Green juice made easy

The problems with green juices are many.  Unless you have an expensive masticating juicer, the centrifugal juicers just do not extract a lot of juice out of the greens.  You need to use a massive amount to get a little bit of juice.

Another problem is the taste.  Some green juice can be rough to swallow since it tastes like you are drinking a meadow or your freshly cut lawn.

I have searched for a store brought juice to add to my freshly made juice and was never able to find one that I was completely taken with.  Preservatives.  Added sugar in the form of fake sweeteners - even Stevia is not good for you - and other added ingredients that are not natural.

Enter Suja Juice.  No preservatives.  Some have added sugar, but most do not so read your labels.  This adds volume and taste to your our of the juicer green juice.

That amount in the photo is for 2 mid morning juices and 2 afternoon juices.  Here is the recipe

Easy Green
1 bag of spinach
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch dandelion greens
1 large cucumber
5 celery stalks
1 lemon
3 granny smith apples
2 wedges pineapple
1 23.7 ounce Suja Essentials Green Delight

I juiced all of the ingredients except the Suja.  Stirred the juiced juice and then divided the individual servings by filling each container half way with juiced juice and then the rest of the way with the Suja juice.

Easy and delicious.

The Daily Juice 8-18-14

So here it is Monday.  August 18, 2014.  Matt is home from vacation and we are re-starting the juice diet in an attempt to lose more weight.

From January to May, I lost 30 pounds.  Matt lost 35 pounds.  From May until today, we were learning to maintain tat weight loss, adjust our eating habits as well as learning portion control and moderation.

One difference is going to be the lunches.  I am adding protein to lunch and not juicing.  I will only eat 4 ounces of a protein.  That seems to get me through to dinner and takes care of any tiredness I might feel mid-day.

Breakfast was the typical Nutribullet smoothie

2 cups of triple green blend
banana
handful goji berries
handful of almonds
1 cup of triple berry blend
chocolate protein powder
3 prunes

Satisfying and delicious

Snack juices are a typical green juice.  For this juice diet go around, I am going only green juices and vegetable juices.

That is a bunch of Lacinto Kale
bunch of parsley
2 cuts of pineapple
2 apples, celery
lime
2 cucumbers
ginger

I supplemented it with the Suja Essentials Green Delight.  I am doing this so that we will get four (4) 12 ounce servings out of the juice.

Tonight's dinner will be chicken breasts, broccolini, cauliflower and a salad.

I will cook enough chicken to have leftover for tomorrows lunch.  I usually get breasts that are pretty big ad I cut them in half prior to grilling.  4 portions right there.  No over eating of the protein.  I am not concerned with the amount of veggies that we take in.  Salad dressing usually consists of vinegar and oil and occasionally I whisk in a little Dijon mustard or lemon juice.

Juice. Just juice.

Goji delight
Spinach
Banana
Strawberry
pineapple
mango
papaya
goji berries

Goji berries are considered one of the "super foods" nowadays and pack an antioxidant punch.  Because they are so trendy, they are expensive.  Look for a quality online store to get them from for a far better deal than at the market.

Purple Juice  (on the left)
1/2 head red cabbage
1-2 pounds of red grapes
2 apples
cucumbers

The grapes sweeten the cabbage nicely.  I probably used closer to the 2 pounds than one.  This definitely has an aftertaste.  Just tell yourself you are preventing cancer and escorting free radicals from your body.

The 2 main juices in my house on any given day that I use the juicer are the ones below.  I call the one on the left my Favorite Juice and the one on the right Sweet Kale

Favorite Juice
4 apples (use a green or gala)
8 celery stalks
8 carrots


Sweet Kale
Bunch Kale
Bunch Cilantro
1/2 pineapple
1/2 lime
3 Cucumbers

The Sweet Kale is delicious (as is the Favorite).  It is sweet, but not overly sweet.

Enjoy your juice and your week-end.

Shortcuts

I am all for shortcuts in juicing as long as they are healthy.  I have resisted those pre-packaged juices you can get from the stores, but I guess in a pinch they will work if there is nothing else.  Just check the labels.

