Super Juice
- Juicing
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09 Dec 2011
Introducing, Super Juice!
I’ve finally concocted a repeatable, yummy juice for my Breville Juice Fountain Plus. It’s meant to be a “healthy” juice, no doubt, but it manages to be pretty darn tasty, too.
Things to note:
- I prefer to peel all non-organic fruits and veggies (as applicable).
- I peel beets no matter what. They taste much less earthy when peeled first!
- Since lemons are kind of a pain to peel, often I’ll leave them out of the juicer and just use my handheld lemon juicer for the lemon.
- Zucchini can be substituted for cucumber. I’ve also added broccoli stems, with good results.
Super Juice!
Posted: December 9, 2011 at 7:37 pmSuper Juice Recipe Type: JuicePrep time: 5 minsTotal time: 5 minsServes: 1-2A healthy way to drink some fruits and veggies!Ingredients- 3 apples (Golden Delicious or other sweet variety recommended)
- 2 carrots
- 1 large stalk celery
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/4 beet
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 inch chunk ginger
Instructions- Add ingredients to juicer chute and process on high or per manufacturer’s instructions.
NotesSpinach juices best when stuffed between two larger items in the chute (such as, between two apples).
{Tags: apple, beet, carrot, celery, cucumber, ginger, juice, lemon, spinach}
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Cranapple CC
- Juicing
-
18 Nov 2011
Yup, it has a name!
Cranapple CC juice.
I made that up.
Sorry to vanish for a couple weeks on ya’s! I am proud of my successful (albeit unofficial) completion of Vegan MoFo in October, but man – midterms attacked soon thereafter and I’ve been swamped (both student-me and teacher-me). Fear not, though, my pretties; I’ve been snapping photos all along to document the time we’ve missed together and soon you will be all caught up with my kitchen.
I’m still juicing, and getting better at it! I am almost ready to share a recipe that I’ve been repeatedly enjoying for a couple weeks now, but for today, please enjoy this festive Thanksgiving entry:
Cranapple CC juice, starring:
Apple, Cranberry, Cabbage, Carrots
This was some sort of Virginia-native apple species that I have of course since forgotten. It wasn’t quite sweet enough for juicing; I’d recommend golden delicious apples instead.
I absolutely love juicing cabbage – mainly because it makes such awesome purple juice!
Attack of the Cabbage!
This one wasn’t bad at all – just a little bit tart. A sweeter apple would have balanced this juice.
Cranapple CC Juice
Bottoms up!
Posted: November 18, 2011 at 1:55 pm
{Tags: apple, cabbage, carrot, cranberry, juice}
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School Spirit Juice
- Juicing, Vegan MoFo
-
29 Oct 2011
I had an absolute blast with this juice. Why?
CABBAGE JUICES PURPLE!
GO DUKES!!
I almost threw the whole head of cabbage into the juicer when I saw what an awesome color it turned into. But I digress.
3 Apples, 2 Carrots, 1/2 Lemon, 1 Ginger, 1/4 Cabbage, 1 Bunch Rainbow Chard
This was another low-prep juice, thanks to organic ingredients. I did have to peel the lemon, but that was it (other than chopping a head of cabbage into wedges).
Ingredients: 2 carrots, 3 apples (a local Virginia variety – sorry, I forget the name!), 1/2 lemon, 1 hunk of ginger, 1 wedge of cabbage, and a bunch of Rainbow Chard.
Ginger is the secret ingredient here. This is a really sweet juice, but the ginger gives it a kick of spice that is just perfect.
It's a Purple Party!
This was when I was freaking out. Look at that JMU purple!
Funnest juice ever!
Come on. Tell me that’s not the funnest looking juice ever.
Sweet with a zing
OK, so it doesn’t look as fun once you mix it up – but I promise, it’s delicious!
Posted: October 29, 2011 at 8:18 am
{Tags: apple, carrot, chard, ginger, juice, lemon}
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Juicy Juice!
- Juicing, Vegan MoFo
-
28 Oct 2011
Hallelujah! My first “yummmmmm!” juice concoction! This recipe came courtesy of the Top 100 Juices book I picked up the other day.
Oranges, Kiwi, Spinach, and an invisible Apple
It all started with a couple oranges, a couple kiwi, and a half-full tub of spinach. (There was also an invisible apple – see it?)
