Day 4: Fresh Juice Fast

Hubby and I are on our fourth day of fresh juice fasting.  Overall it has gone very well.  The first two days were the most difficult.  I had a bit of a headache Monday, that lasted throughout Tuesday morning, which was sucky.  I think it may have had to due with exercising while fasting - Hubbs is a maniac when it comes to that.  So we've decided to lay off the exercising while doing the fast, or at least keep it to a minimum.  I've been spending a lot of time with that juicer and blender, which is good.  It's been months since I've really juiced so much.  I used to juice back home in Brooklyn all the time.  When I finish with this fast, I'd definitely like to continue with the juicing - I've forgotten how great it is. 

I've taken some pictures of the juices, but not a ton, because the first few days I didn't have a lot of energy.  I also was so sure going into it that I would save the pulp for something and reuse it.  All of that pulp going into the compost bin makes me crazy.  And we're talking about a lot of pulp!  We've been making on average 1-1 1/2 gallons of fresh juice per day!  But the reality of using it all when there are gallons of it is a bit crazy and unrealistic.  I did, however, save most of the green pulp (from kale and spinach) and dehydrate it.  When I'm done, I'm going to grind it in the food processor and use it to add to smoothies or other dishes for some additional fiber and nutrition.  It's gonna look crazy on the shelf with all of my spices! 

Another thing I've noticed today is that my hunger is mostly gone, which is a relief, believe me!  The past three days have revolved around me thinking about food, hungering for it and just basically desiring it every second of each day.  When I didn't think about it for 5 minutes, I was ecstatic!  But I feel like I can go so much longer without even thinking about it right now.  And not having to worry about cooking every day and having a complete meal ready for when the Hubby comes home from work is such a great treat.  But I know it will likely begin again next week, just differently.  The main reason for me doing this is to rethink the way I think about food.  I definitely have my problems with it that I need to fix and would just love to eat so much healthier and feel better about myself.  I'm hoping that by doing this fast I will be able to focus more on eating good for me stuff and not junk.  I realize this is not something that is going to change overnight and that I will occasionally slip up, but I'm at a point where I really want to change.  My husband and I want to open our business within the next year and hopefully a year after that, start our family.  And I definitely want to be the healthiest I can while expecting.  A lot of pressure riding on me, but I feel very positive about it right now.  And now enjoy some pictures and recipes of some of the juices I've been making over the last coupld days!

Before juicing: Grapefruit Green (the greens wouldn't fit
in the bowl - they were in the sink)

Finished Grapefruit Green Juice

Green Grapefruit:

Yields: 2 Quarts

6 grapefruit, peeled
6 small apples, quartered
2" ginger
1 English or 2 regular cucumbers
6 stalks celery (wash very well - I found a slug in my organic celery!)
8 oz. spinach
1/2 - 1 bunch kale

Koko's V-8 Juice, but so much better!

 Koko's V-8:

Yields 2 1/2 Pints

6 stalks celery
2 jalapenos
2 lb. tomatoes, quartered
3/4 lb. carrots
1 red pepper, seeded
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 English or 2 regular cucumbers
8 oz. spinach
(can also add 1/2 bunch cilantro - makes it taste like you're drinking salsa!)

Fresh pineapples for juicing!

Heartbeet Juice before juicing - there are oranges, lemons and
ginger under there and spinach in the sink

Heartbeet:

Yields: 1 1/2 Quarts

3 lb. carrots
1 1/2 lb. beets
6 small apples
4 oranges, peeled
2 lemons, peeled
2" ginger
8 oz. spinach

The finished juices: V-8, Heartbeet, Pineapple (and that's 2 small pineapples!)

Enjoy!

