adventures in juicing

a quick trip to a local produce outlet yielded lots of fruits and veggies for juicing.

since the produce wasn't organic, in it went for a 10-minute soap nut soak, which is said to remove 95% of surface pesticides. most of the bags were washed and reused, and the beet greens sauteed with button mushrooms made a delicious side.

for two juices, i chopped some parsley, 2 cucumbers, 2 carrots, 1 apple, 1 orange, 2 small beets and a knob of ginger.

everything all set to go

our hand-me-down jack lalanne power juicer pro does a fairly nice job considering it's a lower-end model (by a higher-end man, whom i poured some juice out for. rest in peace, mr. lalanne.)

half of the chopped produce made just under 16 ounces of juice. not too shabby!

unfortunately, the jack lalanne juicer doesn't make the most of the veggies, especially the leafy greens (which are the most important veggies to consume). for getting those greens in, raw salads, smoothies or sauteed green dishes are my best bet.

to be honest, i don't juice very often. it's kind of a hassle to get the juicer out and to clean up after. somehow i slop up the whole kitchen - why do you think i called it an adventure?!=) when it feels i haven't been eating too well (ahem, girl scout cookies), i like to clean my internal mess with some juicing. it just feels right. if i were to fall ill, i believe i would buy a better model and juice more often.

if you are looking to juice for healing, i recommend doing research and investing in a model that will masticate the heck out of those greens and make the most of your produce. my research says a large portion of our juice (and diets) should be green: kale, collard, lettuce, escarole, spinach, cabbage, bok choy, celery, fennel, chard and so on and so forth.=)

the juice pulp gets perfectly pulverized for the critters in the compost which will then produce rich soil to be used in our garden. there's no such thing as wasted produce when you compost, in my opinion.

when juicing organic goods, i like to save the pulp to make vegetable bouillon cubes or raw crackers.

 another sweet juice - minus beet, orange and ginger, plus lemon

for some greenage, a teaspoon of spirulina.

organic or not, fresh juices promote cellular cleansing and healing on many levels. just the act of juicing makes me feel happy and healthy. it also leaves the whole first floor smelling crisp and clean. cheers to raw fruits and veggies!

coming soon: adventures in sprouting...