Dessert - "Healthy Shamrock Shake"

~¼ cup mint leaves (not packed, loosely in cup)

3 granny smith apples

½ cucumber

~2 cups almond milk 

Ice

Here's the second drink for St. Patrick's Day where I use nothing but green produce. So this tastes nothing like a "Shamrock Shake" but it's definitely a lot healthier. You can use whatever mint you like. I used mint from my father's garden--I think it's lemon balm. Not really my preferred mint but that's all he had. My mint didn't quite make it over the crazy hot summer.

You can use any type of vegan milk for this. Vanilla almond would probably be the best. Or even add some vegan creamer or yogurt to make it more rich. You could also put it in the freezer for a bit after making so it firms up.

The ice is necessary to keep the foam to a minimum. Since this recipe doesn't have any frozen produce, it would be a foamy mess without the ice. I added 3 ice cubes to the blender.

I think I would have liked this better if the mint I had were "mintier". I will have to try making this again when I have a different mint.

Juice - "The Joker"

1 head romaine
1/4 head red cabbage
1 tray wheatgrass
7 granny smith apples

Made 4+ cups

I call this The Joker because everything was purple and green. The juice turned out a deep reddish color...kind of like cherry coke. This was very green tasting but in a good way.

Juice - "3 Kale and Apple"

4 leaves lacinato kale

3 leaves curly kale

3 leaves red kale

2 pink lady apples

1 granny smith apple

Made 3+ servings.

Not exactly the most creative name but any kind of kale + apples makes a great juice. If you add more apples (or less kale), this would even be a good starter juice for most people--even the vegephobic. (I probably wouldn't tell them it's kale until after they drank it.)

This was the first time I tried red kale. It's supposed to be sweeter than the other kale varieties. I would say it's slightly less bitter than the others.

I'm almost done uploading all my old juice recipes! I have a bit to go for the green smoothies still.

Juice - "Bloody Grass"

1 small beet
1 tray wheatgrass
1 bunch red kale
5 fuji apples
1 granny smith apple

Made 4 cups

I'm not personally a huge fan of beets but my husband loves them so I make sure I add them to my juice recipes from time to time. If you're not careful, they can add an overwhelming earthy taste. For some reason, my husband doesn't notice the earthy taste (or likes it) but just the sweetness that is inherent with root vegetables. I do love the intense red/pink color of the juice though. They will turn almost any juice red, even if you have a lot of greens in it.

This juice wasn't too earthy for my taste because the sweetness of the apples and red kale, and the green flavor of the red kale and wheatgrass helped cover it up. So both my husband and I were happy with this concoction.

Juicing Fail - Watermelon Radish

It was one watermelon radish but I don't remember how many apples and pears I used now. It doesn't matter because I won't be remaking this. I got really excited about the watermelon radishes I saw at the store so decided to get some. I read online that they are sweet enough to eat raw. So I thought it'd be OK to use a whole one in a juice.

And I was wrong.

This turned out so spicy it made my chest hurt. I could only drink a few sips. Oh well, at least it was pretty.  If I used watermelon radish again, I'd probably only use a 1/4 or even less. I didn't follow my own advice and taste the produce before I juice/blend it.

Juice - "Apples on the Lawn"

~7 leaves curly kale
1 granny smith apple
3 small fuji apples
1 tray wheat grass

made 3+ servings

You can't really see the wheat grass in the picture but it's there! I cut it up so it exits the juicer easier. Cutting it also prevents the grass from getting tangled around the auger.

This was a very crisp, green tasting apple juice. Would be perfect after spending a hot day outside.

Juice - "Green 'n Orange"

1 tray wheat grass

8 oz baby carrots

4 braeburn apples

Simple, nutritious, and good. You can't see it from the picture very well but the color of the juice is very complex--green and orange at the same time.

Juice - "Pink Fruit"

1/2 small head red cabbage

2 pears

2 braeburn apples

3 mint leaves (from my garden)

Made 2.5 cups

I wasn't expecting this to taste very good--not because I thought it was a bad combination but because the apples weren't very good (mealy), the pears and cabbage were a little old (but not bad), and my mint was a bit crispy (massive heat wave!). This must have been a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts! It was very refreshing on a sweltering day.

Yes, that's my cat, Worf, thinking about taking a sip. No, I do not let him up on the counter where I prepare my food.

Juicing Fail - "The Breaker"

Not only did this taste awful, it broke the strainer on my Hurom Slow Juicer. The carrot tops were very bitter and if the juicer had not broken, I would have added more apples or some pears to cover up the bitterness.

The Hurom has a warrantee so the part was replaced for free--but I didn't get it for over a month. I'm not sure why it broke...maybe I should have cut up the carrots more? This is why I would buy and Omega Vert HD--the strainer is 8 times stronger and suitable for juicing every day. Unfortunately, it came out after I got my Hurom.

I'm posting my "fails" because there is always something to learn from every failure.

I included the picture of the grocery bag because it looks just like the bags you see in TV shows and movies!

Juice - "Grassy Apples"

4 small braeburn apples

1 tray wheatgrass

Made 2 servings

This was pleasantly sweet--not too grassy.

I learned something from making this simple juice: I should cut up the grass before putting it in my juicer so it doesn't clog up the exit chute.  I had to stop it halfway through to clear it out and probably should have stopped it again. That's the trade-off with a vertical single auger type of juicer--it will juice fruit, veg, and greens (including wheatgrass), but you'll have to cut up those greens/stringy vegetables to keep the chute clog free. 

Arsenic in Store Bought Apple Juice?

You've probably heard of the controversy over Dr. Oz's show that was about the arsenic levels of store bought apple juice. The FDA countered that his tests did not distinguish between inorganic and organic arsenic. Oz is saying that the apples are from China and Chile and have toxic pesticide residue. This has left some people (including parents) wary of apple juice.

I don't know who's right but it doesn't really matter. I don't drink apple juice from the store. Why would I? Freshly made apple juice tastes infinitely better. Store apple juice is almost as bad as soda--high sugar drink without much nutritional value. Fresh juice contains enzymes and nutrients that aren't destroyed by the pasteurization process of commercially available juices.

Make sure you use organic apples in your juice so you don't have to worry about ingesting toxic chemicals. Also, if you're really concerned about arsenic, remove the apple seeds before juicing.

Juice - "Santa's Juice"

3 granny smith apples

2 pears

1 lemon

Large handful baby carrots

2 large handfuls baby spinach

3 leaves swiss chard

There's nothing jolly about this juice in particular--I made it on Christmas day for my family. Everyone liked it and it disappeared quickly. I guess I could have made it more festive by floating raspberries in it. 

Juice - "The Ole Standby"

This is what make when I want something I know will taste good and be very healthy: kale + apple + carrots.

3 granny smith apples

6 large leaves curly kale

Handful baby carrots

Of course, you can change the amount of each--it's really up to you.  Nothing wrong with starting out with less greens--just don't drink a lot of fruit/root vegetable juice if you are trying to limit your sugar intake.