Juice!

I'm still working on the $25 menu post, but it's taking me a lot longer to finish it than I thought it would! I'm hoping to finish it soon. I decided to do a different post in the interim about making juice!

Making juice requires some startup costs. The biggest cost is of course, the actual juicer. My juicer is a Champion Juicer, and it cost me $200 about 7 years ago. It's a great juicer, though. It can juice ANYTHING, make nut butters, and it can also be used to make awesome sorbet! There are other, cheaper juicers out there, but I would really go for better quality when buying a juicer. A lot of the cheaper models are very difficult to clean, and they don't juice softer fruits like strawberries and peaches.

Juicing is a lot of fun! I've tried a lot of different combinations of fruits and vegetables together, and I've never had anything turn out bad! Juicing also has a lot of health benefits. Fresh juice has a lot more vitamins than bottled and pasteurized juice. Also, you can control what fruits and vegetables go in the mix, so YOU can make your juice as healthy as you want! I like to have a big pitcher of juice in the fridge, especially in the Summer months. Nothing is more refreshing than a glass of fresh, ice cold pineapple strawberry juice, or watermelon juice in the Summer! Here are some of our favorite juice combinations by season! It's always better to juice seasonal produce, because juicing requires a LOT of it.

WINTER
The only winter produce that's really good for juicing is citrus. Luckily, carrots are always inexpensive, so there are awesome juice combinations to be had! My favorites are:
Carrot orange: Take 8 peeled oranges and 5 peeled carrots and run them through the juicer. Place the juice in a pitcher and add about 10 ice cubes. Stir well before drinking and enjoy!

Carrot tangerine: Even more delicious than carrot orange! Juice 10 peeled tangerines and 5 carrots. Pour juice into a pitcher and add 10 ice cubes. Pour a tall glass and enjoy! Stir the juice in the pitcher before drinking.

Orange tangerine: Just juice half oranges and half tangerines! Add some carrots if you want.

SPRING
Carrot orange strawberry: Take 5 carrots, 6 oranges and 10 strawberries and run them through the juicer. Delicious!

SUMMER
Watermelon juice: Just peel a watermelon, cut it into chunks, and run them through the juicer! One medium watermelon makes a TON of juice, so you might just want to juice half. Watermelon juice makes great Popsicles!

Cantaloupe honeydew: Just cut the melons into chunks and juice away! This juice turns into a very pretty color.

Strawberry mango peach: This juice is best blended with a banana into a smoothie. So delicious!

Pineapple strawberry: Just take 1 pineapple and about 20 strawberries and run them through the juicer. Tropical Heaven!

FALL
Apple carrot juice: Take 4 apples and 4 carrots and run them through the juicer. So good for you!

Apple celery: This neon green juice is crisp and refreshing. Use 1 part celery to 4 parts apples. If you use too much celery, it will be overpowering.

Carrot apple grape: It sounds unusual, but it turns out sublime! I just do the recipe for apple carrot juice and then add a handful of grapes to the mix.

These are just a few ideas for juice combinations. Definitely come up with your own and then e-mail them to me so I can try them! All juice should be consumed within 2 days, because it goes bad really fast.