This juice was a little more labor intensive, as I had to peel the oranges and kiwi. I’ve never peeled an orange before. I hit up YouTube for instructions, and the first guy demonstrated how to peel it with a fork. Uh – yeah. No. I must not have bionic forks. Fail. The next video I found had a lady demonstrating how to peel an orange with a spoon. I was optimistic, since that’s how I peel kiwi – but no. Fail. Finally, I just dug in and peeled it with my hands. (Imagine that!)
The disastrous remnants
It gets kind of chaotic in here!
Juice Party
But there’s no such thing as a good party without a little chaos. Such fun colors!
Have you ever wondered what the pulp looks like after juicing?
The leftover pulp
I hear it can be used in baking, but I haven’t gone that route yet. I’d love to see a cookbook with recipes for fruit and veggie pulp. It seems there’s an untapped niche somewhere in here….
The pulp from the Breville is very dry (which is good – because the juice should be in the jug, not in the pulp!). It feels wasteful throwing the pulp away, so I will soon make a diligent effort to find ways to use it. Unfortunately, I don’t have a way to compost my food scraps at the new place (city living, no land). I’m investigating options. If you have any ideas, please let me know!
At long last…
Look, Mom - it's green!
The most delicious juice I’ve made thus far. Cheers!
Posted: October 28, 2011 at 7:53 am
{Tags: apple, juice, kiwi, orange, spinach}
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My Foray into Juicing
- Juicing, Vegan MoFo
-
23 Oct 2011
It has just been a foray-into kind of weekend over here!
For my birthday, I used a gift card to buy myself a Breville Juice Fountain Plus juicer (thanks, Mom!). Earlier in the week, I watched the movie Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, and decided that juicing would be a good way to get myself to consume the fruits and veggies that are less palatable to me, or that I don’t like to prepare based on the hassle (like beets!). I’m not going to try any sort of juice fast or anything like that right now – not while I’m training for this half marathon – but maybe someday. And I already eat 6-9 servings of fruits and veggies a day on most days, and don’t intend to replace that with juice. I figure, juicing will be a good way to incorporate more fruits and veggies into my diet. And more is good!
I loaded up on produce at Whole Foods (huge selection of organics) and got to juicing! First up: an ABC juice.
1 Apple, 3 Carrots, 1 Beet, and Kale
Mer, of course, had to help.
Merlin helping with juicing
I washed the apple, carrots, beet, and kale (didn’t peel them – though if they were not organic, I would have). Stuck ‘em in the juicer one by one, and ended up with about 10 oz of juice. I decided to double the recipe so that I could stick some juice in the fridge for later. (Might as well get a few servings out of the mess!)
The Breville at work.
The juicer has 2 speeds – low, for softer fruits/veggies and greens, and high, for harder fruits and veggies. I used high for all but the kale. I’m not positive that I juiced the greens quite right, as they didn’t seem to yield much juice – though I guess that’s typical. I’ll do a bit more reading. As far as kale goes, I think I might prefer eating it as kale chips – so spinach might instead become my go-to in juices.
I love the huge food chute on the juicer. I was able to drop an entire apple in there. It speeds up things to not have to cut and prep all of the produce first. Tossing food down the chute was FUN! And the resulting juice looked like a party!
Juice!
The juicer was fairly quiet on the low setting, and – well, not as loud as my blender, but still a bit loud on the high setting. It was much easier to clean up than I anticipated. I had lined the pulp collection container with a plastic bag, so that part of clean-up was a snap. For the remaining parts, I just rinsed them in the sink immediately when I finished, and they all came clean. I figure, it will be a bit like using my food processor – I’ll be able to get away with rinsing/hand-washing for a week or so, then I’ll throw the pieces in the dishwasher. (They’re top-shelf safe).
The moment of truth….
ABC Juice - apples, beet, carrots, kale
I sniffed it. (Wine tasting flashback?)
Whoa. It smelled like…. earth.
*Gulp*
“Well,” I thought to myself. “Here goes nothing!”
I took a sip.
Hmm. It definitely tasted better than it smelled. It was a very mild juice – a little earthy (dang beets), but mildly sweet.
