This Might Be My First Modified Juice Feast Day
This morning I woke up around 5:30 and thought I'd better hop out of bed and start working on my smoothies! I had no idea how long this would take, and I like to get out of the house by no later than 7:30 (preferably 6:30, but I have too many "don't-want-to-get-out-of-bed days lately for that).
First, I made myself some lime water to drink and as I drank, I rounded up my ingredients, weighing them on my scale as I went so I could make sure I had four pounds of greens to take me through the day. I left out the radishes- they'll go in my evening smoothie. I decided to start the day by drinking green juice. I used half the spinach, half the kale, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 1 apple, 1/2 a cucumber, and a small chunk of ginger. Learning from the past two days I used a new blending method: I threw in the juicier ingredients first so that I could toss the leaves in after I already had a smoothie going. This worked great! I didn't have to use the high setting for the first part at all. When I threw in a few ice cubes I moved to a high speed briefly just to crunch those up. I don't think I really needed to protect the greens from getting warm because my new method was so efficient, but I like cold smoothies so the ice was fine either way. I went to town on that plunger, making sure all the greens got mashed into the smoothie as quickly as possible. I was so psyched about my progress that I threw in an exgtra head of romaine!
After I had a lovely shade of dark, thick green- AND SMOOTH- smoothie, I quickly arranged my amateur juicing station: a fine mesh basket set inside a large plastic bowl, and on top of the mesh, about 4 layers of cheese cloth large enough to create a "bag" that I poured the smoothie into. I pulled the sides and corners of the cheesecloth together to create a bag, then I squeezed and squeezed and squeezed as much juice as I could from the pulp, squirting some dark green stuff on the counter, wall and cabinet (oops- need a lighter hand!). In a moment things felt the way I imagine they would feel if I were milking a cow - based, at least, on what I've seen on TV, as I slowly encouraged the remaining juice out of an almost empty "udder" of cheese cloth. The fiber had now poured into the mesh basket, and the juice had escaped into the plastic bowl underneath. I carefully poured the juice into a large glass and then let the beautiful green sludge sit to leak more juice while I started on my second smoothie- the one I will take to work with me.
I made this smoothie much like I'd made the first batch, except this time I added parsley and no romaine. This smoothie looked awesome but I didn't drink it. I poured the smoothie into three mason jars, which I packed into a thermal lunch bag with an ice pack underneath to keep it cold. I have a fridge at work so they'll keep cold on the job. This was a quick operation. I then turned back to my green juice, pouring the rest of the juice from the bowl into my glass.
After I made my smoothies I had to clean. What a mess! A few leaves and some juice scattered along the floor. Juice had spilled around the counter. I had cucumber peels in the sink (I couldn't tell if the cukes were waxed so I didn't eat the peel), and small greenery bits here and there. Not to mention the splashes of green still left on the walls and cabinet. Each mess was simple to clean, thank goodness- no stains anywhere- just daunting to contemplate. As usual, the VitaMix required merely a drop of soap and some water. I then used that soapy water to clean the bowl, cheese cloth and strainer (I live in the desert and want to conserve water as much as possible). The whole operation took less than an hour, and as I get better, perhaps will take less than that! I then sat down to blog my experience and drink my juice. By the way, the juice was fine but when I added a little lime juice, wow- it tasted even better! Almost the way salt improves the taste of food by bringing out the flavor.
So that was my first work day smoothie/juice-making experience! I am really "easing" into this, aren't I? Well, I have my reasons. For the past two days I've had the runs (sorry, I know that's graphic) from the extra fiber I'm adjusting to. I do not need to have this problem while at work, so I'm glad I began easing into this new way of eating over the weekend. My experience shows me that a juice feast is doable in the morning. Now, this evening's smoothie will have radishes and avocado along with the other greens.
Oh wow- I just noticed my clothes have green smoothie splattered on them. Good thing it's my nightgown.
Sounds like you're doing great Allison! Just found your blog fromyour Twitter post, and read through the last few days blogs. I am no expert, but have been making juices without nutmylk bags for 2 weeks now. I strain it into a bowl through the metal strainer first, then through the cheese cloth into the jar or glass. It's working for me until I can order some nm bags online.
CHeers!
Reply to this
I love adding lemon or lime to dishes I make. It really does make things even tastier! I chuckled about your nightgown being spattered with green.
I created a soup for Terilynn's recipe challenge and thought of you the whole time--since I was using the VitaMix. Here's a link if you want to see the recipe: http://purejeevan.com/blog/?p=296
What are people saying about your green drinks?
Lots of love to you,
Wendi
XOXO
Reply to this
Hey - nice blog, just looking around some blogs, seems a pretty nice platform you are using. I'm currently using Wordpress for a few of my sites but looking to change one of them over to a platform similar to yours as a trial run. Anything in particular you would recommend about it?
Reply to this