carrot apple ginger beet

Kicking off a new week with some fresh juice seems like the right thing to do. Especially with the state I'm in.. sun-burned and allergy ridden. I'm usually really good with the sunscreen, obsessive even. I get made fun of for using spf 100 and I've heard that nothing over spf 30 is any bit more effective. But if they make it, I'm gonna use it.

So before the Union game yesterday I slathered my face and arms in lotion and somehow thought my legs would be immune to the sun. It was early. Poor decisions are bound to be made. Anyway, the backs of my legs are toasted and it hurts to sit, walk, move, ya know. On top of that I woke up this morning with pink puffy eyes. It's been great. And I know juice isn't going to alleviate my allergies or cure my sunburn, but dammit it makes me feel good! ;) 

Back when I did my first juicing post, Caiti suggested trying this mix. I already had tried carrot apple ginger, but the beets were something totally new for me. I've had them once or twice in the past but I never really loved them. I thought this could be a good way to add them to my diet. Just like spinach! I swear, apples make everything better. I loved this juice! And look how pretty..

Oooooh I didn't even want to mix it up! But then I did and it made the brightest hot pink I've seen since my hair circa 2006. I love finding ways to get healthy things into my diet without having to really taste them the way they are on their own. I've always been pretty good with fruits and vegs but sometimes I find one I just don't get along with.

How was your weekend? Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

homemade soda: strawberry lemon

In an effort to make more things at home and buy less processed foods and drinks, I've been brainstorming things I could make to replace some not-so-healthy guilty pleasures. One thing I knew I wanted to try this summer was making my own sodas. Though I'm sure I'm far from the first person to think of it, I was pretty excited when I came up with the idea to mix fresh juices with sparkling water or club soda. I'm sure sparkling water would be even healthier but we happened to have club soda on hand so that's what I used!

I filled about 1/4 of the glass, maybe a little more, with the strawberry and lemon juice from my juicer. I added simple syrup (equal parts sugar + water, boiled until dissolved) to taste and then filled the rest of the glass with club soda. It had the perfect fruity flavor and the bubbles were so refreshing! Sometimes you just need that..

..amiright? ;)

Stir gently to combine so you don't flatten the soda.

I see many more flavor experiments in my future. What I love about this is not only the endless possibilities, but you know exactly what's going into it. It can be as simple as fruit/veggies/herbs and sparkling water, or you can sweeten it with raw sugar, honey, sweetener.. whatever you fancy!

Can't beat that vivid summery pink. I can just imagine sipping on this at a summer picnic or sitting out with a book enjoying some rays. Just cap with a lemon slice and umbrella and you're set.

Now I'm really wishing the weather would shape up sooner rather than later. :)

Have you been making anything at home that you could just as easily buy? I've done ice cream and soda, now I need to think of what I want to tackle next. That last statement just gave me visions of ice cream floats. That's happening at some point.

Well, chin up! We've almost made it to Friday. ;)

carrot apple ginger juice

I know I just posted a juice recipe and I don't want give the impression that now that I have a juicer, this is all I'll be posting. But this is pretty much the only semi-interesting thing I have been doing while I'm nursing this cold that is now officially a week old. I haven't been this sick since my last graphic design finals week so this I'm not used to being this out of commission. I'll be back to my regularly scheduled programs soon enough! And promise a more staggered release of juice recipes. ;) Especially because there's a lot of exciting things on my May calendar that will probably inspire some outfit posts and showing interesting crafts from some Philly artists. To name a few. :)

Anyway, this was a really great juice. Charlie actually picked the combination because I insisted on making him try a juice with me. He has heard good stories from others about this mix so we went with it! I'd definitely keep it in rotation.

I was actually surprised how much juice came out of it. I used 5 1/2 carrots, 2 apples, and an inch long nugget of ginger. It was going to be 6 carrots but someone started eating one while I was cutting the apples. ;) This juice was a little pulpier than others I've tried but even my guy who gets easily weirded out by textures loved this.

Hopefully this mass quantity of fruits and vegs I'm consuming is building my immune system so by the time I get to student teaching I'll be a fortress of health. Or something. Airborne was invented by a teacher for a reason yo.

In other life news..
 - I had my final Practicum meeting yesterday and found out that I officially passed. (woo!)
 - I have one more lesson plan to do for class tomorrow and then I have three beautiful weeks off before Summer I starts. (double woo!)
 - I celebrated all of this by buying myself some new necessities. I've been hoarding the money I've been making from subbing because those jobs can be few and far between so I haven't bought anything for myself in a while. But when a first grader points out a hole in your shirt and you have to act surprised because you already knew it was there, it's time to get some new clothes. (*facepalm*)

How's this month ending up for you? Yea, ending. I can't even.

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!