2014 Juice plan

It's hard to get back into a habit!  But, I was determined that our family needed to add fresh juice back into our diet on a regular basis.

With our schedules, it is not realistic for us to juice DAILY.  So, we make large batches of juice on the weekend and freeze it.  Each morning, I thaw out an 8oz container for Jeff and the boys for their breakfast, and I take a 12-16 oz container with ginger in my juice to work each day.

Since there are 5 of us, we have to make at least 2 gallons + of juice each weekend to get us through the week.  One weekend we made almost 4 gallons and didn't juice again for 2 weeks!

It is definitely a "family affair"!  Every person in the family pitches in to help.  We have a huge, Gatorade drink cooler (note the irony) that has a spout to distribute into the individual plastic containers.

We soak the veggies first... it takes 2 sinks full.

Our recipe is often the following:

• 4 or 5 bags of apples
• 3 or 4 heads of celery
• 2 bunches of kale
• 6 -8 cucumbers
• half a bag of lemons
• 5lb bag of carrots
• 2 or 3 beets

Jeff found these plastic containers online.  The large bottles with the green lids designate "ginger" is in the juice... therefore, they are Mom's... because no one else likes my ginger juice!

Many people ask what type of juice I have and what they should buy.  We have had a variety of juicers.  The Champion is long lasting, but it is more expensive and has a narrow opening for the fruits/veggies.  We used it for years and loved it.  But, Jeff found this inexpensive juicer on sale for less than $50 and we really like it.  It has a large opening for fruits/veggies and is super easy cleanup.  Probably won't get the longevity of the Champion, but it was a third the price.

My advice is to find a juicer that has very easy cleanup... otherwise that becomes a barrier to using it.

Green Lemonade

The boys have been drinking this juice, or a variation, since they were 6 months old.  It is a powerhouse of nutrition!

We use either apples or pears for a base... the picture below includes pears, because we were given a lot of local, organic pears from my father-in-law.  The greens we use vary, but we always try to include light and dark greens. Some light greens could be cucumbers, celery, romaine.  For the dark greens, kale or spinach are good choices.  We have been juicing the entire lemon, without peeling it.  Experiment and see if that works for your taste buds.  If it's too bitter, peel most of the skin and that should reduce bitterness.

I absolutely love ginger, and so I juice that at the very end of the process, because most of the other members of our family don't like it.  I pour all their juice first, then juice ginger and mix it with what is left over for me.

You'll have to experiment with the amounts of fruit vs the greens to get the right blends that your family will drink happily.  Then you can work to add more greens to the mixture.

Chef Noah--- Watermelon/Celery juice: healthier Gatorade

Did you know that celery is a great form of natural sodium?  And that watermelon is made up of almost all water?  Is it any wonder that combining the two foods would made a great sports drink?  It's also DELICIOUS!

Since I was planning for an out of town meeting, we only had one "chef" event this week.  Noah made Watermelon/Celery juice using our Champion juicer.

For those of you interesting in juicing vegetables for family health advantages or disease/illness recovery, it's important to invest in a good juicer that is also easy to clean.  We've found if it's not easy clean-up, usage declines.

If you google Champion juicers, you can get a better price online than in any health food store (under $200).  You can also check Craig's list for used Champions.  This is my favorite brand of juicer because it not only is great for juicing, easy clean-up, but it also makes wonderful fruit sorbets that are the consistency of soft-serve ice-cream (more to come on that in Noah's "Chef" meal next week).

Chop the watermelon and celery.  You do not need to remove seeds-- they can be put through juicer along with the watermelon flesh.

Celery should be put through at the end of the juicing, because the celery stringy fiber tends to get caught up in the gears and can slow down the process unless saved til the end.

Noah has always loved to help with the juicing.

We'll include more juice recipes in future entries.
Enjoy!

Fresh Squeezed OJ... not just for breakfast!

When someone asks me "What's one of the top 5 things I could do to make a difference in my health or my kids health?", I always tell them to buy a juicer. 

For many, buying a vegetable juicer is too large of an investment without knowing if it's something they'd maintain (more on that another day), so I recommend they start by buying a citrus juicer!  They are sold at Wal-Mart or K-Mart for around $15. 

Fresh citrus juice provides calcium and a myriad of vitamins and it tastes great!  It's also wonderful for those who have the tendency to get constipated.

Although it's great for breakfast (especially breakfast-in-bed for all those who like to suprise their spouses),  it's also an awesome after-school snack for kids... and who would EVER say "no" to a glass of fresh-squeezed OJ?

My favorite citrus drink combination combines the fresh-squeezed juice from one grapefruit, one orange and one lemon.  I drank this recipe every morning while I was pregnant with each of the boys-- YUM!

Although organic is always the best, due to expense, we often buy our oranges and grapefruit at Aldi... they have great quality and prices.