So today Memorial Day, I have decided to use a short cut juice to add sweetness to a kale juice.  I got the BoltHouse Juice - Mango Madness.  First off, mangoes are a pain to peel and slice.  So this makes sense.

I took 2 big Ball jars and divided the juice in it.

Then, in the Breville, I juiced a bunch of kale, 4 cucumbers, many stalks of celery and added it to the jars.

I will drink the one on the right today and the other, more full, is for tomorrow.

The Bolthouse added the right amount of sweetness and I added my own fresh blend to get even more nutrients in to the juice.  Sweet, delicious and good for me.

Enjoy the holiday and remember those that served and serve to protect our freedom.

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)

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.

Strawberry delight

It is strawberry season here in Florida and we are able to get these delicious berries right off the farm for wholesale prices.

Hubby brought home a flat of berries  I forgot just how much that was!!

So.  What do you do with so many berries?  Why you juice them, of course.

Strawberry Kale Delight
2 pints strawberries (I left the hulls on)
4 kale leaves
Thru the Breville

I ate a cheeseburger last night so this is my breakfast (half of it anyhow) and I will juice all the way to dinner

My afternoon juice is a melon and cucumber blend.  I had bought a yellow melon about a week ago and I knew it was time.

Cucumber Melon Delight
Whole yellow melon
2 cucumbers
Juice thru the Breville

Enjoy!!

Juice... and dinner, too

Matt and I have really cleaned out our diet since starting this juice diet.  One of the go to recipes that I just started making are quinoa stuffed red peppers.

I make them in the afternoon and then they are ready for the oven an hour before dinner.

1 cup quinoa in 2 cups of water (I add 2-3 bay leaves)
  follow the directions on the quinoa package)
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1/2 jar of your favorite spaghetti marinara sauce - I use La Famiglia DelGrosso Sunday Marinara
mozarella cheese (optional)

Cut 6 peppers in half and take out the guts.  Salt and pepper to the peppers.  Stuff with the mixture
You can add cheese to the top if you want.  Again.  Optional

350 degree oven for 40-50 minutes.

Serve and enjoy

Now for Juice

When I make 2 different juices, I get all of my ingredients out on the counter and washed and bunched together.

Sunshine popeye
3 cups spinach
2 oranges peeled
2 cucumbers

I tasted the orange in this one.

Ridgeback Lemonade

3 green apples
1/2 romaine head
2 lemons
bunch dandelion leaves and stems.

A lemony favorite of mine

Popeye on left, Lemonade on right.

Enjoy your juices.  And the peppers.

Monday

Not too bad of a cheat day yesterday.  Just ate a burger and fries for lunch but had a sensible breakfast and dinner.

Starting the day with a NutriBlast.  

My 2 snack juices today are designed to keep it tasty.  I have discovered that when I deleted the 2 snack juices, I had a hard time staying on the diet.  With these juices added, no problem at all.  So, I will keep them in the plan.

Carrot Pick Me Up

14 carrots

1 peeled grapefruit

2 peeled oranges

ginger to taste.

I say "ginger to taste" because a lot of people do not like a strong ginger taste.  I do think it it important to keep the ginger in.  Ginger has so many health benefits.  It' main benefit is helping to relieve gastrointestinal distress and promotes the elimination of intestinal gas.  Ginger also has anti-inflammatory compounds and has been known to protect against colo-rectal cancers.  So.  Add a little to your diet every day.

My next juice is a green juice with pineapple for sweetness.

Afternoon Green

1/2 head of romaine

6-8 kale leaves and stems

2 cucumbers

handful or parsley

1/2 pineapple

apple

Matt tried a little bit this morning and said this was a very good juice.  Can't wait to drink this in the afternoon.  

Dilled Carrot Delight

Just stopped by to share a recipe for a vegetable juice that I am drinking for breakfast and it is delicious.

