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I've been making a lot of smoothies recently!
I love whole organic yogurt, and find that the cultures and enzymes really benefit me. However, I'm obsessive about the taste and quality of yogurt. I cannot stand the fake yogurts that are so popular in the USA--they are full of artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, and other toxic things, and they are not good for you, nor do they taste good.
My favorite yogurt brands that I can find here in the USA are Fage Greek yogurt (I eat the whole milk version), Cultural Revolution (I especially love their vanilla yogurt, but all of their flavors--and their plain--are excellent!), Liberté (it's made in Québec from Vermont milk--their lemon yogurt and coconut yogurts are my favorites!), Brown Cow (I especially love their maple and coffee flavors), and Cascade Fresh (their whole plain is really outstanding as a base for smoothies). I also love Spega yogurt, when I can find it, and I love to repurpose their adorable jars! I also love Texas-made Lucky Layla Farms' Drinkable Yogurts, and I love that it's made closer to where I live than any of the others. Anyway, I love to add yogurt to my smoothies!
I also love to add coconut water! I love its subtle taste and amazing hydration qualities. My favorite right now is the new Naked Coconut water. I also like O.N.E., but I recently scored two cases of Naked for a super-cheap price, so I'm really enjoying it right now! :)
For my smoothies, I usually use equal parts of yogurt and coconut water, and then add some fresh and/or frozen fruit. Here are some of my favorite recent combos:
cherries and blackberries
mango, peaches, and blueberries
banana, peaches, strawberries
peaches and blueberries
mango and avocado
cherries and blackberries
raspberries, strawberries, and mango
You can also add a dash of honey, if you want to make it a bit sweeter.
All of these smoothies are great! They are delicious, refreshing, and hydrating! Do you have any smoothies to share? Comment!
Today I made a variation on an awesome smoothie that my friend Diana forwarded to me from Martha Stewart, based on smoothie from Dr. Junger (got that? LOL)
Anyway, this smoothie calls for kale, but I hate kale. One time years ago, I juiced some kale, drank it, and immediately got sick from it. Since then, I just can't stand kale! So, here's my modification of the smoothie, which I highly recommend!
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups soy-free almond milk (I use the Blue Diamond Natural Almond Breeze Original Unsweetened, because the almonds used to make it are grown in my home town and the surrounding area!)
1/2 cup coconut water (O.N.E. makes a good one, but I think it's a little pricey.)
1 handful of spinach leaves, juiced and then added to the smoothie
1/4 avocado
1/2 cup mango chunks (I used frozen today, because that's what I had, and it was fine.)
1/2 cup ice
Blend together until smooth. This makes two servings, so I had one serving for breakfast and another for a snack. It was very creamy, subtle, and delicious!
If you have smoothie recipes you like, please share them!
This morning I made a crazy juice combination that I recommend if you're looking for something sweet and salty at the same time!
1 carrot
3 slices of pineapple (peeled)
1 celery stalk
1 small handful of spinach
This made slightly less than one cup of juice, and it's a little insane but very yummy!
EDIT: Yokoo rec'd on twitter that I add some fresh ginger, and I have to agree! I'll try that next time!
Yesterday I made another somewhat insane combo that I really liked! It was not at all sweet and very yummy!
1/3 large beetroot
2 celery stalks
2 small baby cucumbers, including skins
1 garlic clove
1 green bell pepper
This made about 1.5 cups after I strained it, and the garlic gives a nice touch to it.
Enjoy!
While fruit juice is totally awesome, I'm aware that it's important to drink mostly vegetable juice, so I've been integrating veggies into my daily juicing routine. One of the veggies I love to eat is beets, and beet juice is extremely yummy, but it's also VERY powerful. It's important to only use a small amount of beet juice in any recipe, and mix it with other items. Here's a nice juice that I made yesterday and really enjoyed!
1 carrot
1 large cucumber
1 celery stalk
about 1/3 of a large beetroot
This made about 1.5 cups of juice, and next time, I think I'll jazz it up a little bit with some mint, or maybe some garlic!
