Juice

Let’s talk juice.

Not store-bought, bottled juice that’s probably loaded with sugar, corn syrup and other artificial colors and flavors that we don’t need.

Actual juice from fruits and veggies. Nothing else added except for a few ice cubes and some filtered water.

Don’t have a juicer? Neither do I.

But if you have a good blender, you can make juice.

Just throw any combo of fruits and veggies that you like into your blender along with a few ice cubes and enough filtered water to get things moving and you’re good to go!

You can use pretty much any combination of fruits and vegetables. Here’s the concoction that I came up with this past weekend, just based on what I had in the crisper:

1 cup of kale leaves

1 carrot – peeled and chopped

2 apples – cored and chopped

1/2 cup of pineapple (I used crushed because that’s what I had in the fridge)

3-4 ice cubes or a handful of crushed ice

1/2-1 cup of filtered water

Directions:

Put everything into a blender and let it whirl around for a couple of minutes at least so that everything can get incorporated really well.

Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer lined with a couple of paper towels or cheese cloth. Or if you had to throw your fine mesh strainer away because your kids kept swatting each other with it or trying to make a helmet for your cat out of it, than just line a regular strainer (with smaller holes, preferably) with a couple of paper towels and strain.

I don’t like pulp in my juice so I had to strain 2-3 times to get things nice and clear but if you don’t mind a few little kale bits, than once should be just fine.

Yes, that juice is the color of dirty ditch water but I promise, it doesn’t taste like dirty ditch water. Not that I can say from experience what dirty ditch water tastes like but I’m pretty sure this tastes better.

If the color makes your kids turn their noses up, pour it into a thermos and serve it to them that way. You can add more pineapple if you think it needs more sweetness.

Remember, you can use any combination of fruits and veggies that you like so if you just can’t get over the color of my glass of juice, you could always make a more visually appealing juice out of any combination of pineapple, watermelon, berries, citrus, apples, carrots, plums, apricots, and beets.

Whatever you decide to use will be much healthier than anything you can buy in a bottle.

* With Halloween coming up, I can’t help but think that this juice would make a great party drink for kids. Just pour some into clear glasses and call it “Swamp Muck” or “Cauldron Juice” or “Wicked Witch Sweat” or “Hazardous Waste” you get the idea. 😉

Tags: fruit, veggies