Dilled Carrot Delight
10 carrots
2 cucumbers
5-6 full stalks of fresh dill
4 celery stalks
1 granny smith apple
1 inch ginger

put all ingredients thru the juicer and enjoy

Tangy, carroty and a little hint of dill.

My versions...

Another pound lost.  I seem to have re-started my weight loss.

My husband has seemingly stepped away from the diet.  He has lost 40 pounds, claims he wants to lose more, but is not making the effort.  This is a hard diet.  Any diet is not easy, but this one seemed to be the easiest we have done so far.

Onward I trudge toward my goal.

Ridgeback Lemonade
Head of green leaf lettuce
bunch dandelion leaves
2 lemons
4 small Granny Smith apples

Very tart and very green.

My next one is my newest version of V-8

Meera's Vegetable juice
5 tomatoes
5 carrots
3 stalks celery
inch of jalapeno
1/4 onion
2 cups spinach
dill to taste
1/4 beet

We'll see how this one tastes later.

So as I move on with out my husband on this diet, I think it has actually strengthened my resolve.  I AM going to lose another 20 pounds and I AM going to keep it off.

Enjoy the day.

Market Day and lots of recipes and Hump Day

Tuesday is market day.  Time to replenish the stocks

I have been doing some freezing of the fresh fruit.  I peeled bananas, cut them in to thirds and then laid them on a sheet tray until frozen and then bagged them.  Did the same with my pineapple and papaya.  Both made the transition from fresh to frozen.

I love to shop at Freshfield Farms.  Plenty of Organic produce as well as just plain good deals.

On to the recipes

Found this on the dandelion greens I bought.

Lion's Tooth Lemonade

I plan to try this tomorrow.

The link to Lady Moon Farms  Click the name and you are there.

Anyhow.  Still adding the Vitamin C to my juices.

C-Green
8 dandelion leaves and stalks
6 kale leaves and stalks
1 cucumber
1/4 pineapple
peeled lime
peeled orange
peeled grapefruit
ginger
turmeric

Delicious citrusy with a hint of green.  I felt better as soon as I drank it!

 2 more juice recipes.  One to celebrate citrus and Vitamin C and the other is a "flu fighter"  Both of these are single serving recipes.

Apple Crisp

5 apples

2 large celery stalks

2 oranges (peeled)

Foo Fighter
2 c spinach
5 kale leaves
2 carrots
2 celery
cucumber
apple
ginger

Enjoy!

Change up

Normally I get the hubby to make the juice in the Breville and then I do the blended juices.  Today, I did the Breville since he was out late and still in bed.

I had an epiphany on Monday.  I am going to have to eat a burger on my cheat days.  It is what I crave and I am not satisfied until I have one.  Which usually means I cheat!  Yes.  On Tuesday, I had a burger at lunch. And guess what?  That craving ended and I found it easy to juice on Wednesday and I have no cravings today either.  I had the same thing happen the first week.  I wanted a burger, didn't get it and I was in torment all week long until I could eat on on Sunday.

My best advice is that you eat what you crave on your cheat days.  If you don't, you will continue to crave it!!

Cucumber Melon blast

Whole cantaloupe
1 cucumber
run it thru the Breville

It smelled delicious!  I can not wait to try it.

Spicy Greens
bunch of kale
4 celery stalks and leaves
handful of fresh dill
2 apples
cucumber
ginger
turmeric
small bit of fresh jalapeno
peeled lemon

The dill smelled outrageous going thru the juicer.  So delicious.

Experiment with your ingredients.  I know I do.  I remember some combinations to enjoy later and some I take off my list.

One of my new favorite ways to get beets in my system is the juice I made on Tuesday.  I made it again yesterday.

1/2 beet
4 peeled oranges
peeled grapefruit
1/2 sweet potato
5 carrots
turmeric

I call it the Hi-C.  It really calms the flavor of the beet down and it tastes very citrusy.

Enjoy your day.

Re-set Monday

Daily gratitude:  That I was able to get my husband to get some things done around the house this week-end.