Today I made a juice concoction that was a total guess combination on my part, but I really liked the outcome!
1 Braeburn Apple
2 carrots
1 celery stalk
1 green bell pepper
The bell pepper created more foam than I expected when I juiced it, so I strained the juice before I drank it. Fortunately, the Champion juicer I have came with a beautiful stainless steel strainer for exactly this purpose! After I strained the juice of most of the foam, I was left with about 1.5 cups of juice, which was sweeter than I expected and very nice!
I've been juicing every day since last Sunday, and I wanted to share a few recipes that I've really enjoyed. One of the things to keep in mind about juicing is that you don't want to go overboard right away. When you're juicing fruits and vegetables, you're concentrating all of their nutrients, sugars, etc, so keep that in mind. I've been having one juice meal each day, and I think it's a great way to start.
Also, variety is the spice of life! Don't just keep making the same juice every day; vary your ingredients to vary your nutrition! Finally, one of the things to keep in mind is that some of the leafy vegetables are very strong, so don't over-do it when you start out juicing.
A super-refreshing and delicious juice I love is this one:
1 Braeburn Apple
2 Navel oranges
4 carrots
1 inch of ginger (peeled)
This makes nearly 1 litre/4 cups of juice! It's sweet, so you don't want to drink a ton of this all the time, but it's a great way to break in your juicer! :)
Another juice that's great for introducing vegetables into your juicing routine is:
1 Gala Apple
1 large cucumber (peeled)
1 celery stalk
This makes about about 2 cups of juice, and the apple gives a sweetness that nicely off-sets the natural saltiness of the celery.
Finally, here's a really fun juice that mixes fruits & veggies with a touch of cilantro!
1 Braeburn apple
1 celery stalk
1 large cucumber (peeled)
about 6 leaves of cilantro
4 slices of pineapple (peeled)
This makes about 2.5 cups of yummy juice!
If you try any of these recipes, please let me know what you think! Also, I'd love to hear about any variations you've made and enjoyed!
Welcome to my new blog about juicing! I'm Nancy, and I'm so excited about my new juicer that I'm making a blog to share recipes. I hope that others will share their experiences, recipes, and info about juicing here, too!
Let me explain a little about my juicing experience. I grew up with my parents having a Champion Juicer in the 1970s, so I've always been aware of the benefits of juicing. Moreover, when I was in my early 20s, I suffered from a series of terrible sinus infections that made my sense of smell disappear for over two years. After trying countless medical and natural therapies, I started drinking an ounce of fresh wheat grass juice a day, and in less than a week, my sense of smell returned and my body detoxed the infections that had plagued me for years! I was converted.
In the 1990s, I had a juicer, but it was a lower-end model, and it never really extracted enough of the juice, so I got turned off to the experience. Instead, I would get my juice fix from juice bars or pre-made grocery/health food store juices, but frankly, I found that to be too expensive and time-consuming, and it's not as healthy as juicing your own.
As a result, I've been weighing making an investment in a serious juicer for awhile, and I finally did so. After a lot of research and thinking about what I want in a juicer, I invested in a Champion 2000+ Commercial juicer, which I got from a company called Florence Adams for an amazing price and free shipping! This is what my juicer looks like:
(I found this image here.)
I settled on the Champion because I have experience with it, it's not hard to clean, and it makes other things besides juice, such as nut butters, instant sorbets (using frozen fruit), and there is a grain attachment (which is sold separately) so that you can make your own flour and meal. There's one more reason that I bought a Champion, and that is that it's made by a family company based in the Central Valley of California, where I am from, and they've been making it there since the 1950s. I really like the idea of supporting a family-owned business with so much experience that is still operating in a very depressed part of the country. Moreover, they support these juicers for decades, so replacement parts are not an issue.
I've been loving getting to know my juicer, and look forward to blogging about what I make with it here! :)
