Two years ago on Boxing Day we took the plunge and bought a juicer. It was totally my husbands idea, and I must admit I was extremely skeptical about this purchase. It seemed like a lot of WORK and I wasn’t convinced juicing would be worth all the time and effort. Then our little guy turned one, and decided he didn’t want to eat ANY vegetables AT. ALL. EVER. So out came the juicer. I thought maybe if I could disguise some vegetables as juice then I could ease my mom guilt for the lack of vitamins his diet of strictly carbohydrates was providing him! Guess what… he LOVED it. I’ve always been a fan of Green Juice myself so I started drinking it daily as well.

Being that we are into the month of January and many of us are getting after those “New Years resolutions” – most revolving around shedding those holiday pounds and eating healthier, I thought I would share my juicing tips and tricks with you! Plus my go- to Green Juice recipe!

Tips for Juicing

• Buy a good quality juicer that has dishwasher safe parts… this will make the juicing more efficient and easier for you! We have the Breville juice fountain and this brand often goes on sale 30-40% at the Bay! (In fact the bay is having a HUGE sale on small appliances RIGHT NOW!)
• Use plastic grocery bags to line the pulp storage container part.. this cuts clean up time in HALF!!
• Wash and Cut all your fruits/ vegetables before you start juicing.. again cuts down on time
• Use a jug with a lid that seals for juice storage ( I actually use a jug I bought at David’s Tea as it holds a large volume ~ approx. 2.5 L)
• Because there are no preservatives in this kind of juice, be prepared that it will only last a maximum of 3 days before going bad.
• Make sure you have at least a few vegetables/ fruit with high water content such as apples, celery or cucumber, as they provide a lot of juice. Many vegetables such as spinach and kale provide very small volumes of liquid despite how much you use!

Simple Green Juice

Ingredients

• 4 Long English Cucumbers (cut into three sections each)
• 2 Large Granny Smith Apples (Cut into 4 quarters each)
• 2 Large containers Organic Spinach
• 1 Bunch Kale (Dinosaur, regular– whatever you prefer!)
• I sometimes add broccoli if I am trying to clean out my fridge!

Method

1. Wash and cut the cucumber and apple first.
2. Turn on juicer and juice apple + cucumber
3. Place juice and apple into juicer
4. Turn off juicer and Empty out juice chamber into jug
5. Empty pulp chamber by removing and discarding plastic bag
6. Replace plastic bag in pulp chamber
7. Turn juicer back on and Juice remaining ingredients (spinach, kale and broccoli)
8. Turn of juicer, empty out juice chamber into jug
9. Empty pulp chamber by removing and discarding plastic bag
10. Clean out remaining juicer parts via dishwasher or by hand (I usually wash by hand and let dry on a rack for a few hours.)

Cheers to your good health!!