Juicing Art

​Beets – Blood flow and memory
Cucumber – skin
Blueberries – cancer fighters
Carrots – vision
Apple – keep the doctor away
Asapragus – Kidneys
Yellow pepper – cancer fighter and C
Cuties – add sweetness and tang
Lemon – a little more tang and C
Snap Peas  - Immune system
 
Essentially, I grabbed whatever looked good at our local farmers market and went to town.
This is really a good mix, even my 3 year old liked it. (granted the 5 year old didn’t)
Also wanted to show you how I process the items prior to juicing. I like to remove skin on many of the items to keep the machine from clogging.
Of course there are health benefits to eating the skin, but there is enough fiber in the drink to go around.
 
Clean out your juicer immediately afterwards – or you will have a real mess. Don’t let it sit for more than a few minutes.
Keep the juice in a pitcher in your fridge and cover with saran wrap to trap in the freshness and consume within 24hrs or it will turn.

Whipped up a tasty combo of fruits and veggies. Once you get a handful of fruit and veggies that appear ripe to almost over-ripe, bust out that juicer and get to work. The strawberries were on their last day and it gave us an opportunity to use the stem pulling tool, i can't recommend it enough. This mix was a little heavy on the fruit, but a Vitamin C and flavor boost in the middle of a very soggy East Coast March, does a body good.

Wanted to try something a little new with respect to the juicing vessel - how about a really wide bowl, to get the color gradients to really pop prior to consumption. Checkout the vibrant colors and yes it tasted like a power packed flavor rainbow.

The pulp layering on the juicer top was too cool not to get a picture. Cucumber, Celery, Pear, Watermelon, Carrot, Apple, Mango, Blueberry - Yum!

We breastfed our newborn son for around 3 months, then he became extremely disinterested. We tried several brands of pre-mixed formula from the store, but it would make him fussy and give him the runs. We switched to soy formula and he tolerated that for around 3-4 weeks, but then the runs returned with a vengence. After doing some research on the net, we discovered that a goat milk based formula might just do the trick. You can read the fine print, comments, and details about goat milk, if you go to the Organic Thrifty blog  but I will give you the short version - with just the recipe. 

Mix 3 scoops Meyenburg goat milk powder Vitamin D (we use the similac plastic powder scoops, as it fits in the bottles better than the ones that come with the goat milk)  - don’t get the liquid version in a can as you can not mix it on the go - though they are handy for home use and reduce the amount of bottle shaking/mixing reqd.

2 tsp of the Red Star nutritional yeast

1 tsp of Spectrum Naturals organic sunflower oil

1 tsp of Barlean's coconut oil - the black plastic container is lightweight

1/2 tsp of RAW Garden of life child probiotic

1/2 tsp of Wholesome Sweetener black strap molasses unsulphured - helps keeps things tasty and stools soft

1/2 tsp of Wholesome Sweetener raw agave nector - low glucose

Next, we fill up the remainder of the bottle up to the 9 oz mark with luke warm water from the sink (ours is filtered after the pipe enters the house with a whole house filter, see our facebook page on this entry for other filter items you may need to complete the installation)

Cap the bottle with the nipple/top and then shake like no- ones business. You could make a larger qty and use the blender, but we like to make it as needed. Ensure that you washout the bottles and nipples very well and use bottle brushes, as the oils and such take a little longer to scrub away then your average formula.

Mixing the concoction does obviously take longer than regular formula, but really it becomes second nature after a little while and baby really thrives. Once you see the fussiness go away and the smiles the extra time spent is worth it tenfold.

There are a few other ingredients we leave out or use sparingly like cod liver & olive oil as well as amla that add a few extra minerals/vitamins for baby, but the six aformentioned items are easy to transport in a small bag/cooler so you can make a bottle on the go - or when baby is hungry and crying for a bottle.

For babies with lactose and soy allergies, there really is no other option.

Note: if you do a cost study of this formula vs. conventional, you will find that they are very similar, especially if you can source the ingredients at a good price by buying large volumes of the various ingredients.

Baaaaaa and good luck. 

Carrots offer mom some great health benefits as well as keep babies from experiencing colic. Just make some organic carrot juice fresh and mix with equal parts boiled filtered water. (about 1 oz total can be fed to baby). When nursing moms drink carrot juice, it also apparently helps to develop babies palate and develop a taste for our 2nd favorite vegetable in the USA.  Carrots as everyone knows, helps with eyesight as they are rich in Vitamin A. Here are some other carrot tidbits: Easy to grow, prevent cancer and heart disease, reduce stroke risk, nourish skin, beta carotene helps with anti aging, and lastly your dental health is improved due to their natural abrasive nature. So go out and pick up a 5lb bag today (or better yet pick them from your own garden). Note: I always peel my carrots, as I've found that it removes much of the bitterness. Additionally, I chop off the tips and about 1" below the top.  

