Juice Newbie

Wow! I attended my first Twitter party last night–2 of them actually (in a row!)–and I’m exhausted!

Kind of exhilarated, but exhausted! And I can’t really see straight… 🙄

The topics were the campaign for safe cosmetics and the film, “The Story of Cosmetics: The Ugly Truth of Toxins In, Toxins Out” followed by more talk of toxicants in our personal care products, sponsored by Earth Mama Angel Baby in conjunction with Mothering Magazine. There was a lot of great info to be had, and my tweeter got a super workout!

Tweet, tweet!

But the world of social media is not the only area of my life where I’m branching out! Thanks to my Mom and Dad,  I have a new addition to my kitchen arsenal!

See it here.

Happy Birthday to me! It’s a juicer! Well, it doesn’t call itself a juicer. It calls itself a fruit and vegetable extractor, whatever that means, but it’s a juicer.

The recipe book that comes along with it touts it as a weight loss plan in which you use the pulp as a filler in things like burgers, but I’m just planning on juicing stuff. When something starts saying “easy weight loss” to me, I kind of stop listening…

But, I have a confession to make. I’ve never really been a fan of juice. 😯

Yes, it’s true. Juicing just isn’t my thing. I had a juicer years ago, but I didn’t really like using it and it just sat in my garage and died.

I guess I like the taste of a glass of juice just fine, but I’ve never been one to actually make juice. Here’s why:

• I don’t like to drink my calories and juice can have a ton of them.
• I’m not a fan of stripping the fiber out of a perfectly good fruit or vegetable and then consuming it in a few gulps, when I could leave the fiber in and enjoy an entire meal of nutritious food. 
• Juicing is expensive! Reducing a pile of good organic fruits and veggies into a mere glass of juice doesn’t seem like the best use of my grocery dollar. 

But I fancy myself an open-minded kind of chick, so I have been rethinking my stance on juice. Here’s why:

• I need to find a way to stay hydrated while nursing. I never drink enough, so if I make it a little more interesting, I just might up my fluid intake. I have a bit of a store-bought-drink phobia because there are so few natural options out there, and juicing at home might be a good remedy.
• I don’t have to drink the juice at full strength. I plan to use my juices like concentrates and water them down considerably. 
• At this point in my life, when I’m thinking about trying for baby #2, the nutrients found in a glass of homemade fruit and veggie juice could prove very beneficial, because with the amount of time I spend chasing my newly mobile son, I just don’t always have the time to sit down to a full bounty of garden veg.
• As much as I don’t like the thought, I’m going to have to introduce some kind of juice to my boy before long. He drinks water and breastmilk now, but when the time comes to give him something else, I’d much rather it be something I made at home with vegetables I know and trust than a bottle of mystery skittle-flavored liquid from the store. Right now, I can’t do things like carrots, beets or spinach, because they contain too many nitrates for young nurslings like mine, but he’ll be able to have them before long. 
• It’s not expensive if you use your fruit and veggie overflow–then it’s a thrifty practice.  We have an abundance of leftover garden beets, cucumbers, leafy greens, and lots of other produce that will juice quite nicely. Juicing will also help me use up anything I buy at the grocery store and find myself not using. If it looks like we might not eat it, I’ll just juice it up!

• And finally, while I don’t think I’ll ever view it as a feasible weight loss plan, I can actually use the pulp for baking, or making delicious compost. 

So, I’m determined to make juicing a habit, or at the very least, give it a real try. But here’s the problem. I don’t know what makes a good juice! I can come up with some on my own (carrot, apple, mango? Ginger peach?) But when it comes to combining fruits with veggies, I’m not sure what goes with what, and what doesn’t go with anything.

That’s where you come in! I know all you fine foodies out there have enough collective knowledge to set me off on a happy path to juice nirvana, so please, send me your tips and suggestions! I’ll be sure to share my creations just as soon as I get myself hooked up with a new camera…