No Juicer Juice

My Father in Law gave us a juicer a few years back and we loved it.  We had many an episode of morning carrot juice blends for breakfast- the juicing phases came and went like most little kicks folks get on.  When we grew weary of the routine assembly, disassembly and cleaning of the super fine metal mesh pieces and moved out of one of those kicks, our juicer tended to hide in the cupboard and collect dust.  Those really Good habits we try to form are usually the ones that are harder to stick.  So we returned the machine to Jerrmy's Dad.  

Everything was honky-dory until a month or so ago when I was feeling a little crumby and had a fierce craving for ginger juice.  We had no juicer for to juice but, alas, there sat a vitamix blender on my counter and a hand of ginger in the basket- so I got creative.  

Now, I've since Googled 'Blender Juicing' and have come to find that it's actually a "thing."  I didn't know that this was the case when I trial and error'd my way to a glass of health, and I've still yet to read any of the how-to's on Google- there are many offerings here in Internet Land, folks, and I'm going to go ahead and add my little post to the mix.  

It's pretty simple:  pick ingredients, add water, blend, and strain. 

For this juicing photo series, I used 

• about 8g of raw, peeled ginger
• a handful of cilantro leaves (coriander/chinese parsley)
• 2 pink lady apples (cored and sliced)
• juice of one lemon (squeeze juice in separate ramekin to spare yourself fishing for seeds)
• an ounce or two of Raw Apple Cider Vinegar (totally optional, adds a little twang/ it's healthy)
• raw honey (I put a tablespoon or two)
• 3 cups of water
• a sprinkle of turmeric and cayenne or paprika (also optional, but also super healthy)

Read about the Health benefits of Ginger HERE

Read about the Health Benefits of Cilantro HERE

I had a Very "Helpful" assistant:

Read about the Health Benefits of the powerful antioxidant, Turmeric HERE

Guess what?  Cayenne is super HEALTHY TOO

Once you've peeled and chopped your goodies, add a few cups of water- let process in your blender for a minute or two, then pour through whatever strainer you like best.  My first few attempts were filtered with the nut milk bag I use when making almond milk, but after trying my wire mesh strainer I haven't gone back.  

You can add more or less water to taste.   You can add more or less of any of it to taste, really.  I happen to like more water because I feel it adds a little pizazz to meeting my water quota for the day, and I feel it is easier on my system.  One thing that I have trouble with when juicing is it kind of messing with my blood sugar.  I don't identify with any allopathic diagnosis for blood sugar disorders but I have always struggled with crashing after intaking juices or smoothies.  This is not an area of health that I am educated on, and am only sharing my experience.  The watery blender juice is my friend, that's all I'm saying.  Also, Apple Cider Vinegar?  If you are not an already seasoned drinker of the stuff, I'd steer clear until you've tempered yourself.  Jerrmy and I used to take shots of ACV in the kitchen at Greenhouse Grille for kicks like little crazy health-nutty party animals.  That was pretty silly of us, but we are now super tolerant.

At last, I arrive at my favorite part of blender juicing: the clean up is super easy.  Simply rinsing the blender and strainer and carrying on.  No disassembly.  No magnetic keys that are easily misplaced.  And One Less Hunk of Machine to store.  I like it, folks.

***

Just as I began my little Blender Juicing kick, the guys around here started dropping off like flies to winter viruses.  First Jerrmy had the flu, followed by Jasper (who I nursed and slept next and got coughed on... in my mouth) and I never fell ill, swilling these hippy waters daily.  Then I let up and skipped a few days last week and caught a cold (which I think was part slacking and part repercussion of my bragging to anyone who would listen about my ginger drinks and said flu avoidance.)  Yesterday, I was feeling pretty crumby, but after a strong Ginger/Lime/Honey/Turmeric booster I'm about 95% back to good health.  Guys!  I'm a believer!  And I hope this little Vita-Juice Kick sticks!  

D.I.Y. Organic Raw Almond Milk

Yesterday Morning, while I scurried around the house trying to keep up with my two little ones in the daily wake up haze- groggy, waiting for coffee to brew, changing Jasper's diaper, getting pre-breakfast snacks (my kids are snacky people)- I realized it was almond milk making morning and thought, "well, hey, why don't I just take a few photos for the blog while I whip up a batch."  You know- for added circus-like effect.  I've been meaning to share our process of making Raw Organic Almond Milk for some time, and at long last:  today is the day.

We started making our own almond milk early last year when we began to feel uneasy about the sugar additives in the packaged nut milks we were buying at our co-op.  Using cow's milk is not an option for us, as our children are very sensitive to dairy and we ditched rice milk (our first try at non dairy milk) after noticing it, too, was very sugary.  (Bonus!) Making our own milk costs about HALF as much as buying it in the store which is a great thing because almond milk goes fast in this house: we make 2 quarts every two or three days.  While opening a package of milk is admittedly much easier, I feel good about serving a milk beverage to my kids with these five ingredients that I know are simple and pure and, well, healthy:

1c. of Raw Organic Almonds *soaked in 2c. filtered water over night, drain*
7c. filtered water
3 pitted Dates
1/2 vanilla bean
pinch of sea salt

Tools:
nutmilk filter bag (I ordered mine on amazon)
high power blender (we use a Vitamix blender)
Container (this one is our fave)

It was actually my pal Mandy that I friended in (home) child birthing classes whom guided my first attempts at making almond milk.  She writes a really great food blog called Eating Innately, and I've loved every recipe that I've tried.  Especially this one and this one.  I've tweaked our almond milk to our liking and you can do the same (no salt, less sweet- i.e. few dates, no vanilla etc)

Here's the big secret about making almond milk:  it's super easy.  Three steps:  Soak Almonds, Blend ingredients for a few minutes, Strain.  The biggest hang up is preparation.  If you miss a night of almond soaking you are out of luck.  You can always just soak from morning til afternoon, though.

See:

 SOAK:

BLEND (I didn't take blending photos, because, well, it's not pretty)

 STRAIN:

I like to pour a little at a time, squeeze the milk through the mesh and dump the pulp as I go.  It's a little messy but the clean up is no big deal, and the entire make time is under 10 minutes.

I've used this pulp before in another one of Mandy's (eating innately) recipes, and it's also really yum.

 VIOLA!  You've got almond milk, folks!

 I hope you try this easy little DIY yumminess!  My favorite applications include:  with granola (obvi), in a glass over ice with some cold coffee home brew, a great additive to pancakes, smoothies, and even as a substitute for water in making rice!  My kids also drink it by the glass and love it!

Let me know if you try your hand at milk making.  And pass it along- Facebook it, tweet it, pin it, email it to your colleagues.  The jig is up- almond milk is easy to make and it's here to stay.

Enjoy!!