Oddly, the more I drank, the more I realized I didn’t mind the earthy taste. I suspect the appreciation would be lost on somebody that didn’t already eat a boatload of veggies every day – but my taste buds were OK with it. By the end of the glass, I was actually enjoying it.
I’m pretty excited about this new juicer! The one minor frustration is that I haven’t been able to find any good books on juicing, even on Amazon. There are a few with good reviews, but they tend to be extremely dated. I’m looking for something current, and something that doesn’t spend half the book preaching about all the diseases that juice will cure. Skip the preaching – I just want facts on the nutrients in the different juice-able fruits and veggies, and recipes for tasty combinations.
And maybe some how-to on prepping produce for juicing. I had a heck of a time figuring out what to do with the beets. I found information that said both the greens and the root are juice-able, but do they mean the leaves? The stems? The greens are supposedly the bitter part. I ended up only using the root. And, about juicing kale – is there a method to getting more juice extracted from it? Some secret trick to handling it as it goes down the chute?
Lots of newbie questions. While I may have to find my own way, it will be a delicious path!
Posted: October 23, 2011 at 8:10 am
{Tags: apple, beet, carrot, juice, kale}
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Oh Beautiful for Sweet Potatoes
- Side Dishes, Vegan MoFo
-
04 Oct 2011
.. for amber waves of grain…
OK, fine. I have no idea what spacious skies and sweet potatoes have in common, except that both make me happy.
The Vegan Month of Food marches on! I whipped (mashed?) up another side dish from my girl Isa – Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Apples. (Again with the apples? Yup. I got a great deal on a big ol’ bag of local Virginia red delicious preciouses!) You can find the recipe in the Appetite for Reduction cook book (preview available on Google Books – Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Apples).
Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Apples
This one is like having dessert for dinner – but it’s totally allowable! Sweet potatoes are literally one of the best foods you can eat. They’re a nutritional powerhouse – carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, fiber – good stuff! It is not unusual to be able to get over 90% of your daily recommended vitamin A from a helping of sweet potatoes. They have great antioxidant properties, to boot. I could go on and on, but I’ll refrain. Just know that these tasty little tubers will rock your nutritional world.
If you’re looking for a subtly sweet, comfort-food-style side dish that won’t leave you starving for nutrients, turn to my friend, the sweet potato. Sing along, little spuds…
For purple mountain majesties….
Posted: October 4, 2011 at 12:35 pm
{Tags: apple, cinnamon, ginger, sweet potato}
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Cherry Apple Almond Couscous
- Side Dishes, Vegan MoFo
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03 Oct 2011
Cherry Apple Almond Couscous – aka, a party in my mouth. Awww yeah.
It’s the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo!) and Day 3 brings another fall-worthy dish. I’ll give you a break from the pumpkins, though, and just bombard you with apples.
This recipe comes from what has quickly become one of my favorite cook books, Vegan Yum Yum. This couscous was supposed to be stuffed into delicata squash, but I just made it on its own as a tasty side dish. I made it with a red delicious apple instead of the recommended Granny Smith. Sorry, Granny. No hard feelings!
Behold:
Cherry Apple Almond Couscous
Lucky for you, the recipe is viewable in the Google Books preview – Delicata Squash Stuffed with Cherry Apple Almond Couscous (page 55). Just follow steps 3, 4, 5, and 8. Skip the rest (unless you want to stuff the couscous into squash, which I’m sure would be yummy too!)
Enjoy!
Posted: October 3, 2011 at 7:02 pm
{Tags: almond, apple, cherry, couscous, Vegan Yum Yum}
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Killer Pumpkins! Inspired by Killer Pumpkins!
- Dinner, The Seasons, Vegan MoFo
-
01 Oct 2011
Killer pumpkins? What?
OK… so the reference won’t make sense unless you’ve spent the day chasing killer pumpkins around in Ultima Online (which I’m about to go do more of). But you don’t have to play UO to enjoy some killer (pumpkin) soup!
October is my favorite month. Hoodie weather sets in. Hockey season begins. Halloween is awesome. And of course, there’s that little day called My Birthday. But maybe the most wonderful thing about October is the abundance of squash! That, and Vegan MoFo.
Vegan MoFo (the Vegan Month of Food) is a month-long celebration of vegan eats. I didn’t get my butt signed up in time to make the “offical” Vegan MoFo list, but I’m going to blog along anyway. The ultimate goal is to blog about vegan food 5 days a week throughout October.
