I’ve wanted a juicer for a while, and now that I’ve had one for a few months, I feel like I can share a silly little game with you that I play with the Husband.
I knew that juicing would be a healthy choice. Juicing would allow me to absorb all of the nutrients in each fruit and vegetable that I choose. It would allow me to get in more than the minimum veggies required for a healthy diet without consuming an entire bushel of raw greens each day. And I would be able to increase variety. Our tastes are our tastes. We like what we like. That’s why we make the same exact salad all the time. But with juicing, I can toss in a few veggies that I wouldn’t normally enjoy eating whole and get the nutritional benefits.
But I had no idea that juicing vegetables would result in this fun little game. This is how we play. (Well, I play. The Husband just puts up with it.)
I juice something, and then I ask.
“Would you like some Grape Crush?”
He knows darn well I’d never bring Grape Crush into my house, but if I offered him cabbage juice, I know the response I’d get.
Then he tries to guess what vegetable made such vibrantly purple juice.
Would you have guessed red cabbage?
“How about an Orange Julius?”
While I do have an amazing dairy-free, sugar-free Orange Julius recipe that you must try, this is not it. It’s just pure carrot juice.
I’ve been making green smoothies with the Vitamix for a long time now. But extracting the juice from kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, parsley, and cilantro, brings green to a new level.
Who needs drugs when you can get a JOLT of WHAT THE HECK from sipping the nutrients compacted in a glass of kale?
But some of my favorite juices come from combining the work of the Omega Vert Juicer and the Vitamix.
“Would you like some green slime?”
I was enamored with Slime in the 70′s. Do you remember the slime that came in the little trash can? Juicing greens, and then blending the juice with brown rice and pea protein powder, and maybe even a frozen banana, makes a creamy, powerful breakfast.
“Would you like some Hi-C?”
The beetroot is well-known for its beautiful deep color, but I had no idea that juicing the beet greens would yield even more color and health benefits.
And then there are crazy colors that come from combinations like this.
“What would you like for dessert? Rainbow sherbet or cotton candy?”
(Doesn’t it remind you of the top of the punch at a baby shower?)
(Or a clown’s wig.)
I promise you, this is not Photoshopped (just bad night lighting). These are God-given colors, flavors, and nutrients for the taking.
After juicing, I pour it into the Vitamix, add a little protein powder, and prepare for the incredible rush of nutrients.
The girl cat is still a tad curious. That’s just her nature.
Such color, flavor, and goodness from a pile of organic produce.
My juice changes daily, but my favorite juice recipe revolves around this base.
Carrot Beet Power Juice
by Heather
Ingredients:
- 1 beet and beet greens
- 5 carrots
- 2 green apples
- 1 cucumber
- 1 handful of alfalfa
- 1 inch of ginger root
- 1/2 lemon (flesh only)
- 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
Directions:
1. Juice all fruits and vegetables.
2. Pour juice into the Vitamix, add protein powder, and blend until combined.
- Are you a juicer?
- What is your favorite fruit or vegetable to juice?
- What is your favorite combination?
Link’s to GFC’s Favorites:
- Fat Tuesday hosted by Jill of Real Food Forager
- Slightly Indulgent Tuesday hosted by Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free
- Gluten-Free Wednesdays hosted by Linda of The Gluten-Free Homemaker
- Sugar Free Sunday hosted by Raj and Sonia of Flip Cookbook
- Wellness Weekend hosted by Ricki of Diet, Dessert & Dogs
- Keep it Real Thursdays hosted by France of Beyond the Peel
- Healthy Vegan Friday hosted by Gabby of The Veggie Nook
I’ve been on a juicing kick lately but I never thought to combine the juice with protein powder in the blender. Brilliant!! What brand of protein powders do you use?
Ellen,
I’m a fan of Garden of Life RAW protein powder. It’s full of healthy nutrients, vegan, gf, sf etc. And it’s fairly bland so it won’t overpower the other flavours.
Thanks for the suggestion, Amy. I need to try this one!
Adding the protein makes it feel more like a meal for me…staying power! Since I’ve abandoned the cheapo whey protein powders, I now use vegan Nutribody. But I want to check out Garden of Life now!
All of the colors are SO vibrant and beautiful, who wouldn’t want to drink it?? We love juicing. My mom juiced when I was a kid so I grew up drinking so many yummy different combinations. I love the combo of apple, spinach, carrot and ginger but I also love a “throw it all in” combo where we put all kinds of veggies and greens. Now I am a mom myself, and my daughter drinks the juices we make and loves green smoothies that we make in the vitamix too.
Kudos to you for juicing for your family!! It’s so healthy and tasty!
How wonderful that you have had a lifetime of juicing! And now your kids get the benefit too! I’m very new to juicing and am LOVING it!
I am putting you in my google reader now! Glad I found your blog!
Aw, thanks! I just checked out your sweet site. You are a great mom! Look forward to reading your journey too!
Thanks for linking your great post to FAT TUESDAY. This was very interesting! Hope to see you next week!
Be sure to visit RealFoodForager.com on Sunday for Sunday Snippets – your post from Fat Tuesday may be featured there!
http://realfoodforager.com/2011/10/fat-tuesday-november-1-2011/
If you have grain-free recipes please visit my Grain-Free Linky Carnival in support of my 28 day grain-free challenge! It will be open until November 2.
http://realfoodforager.com/2011/10/grain-free-real-food-linky-carnival/
I’ve been trying to juice off and on since this summer. . . I have no problems with the fruit juices but I’m still tinkering with my Super Green formula. . .I am sad to say that my juicing is not a daily ritual yet. . .
I do like the idea of adding protein though. . will look into that soon!
Hugs,
AM ;o)
Ooooh, you have to share that Super Green Formula when you perfect it! Hugs to you too!!!
Love the juice game but my husband wouldn’t play especially if it is green. I have a Breville and have severely neglected it since vitamix came to town. I love ginger in my juices, herbs (parsley, mint, cilantro), a little jalapeno- a pear thrown in, so many juices so little time.
Oooh, mint! Why didn’t I think of that? Thx, Lauren!
I think carrot-beet-ginger is my favorite juice combo ever! This sounds like a wonderful mix of flavors. And your “clown wig” is actually very lovely!
Thanks for submitting this to WW this week (and good luck with the rest of the detox!).
Thanks, Ricki! I must agree, my favorite too!
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We also bought a juicer soon and now I experiment with different recipes. I am going to try yours! They all look so delicious!
I love my juicer. I often go back and forth to a smoothie or fresh juice, but the fresh juice always wins out. If just feels soo easy to digest!