Koko

Millet with Kale, Mushroom Gravy and Beet Salad

I love the website Oh She Glows.  I follow it quite religiously and am always so impressed how Angela Liddon makes all of the food just look so amazing and healthy.  Pretty much every picture I see, I say to myself "I am so going to make this!"  The reality, of course is that I have so many recipes that I just have to make, and trying as of this point to keep to a budget, but still eat healthfully, is challenging, and I can't make every dish if I don't have the ingredients at home.  I think most of the ingredients in this dish people with a well stocked fridge and pantry should pretty much have on hand at all times.  This is one that seemed pretty easy to make, healthy, but also very much a "comfort food" item.  Sometimes the hubby can be finicky about creamy sauces and gravies, but I thought this would be great.  He ended up loving it, but didn't want to take it to lunch the next day, because in his words it was too light for a hardworking, strong man like him.  Insert good-humerdly crossing of the eyes here.  It ended up being a bonus for me because I ended up taking it for my lunch and was very satisfied!  Try making it and go over and take a look at what Angela ended up doing for the same dish over at Oh She Glows.  I didn't follow her recipe exactly, but used it as a guideline to make my own dish.

Super Comfort-Foody and Delicious!

Gravy:

Yields: 2 1/2 cups

2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, small diced
4 oz. criminis, small diced
4 tablespoons unbleached flour
2 cups filtered water
1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed with the fingers
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon tamari
1/4 teaspoon unchicken boullion

Garlic Kale:
12 cups kale, blanched
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
sea salt and black pepper

Millet:
1 1/2 cups millet, rinsed
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 cups filtered water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1.  Cook the millet in the oil until toasted and most of the water has evaporated.  Add the filtered water and sea salt.  Bring the millet to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook till the water has absorbed and the millet is fluffy,
2.  Prepare the gravy:Add the oil over medium heat.  Once it is hot, add the onion, criminis and garlic, stirring frequently until they begin to color.  Add the unbleached flour and stir well to coat. 
3.  Allow the flour to cook for a couple minutes so that the raw flour taste goes away.  Add the water all at once, whisking immediately so the gravy does not clump.
4.  Add the remaining in gredients to the gravy: the sea salt, black pepper, thyme, nutritional yeast, tamari and unchicken boullion.  Whisk well to combine all the ingredients.  Continue cooking till the gravy has thickened to your liking.  Season to taste.
5.  Prepare the garlic kale:  blanch the kale just until it turns a bright green color - about 30 seconds.  Drain.
6.  In a small pan over medium heat, cook the garlic in the olive oil until it becomes golden and cooked through.  Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
7.  To serve, place a mound of the millet on the plate, followed by a generous serving of kale, then top it all off with gravy.  Healthy comfort food at its best!

The millet mixed with the garlic kale.



The plate before adding the gravy.  Yum!

Enjoy!

Koko

Fruit and Greens Smoothie

For the last several months I have been trying to make a fresh juice/smoothie every night for the Hubbs and I.  Most nights I am able to do just that.   It is usually a variation of the recipe below.  I am certainly much better at making tasty smoothies right now than I am at making tasty juices.  I don't know what it is about the juice making process, but I always find myself adding more things than I know I should, or other things simply because they are in the fridge, and I tell myself "yes, I think that should go in there too".  I just can't control myself.  I keep putting in more and more greens until there are collards, kale, dandelion greens, chard, spinach and perhaps some other greens, along with the usual cucumber, celery, lime, ginger and a couple apples.  It always tastes like gross bitter grass.  And I know it's because I put too much stuff in it, but I really can't control myself!  Hubbs and I of course drink it because it is so good for us, but we almost have to plug our noses to do so.  I even told myself I was going to make a juice with orange, lemon, ginger and carrot.  That's it.  And of course in went pear, collards and a few other things and the juice was terrible!  Once I learn a little more self control and can come up with something tasty, I'll post it.  Until then, enjoy this definitely, absolutely delicious and healthy smoothie.  Hubbs and I both guzzle it whenever I make it.  (Well, because of my weirdness, I actually chew the smoothie, which is unnecessary, but I always have since I was a kid!)  Make it and enjoy!

Fruit and Greens Smoothie:



Doesn't all this organic stuff look gorgeous!?



1/2 cup carrot juice

1/2 cup apple juice

2 large handfuls spinach

1/2 bunch dandelion leaves

2 kale leaves

1 tablespoon ground flax seeds

1 large handful frozen blueberries

6 frozen strawberries

1 large or 2 small bananas

1.  Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until the smoothie reaches your desired consistency.  I blend it for a couple minutes so that the kale blends well.  Or, if you have a vitamix (jealous!!), it will only take like 30 seconds! 

