Thursday, June 5, 2008

Adventures in Juicing

In yesterdays mail came a new book The Juicing Bible by Pat Crocker and Susan Eagles. I have been considering getting a juicer for some months, but have yet to get one.(just not sure what to get, or how much I want to spend on it) So in comes the book. Interesting information. She says that you can just use a standard blender or food processor for more than half of the recipes in her book, just have to do more cutting. The book states drinking the added pulp also has added nutritional value, Oh I can certainly agree. So perhaps before purchasing a juicer, I will get out the old blender and see what happens. I have been considering a weekend of juice cleansing, perhaps I will try out my blender and see what happens today. Maybe I will be making lots of juice this weekend. My kids will love me as I stay away from juice as it is so high in sugar, my luck they wont like the 'good stuff' we will see. I did get them to eat some strange wild hybrid cauliflower yesterday, and said it was yummy.(it was purple, so of course I had to try it) Anyone else juice? Have a juicer, vitamix? Favorite recipes? I will of course let you know how it goes.....

17 comments:

Denise Punger MD IBCLC said...

I amde this smoothie last night and am having the left over this morning.

http://stronglifts.com/breakfast-recipe-4-berry-broccoli-smoothie/

Did I say I am excited that you started your blog? You have so much good information to share and good questions to ask.

fitncrafty said...

Thanks I will take a peek at the recipe. I am excited about finally starting my blog too. I have been thinking about it for a long time. Here it is!

Red said...

I love juicing. Another great book is Jay Kordich...The Power of Juicing. I may have the title mixed up and the book is an older version. I have had it for well over ten years, but it has the basics. The man is well over 80 and I bet you he can run circles around me.

I feel fresh, clean, lighter, blah blah blah, when I juice. And I too have thought about doing a cleansing with just juice. Hey, want to tag team?

Enjoy your new-found love of juicing!

P.S. This Permisison to Mother woman, somehow wrangled me into blogging as well. Does she have a bottle of pixie dust hidden somewhere to get folks blogging?

Denise Punger MD IBCLC said...

Red, When I first started blogging, I thought Rockstars' Wife had the Pixie Dust!

I need to get a juicer soon. I'm feeling pretty cleansed with my diet lately: lots of smoothies and raw.

fitncrafty said...

Red... I need to get a juicer, only I really have to figure out what to get. Spend a bundle, or just get something that will juice. I NEED to cleanse... I feel icky today....
I agree that Permission to Mother lady has the pixie dust for sure... She's been tossing it on me for months. It took control of me and now I don't think I can stop. I had nothing to put on my blog and so I started a blog for my Mom!
Your strawberry photo looks so yummy....

Red said...

OI have an older juicer and it does a fine job, and it is a triple whammy (Will explain in a moment), but if I had the dinero to go out and purchase a new model, it would have to be the new one by Jack Lalane. Yep, you heard me right, the man who prwctically invented excercise...another one who could run circles around us.

His juicer allows you to insert the entire fruit. And I think that is what turns many a folks off about juicing. The fact that you have to chop all that fruit is time consuming. But with Lalane's you can just plop the entire fruit/vegetable into the machine, and Viola!, you have juice. So cehck it out and see what gives.

Now, onto the whammies. 1) The actual juice itself. 2) Puls can be used in other cooking, such as carrot cake, soups...etc. 3) What is not used can be composted.

I mean how can you go wrong with juicing. So there you have it, my angle on the juicing world.

Denise Punger MD IBCLC said...

Red-- what's puls? You mean pulp? Does it seperate it out into the 3?

Denise Punger MD IBCLC said...

GUess what... I ment to BBB and got the Brevelle with the 80 motor.

fitncrafty said...

I am not sure which one you meant you got. I will look it up.... I looked today but didnt get one... did you use it? how was it. Do you think it was worth it????
I will be watching your blog for photos, recipes and info!!!

Red said...

Why can't the comment section have spellcheck??

I meant to say pulp...yes. The older and some modern juicers obviously seperate the p-u-l-p from the fruit. Now, this pulp can be used in so many different ways. Let's say you want to make carrot cake. You can juice enough carrot juice to have enough pulp for your carrot cake, or you can freeze your carrot pulp.

Now, here is the drawback. If you are making carrot apple juice, then you will have to stop juicing in order to remove all your carrot pulp before you juice your apples. But then again, whho knows, you may like and want some apple pulp in your carrot cake.

Hey,I just made a new recipe. I call dibs on it ladies. You casn't have it. Nani nani!

And what you don't use in cooking, goes into the compost bin. I hope that cleared things up.

Denise Punger MD IBCLC said...

My first impression with the juicer ... it's just ok.

It seems that people that juice are healthier. I'd like it to be a way to add an increased variety of vegetables to our diet. The boys liked the straight apple juice and the straight pear juice. Once I added something else, they didn't care for it.

*I'll* eat the whole pear and the whole apple so is it worth wasting so much fruit, if I can't sneak vegetables in it. Not sure when you can buy the apple juice.

Its very fustrating to have a family that won't eat anything except crap.

fitncrafty said...

Just keep working on it I guess. Juice when they are not around. So they don't know what's in it. If they will drink it, it's definately better than sugared juice. Maybe make some into ice pop's for the hot days. Keep trying some different recipes and she what happens. Let me know if you think it would be worth it. yes, it does seem that people that juice are healthier. I think in general people that take the time to juice take the time to prepare the most whole and healthy foods in general.

Red said...

Ew Ew, I just thoght of fome other use for the carrot pulp. Now don't laugh, but in the movie, Witches of Eastwick, one of the characters put pureed carrots in her marinara sauce. It's so small to begin with and then is cooks down even further.

So there is another wya to sneak in thee 'ol carrots.

I need to blog about carrots.

Denise Punger MD IBCLC said...

Juicing update!!!

We have juiced something almost everyday this week.

I am struggling with taste.

Yesterday in Nutrition World, I was reading a book that answered my question about Why Juice?
It explained that it takes out the vitamins and minerals in a more readily bio-available form and high concentration. It explained that if we are juicing, we are probably eating enough fiber, so separating the fiber out helps us to get those extra vitamins we need.

I also read adding a few grapes will add to the sweetness.

We tried green lemonade yesterday.
I head of romaine lettuce, a few spinach leaves, a lemon, an apple, an inch of ginger. It was hard to swallow. I am not sure why it tasted so bad. It said to leave the lemon skin on, but perhaps it should of been peeled. The book recommended a Breville juicer like mine.

It also talked about variety! It said if you eat the same produce everyday you will build an allergy. I am so glad to see a book like this tell you to eat different everyday. The book is

http://www.therawfooddetoxdiet.com/

Overall the book made me feel good. Going sugar-free sounds "extreme." Basically what this book described is what I am doing and it was more tolerant of meat eaters and cooks than you would expect.

Denise Punger MD IBCLC said...

I probably should leave your blog alone with MY juicing adventures and start a juicing post on mine...
my motor blew up today and smoked...on my juicer. :(
BB&B exchanged it though.

fitncrafty said...

What are you juicing? Rocks? Holy cow... Maybe I stick with Jack La Lane! So sorry, I do hope that your new one holds up! wow, Glad that Bb and B exchanged it..

Tammie said...

I have the Champion Juicer but I find I have used it more for nut butters and frozen sorbet then for juicing! (I don't juice much unless I'm doing a cleanse which I don't do enough I do make green smoothies lots though in my Blend-Tec man I love that machine I prefer it over the Vita-mix;) My mom has Jack LaLane's and says she likes it really well.