Ingredients

2 organic Gala apples

1 organic cucumber

1 medium lemon

3 handfuls of organic spinach

 I was going for a green lemonade, but realized that I didn’t have everything I needed, so I modified it with the ingredients above.  As I said before – nothing goes to waste!

Blueberries and almond milk are my new best friends  .  I recently purchased a bag of frozen organic blueberries from Costco to make smoothies to alternate with the juicing.  Originally, My goal was to use the pulp from my juices in the smoothies, but that didn’t go over so well.  So for now I’ve been leaving that out.  I ran across a recipe on facebook calling for 3/4 cups of almond milk and 2 cups of frozen blueberries.  I tried it out, but found that I had to triple the amount of almond milk that the recipe called for.  I ended up adding 2 1/4 cups of milk before the smoothie was thin enough to drink.

It came out good, but if you want a delicious desert alternative, use chocolate almond milk instead and about 2 tablespoons of Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder!  Better yet, try chocolate almond milk, unsweetened cocoa powder and bananas!  Yummy!!

Ingredients

4 organic navel oranges

9 organic carrots

1 small lemon

3 sprigs of mint

Verdict- I was going for a carrot juice without the carrot taste being overwhelming for the children.  The oranges added just the right amount of sweetness. I wish I could taste the mint a little more.  I am seriously considering growing my own this year so that the mint is as fresh as possible!

Yesterday’s juice Ingredients:

4 organic oranges

1 large organic beet

1/2 head of organic cabbage

1/2 – 1/3 inch piece of organic Ginger Root

The Verdict:  My daughter runs away from any juice with cabbage in it…noted, I’ll avoid cabbage juice in the future.  The rest of us enjoyed this juice and I love how the beets always give it a rich red color.  I’ve started added my left over juicing pulp to our smoothies and so far…well…let’s just say that I haven’t perfected our fruit/veggie pulp smoothies yet.  I’ve been trying to use coconut water, which I’ve decided that I do not like at all.  I’m in search of a better liquid to help our smoothies become delicious!  I may just have to go back to using regular juice.  We’ll see!

Today’s juice is a yummy fruit treat!

Ingredients

2 organic Gala Apples

4 organic Kiwi

1 Lemon

1/2 – 3/4 inch organic Ginger Root

5 oz container of organic Spinach

The Verdict:  In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with apples and kiwi!  This was an old favorite that I decided to revisit; substituting the celery that the original recipe called for with spinach and adding lemon and ginger root.

I decided to buy a head of cabbage the last time I went shopping (just to vary the juices that we drink).  So, I once again did a Google search for recipes.  It was a little hard to find one, but I eventually ran across one for carrots, cabbage and lemon juice.  I modified it a bit to the following…

Ingredients

1/2 of a small head of organic cabbage

5 small/medium size organic carrots

1 lemon (peeled)

The Verdict:  This juicing recipe is no joke!  I never expected it, but juiced cabbage is very spicy.  Combined with the other ingredients, there was also the slightest touch of sweetness, perhaps from the lemons.  My 11-year-old and husband liked it and said they would drink it again.  My 5-year-old drank a little and then proceeded to spill it all over the living room carpet…not fun.  I don’t think she liked it very much.  Would I try to juice a cabbage again?  Well…I still have the other half of the cabbage, so I’ll be on the look-out for a combination of ingredients with a slightly more appealing taste (for my 5-year-old).  If I can’t find one, then I guess I’ll try modifying this one.

On a side note, I’m still continuing my search for a new juicer.  There is so much info out about different kinds that it’s a little hard to settle on any particular one.  Based on the reviews, I’m leaning toward the following…

Today’s juice is surprisingly sweet and loaded with vitamins!  I went to the net to search for a recipe that required mint and came across this one – 1 small beet, 5 carrots, 1 apple and 1/4 cup of  fresh mint.  I modified it to the following (to make enough for 4 people)…

Ingredients

1 large organic beet

10 small/medium carrots

2 organic gala apples

4 sprigs of  fresh organic mint

The Verdict:  So far, the kids have enjoyed every recipe I’ve tried with beets, which is great because I have absolutely no idea how to cook them…I’ll just stick to juicing them.  I prefer my beet juices chilled, but I was very short on time so I just drank it as it was. It wasn’t bad, but next time I’ll add ice!

Like I said…no fruits or veggies go to waste!  We went grocery shopping yesterday and purchased fresh fruits and veggies, but before I could use them, I had to use up last week’s produce.  So this made-up juice recipe is the result (except for the mint which was purchased yesterday)…

Ingredients

3 organic oranges

1 lemon

2 small/medium organic carrots

3 sprigs fresh organic mint

several ribs of organic celery

The verdict:  This one is not for those who do not like celery!  It had a heavy celery taste, although the oranges and lemon helped to neutralize it a bit.  The kids still enjoyed it and hubby & I enjoyed the burst of energy that this juice provided.  It’s like we’re not fully awake until we’ve had our daily dose of juice!  I was hoping to taste more of the mint, but the celery taste overwhelmed any mint that was in the juice.

 I realize I never posted before pictures. I’m 5’9” and currently about 148 lbs, my measurements are 34c-27-38. My goal is not to lose any weight but to tone my body. I don’t even weigh myself because it’s not at all important to me, as long as my pants size doesn’t change I’m happy. My focus is on my butt and thighs. I’m a pear shape body type so that makes me bottom heavy. This week I did start to incorporate some arm work because I have flabby triceps.

Everyday at work I do 2 one-mile walks during my breaks. This week at home I worked with weight.

For my arms, I did 3 sets each of…
10 Bicep Curls
10 Shoulder Press
10 Bentover Lateral Raises
10 Tricep Kickbacks
10 Upright Rows

For my legs and core, I did…
20 squats
30 lunges
40 sec planks
50 sec wall sits
100 calf raises
Then I did it again in reverse.

I buy fresh organic fruits and vegetables once a week. Toward the end of the week, I’m left with whatever is left. This is when I start compromising and making up juice recipes. I’ve noticed that since I’ve been juicing…no fruits or vegetables go to waste. Before we would end up throwing away spoiled produce because we weren’t eating it fast enough…now everything gets used.

Ingredients
4 organic oranges (peeled)
1 lemon (peeled)
1 organic cucumber
1/2 – 3/4 inch piece of organic ginger root (skinned)
3 medium organic carrots

The verdict:  I definitely didn’t have to fight the kids on this one!  It was a sweet treat and they loved it.  I don’t get why juice companies feel the need to add additional sugar to orange juice…with the right oranges, it’s deliciously sweet on its own.  Normally I would have added spinach or kale, but I’m all out, so I modified it with a cucumber.  Oh and a quick note, I purchased non-organic lemons because I use a lot of lemons and the organic ones are way too expensive (at least where we live).  I’m able to buy a whole bag of lemons for the price of just a few organic ones.  However, when I find organic lemons at a reasonable price, I will use those instead!

I get a lot of questions about juicers.  I posted a link to the one that I currently use in yesterday’s post.  Eventually I want to purchase a heavier duty juicer since I use mine everyday.  Shopping around, I found the compact juicer below.  The reviews are good and the price is reasonable.  The one I want is much bigger, but I did purchase the compact version below for a family member as a birthday present.