Juice Recipe #11: Celery, Carrot, Orange and Lemon Juice

Hey folks!

I really like how simple, tasty and affordable this recipe is. For anyone who’s starting out juicing, you may have began to realize that it’s easy to go through your supply of veggies and fruits pretty quickly by juicing them. This recipe uses veggies and fruits that are pretty inexpensive (at least where I am) and still pack a whole lot of nutrients. Celery juice is anti-inflammatory, a diuretic and lowers cholesterol. As for carrot juice…well folks…it really does improve and/or maintain vision. I wear glasses, and I really do believe that my prescription stopped getting worse (as it was in previous years) thanks to all the carrot juice I’ve been drinking in the past few years.  Oranges and Lemons are loaded with vitamin C which is by far one of the most powerful antioxidants.

Here’s the recipe:

4 stalks of organic celery (folks, please note that conventional celery is very very very high on the list of veggies loaded with pesticides, there’s quite a few veggies and fruits I buy conventional due to cost or availability and celery is NEVER one of them)

3 organic carrots

1 organic orange (washed, peeled and cut in half)

1/2 an organic lemon (wash thoroughly and leave peel on)

 

~Juice and Enjoy!~

 

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Juice Recipe #10: Beets, Grapefruit, Apple and Carrot juice

I haven’t juiced with beets in a while so when I saw them in the grocery store I couldn’t help but grab a bunch and get excited about juicing them. I usually default to juicing beets with apples and carrots with a 1/4″ of a ginger root but this time instead of ginger I added one whole grapefruit and it came out quite tasty. For whatever reason I’m not particularly fond of beets any other way. I can and will only juice them. I really really really love juicing beets (and so does my mama!). There’s something about their bright red color that screams HEALTHY and they combine oh so well with just about any vegetable/fruit. My favorite benefits of beets have to be that they are a blood purifier, blood builder (create new red blood cells), liver tonic (stimulate functions of the liver) and contain folic acid + iron. Go beets!

Here’s the recipe to the juice I made (came out to about 20 ounces):

3 beets thoroughly washed and peeled

1 whole grapefruit peeled

1 organic Fuji apple

3-4 organic carrots

~Juice and Enjoy!~

PS: Beets will/might make your poop red…very red. It’s quite scary the first time but not too worry, it’ll pass 🙂 LOL!

Smoothie Recipe #2: Green smoothie (mango, pineapple, banana & spinach)

Here’s the only green smoothie recipe I love and make right now. I look forward to making new green smoothie recipes but it’s pretty hard because I really love and make this one every single time I’m in the mood for a green smoothie.

1 cup of chopped frozen mangoes

1 frozen banana

1/2 cup of chopped frozen pineapple

2 handfuls of organic baby spinach

8 ounces of filtered water

Feel free to add any protein, flax seeds, coconut oil or anything that would boost the nutrient power of your smoothie.

It’s delicious, and comes out smooth and frozen with the help of my Ninja blender. The Ninja blender is my second favorite kitchen appliance after my Breville juicer of course! I have tried to make many a smoothie with my regular blender and while it works it, produces a less frozen smoothie as the blades heat up. It also requires more liquid and lots of shaking/stirring in between so I don’t bother! I love and appreciate my Ninja but I look forward to the day I bring home a Vitamix. This is actually our second Ninja, we received our first one as a wedding gift and it conveniently ‘died’ at 14 months, 2 months after the warranty expired. After using a regular blender for a few weeks, I couldn’t take the mooshy smoothies and used my 20% off BedBath&Beyond coupon to bring home a new Ninja. I’m still coming for you Vitamix 🙂

~Enjoy!~

Juice Recipe #9: Apple & Lemon Juice

I can’t believe I’ve gone all of my, albeit short, ‘juicing-life’ without ever having made this. This recipe was like hitting the jackpot!! It is so ridiculously delicious. It’s so funny to me that I’ve never thought of this combo before, so thanks you-tube. I make up almost all my juice recipe combos since it doesn’t require that much thought and it’s pretty hard to mess up…actually…let me take that back. I messed up a lot in the beginning and the only word that comes to mind is yuck to describe the taste of my original juices. This recipe on the other hand is YUM YUM YUM 🙂

2 organic ginger gold (or any other variety) apples *don’t forget to take out the seeds

1/2 an organic lemon, peel and all!

I had never tried ginger gold apples before making this juice. The only reason I actually bought them was because the grocery store didn’t have granny smith apples which are my favorite for juicing. I’m sold on ginger gold apples now!

~Juice and Enjoy!~

Juice Recipe #8: Cucumber, Kale, Spinach, Celery, Apple & Lemon Juice

Hey Folks!

I’m literally drinking this juice as I write this post and it’s really quite good. I remember how when I started experimenting with green juices they tasted quite atrocious. To be honest though, the only thing that’s different now is the fact that I always add half a lemon to all my green juices. I’m pretty sure I learned this ‘lemon-trick’ from one of the many you-tube juicing videos I’ve watched. It’s amazing how the lemon makes the juice sweeter, more refreshing and takes the edge off the super strong leafy green flavor.

1/2 cucumber (I peeled mine because it wasn’t organic)

4 organic celery stalks

2-3 organic kale leaves

2 handfuls of organic baby spinach

1 organic Fuji apple

1/2 lemon (don’t bother peeling it, I don’t know why I ever did)

This makes exactly 16 ounces of yummy green goodness. I can imagine all my cells doing a happy dance now 🙂 Are yours?