This mix had 13 peeled carrots, 2 rings of a red onion, 1/3 bunch of parsley, 3 celery stalks (I peel the outside of each), 1 tomato, 1 peeled lemon, and a whole peeled cucumber. It tastes delicious and should be made often to keep you and your family/friends healthy.  Note: No babies were harmed in this juicing art production - though my newborn son did get the indirect health benefits of having mom drink a tall glass of the orange goodness!

Guacamole is a great tasty treat anytime of the day. I know it is not 'juice'. But being that avocado is technically a fruit, figured that I mine as well share the recipe which gives so much joy (and health benefits).  Most avacado are harvested from Mexico near the equator, so they are in season the entire year.

Roll a lime to get it softer, cut in half and squeeze into a sturdy wide bowl, scoop out two avocado (I choose ones that still have a medium amount of greenish hue, but are also a little brownish) too green or too brown dominant is not optimal. Add in a pinch of cumin and cayenne to taste - then a bit of sea salt (I use the grinder pictured). Mash it up a bit with a potato masher (or other tool) in the bowl, but not so much that it is mush. Add in finely diced clove of garlic and a 1/4 of a small sweet onion and a half of a tomato diced. Lastly, add in a good amount of sliced fresh cilantro. Fold it a couple of times and either eat right away with some tortilla chips, or store in the fridge.

Note: When storing Guacamole, use plastic wrap and press it flush with the top of the guac in the bowl, otherwise it will turn brown on top and not be as delicious looking.

Avocado has numerous health benefits including: anti cancer, anti inflammatory, cholesterol reducing, blood pressure regulating, eyesight bettering, and even prevent birth defects.

Important note: Never put an avocado into a Jack La Lanne juicer, it will clog up the machine and create a mess. If you are making a large qty of guacamole, using the juicer for the limes might be advisable.

1/2 bag Cranberries, 1/3 bunch kale, 3 apples, 8 carrots, 2 kiwi, 8 strawberry, 3 stalks celery, 4 tomato, squeeze of lemon. 

Try this combo, you will like the taste complexity and the health buzz it generates. The cranberry tartness, celery saltiness, tomato acidity, and the sweet carrots/ fruits mix together delightfully.  

Kiwi has some surprising health benefits: Asthma, and DNA mutation coughing prevention. They possess a healthy amount of vitamins and antioxidants. Kiwi also have lots of fiber which helps to prevent colon cancer. 

This "bug" juice is made up of roma tomato, pears, carrot, green pepper, and a squeeze of lemon. Pears are great for nursing moms because they have lots of folate. If osteoporosis runs in your family, pears can help. They have boron, which can help your body to retain calcium. Hydroxycinnamic acid (say it 3x fast) is also in pears which is suppose to prevent stomach/lung cancer. Many people are allergic to certain fruits, but not pears, they are actually a hypo-allergenic fruit! Pears are good for your peepers too by reducing macular degeneration. I peel my pears, but if you don’t - the skin adds some anti Alzheimer's disease agents called Quercetin. So grab yourself two pairs of pears a paring knife & pulverize it into some pretty palatable juice post-haste!

Pick your own apples! There is an instinctual need to pick apples this time of year, no? Make lots of juice in your juicer with them, make pies, dip them in honey or peanut butter. Just get out there and support your local orchards. We picked some really excellent apples at Tabora Orchard in Bucks County PA the other day. I like how they let the trees grow a little higher so you can climb a bit and reach for those beautiful Red Delicious ones at the top! Neighboring Peace Valley Winery has apples that grow on more bushy type apple trees so the kids can reach for them a bit easier, the yellow ones there seem to be good for pies and such. Real apple juice looks different than store bought but it still tastes phenomenal. For an orchard near you, goto http://www.pickyourown.org Don't forget to bring your own re-usable bags too!

Apple juice has a lot of natural sugar, but it is very heavy on Vitamin C and anti-oxidents. Mix it with some veggies to tone down the sweetness or drink it straight for a great refreshing treat. I remove the stems with a small pair of pliers, cut them in half, and toss them into the juicer unpeeled. For a slightly less bitter taste, peel the skin prior, but you will lose some nutrients. I added some baby carrots and celery to sneak in some veggies.

V8 juice is not bad - but I think that you will find this combo to taste better and deliver a very similar vitamin packed punch.

The tomato and apples are from the bruised fruit rack at the market - only a few minor blemishes. The strawberries give a wonderfully sweet aftertaste. Try to keep fruits to 20-30% of the content, too much higher and you may be on a fruit sugar buzz then crash.

When juicing tomato, always go for the ripe to over-ripe ones, they are a bit sweeter. Wash the celery really well. Lots of critters and dirt like to loiter inside the stalks. I don’t juice the celery leaves, but I suppose you can if you wish.