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 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.  

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.

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.

Feeling inspired... and citrus benefits.

It's Monday.  Again.  We have decided that the last 2 cheat days have gotten out of hand and we are going back to what we were doing in the beginning:  Being careful on cheat days, but enjoying one meal of what we want.  My meal is usually a burger.

I am feeling inspired because I got an e mail from my Uncle Jerry and he requested prayers due to some health concerns.  I told him of course and then shared with him our journey of juicing.  He asked for all of the information and I sent it.  I then talked to my cousin this morning and I am sharing it with her as well.

It makes me feel great when I can help people.  This juicing has helped me tremendously.  The first week is the hardest, but once you see the weight loss, it will keep you motivated.

Monday's juice.  For the following recipe, I basically used up any greens that were on the edge that were in my fridge.  If you only have fresh, use those

Green Citrus Lemonade
Half head of Romaine
4 leaves of butter lettuce
bunch dandelion greens
1/2 lemon and peel
1 orange (peeled)
1 grapefruit (peeled)
2 apples

My next juice is tried and true and very kid friendly.  Want to get the kids on juice?  Use this.  Sweet, a little tart and healthy!  They will never know they are also drinking celery.  The color is also kid friendly.

Tart Celery

4 apples (granny smith are best)

10 stalks celery

10-12 carrots

Some of the benefits of citrus:

Vitamin C 

Cancer prevention

Did you know that lemons are one of the most alkaline foods?  Cancer can not grow in an alkaline environment.  Add lemon to your water and drink to your health.

Oranges have been known to lower your bad cholesterol!!

Citrus helps eliminate free radicals from the skin helping to keep it young and healthy!

Oranges help in the absorbing of Vitamin D and calcium, leading to stronger bones.

Grapefruit helps boost your metabolism and aids in weight loss

So don't overlook these delicious fruits and add them somewhere to your diet.

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.

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!

Monday, Monday

Now I am not gonna tell a fib and say I was very good this week end.  I did pretty good on Saturday.  Sunday was a true cheat day.  However, the good news is that I did not gain any weight.  Whew.

So now to detox and get back on track.

I have a bit of a scratchy throat from being out in the rain and cold on Saturday, so I wanted a juice high in vitamin C.  I also wanted our regular morning juice and a green juice to detox on.  I guess that means we made 3 juices.

The morning juice is the same - the spinach and fruit in the Nutri-Bullet

The juice on the right I will call Vitamin C Plus

2 ruby red grapefruits peeled 

12 hulled strawberries

ginger

turmeric

What a refreshing juice.  I can feel the vitamins going right where I need them.

Green juice is simple

Kale

half bunch dandelion leaves

1 wedge pineapple

celery

2 cucumbers

ginger

turmeric

Both of the juices went thru the Breville juicer.

My goal for this week is to lose 3-5 pounds.  I am determined to do it.  

New Juice

Daily gratitude:  Hmm. Tough one today

Every start of a new week, I am more determined than the last week to make this juice diet a success.  I find that my afternoon snack is the hardest juice for me to get down.  So, today, I changed it up to give my tastebuds something they want to taste.

Watermelon juice.

Read all about watermelon and its wonderful benefits here:  Watermelon

I bought pre-cut chunks

3 cups watermelon

1 lime

2 kiwi fruit 

Through the juicer.

The smell from this juice was so fresh and light.  I can not wait to try this in the afternoon

For breakfast I did pineapple and mango with the spinach.  I bought a few mangoes on Friday and they are ripe and ready.

Our morning snack juice is a green detox juice and I got the idea from the Raw Juicing and Detox Bar in Thornton Park when we went to their Grand Opening on Friday.  Click on their name above for their Facebook page.  Click here for their website.  Raw Juicing and Detox.  

The Green Lizard

Handful dandelion stems

cucumber

6 kale leaves

half a pineapple

ginger

turmeric

All ingredients through the juicer.

The Green Lizard is on the left.  Our Mango Pineapple Smoothie is on the right.

Enjoy your day.  My goal is 10 pounds by the end of the month.  I get my Nutribullet today.  Will report on it tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

Detox Monday

Daily gratitude:  Glad to make it to another Monday

Our cheat day was yesterday.  Super Bowl Sunday.  Didn't do too bad.  The chili I made for dinner sat in my belly and my body was screaming for a detox.

