Kid Friendly juices

Trying to get your kids to drink fresh juice?  I have 2 recipes that may help.

Kid Carrot
6 carrots
10 celery sticks
2 apples
3 pears

This juice is delicious.  Sweet, a little tart and I think definitely kid friendly.  It has the taste of celery, but then the sweet comes thru.

My next juice is a watermelon cooler.  I did not peel the rind off and you may want to if you are trying to get kids to dink this juice.

Watermelon Cooler
1 small watermelon
1/2 lemon

Lemony with a hint of the watermelon.

So here is a progress report.  We started this juice diet January 6, 2014.

Matt has lost 50 pounds and I have lost 30.  We have tapered off since we have started eating lunches more often.  Both of us know we need to get back on the diet.  I want to lose 20 more pounds.  He wants to lose 10 more pounds.

We have more energy and less body aches and pains.  Neither one of us has taken antacid pills and we take less naps.  Matt's blood pressure has stabilized.  I will have mine checked when I go to the doctor next time.

Here's to your health, too.

The morning after...

I hope everyone celebrating had a Happy Easter.

I overdid it this week end and I am thankful for no weight gain and thankful that I learned a lesson and thankful that I am ready to detox - no matter how painful it may be.

I had 1.5 cinnamon sugar muffins, a cinnamon biscuit, french toast and syrup along with eggs and potatoes. My body did not like me.  I felt nauseous for the rest of the day.  Luckily I was able to start functioning in the afternoon.

Lesson learned.  No sugar.  No carbs in high doses.

I have a recipe to share from Friday because I have finally found my beet recipe.  This was a delicious juice!

Awesome Beet
1/2 red beet
4 peeled oranges
1/2 lemon
1/2 bunch dandelion leaves
4 carrots
nub ginger
nub turmeric.
Of course that juice is pictured on the right.

The juice on the left was not my favorite.  I will share the recipe anyhow

Green
1/2 romaine head
bunch kale
2 cucumbers
dill
ginger
turmeric
2 apples
1/2 lemon

One thing I have learned about apples?  Get either Gala or Granny Smith.  The red delicious do not impart enough sweetness to a juice and that is what this juice needed.

Today, my Monday, I have made the detox Green juice

Detox Green
Kale
1/2 romaine
1/2 pineapple
4 carrots
2 cucumbers
5 celery
1/2 lemon

I will drink this as a snack and have a Bullet for Breakfast and lunch today.  

NutriBullet recipes

I know not everyone has a juicer.  Many people have the Nutribullet.   I will start giving equal time to the Bullet since I use it as much as my juicer.

Tropic Thunder
2 cups spinach
1 cup pineapple
banana
goji berries
shaved coconut
water to the fill line

So delicious.  You can taste every Ingredient in there.


Antioxidant Blast
1 cup spinach
1 cup blueberry/raspberry/blackberry mix
goji berries
water to fill line

You can easily double the ingredients and make a bigger blast.  I used the small cup since I also ate a hard boiled egg.

Enjoy

Monday. Oh, Monday...

Follow us and join us on Facebook.    The Daily Juice

I had so many Facebook friends ask about my routine and ask about recipes, that I decided to start a group for all of us to share recipes and photos.

So.  We are back at it this week.  Trying to lose an additional 5 pounds before we go to New Jersey at the end of the month.

Lion's Tooth Lemonade
1 head of romaine lettuce
1/2 bunch dandelion leaves and stems
3 apples
1 lemon

I have had this juice before and it is quite good.  Tart and refreshing as a lemonade should be.

Sweet Beet
1/2 beet
4 oranges peeled
1/2 pineapple

** What a delicious juice.  Sweet with a subtle hint of the beet flavor.  I am definitely making this one again.

Both of these juices were thru the Breville and both are 2 servings.  These are our snack juices and we have a serving mid morning and a serving mid afternoon.

Recipes and more recipes... and lemons, too

Lemons.  What can I say about lemons?  In my backyard, I have 2 Meyer lemon trees that produced over 300 lemons last year.  Now that I know the benefits of lemons, I will never complain at how well those 2 trees produce.

Lemons are shown to inhibit and prevent the growth of cancer by protecting your cells.  They are also known to help aid in the prevention of a tumor from growing.  They have limonene - an oil known to help aid in the prevention of cancer.    Lemons are acidic to the taste, but when introduced to the body, are very alkaline.  Cancer cells can not grow in an alkaline environment.

