Foods with loads of Vitamin C

The cold weather is around the corner. While I am not a fortune-teller, I can see it already - coughing, sneezing, snotty noses...sick kids!
I am trying to get as prepared as possible, and hope that it's not as bad as I anticipate - let's all hope , shall we?

I have continued with our smoothies at home - this won't change. I am also in the process of updating my smoothie list here on the blog.
That being said, I want to plan our smoothie days carefully, so that we are all getting a lot of vitamin C. This will also apply to soup day...

I did some research and found the best fruits & veggies with high levels of vitamin C: (in no particular order & listing ones I am likely to use).

Fruits & Veggies & some Herbs
kale
red bell peppers
green bell peppers
oranges
kiwis
broccoli
grapefruit
fresh thyme
papaya
strawberries
cauliflower
brussels sprouts
pineapple
mangoes
fresh peppermint
blackcurrant
guava (tropical)
fresh parsley
cantaloupe

Ground/Dried spices & herbs
ground cloves
dried basil
saffron
dried rosemary
ground turmeric

So look for some most of these fruit, vegetables and herbs in your child's smoothies. And if you have never visited the recipes page, please do here, as I will not update each child's daily report with ingredients.

Make-ahead smoothie packs

Running a daycare means a lot of things. It means that you spend most of your time with children.
One thing that I believe is that it pays to be organized in every sense of the word. This means having a clear schedule that allows for flexibility, but putting things in the right place (the first time), and being on top of your game in all areas.

We drink a lot of smoothies around here; and it's not by accident. A while ago, I found that some of the kids were throwing away, hiding, or flat out refusing to eat veggies. I decided since it's simple, I would try to throw together smoothies that are rich in the vitamins that the kids were not getting from NOT eating their fruits and veggies...so far so good.

Since we have smoothies most mornings, I added it to my meal planning. On weekends I don't care if it take 2 minutes or 10 minutes to get breakfast on the table, but weekday mornings can be stressful. Lately, I've been simplifying and doing less, by doing just that - getting all my smoothie ingredients together. I also use bananas A LOT, so I put some away in a separate bag.
It works. It's easy, and it saves time.
We're not hard to please...we take it as it comes, but we feel so much better when things run smoothly.

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