Loosey Juicy

My favorite juice to make is what I call "Leftover Juice."  Basically, it's that half a sweet potato, aging lettuces, last oranges in the bag I'm sick of eating, whatever is left over from the week. Throw it all in the juicer (be sure to peel potatoes first!) with a few apples and BAM! Delicious, healthy, refreshing juice that you can pat yourself on the back for.

My top juicing tips:

Juice anything once! Experiment :)

Juice with wild abandon; everything tastes great with apples.

Lemon and ginger are your friends. Lemon helps your body absorb green enzymes and ginger just makes everything nice and kicky. 

Juice veggies and fruits separately and save the pulps! Try to find ways to eat it because it's full of healthy fiber. I'll share some of my favorite ways later.

Kale, sweet potato, apples, basil, lemon

If you don't have a juicer, I highly recommend one. Mine was a hand-me-down from my dad because he never used it, but you can obtain inexpensive ones for as low as $30 on websites like Amazon.com. Happy juicing!

Follow me on Instagram (zombielace1) to keep current with my adventures in juicing.

Teacher thoughts.... Resolutions!

One of my favorite parts about teaching is the brain exercise you get when simplifying big concepts. I like to give my 8 year olds things in threes. I think getting to the bare bones of big ideas helps ME absorb them better, too!

When introducing the idea of resolutions, I boiled it down to three possible parts: a personal goal, a friends/family goal, and a school/work goal. I loved reading the resolutions my students made, which included things from "Help my friends with problems more" to "eat more pizza". Kids come up with so many amazing/surprising/delightfully funny insights, I often think about our conversations long after the school bell has rung (even though my school doesn't technically have a school bell).

Things we decided about resolutions: Resolution. A promise you make to yourself. Resolutions should be realistic. They are for YOU so they should make you feel good and improve your life. Never give yourself a resolution to please someone else, or that might make you feel guilty or negatively about yourself.

Why is it so easy to give kids this advice and so hard to follow it as adults? Here's a resolution. In 2013, let's be at least as kind to ourselves as we are to the children we're nurturing.