Carrot Juicing

Just a quick little post to say, YES! We are making our way through our carrots, slowly but surely! Thankfully, there has been no yellowing of the skin at this time ;-)

(Of course, every time we pull out the juicer to make carrot juice, Dave wants the fresh apple juice that so impressed him the first time!)




I just wanted to share this picture - maybe it's just me, but isn't that a beautiful shade of orange?! Such a sweet, fresh juice! Even if you don't love carrot, the juice is like the concentrated sweetness from it - it's so good! Well, ok, there's still some carrot flavor, so if you HATE carrots, you may not like this.

But it is rich in vitamins and mineral (see this old post for all the details on carrot glory!) so if you have a juicer, or are ever at a juice bar, maybe give it a try! I sometimes like to mix it with orange, apple, and/or spinach... but the simplicity of carrot juice alone is a refreshing treat!

Now I just need to come up with a good way to use all the carrot pulp I've got sitting in my freezer...

Carrot Kisses! :D
~Katie

Apple Week!

I am a woman of themes. I don't know why - but I always have theme parties in the back of my head. Sadly, most of these theme dreams are never realized (though I did get to do a little Harry Potter themed party once!) but it has still stuck with me.

So I thought - why not have a theme for new recipes? What's on sale at the store - and what can I make from that?

This week: the simple apple!

I already discussed many of the benefits of this little guy in an earlier post with the Winter Salad; but it's been a while, so I thought I'd refresh a few points and share a few ideas!

The apple - a good source of vitamin C, antioxidants, insoluble and soluble fiber, and flavonoids - if you eat that skin!

The University of Illinois has a page on some fun facts about apple. My favorites:

*The crabapple is the only apple native to North America (yay crabapple! These grow near my apartment, and every spring, people make sure to avoid the one parking spot under that tree as those mushy apples topple down, leaving your car looking like a poor, helpless victim!)

*2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States (And yet, I feel like I only see 4 or 5 different types in my store...)

*The pilgrims planted the first United States apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

*In colonial time, apples were called winter banana or melt-in-the-mouth

Hmmm... I saw no mention of Johnny Appleseed....

Ah well - on to the recipes!

The first recipe I found was for an apple-carrot "cake" (though I would describe it more as a dough; I should try dehydrating it!) It called for carrot and apple pulp which meant it was time to pull out the juicer!!

So, I guess, technically, the first recipe we made from the apple was fresh apple juice (yum, yum, yum, and YUM! SO much better than store-bough processed stuff!!) And then we had to juice the carrot to get the pulp, so that added an interesting tang of apple-carrot juice. Still delicious! Dave has asked to make fresh juice a bigger part of our diet. Sure thing! So I just need to find some more recipes that use the pulp - I hate the idea of just throwing that away! (...unless I started composting at some point.)

So, the next recipe was apple and carrot pulp mixed with blended raisins, walnuts, and cinnamon. The recipe also called for shredded coconut, but the store was out :( I think it could add a good texture to the "cake." Instead, I topped it with more raisins and walnuts. Some oats may have been good too!

It will need some tweaking, but all in all, not bad! The taste is good - just want to work on the texture to make it a little drier, and hold together better.

Veggies, fruit, and nuts; dairy free, gluten free... All natural, all health! So I ate some for breakfast this morning :) Cake for breakfast - what a good life!

~Katie

Other recipes planned this week: Sauteed apples; apple cabbage slaw, and baked apples!

Junk The Juice

At my job, one of the daily topics is JUICE.

Juice - the wonders of marketing schemes.

For the most part, juice is a waste of money. Yes, even "all natural, no sugar added, 100% juice" juices. Juice is a highly-processed form of fruit that essentially leads to nothing more than sugar water - heck, the natural vitamin C of the fruit usually isn't even there! That "100% of your Vitamin C needs" is mostly just added back in after all the processing! (That's the "ascorbic acid" on the ingredient list.) So, if you are squuuuueeeezing out all the liquid from the fruit, what do you get? Water, sugar.

The bigger question: what are you NOT getting? Fiber, phytochemicals, enzymes, and the other aspects of the "whole package" that the fruit was supposed to come with.

Most juices will contain 28 grams of sugar per serving (and if you get one of those lovely 20-ounce bottles, check the label! They usually are not 1 serving, but 2.5 so you're getting 70 grams of sugar and about 275 calories in the whole bottle!)

How much sugar is 28 grams?

That's almost the same as what you'll find in most soda! (And we've been over the lack of health THERE!) Check out this video! (Thanks to Marshall Brain, who also brought us the books on How Things Work!)

There are 7 teaspoons in 8 ounces of sugar... or over 1 tablespoon!

And do you wonder WHY they add so much sugar to pop? To cover the salty taste with all it's sodium! Why do they have so much sodium? To make you feel thirsty and therefore want more cool, "refreshing" soda! (Or so some theories go. I wouldn't be surprised!)

Push the water, try some teas, and really limit or eliminate your sugary processed junk! And if you want juice, make your own! Or just blend it so you can keep all the wonderful benefits that come with it. Good things DO come in small packages! :)

Happy Hydrated Friday!

~Katie