My daily juice recipe

These days we try to make fresh juice at least 4 times a week. Here is what our juice usually consists of (this is for 2 adults, 1 small child, and a baby):

Daily Green Juice:
3-4 cups of dark leafy greens (kale, collards, or spinach)
a pound of carrots
1/2 large cucumber
1-2 celery
1/2 lemon or lime
small piece ginger
a sweet fruit such as: oranges (3-4), pineapple (1/3), apples (2-3), or grapes (1 cup)

This makes enough for about 8-10 oz for each adult, 6 oz for the child, and 2 oz for the baby.

Note: For our baby, who is 14 months right now, we don't include pineapple, oranges or lemon/limes  since they give him a rash around the mouth. Instead we use apples or grapes for sweetness.
However, most of the time, we will just juice greens and carrots for our baby and blend that up with some fruit and a little water and raw almonds (or sunflower or pumpkin seeds) to make it into a smoothie for him which he loves. We use fruits such as frozen mangoes, berries, and banana.

We also add to our juice sometimes (remember these are all raw):
- zucchini- It tastes bland and goes well with any other juice, especially carrot. The pulp is actually really good to eat plain too; it's still somewhat moist and just tastes like grated zucchini.
- broccoli
- bell peppers
- parsley

What do I do with the pulp? (I get this question all the time)

Since carrot pulp makes up the bulk of our pulp container, I mostly just use that and discard the rest (it is not very much and most of the juice/nutrition has been extracted so there's no flavor, just a small mass of tasteless stringy stuff).

This is what I do with carrot pulp:
- Add to oatmeal with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, dates, vanilla, almonds, for a "carrot cake" taste
- Add to cooked grains, such as quinoa, for a warm, savory pilaf with italian seasonings, garlic, and a little Earth Balance "butter"
- Add to smoothies for some extra fiber
- Add to muffins or baked goods (I'm just now experimenting with this)

Juicing video: How does it work?

Here is my son is giving a short demo of how to juice:

As you can see, it is not very difficult, and is a lot of fun for kids to do by themselves! (But it can take awhile, for the slow pokes, so I let him put some in first, then I do the rest so it doesn't take all morning....)

It is important to note that...

Juicing shouldn't replace anything, it should simply be an addition to your normal diet.

When we first started juicing, it was tempting to think "I just got all my fruits and vegetables for the day, so I don't need to eat anymore, or make our usual green smoothie." But I didn't start juicing to replace my smoothie, or my salads. I started juicing to ADD a glass of nutrition to my day. So even though we started drinking this juice in the morning, we STILL had our green smoothie for lunch (along with a sandwich), and STILL ate salad for dinner (along with whatever else we were having). It is important not to decrease the amount of fiber you normally eat.

That's just my two sense on the subject. :)

Dinosaur Juice

My 3 year old loves Dinosaur Juice. 

In the morning, I wash and cut up a bunch of fruits and vegetables and arrange them on our big cutting board (these include: apples (green and red), oranges, carrots, celery, cucumber, spinach, tomato, broccoli, small piece ginger root, etc). 

When he wakes up, he comes into the kitchen and starts making his juice. He picks what he wants, then puts it in the juicer, and watches the juice come out- it's really easy for him to do and is a lot of fun too. He always reaches for the carrots first, and usually asks if he can have one to munch on. :) 

Today I put some broccoli out and he added some of that to his juice, but then took the rest for himself to eat! (He didn't actually eat it all, but I was happy he even wanted it!). Today when I handed him his juice, I said "Here is your carrot juice!" (because it was mostly orange). Then he looked at it and started crying. "What's wrong?" I asked. "It's not green!" So I went over and put a handful of spinach through the juicer real fast and added it in. :) I didn't realize he liked it green so much! I guess calling it "Dinosaur Juice" the first time was a good idea! 
 

Tate's Special (aka Dinosaur Juice):

2 large carrots (tops cut off)

1 orange

1 small red apple

small handful spinach 

piece of ginger (size of a pinky nail)

(He also likes it when I add cucumber, tomato & a little celery.) 

