I was inspired by a friend this past week to make my own fresh homemade veggie juice so I swung by the produce section at my local grocery store and raced home to pull out my juicer.
I was feeling somewhat risky and decided to make up my own recipe. I began juicing the vegetables one by one, making sure to add more of my favorite veggies and less of my not-so-favorites.
Below is the approximate combination that I used:
- 2 Tomatoes (1 Roma)
- 2 Celery Stalks
- 1 Large Carrot
- 1/8 Large Green Pepper
- 1/8 Large Onion
- 1 Clove Garlic
My final concoction did not taste like the V8 or off-brand vegetable juice that I’m used to, but I added a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper to enhance the flavor and it was actually pretty good. The different juices separated out a bit in my glass, but I just gave it a quick stir before drinking. It was nice to not worry about BPA seeping into my drink (as I might from a can of store-bought vegetable juice) and I also liked that the juice wasn’t stored for a long period time in a plastic bottle. It was just fresh and tasty!
I’d like to play around with some recipes or come up with an even better combination (I could have gone a little less on the onion, a little more with the carrots), but regardless it was refreshing to squeeze a little fresh onion and green pepper into my diet when I usually do such a good job avoiding them.
I did find a great vegetable juice recipe (and interesting farm blog read!) to make in large quantities for preserving and I think I’ll try this when the farmers market is overflowing with tomatoes this summer. Please share any great recipes you have; although it’s more work to get out the juicer, it sure pays to get the vitamins and minerals from fresh veggies!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The other thing you could try is to juice an apple and an orange. Take that juice and put it in a blender. Put whole veggies into that. I like carrots, tomatoes, and if you want to get frisky a leaf of Kale. That will produce a smoothie mix. It’s pretty good actually. Strawberries also go great in said mixture. Experiment… and don’t be afraid to add up to a tablespoon of organic sugar… but don’t go above that tablespoon :) The fruit will make the drink sweet enough.
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I love this post! It seems like everyone is talking about juicing their veggies or “green smoothies”.
Raw food pioneer Victoria Boutenko delves into the health benefits of green smoothies: http://www.naturalnews.com/022792.html
and We Like it Raw has a ton of cool recipes too. http://www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/2008/08/green-smoothie.html
So excited to try this! I’m getting my blender today :)