Lemons are rich in vitamin C.  We all know the benefits of this vitamin.  A big glass of lemon water can help cleanse the liver and get it started for the day.

Lemons are also helpful in battling acne and promoting glowing skin.

I have 3 recipes that I used lemons in.

Watermelon Lemonade
1 small watermelon (personal size)
1/2 lemon (peel and all)

Simply put.  This was a delicious and refreshing juice.  I love using watermelon juice when I am tired of the green juices and the veggies.  This could easily be a summer sipper worthy of a poolside afternoon.

My next juice is a green juice.

Kale Explosion
1 bunch of kale
2 cucumbers
1/2 lemon
ginger
turmeric
2 apples
4 celery
dill
parsley
 *  I added the dill and parsley because I have it growing like mad in my backyard.  If you don't have it, don't worry about it.

Not sure where the red/orange is coming from on the bottom.  Maybe the apples?

And finally, an orange juice.  Just a note.  I did not use any oranges in this juice.

The Color Orange
1 large sweet potato
1/2 lemon
5 carrots
2 wedges pineapple
2 handfulls of power greens (baby spinach, kale and chard)

Sweet Dandelion and the benefits of leafy greens

I like to use dandelion greens every once in a while when I can get them.  They are very bitter, so it is necessary to sweeten the juice.  Pineapple is just that sweetener to use.

Dandelion greens are high in calcium - who said you had to drink milk to get calcium?  They are also high in antioxidants - Vitamin A and Vitamin C.  Dandelion greens are also high in iron!!

To read more about how to use dandelion greens, click here:  Dandelion green smoothies

I get my dandelion greens at Freshfield Farms, who locally sources them from Lady Moon Farms.  On their own, they are bitter.  But when juiced with the right fruits and veggies, they pack a ton of nutrition to your daily juice.

Sweet Dandelion
1/2 bunch dandelion greens
2 cucumbers
1/2 lemon
1/4 pineapple
(2 servings)

Another tip to take with us with regard to the greens in smoothies - Rotate your greens.

Why?  Alkaloid build-up.  All leafy greens contain a very small amount of toxins and when consumed over a long period of time, these toxins can build up and harm the thyroid.  Please know that this is VERY RARE.

If you use spinach one day, kale the next, you have it down pat.  Don't worry.  And besides, it is good to switch it up every once in a while as different greens have different nutrient benefits.

Another article on the benefits of greens in your smoothies:  Benefits of greens

Tomorrow?  Why to use lemons.

Hitting it hard

We are vacationing in 3 weeks and have decided we are losing 10 pounds prior to that.

My husband has lost 45 pounds since we started this journey January 6, 2014.  I have stalled at 30.

Over the last 2 weeks we were eating a little more, but maintaining.  Were they all good meals?  No.  However, we did supplement with juicing.  This is, after all, a lifestyle change and it does take time.

So.  Back to juicing thru the day until dinner and making sure that we eat a sensible dinner.

I made a simple, easy juice today.

carrots
apples
celery
1/2 lemon
turmeric
ginger

So.  Back at it.  We shall see what happens by the end of this week.  Hoping for a few pounds off.

Juicy Thursday

Today, my first juice is a garbage juice.  Doesn't sound delicious does it?  However, this is why it is garbage juice.  I take a look in my fridge and see what produce needs to go ASAP and I make it in to a juice.  I just so happened to have quite a bit!

Week old tomatoes, both round and a few grape ones, and green onions as well as a head of butter lettuce.  I added a bit of fresh produce to round it out in to a nice tomato juice

Garbage Juice
1 head of butter lettuce
tomatoes (as many as you want)
4 carrots
4 stalks celery
green onions
wedge lemon
2 hands full of spinach

 I was off the diet this past week end and I certainly paid the price.  Although I did not gain any weight, the toll it took on my digestive system was great.  I suffered, up til today, with bloating and gas pain.  I imagined that there was a battle in my intestines between the good stuff moving in and the bad stuff trying to hang on, but getting moved out.  I am feeling MUCH better today.

Next juice is a citrus beet juice.  I had a piece of leftover beet as well as grapefruits and oranges that needed to leave the house one way or another.

Citrus Garbage
2 peeled grapefruits
3 peeled oranges
1/4 beet
4 carrots
wedge of lemon
nub ginger

Enjoy the juice.