Sometimes it just doesn’t seem like there are nine people in this home. And at other times, it’s seems like there’s a lot more. Our children range in ages from 12 to 1, with a variety of taste preferences and stages. One of the accomplishments of the day is to find a meal that makes everybody happy. Here is a typical daily menu for our family:

Early Morning: Banana/Peach smoothies with an herbal boost (homemade similar to this)

Late Morning: Poached eggs, toasts with homemade peach jam  (seeing a peachy theme here)

Early Afternoon: Grilled cheese with fresh tomatoes, onions and basil on homemade sprouted bread

Late Afternoon: Freshly baked healthy cookies with fresh milk (whole lot of freshness going on)

Mid-evening: Tried out this recipe for vegetable pot pie

Later evening: Homemade raw cacao ice cream

Over the next few posts, I will break down the steps and planning involved (or lack thereof) for our daily routine. Here’s the first part of our daily deal:

First thing in the morning, everyone seems to be on their own waking schedule. The older children are “suppose” to be up early and the younger ones can sleep as they need to. No one is a big breakfast eater, and I like to get everyone started and focused on their studies for the day. So making everyone a quick fruity, herbal smoothie is an easy fix that holds us over until the weightier subjects are out of the way. I created my own herbal booster using beet juice powder, turmeric, cinnamon, barley grass powder, wheat grass powder, spirulina, and hawthorne berry powder. I am starting them out in small doses and slowly increasing the amount until they notice that something “funny” is going on.

Another reason to start out light in the morning is that the body is still detoxing until about 10am. So, it’s better to stay clear of anything requiring major digesting (like grains or starches). Fresh juices are great. Even better is mixing it with a good protein and healthy fat. I use raw homemade yogurt as a base for the smoothies and often add either raw cream or coconut oil. We use raw honey for a sweetener as well as the frozen fruit.

I think the best part of this kind of breakfast is that I can take it with me as I teach and supervise, get some morning chores done, nurse the baby…

Early Morning Herbal Smoothie

(This recipe serves 6 children and 1 adult in my family)

2-3 cups yogurt or kefir, preferably raw and homemade

2 frozen bananas or 1 whole avocado

2 cups frozen fruit (we’ve been on a peach kick lately)

about 3-4 cups milk, preferably raw

raw honey to taste, plus a few drops of liquid Stevia

2 tsp – 2 TB of herbal booster mix

2 TB – 4 TB raw cream or coconut oil

Blend well. Serve immediately. Enjoy thoroughly.