Thursday, February 24, 2011

adventures in juicing

a quick trip to a local produce outlet yielded lots of fruits and veggies for juicing.


since the produce wasn't organic, in it went for a 10-minute soap nut soak, which is said to remove 95% of surface pesticides. most of the bags were washed and reused, and the beet greens sauteed with button mushrooms made a delicious side.


for two juices, i chopped some parsley, 2 cucumbers, 2 carrots, 1 apple, 1 orange, 2 small beets and a knob of ginger.

everything all set to go


our hand-me-down jack lalanne power juicer pro does a fairly nice job considering it's a lower-end model (by a higher-end man, whom i poured some juice out for. rest in peace, mr. lalanne.)


half of the chopped produce made just under 16 ounces of juice. not too shabby!


unfortunately, the jack lalanne juicer doesn't make the most of the veggies, especially the leafy greens (which are the most important veggies to consume). for getting those greens in, raw salads, smoothies or sauteed green dishes are my best bet.

to be honest, i don't juice very often. it's kind of a hassle to get the juicer out and to clean up after. somehow i slop up the whole kitchen - why do you think i called it an adventure?!=) when it feels i haven't been eating too well (ahem, girl scout cookies), i like to clean my internal mess with some juicing. it just feels right. if i were to fall ill, i believe i would buy a better model and juice more often.

if you are looking to juice for healing, i recommend doing research and investing in a model that will masticate the heck out of those greens and make the most of your produce. my research says a large portion of our juice (and diets) should be green: kale, collard, lettuce, escarole, spinach, cabbage, bok choy, celery, fennel, chard and so on and so forth.=)


the juice pulp gets perfectly pulverized for the critters in the compost which will then produce rich soil to be used in our garden. there's no such thing as wasted produce when you compost, in my opinion.

when juicing organic goods, i like to save the pulp to make vegetable bouillon cubes or raw crackers.

 another sweet juice - minus beet, orange and ginger, plus lemon


for some greenage, a teaspoon of spirulina.


organic or not, fresh juices promote cellular cleansing and healing on many levels. just the act of juicing makes me feel happy and healthy. it also leaves the whole first floor smelling crisp and clean. cheers to raw fruits and veggies!

coming soon: adventures in sprouting...

14 comments:

  1. Mmmmm...so healthy & healing.

    Thank you for sharing this, Kelli, and for taking the time to stop by my blog--I love having you there. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't know about the soap nuts being used for veggie wash. I keep looking at those soap nuts, then putting them back on the shelf. It seems I need to give them a try sometime. I didn't know they had so many purposes. The juices look great.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree green juice is great for healing and if you haven't gotten in enough veggies. Very cleansing. I just leave my juicer on the counter, then I don't have the "have to take it out" excuse. Less counter space, but less lifting too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your produce pictures are gorgeous! I would be all over a juicer, if I had running water. I can't imagine cleaning one without H2O.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You have inspired me to get back into juicing Kelli!

    I've mostly been enjoying smoothies lately, as the Vitamix is so easy to clean!

    P.S. I also toss the pulp into the compost pile! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your juices look so healthy and wonderful! I don't juice often either because it's kind of a drag but I love the outcome. :) And hey, I didn't know about the liquid soap nuts soap. Cleans off the pesticides huh? Interesting. Going to have to check it out.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post, Kelli. I used to juice and somehow got away from it. It truly is a wonderful way to stay health conscious and have delicious drinks. You can't even compare the health benefits and flavor of home-made juice to that of the processed variety in stores. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. julia, my pleasure=)

    jane, i wonder if you could grow your own soap? i know mr. h posted about growing soapwort, i believe it was.

    bitt, my counter space is limited as it is. maybe i could do some rearranging to store it in a more convenient place.

    thanks lisa! so happy to see you here!=)

    thanks kt! cleaning it is a bit of a hassle, though it's just like cleaning any other cookware, just more parts.

    ashley, i'm on a smoothie kick now! you're right - much easier to clean!

    thanks heidi, i hear ya! there's lots of interesting uses for soapnuts - hair-washing, teeth-brushing, even insect-repelling!

    thank you, clint! yes, eating produce fresh offers the most benefits. nice to hear you're a fellow juicer.=)

    xoxoxoxoxo

    ReplyDelete
  9. OO lovely, beautiful pics of the fresh produce!

    x

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yay for lots of juicy goodness! And yes, you must juice broccoli stems, they are super sweet! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh wow I didnt realise you could use soap nuts for that, I just assumeed they were an alternative cleaning product :) I will definitly give it a go, in my area even at the Farm shop organic fruit and vegetables arent possible, glad you shared this.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for this post! It is just the inspiration I need to get that old juicer out again. Bali is one of the places where soap nuts are grown so I have such easy access to them. Now I have a new reason to go to the farmers market and get some. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. oh I do love my juicing. I think that juice just detoxed those girlscout cookies right out of your body!!
    Peace & Raw Health,
    Elizabeth

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...