Juicing

I bought a juicer.

Not a super duper Vitamixer.  Just a regular juicer.  A used juicer on top of that.  Yes, off Craigslist.  This juicing crazy has been around for a while, but I always seem to be late to the party.  I'm okay with that.

This juicer is a Jack Lalanne juicer - probably $100 at Target.  I got it for $30.  It had been used once.  Of course it had.  That is why I looked on Craigslist - and kept looking.  There were many out there for $75 and $100.  Still quite a few at $50.  Finally got the one at $30.

We had to drive to the suburbs to get it.  Duncan needs more driving hours.  There was no school on Monday - so we ventured into the burbs.

Got the juicer.  Stopped at our local "Sprouts" store (cheaper version of Whole Foods and better than Vitamin Cottage) and picked up lots of veggies and fruit.

I found a 3 day juice diet on the internet.  Not that I have any interest in doing a 3 day juice cleanse, but figure it might give me some good ideas for juice.  It has five different juice ideas.  Of course, the machine came with a "recipe" book.

Really though, you can pretty much just put whatever you want into the machine and it will spit out juice.  Pretty nifty.

The first night - we made pineapple (Duncan won a pineapple for being best player - and yes, only my kids team in the middle of Colorado would hand out pineapple's), strawberry and apple juice.  It was pretty yummy.  Although it take a LOT of fruit to make 3 glasses of juice.

The next day?  Let's see:  kale, cucumber, ginger, apple & lemon.  It was pretty yummy.

The next day?   Beet, celery, red pepper, apple & carrot.  It tasted a bit like dirt.  I did wash the stuff.  Maybe I need to wash it better.  I think apple is in everything to make it sweet.  I'm not big on sweets, so I could probably make it without the apple.

Still working on those juices.  I'm not quite use to so much juice.

Then there is the pulp!  What the heck do you do with all the pulp?  We don't compost around here.  (We tried that once years ago and ended up with mice in the compost - ACK and YUCK).

I did read some good ideas for the pulp:

• Mix in with plain Greek yogurt as a dip.  (that to me actually sounds yummy)
• Make latke style pancakes
• Put in spaghetti sauce as extra nutrient
• Put in a food dehydrator and make chips/crackers out of it

To me, the last one sounded like a good idea.  Only I don't have a food dehydrator.  Well, maybe if I put it in the oven on low heat - for say 50000 hours, it might work the same.  Maybe.  It didn't.  (Martha Stewart is trying to come out).

Maybe I should just look on Craigslist for a food dehydrator.  Then I can make chips.  Then, I'm sure it will be something everyone else wants.  Which I will have to turn into a business.  Which I'm sure will then cause another purchase.  And then another......

All I wanted was a way to get my salad into liquid form.  All I wanted was a glass of juice.  

(Really though, you should hear the boys version of this story - they thought I was crazy before)