Without further ado…
I scored some super-sweet local red delicious apples this week. With chilly weather ushering in the new month, I was in the mood for some SOUP! Isa’s got a great recipe for Butternut Apple Soup in her Appetite for Reduction cookbook, but all I had on hand was an acorn squash and some organic canned pumpkin. What the heck, right? Let’s rock this thing!
So after chasing around killer pumpkins all day, I took a stab at a Killer Squash Apple Soup.
Killer Squash Apple Soup
This, my friends, is not your typical bowl of soup. It won’t be content to sit alongside a sandwich. No, this soup wants to be The Next Big Thing. The Star of the Show. This soup is not messing around.
It’s seductively sweet, and just when you start to fall head over heels, it gives you a nice little kick to remind you who’s boss.
There’s a good bit of rosemary beating around the bush, playing tag with the apples. The red pepper flakes, though, keep this soup from being a kiddie game. This is Big League soup.
I toasted some crusty bread and slathered it with Earth Balance and went to town dipping into this Killer Soup. It was divine.
And now, back to killing the killer pumpkins.
Posted: October 1, 2011 at 7:54 pm
{Tags: acorn squash, apple, onion, pumpkin, rosemary}
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A Base Hit
- Recipes
-
02 Jul 2011
So, my first attempt at recreating the apple quinoa salad I had at the Whole Foods bar last month wasn’t exactly a knock-it-outta-the-park home run, but I’d call it a base hit.
After some recipe hounding and some creative guessing, I came up with the first draft of the recipe:
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 cup orange juice
- 2 cups apple juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 apples, diced
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
Toast the quinoa dry, in a saucepan, for 3 minutes while dicing the apples. Add OJ and apple juice to the quinoa, along with all the spices. Simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Add the apples, raisins, and maple syrup, and simmer 10 more minutes. Stir in almonds and serve.
It smelled wonderful and looked wonderful….
Apple Quinoa Salad, Take One
… but alas, it’s just a little too sweet for my taste.
That said, I have a *very* low sweetness threshold these days, as I don’t really eat anything sweetened anymore. My sweets come from fresh fruit. So this may be spot-on for somebody with a “normal” sweet tooth. I mean, there’s not even any added sugar, unless you count the maple syrup.
Next time I make this (and it’s definitely good enough to try again), these are my planned modifications:
- Prep the quinoa with water instead of the apple juice/OJ combo.
- Use 1 apple instead of 2. (This is just a preference thing – I was hoping the quinoa would be the star, but with so much apple, the apple was the star – which is fine if that’s what you’re going for!)
- Cut the maple syrup back to 1 tbsp.
I’d say this recipe made 8 small servings. I enjoyed it warm last night and chilled this morning, and it works well either way. It reminds me of the flavors of apple pie – a nice twist on an American classic for this Independence Day weekend!
Posted: July 2, 2011 at 11:40 am
{Tags: apple, quinoa, raisins, Recipes}
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An Un-Winning Smoothie Combo
- Smoothies
-
04 Feb 2010
I’ve got another new recipe post coming up soon, but thought I’d jump on and share an un-winning smoothie combo that I came up with today (so that you don’t try it with the same results!)
Two things worked to my disadvantage: first, I was out of vanilla soy milk, so I used regular skim milk. I did not realize just how much flavor I actually get from the soy milk – it’s much more dense, maybe a bit more sweet, and… well, it’s vanilla. Second, the fruit combo I chose was not sweet or powerful enough to mask the taste of the greens – so this tasted more like cucumbers than anything else.
The mix:
1 cup skim milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 carrots
1 handful baby spinach
1/3 of a cucumber
1 whole apple
1 whole pearSo… it seems like fruits with stronger or sweeter flavors are required to mask out the taste of the greens. Strawberries are a standard component of my smoothies, and even when I only use 3 or 4 strawberries, they make a huge difference. I was just trying to mix it up today, and even though I used a whole pear and a whole apple, they weren’t sweet enough to be noticeable. I couldn’t even taste them.
The end result was incredibly bland and tasted mildly of cucumber. I won’t be making this combo again!
Posted: February 4, 2010 at 11:51 pm
{Tags: apple, carrot, cucumber, pear, Smoothies, spinach}
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