That's it!

Enjoy!

Koko

Chickpea Vegetable Soup with Sweet Potatoes

I am fortunate to work in a place where I can purchase large bulk quantities of organic foods.  I do a lot of recipe testing and go through a lot of ingredients that are expensive when paying the retail cost.  I recently purchased a 25 pound bag each of organic unbleached flour, organic sugar, organic chickpeas and a case of soy free earth balance (the 2 lb. containers).  I've gone through almost all of the flour, 1/4 of the sugar and probably a couple pounds of the beans.  I use beans all the time in my cooking at home, the vast majority of the time I cook them from dry, using canned only when I am in a super hurry.  Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) are by far my favorite bean - I put them in everything.  Sometimes when I am cooking them from dry, I get carried away and make too many.  I don't love the texture of frozen garbanzo beans, so I try to use them all fresh, but I would much rather freeze them than throw them away, so sometimes they end up in the freezer.  Whenever I freeze them, I use them in soup - how this recipe came about. 

I have pretty much been making soup 2-3 times a week in this cold weather.  Even though today is technically spring, it is still pretty chilly out, so I felt like making this tasty, comforting soup.  I am a fan of the brothier soups and love me some greens in my soups, added at the end to still have a nice bite.  Try this soup before the weather starts to actually turn nice and warm!

Chickpea Vegetable Soup with Sweet Potatoes:

 

So hearty with delicious chunks of sweet potatoes.

Yields: 2 1/2 Quarts (6-8 servings)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 medium yams, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons red curry paste
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 cups vegetable stock
4 large leaves kale, shredded
2 cups chickpeas, cooked


1. Place a large stockpot over medium-high heat and add olive oil. Allow the oil to become hot.
2. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, yams and garlic and sauté for several minutes.
3. Add the seasonings: red curry paste, sea salt, cumin, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Toss to coat.
4. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Once the ingredients boil, reduce to a simmer.
5. Once the yams are just tender, turn off the heat and add the kale and chickpeas, stirring to combine.
6. Season to taste.  That's it!


Enjoy!

Koko

Chickpea Kale Salad

Today is the first day off I've had in several weeks.  I flew back to Michigan a couple weeks ago when my Grandmother wasn't doing well and stayed there for about a week after she passed away to help my mom out.  Then I came back to New York and was immediately thrust back into work with tons of meetings and tons of stuff to catch up on, immediately followed by two classes scheduled on both of my days off.  No complaints, just super tired!  So, today being my day off, I did 4 batches of laundry with our portable washing machine and clothes drying racks.  After actually using a real washer and dryer while in Michigan, it was hard to go back to washing our clothes the old fashioned way!  Time to also do some pre-spring cleaning, including cleaning and organizing the refrigerators and freezers, pantry and writing up ideas for simple meals to make for Hubbs and I when I come back home from work.  After being up and working like a maniac for so many hours, I suddenly discovered that I was starving and wanted to eat something yesterday.  Remembering I had cooked some chickpeas for dinner a couple nights ago and that I bought a bunch of kale from the coop yesterday, I decided to make a warm chickpea kale salad, which always makes me happy and is super tasty and satisfying.  So now I'm taking a nice break, eating my tasty salad and watching some tv.  Sure feels nice to take a break, even if it is only for a couple hours!

Chickpea Kale Salad:

Serves 4 as a side

So simple and delicious!!

2 cups cooked chickpeas (warm)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 very large onion or 2 small onions, sliced into strips
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 bunch kale, sliced into strips
1 tablespoon water

1.  Warm the chickpeas by placing in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, or until heated through.
2.  Drain and place in a large mixing bowl.
3.  Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and allow it to become hot.  Add the olive oil, onions and garlic and cook till softened and golden.  Remove from heat and add to the bowl with the chickpeas. 
4.  Sprinkle with the sea salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes. 
5.  Into the same hot pan add the kale and 1 tablespoon water and cover with a lid to steam.  Allow the kale to steam for about 1-2 minutes, or until vibrantly green.
6.  Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper and add to the bowl with the remaining ingredients. 
7.  Mix ingredients thoroughly and season to taste with additional sea salt or pepper flakes.

That's it!

Enjoy!

Koko