Juicing

I. Love. Juice.

After (accidentally) taking a vegan cooking class, I started reading a bunch of different vegan blogs, and it was then that I started reading all about the juicing trend. After dropping a small fortune at The Blue Shirt Cafe on freshly squeezed juices, I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy my own juicer.

I now juice anything that I can get my hands on. Well, almost. Some friends who heard me wax poetic about how awesome and powerful my little juicer is suggested I juice things like steak or a tuna fish sandwich. I stick to fresh produce. I usually incorporate carrots and apples as a base with some ginger or citrus for bite, then toss in whatever else in the fridge or from our CSA box* that needs to be used up.

Today's juice incorporated 3 carrots, 2 apples, 3 small yellow squash (from share), one head of curly kale (from share), one half of a lemon, a knob of ginger and a pint of blueberries.

The kale, which I usually like to have as kale chips using The Kitchn's famous recipe, had sat in the fridge a little too long. Making it into a juice was a good way to extract its nutrients. While this mish mosh of ingredients might seem like they'd combine to make a strange medly of flavors, this was actually a delicious juice. Carrots, squash and apples were a nice, mild and sweet base. The berries, lemon and ginger added some brightness of flavor. The kale is a powerhouse of vitamins. Here is the final product, garnished with a sprig of sage:

The juice produced was enough for 4 servings. Do you juice? What is your favorite flavor combination? Give it a try to get your necessary servings of veggies and fruits while also putting to good use what might otherwise go bad. 'Til next time!

-Abbie


*We have subscribed to our Community Shared Agriculture program since September '09. Every week we have a local pick-up of locally grown (mostly in the state of MA in the summer or the East Coast Food Shed in the winter) veggies and fruits. I would recommend it to anyone who likes to eat freshly, try new produce and who cooks often.