Spent Saturday visiting the produce places and then came home and processed all of the fruits and veggies - mainly the fruits.  Mango, pineapple, papaya for the tropical mix, and blackberry, strawberry raspberry for the berry blend mix.  Also snagged some citrus - oranges, a few limes, grapefruit. I also grabbed some seeds - pumpkin and sunflower.  I am getting back to the fruit in the morning and a veggie juice in the afternoon.

Monday is re-set the diet day.I am hovering at the 27 pounds lost mark and I want to shake it up and get a few more pounds lost this week.

So, with all that good produce, here are my juices for the day.

For breakfast I am doing the NutriBullet blended smoothie.  Greens, my tropical mix, a banana and some pumpkin seeds.  For lunch will do in the Bullet - greens,berry blend, protein powder and banana and almonds.

Mid morning juice:

4 peeled oranges
1/2 sweet potato
8 carrots
1/2 beet
turmeric
grapefruit (not pictured)

For my afternoon juice (not a great photo)

Peeled grapefruit
4 celery stalks
bunch parsely
3 cucumbers
lime
ginger

It's Monday.  A new week begins.  Broken resolutions can start over fresh.  Enjoy

Advice to new juicers

I think that since I have been doing this for nearly 60 days and my weight loss is 27 pounds, I can comment on what to do when you are first starting out.

1.  Decide how serious you are about this.  Do you want to lose weight?  Do you want to get more greens and veggies into your diet?

2.  How long do you plan to do this?  Is this something that you are doing for a month?  A year?  The rest of your life?

3.  Based on your above decisions, get the right equipment.
    a.  decide how much money you want to spend.
         - a blender will make a smoothie, but will not extract the nutrients you need completely.  You can can              get spinach and softer fruits to break down pretty well, but nuts and kale, hard fruits and most
           veggies will not break down.

            -  Nutribullet 600 or 900.  One of the best options.  The 600 is cheaper and will do the job.  These                   extract the nutrients and break down your fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds completely.  Easy to
                use, easy to clean and I highly recommend it.

             - Juicer.  One of the best options to get if you are looking to get the nutrients right in to your system               and looking for a consistency that is more juice like and less smoothie like.  Everything can go in
              the juicer.

4.  Decide how you are going to juice.  Do you have time to juice 3-4 times a day?  Or is it easier to juice all of your daily juices at once.  Don't worry about reading that it's not good to store your juice.  If you are drinking them all in one day, nutrients are not going to be lost.

5.  If you do not like the taste of vegetables, making them in to a juice is not going to change their taste.  You need to make sure you are adding fruit to the juice.  Pineapple is your sweetest choice.  Costco has a Festival blend that includes pineapple, strawberry, mango and papaya.  You can use it frozen or thawed Bananas also add sweetness.
Spinach is one of the mildest dark greens.
My advice is to make a green smoothie in the morning with your greens, banana and pineapple and then in the afternoon, do a more veggie one with pineapple added.

6.  Beets are not for everyone.

7.  Once you get your tastebuds used to it, move on to other greens such as kale, chard, etc.

8.  Use resources to look for recipes.  Pinterest is a great resource.

9.  Read ingredients on soy milk, almond milk and other "healthy" drinks.  You might be surprised.

10.  Lastly, enjoy what you make  If you did not care for a juice, tweak it the next time and see.  This is all trial and error.

And be healthy.

 

A Green day

Daily gratitude:  Hmmm...

Feeling the need to detox has got me seeing green.

For breakfast I blended the Power greens, 1 banana, 1 pear, sunflower seeds, water (ice in hubby's)

I added a little cinnamon to mine.

And it blended to a smooth consistency.  The pear adds a little texture to the smoothie, but over all, very tasty.

Afternoon juice was another green concoction:

Bunch of kale
6 celery stalks
cucumber
2 wedges of pineapple
pint of strawberries washed but not hulled
1/2 lime
nub of turmeric
nub of ginger
1/2 pear

This is a sweetened green blend that will get the good minerals and vitamins right in this afternoon and hopefully take the burgers and tacos out!

Yes.  My Sunday cheat day was awesome.