juicing with collard greens

Apparently there were some unseasonably cold temperatures that were affecting the production of kale from the west coast this winter.  I couldn't find kale at any of my local stores for a few weeks, so I substituted organic collard greens.  Usually used for cooking, collards also are great for juicing because they are a plant based source of Protein, Thiamin, Niacin, and Potassium as well as many other nutrients and vitamins.  

If your unsure if you'll like collards in your juice, start by substituting them for kale in a basic juice like this.  In my opinion they have a sweet flavor to them.

Serves 2

• 3 celery ribs
• 1 cucumber
• 3 carrots
• 6 large collard green leaves
• 2 green apples

Berry Greens

We a few strawberries and a carton of blackberries left over from our recent experiments with the Vodka Zinger.  (Update: try blood oranges!)  I thought I'd see what it tasted like adding them to our daily green juice.  The smell was unbelievable when the strawberries went through the juicer!

I swapped out an apple for the berries and matched that with a cucumber, four stalks of celery, a handful of spinach, and two cups of kale.  Serves 2.

organic beet juice

I'm not sure why but a lot of people have problems with beets.  It took me a long time personally to come around to eating them more regularly...helloooo beet salad...but for some reason I took instantly to the juice.  I find it's sweet and with a delicious velvety feel.  David is one of those people.  While the beet juice wasn't his favorite, it was was definitely better than he thought!

I picked up these organic beets a local farmer's market in the UWS on Columbus ave one Sunday afternoon at sensible Drunch.  

I paired four beets with 5 organic carrots and two organic persian cucumbers.  Serves 2.  

my first juice

Having a small apartment in NYC there are not many things that I can think of to ask for during Christmastime that we have room for.  But this year I had my heart set on a juicer and thank you Mom and Dad for my our new juicer!  Our Breville Compact Juice Fountain is the perfect juicer for a small apartment.  Compact but powerful and easy to clean, I love it!  This is the first juice I made, and it's also a great introductory juice for anyone looking to take their first try into green juices.d 

TIP:  Apples are a sweet base for a great tasting green juice.  Start with sweet red varieties like honeycrisp or gala when first trying out greeen juice to up the sweet factor.  Experiment with what you like.   I usually use two granny smith apples now because I like the tartness!

Veggie Juice 101

Serves 2

• 2 apples
• 3 celery stalks
• 1/2 a cucumber
• 3 carrots
• 2-2 1/2 cups packed kale (I used lacinto here)