Newsletter #11 ...

Juices

Drinking juice each day is the easiest way for busy people to get the vegetables they need. Juices make a cleansing, nutritious breakfast or an energizing mid-afternoon snack. Use organically grown produce whenever possible, especially for greens that you can’t peel, such as kale and celery.

Energizing-Purifying Juice and Green Juice should be your staples, since they are highest in nutrients and lowest in calories and sugars. If you are sensitive to sugars, limit your consumption of carrot, beet, and fruit juices, and emphasize green leafy ones.

Juicing is a great opportunity to use the vegetable scraps left over from other recipes. Save your parsley stems, broccoli stalks, and other odds and ends, and juice them along with a base of celery, cucumbers, or carrots. For best digestion and absorption of nutrients, drink juices on an empty stomach.

When you juice, cut the vegetables into chunks that will fit your machine. If you are using a slow-speed juicer designed for greens, do not remove the stems from kale, collards, parsley, and cilantro or cut them into pieces. Simply feed them, stem-side down, into the machine.

Start and end the juicing process with celery or carrots, since they are firm and easy to juice. Don’t leave garlic and ginger until the end—juicing other vegetables after them helps push any remaining pieces of garlic and ginger through.

Energizing-Purifying Juice
Makes 1 1/2 cups, 1 serving

This juice detoxifies the body while giving you the nutrients and energy you need. It is a health-promoting breakfast every morning, an energizing mid-afternoon snack, and also an excellent juice for fasting; see the variation below to make enough for the whole day. There are several ingredients in this juice, but to save time you can wash and cut the vegetables the night before. For a spicier juice, add the ginger root and radish.

1 carrot
1/4 cucumber
2 stalks celery
1/2 cup green or red cabbage (about 1/8 head)
4-inch broccoli stalk, cut into pieces (1/4 cup)
15 sprigs parsley (about 1/4 bunch)
4 leaves kale or collard greens
1/4 lemon, peeled, optional (1 1/2 teaspoons juice)
1/4-inch piece ginger root, optional

Juice all ingredients. Serve immediately.

Green Juice
Makes 1 1/2 cups, 1 serving

This juice is a nutritional powerhouse, providing vitamins, calcium, and trace minerals. It is also low in calories and sugars, making it an ideal weight-loss drink. For a spicier green juice, try the optional ginger root.

3 stalks celery
3 leaves kale or collard greens
1/2 cucumber, sliced lengthwise
10 sprigs parsley (about 1/6 bunch)
10 sprigs cilantro (about 1/6 bunch)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (1/4 lemon)
1/4-inch piece ginger root, optional

Juice the celery, kale, cucumber, parsley and/or cilantro, and ginger if desired. Add the lemon juice. You can also peel the lemon and put it through the juicer. Serve immediately.

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