The Casual Juicer

Happy Saturday, yogis! Hope you are all enjoying a lovely fall weekend. 

Here's a little update on my juicing adventures. Turns out, I agree am fine with keeping things casual for now; I'll go with a glass of juice for breakfast or with meals for a while until my taste buds have had time to adjust.

Reflections from the first juice...

I was amazed by the refreshing smell that filled our kitchen after making the first batch of classic green juice. Sort of a mix between summer rain (cucumber) and crisp air (celery) and something deeper (kale). And that color! The most vibrant green you can imagine. A few drops spilled onto the counter, and when I wiped them up the sponge was stained a brilliant shade. All I could think of was pure chlorophyll. So fresh!

I have to say, I was a bit surprised by the amount of juice the recipe made. Perhaps it was because I shared it among three glasses, but I was expecting it to yield more.

During the first taste, I experienced the strong flavor of celery, while my friend's immediate reaction was a scrunched up nose and an exclamatory, "Wow, this is gingery!" 

Another friend reminisced about a previous juicing experience. "Yep, this is what I remember," he said. "A weird mix of tastes and always that smell in the kitchen afterward!"

Seems that we all experience juice a little differently :)

Cleaning up wasn't hard, since hot water can be used to rinse everything except the filter (but man, that thing is a pain to brush out!). Of course I wished I could immediately sit down and enjoy my juice, but felt more compelled to wash the new, shiny machine and restore it to its immaculate state of clean.

The Breville itself was a dream. I adore the LCD screen that lights up and easily lets you access different settings for soft fruit and harder veggies. It was quiet, too.

The second juicing experiment...

Tonight I tried a red recipe featuring sweet potato, beets, apple and red bell pepper all on my own (so brave, right?). I think after last night I was a little more skeptical of surviving on this stuff. I'm definitely still hoping to ease slowly into a cleanse. I'll probably just add juice to meals for a week or two, and then maybe do a weekend cleanse. I'm still pondering the possibilities.

I do know one thing for sure: I can only take beet juice in limited amounts! It's such an overpowering flavor; you have to be careful how much you add to a juice recipe.

This morning I mixed together something a little more palatable: 3 apples, 4 carrots, some pineapple and a sweet potato. Yum! I think that's my favorite juice so far. 

We'll keep you updated on new recipes as we discover them. I checked out The Juicing Bible from the library and there are tons of great ideas in there to try.