Juice Your Veggies!

So tonight, I spent about an hour in my kitchen with the juicer and some veggies & fruit. All I can say is that it was awesome... Messy, a little tiring, but awesome. I pretty much put together everything for tomorrow, with the exception of a salad and a few other small things. I'm going to give myself a "raw day". Taking it a day at a time... So we'll see how I last! :)

Here's an awesome image that makes me really happy. It's a few mason jars of amazingness:

Doesn't that just look amazing?! So much awesome healthy, awesome flavour inside of these jars...
Since you can't taste anything off of a computer screen, I'll give you the recipe for each juice! They're super simple to make if you have a juicer! I'll start from the big ruby red one, and work my way back to the little guy in the corner... All of these are variations on juices from the awesome book Rawesomely Vegan. I've included the original recipes, and put my variations in brackets. I've made the recipes bigger, because I'm making these as meals. So if you just want a single drink to enjoy on the side of a meal, stick to the original recipes! :) Also, the best part about juicing is that you can pretty much toss in whatever you like, so these are just a few of the juices that I've made out of the book that I really enjoy. You don't need to follow them exactly, and I haven't either. :)

The method for all juices is to juice it in a juicer according to your juicer instructions. Typically, harder/tougher fruit and vegetables get juiced at a higher speed, while softer vegetables and fruit get juiced at a lower speed. I'm not a pro at this yet, by any means, so I use my better judgement if something isn't in the instruction booklet for the juicer... With citrus, some recipes call for just tossing the whole thing, skin and all, into the juicer. Meanwhile, other recipes call for juicing the citrus separately.

Juice 1: "Orange You Glad You Beet Those Toxins Out?"
Ingredients: 

• 1 beet, greens removed (I used 2 beets)
• 2 oranges (I used 3 oranges)

Juice 2: "Slim Down Solution"

Ingredients: 

• 1 red apple, cored (I used 2 green apples)
• 1 celery stalk (I used 6)
• 1/4 lemon, unpeeled (I used a whole lemon, yum!)
• 1 cup baby spinach (I used one of those small containers of spinach, probably about 2 cups...)
• (I also added about 1 cup of bean sprouts)

Juice 3: "Sweet 'n' Mellow"

Ingredients: 

• 1 medium green zucchini
• 3 medium carrots
• 2 red apples, cored (I used green and golden delicious)

Juice 4: "Spring in a Glass"

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup asparagus
• 3 medium carrots
• [post-posting thoughts on this one: I ended up adding 1 cup of freshly cut pineapple. This particular juice is a little bit much if you're not used to the bold flavour of juiced vegetables without fruit. You may like it, but if you try it and don't, just add an apple or pineapple!]

Well, that's all for tonight! I'm about to start day 1 of week 9 (P90X), so I've gotta get a move on! It's getting late at night... (I know, I shouldn't work out this late... But I don't get home from school on Mondays until really late in the evening.) Have a great morning/day/evening/night everyone! :)

Ruby Red Super Juice

Is it super? You'll have to try it for yourself to see! ;) 

I still don't have a juicer yet, but guess what: I'm going out to buy one today! Finally... This whole juicing things by hand/food processor/hand blender takes a LONG time, and I don't have the time to spend an hour doing something that I know I could be doing in 5 minutes.

Anyways, today I made a jug of veggie + fruit juice that tastes... super. I don't know how else to describe it, because it makes me feel super. Perfect word, right there. So I'll go with it! Here's the recipe! Enjoy!

Ruby Red Super Juice

Ingredients:

• 2 beets, peeled
• 2 lemons (juice only)
• 2 golden delicious apples (or whatever apple you like, this juice isn't picky because it's super)
• 4 carrots, peeled
• 1/2 cup frozen mango chunks (or fresh, again - this juice isn't picky!)
• About 1 tbsp FRESHLY grated ginger (no powder, please! Freeze your ginger before grating, it makes life a million times easier!)
• A bit of water if doing this all by hand...

Method: 

• If you use a juicer: juice all ingredients except the lemon. Use a citrus juicer to juice the lemons, and add it to the finished juice afterwards. Then stir, and drink!
• If you do it by hand like I've done *sigh*, chop everything up and put it into a food processor. Chop it really, really small... Then, add all ingredients (even the lemon juice) to a blender (or a jug if using a hand blender like I did), and pour some water in. Just enough water to cover 3/4 of the ingredients. Then, blend. Then, slowly with small amounts at a time, strain the mixture into another jug. This takes a LONG time to do, especially with a recipe this size. Trust me though, it's worth the effort! - Next, go buy a juicer because doing this all by hand is annoying and time-consuming. ;)

Here's a picture of my super juice! It makes me happy. :)

Ruby Red... Perfect for those of us born in July! ;)