Important note about juicing:

My son is used to drinking a daily smoothies with leafy greens such as spinach in them, but I still dilute his juice a little, and don't give him too much. I didn't give him a full glass of that juice pictured above, fyi (usually I give him about 1 cup). If someone is not used to eating lots of greens, or even if they are not used to lots of fruits and veggies, I would only give a little juice at first and gradually increase, since it is a lot of nutrition all at once and can have a detoxing affect on your body (detoxing can come with its own side effects such as more frequent bowel movements, headache, etc, since the body is cleansing itself of toxins). If you are going to start juicing, I recommend first increasing your fruits and vegetables and decreasing the toxins you are consuming (from animal products, processed food, etc). After your body has adjusted to that (and you might even experience some detox symptoms from that alone), then adding a juice to your day won't be such a shock to your system, and will be a welcome addition to your already healthy lifestyle. :)

Juicing v. Cancer

This juice recipe calls for a lot more veggies than fruit, which I was excited about since one of the main points of juicing for me is to get more nutrients from veggies. However, I knew my kids may not be crazy about this one.  Here's the recipe:
2 cucumbers
2 peeled lemons
2 green apples
1/2 inch peeled ginger
6 stalks of kale
handful of spinach
6 stalks celery
So here's the verdict: Not as sweet as the first one, but still drinkable. To me, it's more about the health benefits rather than the taste anyway. My 3 year old daughter drank her portion, my 2 year old son drank most of his, and my husband's glass is in the fridge waiting for him. I LOVE how many veggies I drank. It's seriously amazing.

By the way, did you know that juicing has been proven to cure cancer according to Dr. Gerson?
Probably worth a read. Obviously it can also prevent it, too.

http://www.gerson.org/gerpress/the-gerson-therapy/

-VAL

Juicing Part 2

By the way, this is about 1/3 of the amount of juice that the recipe on the previous post makes...and my husband LOVED it!!!  I recently read an article about a guy who started juicing as an experiment. Here are the differences it made in his life:

1.     He could think more clearly
2.     He lost a lot of weight – about a pound a day

3.     He found himself full of energy

4.     He was more consistently positive and cheerful, no matter what came his way

5.     He would wake up feeling sharp and well rested, even if he had less sleep

6.     The juices flooded his body with so many nutrients, he rarely felt hungry

7.     He also noticed a heightened sense of taste and smell

8.     His skin started to glow, his hair and nails grew faster. People started to comment on how much younger he looked for his age

9.     His immune function was at its peak, and he didn’t catch a single cold or get sick

10. The discipline of juicing gave him greater control over his appetite and boosted his will power in general.

I can't wait to see for myself the benefits of juicing. Right now my goal is to juice once in the morning and once at night. I will definitely check back in and keep you updated on good recipes and great benefits that I have noticed for myself. Stay tuned:)  
-VAL

Juicing!

Hi everyone! This is Lynleigh's sister, Val. I was so excited when Lynleigh started this healthy blog because I am always looking for recipes and ideas on how I can be even healthier!

Recently, I have been hearing more and more of the many benefits of juicing. My husband and I received a juicer as a wedding gift (almost eight years ago). I'm embarrassed to admit that we used it maybe a total of three times to make orange juice before it was stored away never to be opened until....now! Actually a week ago. We got it out of storage while we were out of state visiting my husband's parents. I brought it home and was all ready to use it (fruits and veggies cut and ready to go). I turned it on and it started smoking!! My daughter started crying because she had been greatly anticipating making all the pretty colors of juice I had been getting her excited about. I guess it had been sitting in storage for one too many years. Anyway, I called the company and they sent me a replacement base for a small fee which we just received tonight. SO, I finally made the juice!

I thought it turned out great. My kids didn't like it as much but I think that's because they aren't used to the taste of cucumbers and that flavor is pretty obvious in the juice. My husband's cup is waiting for him in the fridge. Here is the recipe that I had found online:

Put in this order:
1 cucumber
2 oranges
3 carrots
small handful of parsley
1 green apple
1 beet (tops and bottoms cut off and washed really well)

Next time I will take a picture. Enjoy!!!

Oh and if you're curious about the benefits of juicing, I will post info on that later.