A New Tongue Twister

Peter Piper, stop your picking of pickled peppers.  In fact, don't bother pickling peppers at all.  Juice those peppers and drink them raw.  That'll give your tongue something to twist and shout about.

How about this for a tongue twister?  Jackie Jormp-Jomp juiced a jar of jade-colored juice.

Pepper-Upper:
1 green bell pepper
3 cups spinach
3 stalks celery
1 cucumber
3 small apples

Doctor me some pepper juice.

Love At First Sip

Their eyes met across a crowded grocery cart.  He was a leafy green, she was an exotic islander.  The moment was ripe, and once Kale married Pineapple, they knew it was meant to be.

Sweet Union:
4 branches of kale
1/2 head iceberg lettuce
1 cucumber
3 stalks celery
1/2 pineapple

A pair of star-cross'd lovers.

Do You Know Your Lettuce Quiz

This is a fun quiz that is very hard! It made me realize I should expose myself to new varities and experience the differences. Have fun. By the way, I scored a 12 out of 21...

Buckling Down

You know it's time to stop eating chocolate when your 10 year old expresses relief at having a green salad with dinner.  This is how it always goes, though.  Easter baskets (halloween bags, Christmas stockings, etc) are full of a variety of goodies, then they slowly get picked over until a week later when there are just Dots, Now and Laters and stale Peeps leftover.  This is the point when Mommy chooses to discreetly THROW IT ALL AWAY.  (good riddance!)

Sometimes we need to have a break from celebrating and return to normal, sweets-are-rare, life!

By the way, here is a link to an awesome list of tips on avoiding that nagging chocolate craving.

Back To Business:
5 branches kale
5 stalks celery
1 cucumber
2 oranges
1 apple

Super-Natural!

There's nothing paranormal about juicing.  What could be more normal than consuming nature's fruits and vegetables?  Although this juice is bright green and reminds me of ectoplasm from Ghostbusters movie.

Spirit Lifter:
2 branches kale
3 branches celery
1/2 english cucumber
1 orange
1 apple

This is from a juicer.

This is from a proton pack.

Lions, Lambs and Lettuce

True to the old adage, this changeable month has been all over the place with weather.  Heavy rainstorms, high winds one day and sunny and 68 degrees the next.  Even though the weather is unreliable, I can still count on veggie juice to get me through the day.

I've been craving kale juice lately, but I am forcing myself to use the produce I already have in the fridge.  So, lettuce it is!

Using Up the Produce:
1/2 head romaine lettuce
2 c. spinach
2 stalks celery
1 tomato
2 radishes
2 apples
3 mandarin oranges
1 plum

March to the beat of a different juice.

Bulking Up Juice

Do other juicers notice that some of the greenest, and seemingly most nutritionally dense vegetables make very little juice?  I guess it makes sense.  They're just not very watery.

I find this gets in my way of trying to make a vegetable-prominent juice.  After I juice all the greens, there's not enough juice for two servings.  But I want to avoid just adding more fruit (though they do add volume to the juice), the flavor really gets tooooo sweet.

This is when my trusty cucumber and celery take center stage.  Today I juiced my planned and prepped arrangement only to find that it made just 15 oz of juice.  I peeled a giant English cucumber and it bulked up the volume by 10 more ounces.  Voila!  Now we are talking.

Now, With More Volume!
1 c. broccoli
6 branches kale
2 stalks celery
2 apples
6 strawberrries
1 english cucumber

Getting in the Greens

When I had my midwife appointment yesterday I mentioned how much I have enjoyed juicing.  She was happy to hear that and asked what I have been juicing.  I replied, "Everything!"

The great thing about juicing during pregnancy for me is that I know I am getting my greens in.  For my four previous pregnancies, I have had an aversion to vegetables.  Literally the only "green" I desired to eat was canned green beans; everything else made me gag.  I would dutifully take my prenatal vitamin but otherwise I felt guilty about how few veggies I ate.

I love the scene in Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead when Joe Cross shows a huge platter full of a colorful variety of vegetables and fruits; way too much for a person to consume in the whole form.  But with juicing, a person has the possibility of gaining the nutrients from a large amount of vegetables.

Leap Day Reap:
5 stalks of celery
1/2 head romaine lettuce
1 1/2 c. spinach
2 radishes
2 apples
2 pears
1 plum

Nesting and Juicing

My kitchen has been out of commission the last couple days because I have been busily painting the ceiling and walls.  But we are back in business, now!

Juicing is a nice break on my jaw, too.  I'm not sure if my jaw is sore from arching my neck while I painted, or if my TMJ is acting up...but it's nice to not have to chew.

And, since the snow is coming down outside and the fireplace is lit inside, let the nesting continue!  Thirty four weeks and counting.

Today's Recipe:
2 branches of kale
2 stalks of celery
1 cucumber peeled
2 oranges peeled

Green With Energy

It's been ten days or so since I've juiced with kale.  One really cannot underestimate the power of kale.  There are oh-so many delicious kale recipes that taste great going down and you can really feel your whole body "wake up" as it is absorbed...probably because it's so densely packed with nutrients!

Go, Go, Go:
3 stems of kale
2 celery stalks
1 cucumber
1/3 pineapple
1 orange

The Panache of Spinach

I made grilled mozzarella, marinara, pepperoni and spinach sandwiches for lunch, but someone picked their spinach off their sandwich. Though I am not blameless in the picky eating category, I've always loved spinach.

Juicing spinach is thrilling. My four year old helped me by using the food pushing tool and we both exclaimed at the bright green juice that dripped through the fountain. My guess is that even Popeye the Sailor man would switch from eating spinach by the can if he tried my recipe today:

2 apples
1 pear
3 large carrots
1 1/2 c. raw spinach
1 celery stalk (leaves and all)
1 tomato

p.s. Someone who didn't want spinach on their sandwich sucked down a tall glass of this juice a few hours later proclaiming it "great!"