Mean Green Juice Recipe

Our household loves juicing!  I posted this on my Baby Hegarty blog recently.  Below is the recipe that we have been using for the last few years.  I initially found it here.

The fun part of juicing is that you can play around with it and add/remove as you like. Anyone that has ever tasted my Mean Green Juice has been pleasantly surprised!  Or maybe they just don't wanna hurt my feelings ;)  hehe, jk. 

Mean Green Juice

 

Ingredients:

handful spinach
2-3 stalks of kale
2-3 granny smith apples (any apples, really)
small handful parsley
1/2-1 lemon*
1-2 cucumbers

Double the recipe!

1. Start by using half a lemon and do a taste test once you juice it all and stir.  The first time Rob and I did this with a whole lemon, it made our mouths water. It was very tart.  (and I typically like sour)

2. Peel(I use a potato peeler) or slice off lemon rind leaving some of the white pith

3. To juice small leaves such as parsley/spinach, roll them up into a ball to compact the leaves. I like to follow it up with some apple or cucumber(more water content) so it doesn't get stuck and pushes through easier. Brilliant right? ;)

4. I like to add green grapes or kiwi (if I have them) to make it sweeter OR if I am low on apples

Since I juice for all 3 of us, I actually have doubled this recipe and it makes about 24-30 oz (depending on how big the cucumbers and apples are)

Why I love juicing?

So many reasons! 

1. Of course, it's super healthy for you.  This is a guaranteed way for us to make sure we are meeting our fruit/veggie count. I am aware that the fiber content is missing, but we also eat whole fruits/veggies in our house.  We also use ground flaxseed in our smoothies.

2. Energy boost, with no crash. No "Red Bull", "Rock Star", or "5 Hour Energy" in our house. Don't even need that afternoon coffee break. All we need is some nourishment and hydration from our vitamin-enriched Mean Green Juice!

3. Great "snack".  We eat 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day and are all about portion control.  This is a great "snack time" replacement.  After Breakfast/Before Lunch (Rob's fave)  or After lunch/Before Dinner (aka when Lex starts to get restless and is dreaming about Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or Cookies'n'Cream ice cream)  It's filling and quite refreshing!

Just to be clear, this is not a "meal replacement" of any sort.  If you want to drink this alongside one of your main meals, that's great too! Trade in that sugary-loaded Diet Coke for a glass of this amazing-ness.

The juicer that we use is the Jack LaLanne Juicer that we bought from Costco a few years back. They still sell it there for $90!  Such a great invesment, and Costco has the best warranty/return policy.  If you plan to juice for a few days, try to use a glass container to keep the juice longer.  It's true that it's best to drink it right after making it, but let's be real. Ain't nobody got time for dat!  I juice enough for 2 days, and juice every other day.  I hit the jackpot and found this awesome glass jug on Amazon and bought 2!  Amazon Prime is my weakness, haha.

Please let me know if you think of any other juicing questions, and let me know what you think if you decide to try it.  This has been the only juice that my daughter has known.  She sees her sippy cup and says "Juice!" and chugs it. No joke. She is our mini health nut.

Around her 1st birthday, shopping at Target and drinkin' some Mean Green Juice!

 That's my recipe for this week.  Hope everyone is having an amazing "hump day" so far!