Tag Archives: healthy

Juice in the morning, sailor take warning

Recently I’ve renewed my commitment to juicing. And we’re not talking drugs here, people–we’re talking vegetables. (I was only recently informed that juicing can also be a term for imbibing steroids. Or does one inject those things? Anyway.)

Why this fresh zest for juicing? (heh heh–forgive the pun–couldn’t resist) Well, in part because I heard my friend Traci’s inspiring story again about how juicing sent her rheumatoid arthritis into remission, and in part because my friend Sarah decided to do a juice cleanse. And did it. And it was awesome (more on that soon!).

There’s nothing like the honest testimony of a trusted girlfriend to get me in motion. With all this motivation, I really wanted to make juicing part of our routine–so I did. And I’m in week 5 now, going steady, holding the course. In case you’re interested in having some tasty, energizing, veggie juice for breakfast to get your day started out right, here’s how I do it:

1) On Sunday when we grocery shop for the week, I purchase a big bag of veggies, to wit:

-5 lbs carrots
-5 cucumbers
-A large, large knobbly knob of ginger
-The biggest bag of spinach I can locate
-1 bunch of celery

And I should clarify, this is just for me (though I do pour a small glass for my husband). I can hardly believe I go through all that in a week’s time considering it’s just my breakfast, but that’s the miracle of juicing, friends.

2) As soon as I get home from the grocery store, all the veggies destined for liquification get washed, prepped, and put into ziplocs for the week. That way, when I wake up and get my sleepy butt into the kitchen, everything is ready. There’s no horsing around with a knife needed, which is great since all my faculties are not yet present.

I also get pre-washed spinach, which saves a good amount of time.

3) Before going to bed (and while my husband sets the coffee maker), I assemble the juicer and put it on the counter so that it’s ready to go.

I figure any extra fussing about in the morning should be avoided, because that could just be used as an excuse to choose the lazy way out. I need to leave everything set up for myself so that practically no effort in the morning is required.

4) Final trick: lining the juicer’s ‘waste’ bin with a trash bag so that all the vegetable refuse can simply be gathered up and tossed.

Saves some washing time! Straight into the trash with you.

5) In the morning, make the juice! I use a big handful of spinach to start . . .

. . .  followed by a thumbsized piece of ginger, a whole cucumber . . .

. . . a couple stalks of celery, and 6-8 carrots.

With the pre-washed and pre-cut veggies, it’s easy to pop them into the juicer and cococt a greeney-orangey beverage that will start my day on the right foot and load up my body with micronutrients.

And I have to say, I’m not hungry in the least after that big glass of juice. It fills me up, but doesn’t give that bloated feeling that bread products sometimes bring. And I think it tastes great! (the more carrots the better it seems to taste–there’s nothing like that sweet, earthy flavor)

It even takes away almost all of my urge for coffee. I usually sip at a coffee while doing my morning devotional right afterwards (it’s a habit that’s hard to break–a hot beverage is so perfect for helping me enter a contemplative state), but I usually only get halfway through the mug, and have no desire for coffee again until the following morning.

How about you–does that picture of green juice make you salivate, or make your stomach churn and turn?

Tomorrow, my friend Sarah will be guest posting here about her February juice cleanse. Just reading about her experience makes me want to do one too. Come back on by and read about her experience tomorrow morning!

Black Bean and Avocado Lime Quinoa

I love simplicity on a weeknight. And though the plethora of ingredients in this recipe may lead you to believe that it’s complicated, it’s not! You cook the quinoa and simply stir everything else in. I’ve made this many times, and the add-in ingredients are flexible and can be adjusted depending on the state of your pantry. So while it’s delicious just as written below, have fun playing and substituting!

This dish can function as a side, but I love it as a main dish. And my love will remain unshaken.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tsp kosher salt
2 TBS olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 small bunch cilantro
3-4 Roma tomatoes
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can corn
2 avocados
1 sprinkle lemon juice (for the avocado)
1 hard boiled egg
1 TBS melted butter
Optional: crumbled feta cheese

First: resist the urge to be overwhelmed. Yes, there appear to be a good many ingredients in that picture, but nothing complicated is happening with or to any of them. Take a deep breath and stick with me!

Now, quinoa. I used to be intimidated by it. It was an unknown, and it always takes a little extra energy to tackle something mysterious in the kitchen. Well let me assure you: this delicious little grain is nothing to be afraid of. Its tiny couscous-like pearls are simply cooked in boiling water, and then sit for 10 minutes to steam and soften. And that’s the extent of the Quinoa Threat.

Let’s see this funky lil’ grain in action!

Boil the 2 cups of water in a large pot. When boiling, adjust the heat to medium, add the quinoa . . .

. . . and cook (uncovered) for 15 minutes, until the water is absorbed. After 15 minutes, cover the pot and turn off the heat.

Let the quinoa sit for 10 minutes and get happy. See? Nothing to fear at all.

Hard boil that egg. After 7 minutes of boiling and a couple minutes sitting in the hot water, mine was perfection.

Dice up the tomatoes and cilantro:

Bam! Bam! Toss them in a bowl.

Peel and cube the avocado, sprinkling the pieces with a little lemon juice to avoid browning.

As you can see, I left a few of the prettier slices whole, to use as a garnish.

Drain and rinse the black beans:

And drain the can of corn while you’re at it.

Chop up the hardboiled egg too–and now all the chunky ingredients are ready to be added once the quinoa is done:

Beautiful! Colorful. Healthy.

Zest and juice the lime into a bowl:

Add the salt, sugar, and pepper . . .

. . . and whisk in the olive oil and butter to form the dressing.

As you can see, I couldn’t be bothered with melting the butter, knowing it would simply melt in the hot quinoa.

Once the quinoa is done, mix everything together in the pot:

This dish can be eaten hot or cold, but I like it at least warm, so if you do too, heat everything for a couple minutes over low heat.

Serve it up! You can sprinkle a little feta on top too, if you’re in the mood for some dairy bliss.

I, surprisingly, wasn’t. I also didn’t have any feta on hand, so maybe that was part of it.

It’s so good. I love, love, love this dinner–there’s no rolling away from the table with a rock in your stomach after a bowl of this veggie-licious combo. I hope you guys like it too!

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