juice

First I bring you doughy cinnamon sugar goodness, and now I bring you a way to feel better about eating it! Kidding. But really, I've been curious about juicing for quite some time now. I've been seeing crazy fruit and veggie combinations on a wide variety of blogs for a while and now I can make some crazy concoctions of my own! We bought a juicer last weekend and tons of fruits and veggies to experiment with.

I thought about doing a full on juice cleanse and was getting really excited about it. I've been feeling a little lumpy and sluggish lately and I just want to get back to healthy habits and have the energy to exercise. I've always been pretty healthy but lately I've been getting into some bad habits that I'd like to cut. However, I read some nasty side effects of doing juice cleanses/fasts so I decided to nix that plan. It definitely works for some people, I just don't think it's for me. After all, I'm not doing this for weight loss, I'm doing it to be healthy and hopefully boost my energy. I'm sure I'll lose a few pounds from just getting myself back on track, but I just want to be my normal size. Not my lumpy, clothes-still-fit-but-are-a-little-tight-ohmygod-where-did-these-hips-come-from size. ;)

I intend to incorporate juicing into my daily routine instead of just fasting. I figure, if I can replace snacking with juicing that will be a good start. And the benefits from getting the amount of fruits, vegs, and vitamins that juicing provides are just incredible.

This is the first combination I tried and it was a serious winner..

The apples made it sweet, the lemon added a slight tartness, and the celery added some strange, peppery quality you wouldn't expect in a sweet juice. And I couldn't taste the spinach at all! It was a great first juice.

There are tons of juicers out there but we went with the Breville Juice Extractor. It was a bit on the pricey side, but I think it'll be well worth it judging by the reviews. The more affordable juicers we looked at had complaints of the motor burning out after a short period of time or not getting enough juice out of the produce. I think it's worth the investment if you're going to work it into your daily routine.

I thought it was funny that the juice was a pink color when it first settled in the pitcher, I'm guessing from the apple skins. But when I poured it in the mug, it was completely green. The pitcher lid holds back the foam that's created on top of the juice but I guess having the juice run through it turned it green! Interesting.

I can't wait to try different combinations. I've also been looking up ways to use the pulpy stuff that's created so that I can use as much of the produce as possible. I've seen ideas for stocks, pie fillings, crackers, etc. So many new things to try. :)

Do you juice? What's your favorite combination?

I'm going to go rest now and maybe look up some immune boosting juices. Either my allergies are incredibly bad this spring or I contracted something from one of the ankle biters I've been spending my days with. : / We shall see. Have a great week!