~Enjoy!~

Nuts about Nuts

The focus of this blog is that natural wholesome foods are not only the healthiest kind of foods we all should be eating but that they are easy and delicious to prepare awesome recipes with. It doesn’t get any easier than purchasing some of your favorite nuts and seeds and munching on them as a snack any time of the day to stave off the hunger. Here’s a pic of my favorite raw nuts, almonds and cashews, as well as some pumpkin seeds right on top which I enjoy as well. Nuts are full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, vitamin E and many other nutrients, all of which create optimal health. I’m nuts about nuts (and seeds), are you?

~Enjoy!~

Kale Chips

Ok…so kale chips have been all the rave in the health food community for a while and I have no idea why it has taken me so long to make my own. All you literally have to do is buy one bunch of kale, wash them thoroughly, pat the leaves dry, use your bare hands to rip into ‘chip’ sizes , coat with olive oil and a 1/2 tbsp of sea salt. Really rub the olive oil and salt all over the kale chips to make sure they are well coated. Spread the kale over a baking dish and bake at 350F for 5-7 minutes. I followed someone else’s recipe, the first time and baked them for 10 minutes and they all burnt! I would advise anyone to watch them closely and taste a few at 5 minutes, if you prefer them more dry, bake a little longer. I actually prefer the texture that’s in between, not to chewy and not too crunchy. This makes quite the healthy snack and I can’t think of a healthier and more delicious green or vegetable period than kale! My husband actually loved them which I couldn’t believe. He is usually very averse to my “health” foods/recipes. Here are the before and after pics.

 

~Enjoy!~

Raw recipe: Guacamole

Is there a soul that doesn’t love guac? I actually strongly despised avocados as a child.  I’m sure it had everything to do with an uncle of mine who would mash them up and use it as a spread to make sandwiches with banana slices in between. It did not look appetizing or tasty to me. My aunt would make a hair conditioner and/or face mask with them which was very disturbing to me as a child.I would do this in a heart beat now if I didn’t prefer to eat them so bad!

I have no idea when everything changed but I’m extremely glad it did. I’m sure it was an awesome recipe of guacamole that did it! Avocados are  quiet the nutrient dense food. They are full of vitamin K, C, E, folate, potassium and monounsaturated fats. Besides making guacamole, I will add avocado to each and every salad I make. They add a creamy mouthfeel besides being super delicious. The only down side is that avocados are pretty pricey around here so I consider it a treat when I have them in the house. Here’s a pic of some guac I made a few days ago. Every single time I followed other folks’ recipes to the T my guac didn’t come out so great so I never measure anymore, so the measurements that follow are very much approximations.

Avocados ( I usually use 2)

A handful of Cilantro, chopped

Onions, finely diced appox 1/4 cup (I prefer yellow)

Tomatoes, finely diced ( I usually use 1 small Roma tomato)

Juice of 1/2 a lime

Salt to taste (1/4 tsp)

Garlic (1 small clove, minced) *optional

Mash the avocados with lime juice and the salt in  a bowl and then fold in the finely diced onion, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic.

~Enjoy!~

Smoothie Recipe #1: Strawberry & Banana Smoothie

This is my all time favorite favorite thing to have for breakfast. I have been making the recipe I will share with you for the past year and a half and I honestly don’t remember what I used to have for breakfast on most mornings before I began using the ‘secret’ ingredient to this smoothies. It is so fast and so easy to make and tastes HEAVENLY….if  heaven has a taste. My girlfriend and I have been singing the praises of this ‘secret’ ingredient since we discovered it. My mother just got into smoothie-making so I had the pleasure of hand delivering a bag to her yesterday and can’t wait to call and ask what she thought of it. Anyway, here’s a pic of the smoothie and the recipe follows underneath. Doesn’t it just look so yum?

1 cup of organic frozen strawberries

1/2 of a large banana, frozen

You can opt to use fresh fruit and add ice instead.

8 ounces of  filtered water

1-2 tbsp of organic ground flaxseed

Drum roll please….and the secret ingredient is….1 scoop of Sunwarrior’s Raw Vegan Vanilla Protein. It’s made from bio-fermented raw sprouted whole grain brown rice protein….whew!….that’s a mouthful for it’s healthy and delicious. Our fave flavor is vanilla but they have natural and chocolate as well.

Dump all of these ingredients in a high speed blender, blend and of course….

~Enjoy!~

Salad Recipe: Bean & Corn Salad

This salad can literally be a meal all by itself.  It’s quite filling and so refreshing and the perfect summer salad. So excited to have made this uber healthy and dee-lish salad for the first time this weekend. I think it’s quite famous with black beans but all I could find in whole foods were organic red kidney beans and I can’t imagine it tasting any better with black beans now that I’ve made it. I’m pretty sure there are millions of people out there just like me who get quite the high from making awesome new dishes. Here’s one that took me to cloud 9 and back….corny…I know 🙂

1 can of organic red kidney beans, rinsed and drained (or better yet, sprouted organic red kidney beans)

1 cup of organic fresh yellow corn kernels

handful of organic cilantro chopped

2 tomatoes diced

1/2 cup of diced red bell pepper

1/4 cup of red onion (you may pickle them in vinegar for one hour)

As always the more organic ingredients you can get the better 🙂

Dressing: juice of 2 limes, 1 small clove of garlic minced/crushed, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper and 1 tsp of salt. Shake in small jar and pour over veggies and stir.

Note: these are approximate measurements, I pretty much ‘eyeballed’ everything with this recipe and it came out great. Adjust measurements to taste, especially with the dressing.

~Enjoy!~