Yesterday I bought a juicer with my Christmas money. I also stopped at Fresh Market for a car load of fresh veggies and fruits. I’m excited to become a “juicer”.
Rest assured I am NOT doing a juice fast or embarking on a raw food lifestyle. I just want a way to add fresh vegetables into my diet in a way that I will actually ingest them. I can promise you that I will never eat a serving of raw kale in my lifetime if I have to just crunch it up and swallow. Not going to happen. Also, with my braces eating things that I do like such as apples and carrots is almost impossible or at the very least, taking an expensive chance.
Yesterday I made a test batch of juice out of kale, parsley, apples, grapes, and spinach. It was delicious! This morning I made pretty much the same thing with the addition of cucumber and some blueberries.
The bottle pictured at left is a mixture of all of the above plus pomegranate. I also made Emma a small glass of fresh apple juice with a few blueberries before she left for school. She liked it okay but didn’t really like the chunkiness. Next time I’ll strain hers.
I researched what juicer I wanted and decided that I wanted a masticating type because they worked better with greens and are purported to preserve the enzymes in the vegetables and fruits better. I have an old centrifugal juicer in the basement the I received as a gift decades ago. It is loud and clogs all the time so it is a pain to use.
I had gone out with the intention of buying the Omega VRT350HD. But when I got to Bed, Bath and Beyond I discovered that it was about $120 more than the Omega 8005. The 8005 also got really good reviews and was rated for being able to handle wheat grass and other greens. The biggest drawback to the model I bought is that it takes up a lot more counter space than the more upright models. But it is very powerful, quiet and easy to take apart and clean.
The resulting pulp that is extruded is very dry. My old juicer would leave a bucket of wet mush. I need to add “rebuild my compost pile” to my 2013 Resolutions. This stuff would be great to add to a compost bin or worm bin. But alas I gave up all my old organic ways years ago. So until I get them back I have to find a new use for this by-product. I’ve read where some people use it in muffins and other baked goods to up the fiber and nutrition. Others use it for soup base. I may try a few of those and see what I like. This morning I added it to the dogs’ food and they loved it! So much so that when I started the juicer to make my lunch juice Maizey came running and was sitting here begging for a scrap. She even stole a pint of blueberries off the counter when I wasn’t looking and ate the whole thing! She definitely got her antioxidants for the day. Maybe I’ll go back to feeding them raw too and add this to their meals on a regular basis.
This has also opened up many more options for my community garden plot this summer. I always want to GROW ALL THE VEGGIES! But then never want to eat them. This way my garden can feed my juicing habit.
All the juicing gurus and aficionados say that juicing will improve your health, make your hair grow and your skin glow all while improving your sex life and melting the pounds away and prevent diseases like arthritis, heart disease, alzheimers and cancer. I don’t know about all that. But I’m willing to bet that it can’t hurt and will probably improve some aspects of my health. I did take a “before” picture yesterday just for comparison’s sake. It’s a typical “before” shot, no makeup, bad hair, bad lighting. I’ll see if in a month I see any difference. If I do I’ll share the before and after with you here.
EDITED TO ADD: Just drank a glass of the above pictured juice. WHEW! I think I added too much kale and not enough of something sweet. Pretty bitter. I guess I had better look into some actual recipes instead of just throwing the kitchen sink at the juicer and hoping for the best.
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