door telling me what to do before I go down stairs and another list telling me what to have done before retiring to upstairs at night.  (I really want to minimize the trips that I make up and down each day.)  There are several lists by the washroom door leading to the garage telling me what I need to have packed in the van for...PE, church, park outings, water play, etc.  It is basic enough that the older kids can read and then pack the van for me.  Believe it or not, the older ones usually like it when I trust them with an important job like this and are pretty willing to help...especially my organizer.

3. I have a chore list and Saturday cleaning rotation for the kids.  Each child has a chore to complete after breakfast every morning of the week, except Sunday morning, and another just before dinner (the evening chores are mostly related to picking up the mess of the day so that Peter comes home to a peaceful environment).  The two little boys are buddied up with an older brother and "help" them with their chore.  For example, Nathan puts the dishes away each morning and Wesley "helps"...the Padawan learner.

  Nathan puts away glass dishes and has Wesley put away the plastics that mom conveniently stores in low cabinets.  On Saturdays, rooms are cleaned (this is more in depth than the daily pick-up) and then everyone works together on one large chore from the rotation.  It may be yard work, or cleaning out the cars, etc.  These are jobs that can be done once a month or less.  After this, Saturdays are "free days".  The list below is old and needs to be updated.  From time to time, change is needed and I adjust when I see that one thing isn't working.

4. I have a daily cleaning and laundry rotation for me.  
The laundry rotation means that each morning I do a different category of laundry.  So, Monday is little kids laundry, Tuesday is Peter's and mine, Wednesday is towels, etc.  So, including cloth diapers that I do every day, I am usually doing 3-5 loads of laundry every day.
The cleaning rotation means that every afternoon, I clean one or two rooms of the house.  If I keep it up, the house stays in good condition...livable anyway:)

5. I have a biweekly menu planned along with an ever growing shopping list.  I do grocery shopping every two weeks so, I plan a detailed menu for two weeks at a time.  I plan every meal.  For breakfast, I normally have foods that the kids can help themselves to such as whole wheat bagels, cereal, instant oatmeal, or something in the crockpot.  (My current favorite crockpot recipe is steel cut oats.)  I make green smoothies for myself and four of my older kids will drink that as well.  Lunch is usually salad and sandwiches or leftovers from the night before.  I have a different food planned for each night of the week.  For example, Monday nights are leftovers, Tuesdays are tacos...or taco salad, Wednesdays are baked potatoes, etc.  We do fun and exciting recipes Friday through Sunday when there is less or no school, schedules are free, and Peter is home.

So, there you have it.  These are my "secret ingredients" that really aren't secret but, when put together help our home run more smoothly.  Most of this information I keep in a three ring binder that I lovingly refer to as my brain:)

I would love to hear other ideas on how to "get it all done".  What do you do to "get it all done"?

Ya gotta eat ya spinach...

Thick, green, and straight out of a blender.  What's not to love?  Haha!  I have been on a smoothie journey for many years now and have recently gone green.   Well, green with my smoothies anyway.

Originally, I started out using organic plain yogurt, fruit (both fresh and frozen), and apple or orange juice.  These are fantastic smoothies and my kids all couldn't get enough.  At first I added a bit of honey to even out the bitterness of the plain yogurt but over time dropped that as my kids grew accustom to the taste.

A few years ago, I skimmed through part of Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" and decided to start adding a few deviously deceptive things to these smoothies...and several other dishes as well:) Wahahaha.  I would add a handful of spinach.  At first, it was just a bit and I had to sneak it in when the kids weren't looking.

Over time, I have cut out the yogurt and have a 40% spinach, 50% fruit, 10% juice smoothie...or something close to that anyway.  I also stopped "sneaking" in the greens.  The kids had been drinking them for so long that they didn't seem to mind what was going in them...scary I know.

We like to use apple juice with blueberries or strawberries and orange juice with mango or other citrus smoothies.  I usually put in two or more bananas to help sweeten (the juice helps too) and then at least one other fruit.  I find that I have so much more energy and am more peaceful throughout the day when I start the day off with a green smoothie (and my prenatals and Omega3s too, of course).  It could be all in my head but, hey, it works.

Here are several of our green smoothie recipes.

Blueberry Smoothie:
Fill blender 2/3 full with baby spinach (it will be about right after blending)
Add 2 bananas
Add 2+ cups of frozen blueberries
Add 1-2 cups of apple juice
Blend on high for 2-3 minutes.

Strawberry Smoothie:
Fill blender 2/3 full with baby spinach (it will be about right after blending)
Add 2-3 bananas
Add 2+ cups of frozen or fresh strawberries
Add 1-2 cups of apple juice
Blend on high for 2-3 minutes.

Mango Smoothie:
Fill blender 2/3 full with baby spinach (it will be about right after blending)
Add 2 bananas
Add 2+ cups of frozen mango or tropical blend
Add 1-2 cups of apple juice
Blend on high for 2-3 minutes.

I have tried tons of different things but these are the ones that tend to work best for us.  Sometimes I throw in a little kale or some other greens...just to shake things up a bit:)

Here are a few things that I don't put in.

Grapes:  I tried putting red grapes in a smoothie but my kids were bothered by the skins that didn't blend as well.  I might still put them in if ever I was making a smoothie for just myself as the flavor was really great.

Pears:  When we used pears, it seemed to give the smoothie more of a "gritty" texture that I didn't mind but a few of my kids didn't like.

Since the goal is to get fresh raw spinach down my kids on a daily basis, I stay away from the things to which they have aversions:)


I do also use quite a bit of frozen fruit as I have a hard time keeping fresh fruit around with my little ones.  I mean, really, if each child (5...as the baby is still mostly on veggies) has 2-3 pieces of fruit each day, that is a ton of fruit!  And, it goes fast.

In the end, I am happy to see them all drinking down their dose of fresh, raw greens most mornings.  Makes me feel like they are healthy kids:)  And, I am doing it myself (one of my great joys in life!) instead of buying from one of the popular and expensive smoothie stores. 

How do you get your veggies?