Day 17: Making the Juice

May 12, 2008

Not much new to report today...the strawberry, apple, lemon balm mint juice may be the best thing on the planet, though. I did write an article about meditation, posted on the Birch Center blog (my sister blog to this one.)

Today my juices were pretty much the same as yesterday. I made them all in one sitting, though, so I thought I'd discuss how I go about making 5.5 quarts of three different kinds of juices and clean up all in less than an hour (or about an hour.)

• First: I make the fruit juices first. That way, I don't have to rinse the equipment before making the veggie juice. A little sweet apple in veggie juice (there's apple in there anyway!) is a lot better than onions and garlic in my fruit juices.
• I like getting something in the nut mylk bag, so I can hang it on a cabinet and get it dripping while I do other things. I saw this tip in David and Katrina's juice feasting blog a while back.
• In the blender I put my apples, strawberries, and mints (today there was an orange that Dave started to eat but didn't like, so that went in, too.) Oh, also some lovely fresh clover sprouts which just finished growing in our amazing FreshLife Sprouter - I love this thing! It is my favorite piece of equipment I've bought since going raw.
• I blend it all with some ice (I have a Kitchen Aid Blender, and if I blend too long the juice will warm up, so I add a little ice to keep the temp down. It works great.) Then I pour it in the nut mylk bag and hang it over an oversize measuring cup on a plate (I don't want to lose any precious juice!)
• Then I move over to the Jack Lelane juicer, and juice my watermelon - skin and all (it's organic - with seeds!! Since I will be trying to have another baby, I like to eat fertile fruit (with seeds), versus seedless.) I juiced 1/4 of the watermelon which makes about quart of juice. Pour into a quart jar, and put the lid on right away, so I don't accidentally spill it. If it makes extra, that is great because I will drink it right there.
• Then still on the Lelane, I juice carrots, celery (an entire bunch), cucumber, tomatoes, apples, bell pepper and a lemon with skin (organic.)
• Back to the blender to mix the greens: today was beet greens, sprouts and cilantro, with corn, onion, garlic and a lime, with a bit of water and ice.
• I squeeze out the rest of the fruit juice from the nut mylk bag, put it in a quart jar (drink any extra).
• I empty the pulp from the bag and pour the green juice in and squeeze that out.
• Then, I gather the pulp from the Lelane, which is still QUITE JUICY, stick that in the bag and squeeze that out, too. Today I got 2 extra cups of juice from the pulp!!! Yikes. Not a plus for the old Lelane Juicer. I may dig out our Champion Juicer before I'm done with the feast.
• I mix the two veggie juices together and that is my green veggie juice (GVJ)for the day (Today was 3 quarts!)
• I just rinse all my equipment, wipe the counter, compost the pulp, sweep the floor and I'm ready for the day!!

end of week 5! (Day 36)

May 31, 2008



I didn't get to post yesterday, but above is a picture taken this morning: after 5 weeks of juice feasting! You can visit here for "before" and "week 4" pics.



A couple days ago I learned about Black Locust Flowers from Anthony (The Raw Model)'s blog, and we had to go out in search. We found one just down the street, overflowing with ripe flowers! We harvested them and of course I had to try them (or I'd have to wait until next year.) They were sweet and delicious and would be lovely in juice. The one we found was really just past it's prime, but driving around we see them everywhere, so if another opportunity presents itself, I'll harvest a bunch more for juice and report back.

Here is a closer view of the flowers:



They look like pea flowers and the tree is in fact a legume. Here is more information about Black Locust Flowers.

My juices today:

• 2 quarts watermelon with 1 Tbsp chlorophyll
• 1 1/2 quarts beet, carrot, apple, garlic, ginger, celery, cucumber, parsley, cilantro, greens with hemp oil, kelp and spirulina
• 1/2 quart orange juice with water and bee pollen
• 1 qt tomato, yellow pepper, onion, garlic, cilantro, celery, basil, olive oil, lemon, salt - I decided to add the nightshades back in because a week without them didn't make any difference in my achiness

And back from grocery shopping, so I did chop up a bit of avocado with DULSE (which I was absolutely craving...still am) and fermented veggies. I wonder if I'm craving salt/sea veggies because I haven't been quite getting my full bunch of celery in every day? That would put me lower in sodium and probably craving it.

Oh, a special note: those jam/jelly bags from the kitchen store work brilliantly! Really, really well (dare I say better?) They are nylon, but don't have the tie string, instead they have an elastic band around the top. So I couldn't hang it up, but it didn't really matter - I hooked it around my big measuring cup and held it open, poured in the blended juice (yeah! The blender is sooo much easier to use and clean than the Champion!) and squeezed it through. So easy! So sturdy! I'm so happy about that! They were: Fox Run Kitchens (TM) 2 Jelly Strainer Bags for $3.99 at "In the Kitchen" - a kitchen store in The Strip (Pittsburgh.)