The Early Rising Challenge has begun!
Last night I was in bed over 1 hour earlier than usual (around 11pm instead of after midnight), however I didn’t end up falling asleep until 12:30am. My body is very much on a consistent schedule, so it is going to take me a while to adjust.
Some good did come of it. I got up just after 6:30am this morning, despite getting just 6 hours of sleep. I know I am going to be dragging today, but I think the only way I will be able to get my body on a new schedule is to have a few sleep deprived days. Everything will even out. :) My reward was Baked Breakfast Cake. Mmmmmm. So worth it. Plus, I just made a huge pot of Japanese Sencha and I am going to workout + WMM2, so I think that will have me feeling energized for a long baking day!
A Kitchen Appliance Confessional
My name is Angela and I am scared of new kitchen appliances.
Cooking? Baking? Whipping up crazy recipes? I’m down. You know I thrive on that stuff.
Figuring out a new kitchen appliance that has the potential to chew my finger off? I’d rather clean my closet than open the box. [Yes, I actually cleaned out the closet when I was supposed to be unpacking the juicer! Classic Avoidance Syndrome.]
The first step is admitting you have a problem.
So here I am, coming clean to you guys today.
Remember this beautiful food processor that Eric bought me for my birthday in 2009? Well, I broke it within the first 2 minutes (trying to process soft dates). I somehow managed to convince Kitchen Aid to send me a new food processor and embarrassingly, the new processor has been sitting in the box ever since.
I have been using my old half-broken processor all this time while a new one sits in the box! Typing it out sounds absurd, actually!
However, I stand sit here before you vowing to overcome my fear. I am determined, not only to become a food processing whiz, but to master my juicer, in every way, shape, and form.
I will start with the juicer. I channeled my inner fabulous goddess, Kris Carr from Crazy, Sexy, Life. [For Kris’s thoughts on juicing read the interview I did with her here! She talks about the benefits of juicing and her favourite superfoods and juice recipe.]
Behold the Breville Juice Fountain Plus:
As you can see, I was able to figure it out! It was actually really easy.
Look OSGMOM, 10 fingers! :D
I created my very first juice!
Rainbow Sorbet Juice
Ingredients:
- 1 large field cucumber, not peeled
- 1 organic apple, cut into thirds, not peeled, stem removed
- 1 lemon, peeled
- 1 cup organic baby carrots (grocery store was out of whole organic carrots)
Directions: Juice, stir, and serve immediately! I juiced the lemon on low and the rest on high.
Tip: Put a grocery bag in the pulp container so clean up is easy.
It created this beautiful juice that looked exactly like rainbow sorbet (albeit melted) that I used to eat so much as a child!
The order I juiced was: 1) Lemon, 2) Apple, 3) Cuke, 4) Carrots
Seriously fun.
I read you are supposed to toss the big pulp pieces before baking with it. Rather than throw any pulp out, I would rather process it all in the food processor to thin it out and make it even. Or you could just throw all of it directly into a soup! I like big chunks in my soup. :)
I have big plans for this pulp, don’t you worry!
I will let you know what I make with this. Eric and I tasted some pulp and we were so surprised at how tasteless it was! The juice has ALL the taste!
The juice really is the LIFE of the produce.
It made about three of these wine glasses!
[Sorry for the bad lighting, it is dark outside and flash batteries are dead.]
I was DYING to try it. I poured the glass and took a sip…
I was instantly floored by the taste. My taste buds were literally dancing!
The apple and lemon paired so well together, however the juice was not too sweet nor too sour. Just perfect. The cucumber and carrot were lovely as well, although not as pronounced. Just perfect background flavours, if you will.
Eric even liked it himself and drank his glass. I drank two full glasses and could have drank more but my belly was about to burst.
If I could describe it in one word it would be FRESH.
It was the purest tasting juice I have ever had by far. It was fun picturing the healthy nutrients being absorbed into my blood. But maybe I am just a nerd like that!? ;)
However, no review would be complete without a couple cons:
1) The cleanup was sort of a pain. Several of the parts are dishwasher safe, but my dishwasher typically doesn’t have much room in it due to all of the dishes I use in a day! I did it by hand and then put them on a towel to air dry. No biggie.
2) It is expensive. Eric and I figured that the juice we made was at least $3-4 worth of produce. Ouch! I can’t see myself juicing every day, but I can see myself doing it 3 times per week, alternating with Green Monsters. I think if I can use the pulp in my cooking, I can justify it a little more since I am not throwing anything away. This will just get my creative wheels a spinning.
Have you ever had fresh juice before? What is your favourite recipe?
I’m so excited to experiment with all kinds of fruits and veggies. Please share your fav. combos below! I bought some beets, organic celery, and fresh ginger too. I wonder if they go together?
Off to workout my big strong heart then a full day of baking + shipping…zing, zing, zing!!! Have a great day everyone!