That's what today is.  Detox Monday.

Pineapple is also a great detoxifier and flusher.  It is high in Vitamin C and manganese, which is good for bone strength and growth.   Pineapple is known to help in digestion and is a great anti-inflammatory and helps prevent gout attacks.  It is also high in beta carotene and helps prevent macular degeneration.

Morning juice was:

2 cups pineapple
1 banana
2 cups spinach
1.5 cups water
blended smooth

Our afternoon juice is a juice high in greens.

4 kale leaves
2 green apples
2 kiwi peeled
handful of dandelion greens
6 stalks of celery
lime
ginger
turmeric
Run all ingredients thru the juicer.  This is a mild, easy to drink green juice.

Yum yum.  Time to detox.

Hump Day

My daily gratitude:  I am grateful for the life I was able to live.

Another 2 pounds gone.  Now that these 12 (or 14) pounds have disappeared, I know I am going to have to step it up in my exercise program.

It is getting better week by week.  Easier NOT to cheat and only have the juices during the day.  Having a cheat day is also a great help as well. Seeing results is the biggest motivator.

About 3:00 or 4:00 pm, I had been finding myself with the incredible urge to eat something.  I had been eating a single serving size of hummus with some wheat thins.  The last 2 days, I have had a hard boiled egg. I think in order to continue the weight loss, I am going to have to get that under control.

Here is a recipe for a yummy green juice I made yesterday

2 peeled red grapefruit
1 lemon unpeeled
7 celery stalks
7 kale stems and leaves
3 green apples
1/2 bunch dandelion leaves
1 inch nub ginger
small nub turmeric
Run all ingredients thru the juicer

This is a refreshing juice that I had for lunch and for my afternoon snack.  This made enough for 4 - 9 ounce servings.

I have gotten in to the habit of making my afternoon juices after I come home from the Courthouse.  Then I am able to work and not have to worry about disrupting my work to make juice.  It also makes it easier for my husband o come home and be able to grab a glass of juice and then go back out again if need be.

Today I am making a beet juice and a sweet potato juice.  Will post more later.

The Ninth Day

Daily gratitude:  I am thankful that I no longer work in an office and that we can afford for me to work from home.

The last 2 days have been enlightening for me.  I feel more energetic.  I have less body pains.  Could one week of doing this really have this effect?  I do not know to be honest, but it has motivated me.

Breakfast:
Please remember that I am making for 2 and the breakfast juice is for breakfast AND the mid-morning snack

4 cups fruit (papaya, pineapple, mango, strawberry
2 bananas
1 avocado
4 c coconut water
4 c leafy greens
In the blender

The avocado gives this juice a more "smoothie" texture making it rich and creamy and thick.  we use this juice mainly for breakfast and mid morning due to having more fruit in it and we want that fruit sugar and   carbs to burn off during the day.

Lunch: 

4 apples

10 carrots

7 kale leaves and stems

7 dandelion leaves with stem

cucumber

2 limes

nub of ginger

nub turmeric

Run all ingredients through the juicer.  This is 4 servings of juice.

Lime was the flavor of this juice today.  I made enough for our lunch and our afternoon snack.  

DAY 8 and shopping

Sometimes you just need Whole Foods Market.

Kale and spinach can be gotten most places.  Today, I brought home some Turmeric and dandelion greens. Yes,  Dandelion greens to go thru the juicer.

Have I told you I lost 8 pounds in 8 days?

Snack and Lunch
2 c of fresh frozen fruit blend (strawberry, papaya, mango, pineapple)
1 banana
1/2 avocado
2 c spinach
2 c water
In the blender

My old Kitchen Aid struggles to blend the frozen fruit.  I will probably thaw it a little more next time.  Texture was definitely more of a shake and felt shake-like.  Again, I am trying to get the fruit done in the morning and leave the veggies for the afternoon.

Afternoon juice will be a green juice.  Please remember that I am juicing for 2 people.  Take these in half for one person.

6 Kale leaves and stalks
6 dandelion leaves and stalks
1 lemon
nub Turmeric
nub ginger
3 apples
1 large cucumber
Run thru the juicer.  Drink right away.

By using a whole lemon, this dark green juice tasted like a green lemonade.  Lemon was the predominant taste.

Dinner tonight will be 3 ounces of pork loin, swiss chard and garlic and a salad.