Winter colds

So Charlotte and I have both been feeling pretty miserable this last week with the dreaded winter cold. My poor little toot has really been suffering - its her first cold and its been a pretty bad one.  She's had a streaming nose and a horrible cough which has made feeding a bit tricky too and made her even less happy. Its weeks like these when you feel like just snuggling back under the duvet and shutting out the cold wintry weather, but no luck when there's still nursery runs to do. Thankfully though it finally looks like Charlotte's almost rid of it and starting to be back to her usual smiley, cheeky self.

I normally manage to avoid most of the colds at this time of year but I think my immune system this year is running pretty low.  Lack of sleep, racing round after two children, nursery bugs and also not having the healthiest diet recently have all just made me a bit run down - a sure fire way to catch a cold.  When it comes to my diet I'm going to use the excuse that as a busy mum I'm always grabbing something to eat on the go and when its wet and miserable outside an apple just isn't going to cut it.  But if I'm being completely honest though I just like a biscuit or piece of cake too much.

To give my immune system a helping hand and boost my energy levels (always a good thing when you have children) I have succumbed to the green juice trend.

A little late to the party I know but I thought I'd give it a shot, if only to shift this horrible cold and stop any more in their tracks.

So yesterday I tried out this recipe with the help of my little assistant Lucas.

Ingredients:
1 apple
2 handfuls of spinach
1 stick of celery
1/2 cucumber
juice of 1 lemon
small cube of ginger
Coconut water

I roughly chopped all the ingredients and then let Lucas chuck it all into my Breville 'Blend Active' and hit 'blend'.  He loved getting involved and was so amazed and giggly as it turned into the bright green juice.  We both had a taste and agreed it was pretty good!

I bought this blender not long after Charlotte was born and swore that I'd use it every day for smoothies and juices as a way of shifting the baby weight.  A couple of weeks down the line and I have to admit, my husband was right (he'll love that) and I barely used it.  Not because I didn't rate it but because I just lacked the motivation and organisation to make something every morning when there was always a million other things to do first (another excuse I know).  Well I'm determined its now not just going to gather dust on my kitchen worktop but I'm going to start experimenting more with different juices.  I've now got the added motivation of how much Lucas loved helping me make it, while asking lots of questions about the different ingredients.  Who knew that while trying to shift my cold I'd stumble across a fun activity to do with Lucas and what a bonus if it gets some sneaky extra vitamins into him in the process!