Juice

I find it hard to sit down and out my thoughts to blog sometime!

I am a big fan of Bountiful Baskets. I have been trying to get my family (and myself) to eat more fruits and vegetables for some time now. I was fortunate enough to come across a blog about BountifulBaskets.org and have been participating regularly since!

If you don't know anything about Bountiful Baskets, it's a volunteer run, fresh fruit and veggie co-op. like a CSA, you don't get to choose which types of produce you bring home, you do get a large amount. There are 'extras' that you can add on that range from large quantities of strawberries, apples and oranges, organic bread, heavenly tortillas, raw honey and theme veggie packs or juicing packs. The value is undeniable with what you get.

Now on to what I've been thinking about. Juicing. I've not been a fan of commercial juice. I didn't encourage my son to drink it when he was little and I don't encourage it now for him at almost 12. The baby LOVES juice. Watch out when she gets straight juice (which only happens by accident)! Straight juice is like heroin for her. So what does a Misguided Mama do? Buy a juicer, of course!

So we have the Ninja Pulse blender and have loved it. It does amazing things, just as promised! It will make the perfect snow cone, blend frozen fruit into a de-lish sorbet like dessert and make wonderful smoothies. But I have found it's claims to be a 'whole juicer' a bit hard to stand behind. Now maybe it's because I have the Pulse instead of the full power model, I can't say. I did watch every YouTube video comparing different emulsion blenders and the ninja was always in the middle, no where as good as a Vitamix but better than your run of the mill Black and Decker blender. So now we are moving on to the Nutribullet! We were very fortunate and Misguided Grandpa purchased one for us and its on its way to us as I type!

Why do I need another blender? Well, that was Misguided Husband's question too. It's because my hate for commercial juice is because it strips all the healthy, nutrient filled fiber from you juice and you are left with a cup of sugar. Ok, maybe it's vitamin filled sugar and WAY better than chemical filled soda, but it's still lacking the 'good stuff'. I want my family to have the good stuff. I want ban soda and process foods. I want to never hear the words High Fructose Corn Syrup. I want to eat heirloom varieties of fresh fruits and veggies and never wonder how my genetically modified produce has been modified.  So our first step is was more fruits and veggies. Now it's using them in more ways.

It's not easy to change. I am currently digesting our lunch of McFast Food. Hey, everyone in the house is sick and Misguided Mama doesn't want to cook or clean up again! But we are trying and that is happening one cup of homemade juice at a time. Look out for a follow up when the Nutribullet arrives and we go from juice to whole juice/smoothie!!!!

For those with juicers, this is the juice recipe that I shared with the Punkin.

Green Juice:

1cup Kale
1cup spinach
1/2 small key lime
1/2 small lemon
1 orange
1 small Fuji apple
1 large Granny Smith apple
1/2 cucumber
1/2 inch cut from a piece of fresh ginger

Put all through your juicer machine, chill and enjoy!!