Not So Green, Green Juice

If you follow me on facebook or twitter you may have seen that I talk about green juice sometimes. For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about I thought I'd explain myself. I didn't eat hardly any vegetables besides raw carrots with a lot of ranch for 26 years. As a child I would spit them in my napkin or sit at the dinner table for what seemed like hours (I'm sure it was like 15 minutes) until I finished my plate, which I wouldn't, I would just sit there. Finally my parents just started giving up. 

I just really don't like vegetables, and am unfortunately a very picky eater. Rarely can I order right off a menu without changing anything. In the past few years I've realized how necessary eating vegetables is in my diet and started looking into ways to eat them without really eating them. Enter green juice. I read the book Clean, and my world changed. I bought a juicer and a really good blender (Breville) and use them almost daily.

There are tons of recipes out there for green juices, but you can just mix and match your veggies & fruit using what you have. I think it's important to use different things here and there so it doesn't always taste the same and your body will get a variety of goodies from different veggies. Obviously I'm not a nutritionist or health professional, so this is non-professional verbiage, but gathered from what I've read it's good to change it up. I typically use kale, spinach, green apples, cucumber and lemon. Sometimes I add carrots, celery, broccoli, and lime, or a variety of all of these items. Some people mix more fruit in, some add agave nectar to sweeten it, although I don't really mind the bitter/sour flavor. If I do mind the flavor I just stick the straw in the back of my throat and suck it down as fast as possible. Sounds a bit extreme, but I know I need my veggies, and this is the way I'd prefer to get them. Although I do love this easy veggie recipe from my friends at Four Foodies for turnips, parsnips and carrots. Smoothies are an entirely different animal with endless possibilities, but a staple for smoothies that you may not think of is almond milk, agave nectar, and consider adding a little ground cardamom.

Do you drink green (or close to green) juice? What are your favorite recipes? 

*The juice above isn't green because of the carrots.

Source: http://www.mimiandmegblog.com/2011/04/not-so-green-green-juice.html

Penelope Cruz nicki minaj Carmen Sandiego Cheryl Burke