With the garden going a bit crazy, the only thing I can do to keep up with making sure we use our harvest is to juice it. Since the carrots and lemon cucumbers are growing like crazy I decided to work on a carrot juice recipe.
You might be thinking, but isn’t juicing just a fad? BUT OF COURSE IT IS, silly! Other than being a fad, it also tastes so good and I feel as thought it’s a great pick me up in the afternoon, AND it’s better for my body than going to town on hummus and rice crackers just before dinner (even though I’ve been known to do that on occasion too).
A couple of things to keep in mind about juicing:
- Try to keep the focus on veggies over fruit. If it’s a more fruit focused juice it will have more sugars and will have you crash. So aim for at least 60% veggies.
- Also throw in a small chunk of ginger (the size of the tip of your pinky finger) as it helps with the digestion. It also gives it a nice spicy flavor.
- In the winter months try warming it up vs drinking it cold. This is better for your body than drinking cold from the fridge juices.
- I’ve been told that the juice begins to loose it’s health benefits if you juice too far ahead of actual drinking time. So a good rule of thumb is to drink it within 3-4 hours of juicing. Trust me, you can taste the difference of freshly juiced vs. one that has been sitting in the fridge overnight.
And now for the Carrot Juice:
- 6-8 carrots
- 1 apple (I always use Granny Smith because they’re my fave. Make sure to core it first)
- 1 orange or 4 mandarins (peeled)
- 1 cucumber (regular or lemon if you have them in your garden like we do)
- ½ bunch cilantro (because it does a body good!)
- 2 stalks celery (optional)
- 1 small chunk fresh ginger
Make sure you wash all your ingredients or peel them if needed before tossing in the juicer. I always juice the more flimsy or leafy veggies first and close it out with the denser ones at the end. Other than that, juice it up, mix and enjoy!