Great job! I bought my husband that same juicer a year ago (he’s a health nut, which is a good thing). It makes great juice, and I was a bit afraid of it also. He got me to put it together just to get the hang of it (I let him learn how first) and it wasn’t too bad. Yes, you go through quite a bit of produce.
Your right, juicing can be expensive. I went through one bag of carrots to make a tiny bit of juice, but I loved every sip of it. have fun with your juicer. I juice once a week.
I love love love my fresh juice! Most mornings I struggle because I can’t decide between the Green Monster and the juice….although clean up is so much easier with the GM!
My favorite recipe:
3-4 organic carrots
1-2 organic apples (I love to juice galas)
a chunk of fresh organic ginger (energy and zing!)
a big chunk of organic beet (good for liver and blood)
a handful of organic parsley if I have it
I scrub everything…peel nothing! I only cut off the little rooty tips. I am a lazy juicer!
The ginger and beet…I started out with thin little slices of those way back when…but now I can tolerate the taste and put a big hunk of ginger and 1/3 to 1/2 of the beet!
The colors are beautiful!!! Happy juicing!!!!! (Happy and Juicing just go together!!)
My first juicing experience was this past Sunday. I juiced a lemon, and apple, spinach, and a cucumber….It was delish!
Yay for new kitchen machines to become obsessed with!!
I think I put a whole meyer lemon in almost all my juices-it makes EVERYTHING taste good.
Hi Angela,
I just found your blog and I feel so encouraged! I will be reading through your archives to find some inspiration and tips for healthy living. I’m very new to this…
Have a great day!
I’ve always wanted to juice – it just isn’t economical for me! I’ll have to stick with my green monsters. :]
Hi Angela,
I love reading your blog! I recently moved back to Canada after living in the UK…where I discovered Innocent Drinks. Innocent actually lists their recipes right on their cartons! See their website http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/ and look into their tasty delights! I made a few smoothies and now have their recipe book…so tasty!
Have fun juicing!
Jen
My dad used to make fresh juice for my brother and I when we were little. I would eat ANYTHING but my brother was totally anti health food. My dad would make apple juice and hide things like carrots in it to get some healthy goodness into my brother.
I loved it! And it always meant apple muffins because thats what my mom used the pulp for. SO GOOD!!
I agree juicing is super expensive – but indeed delicious. Green monsters work well for me. :-)
Green apple, orange, carrot! Add some spinach, and it’s kinda like a green monster! Beets are fun too. Oh, if you’re going to juice greens, always juice them first. have fun!
I love juicing…here are a few of my favs…
1) pineapple (they say you can leave the skin on, but I don’t…I think it’s ’cause I am too scared to try it with the skin)
2) Peach/Cantaloupe
3) 1.5 granny smith apple with 1.5 stick of celery…yummers!
Enjoy
Kimberly
The first time I had juice from a juicer like that, it was at school when I was eight. We had carrot and celery. It looks like swamp water, but it tasted delish. Funnily enough, at that age, I was the only one who liked it… spot the nerdy kid who likes veggies ;-)
I’ve never juiced before, but it looks great :D
i LOVE juicing, and try to do it as often as possible – but you’re right, it’s very expensive. :(
my favorite recipe is called GREEN LEMONADE:
1 head romaine lettuce
5-6 stalks kale
1-2 apples (I usually use sweeter apples to balance the lemon)
1 lemon
1-2 inches ginger root
1 whole cucumber
this usually makes enough for my husband and i to each have a 16 oz glass. it is SO GOOD!!
My favourite combo is actually based off of the Green Hornet from Booster Juice. I have made it several times myself:
-Spinach
-Parsley
-Celery
-Carrots
It is absolutely delicious. Adding extra carrots for sweetness since no fruits being juiced = YUM!
Yes, I agree though – juicing IS expensive. Definitely a once-in-a-while treat. And I ALWAYS make use of the pulp. Either by mashing it with vinaigrette, adding it to guac, or by making juice pulp crackers or juice pulp falafel patties with them. It does help me justify the costs.
Go easy on the ginger, it is VERY strong. A little slice should do the trick, you can add more with each juicing once you figure out what works for you.
When they’re in season, I LOVE pineapple, orange, apple with a bit of ginger, soooo good!
For veggies, I would use carrots as the base (you do have to use a lot, like 5 or 6 for a glass) with one or more of the following added: kale, beet, apple, celery, ginger.
The biggest treat so far has been that our juicer makes sorbet. I would recommend checking to see if yours does that. Just add frozen fruits of your choice and afterwards you can sweeten with agave nectar. Sooo good.
Thanks for posting the tips from Zen! Adapting to a 9-5 sleeping schedule is one of my New Year’s resolutions. in fact I blogged about it today–i was so excited that I went to bed at 10 and got up at 6:15. : ) Thanks again.
Hey! I noticed that Kath baked her pulp into crackers, maybe you could do something similar!
Wow that juice sounds amazing! I’ve never had it fresh like that.
I totally understand about new kitchen appliances. It took me weeks to use my new food processor!