Breakfast

I haven't been writing many new recipes, lately, because we've been enjoying the tried and true you see below. However, the season is changing and the fruits and veggies of the bountiful baskets are, too, so there may be more variety on the way. Nevertheless, this one is a favorite and is surprising delicious. Just be sure when you juice lettuce that you rehydrate it first--just soak the leaves in water and they perk right up. Otherwise, the drier wiltier leaves will likely clog the juicer, and unclog you.

Juice:
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 bag of grapes (any variety, but I do enjoy purple types)
2 bananas

yields about a quart.

Hidden Valley Curry

Did you know that Ranch Dressing was invented by Hidden Valley Ranch? Yeah, me neither. How ever, it wasn't what it is today. It was a real ranch serving this dressing to guests, then they marketed it and then they made a powder packet you could mix back up anytime. Then, Clorox bought the rights in the '70's for $8,0000,000. At least, that's what wikipedia said. Huh.

So, I know this only because my wife juiced a couple of heads of broccoli--one quart of juice worth! I know, I know, you're thinking that broccoli doesn't seem juicy, but just try it. With all this broccoli juice on hand, I had to think of something tasty. See, last time we juiced broccoli, the end product wasn't...tasty.

So, I'm thinking, "What makes broccoli tasty?" Ranch Dressing, duh. That's why I googled it to find out what makes it so tasty. Turns out it's garlic and green onion. Should also be perfect for kicking butt on this cold that's brewing in my head

So, lets get juicing.

Juice:
2 heads of broccoli
2 potatoes
2 sweet potatoes
2 heads of garlic
1 yellow onion

1 can of coconut milk
Sliced up fresh mushrooms
Favorite curry powders
Some more cumin
A little oregano
Some tarragon leaves
A bit of corn starch mixed with water to thicken
A touch of apple cider vinegar
Oh, and a splash of Honey

I like to slice a couple of chicken breasts real thin and fry them with salt. Then, mix everything together in a deep frying pan--I use a ten inch cast iron pan. Simmer for a while, let those starchy potato juices thicken a bit, serve over hot rice.

Breakfast

Fridays are for leftovers. Anything left from the last week's bountiful basket has to go: out with the old, in with the new. And this was a good, light juice, not as heavy as some of the pulpier fruits.

Juice:
1/2 cantaloupe, including rind (wash thoroughly!)
2 huge plums
Cncord grapes to make one quart.

Veg Breakfasts

See, you gotta think like Ocean Spray. Here's a company with waaaaaay too many cranberries. Sauce sells once a year for thanksgiving, and even that was a hard sell, I'm sure. So they got to thinking, what do we do with all these berries floating around? Juice 'em!

But, have you had cranberry juice? Even with a ton of sugar, it's enough to turn your face sour for a month. One time, when I was fourteen, and had just had surgery at the army hospital, the nurse...well, that's another story.

Anyway, Ocean Spray starts combining cranberries with other juices--apple, raspberry, pomegranate, etc. Suddenly you're buying cran-apple all the time!

So, what would Ocean Spray do if their bountiful basket was overloaded with bbell peppers one week...?

Juice:
2 bell peppers (red ones really have a great color in juice)
3 Asian pears
Enough backyard apples to make a quart's worth of juice

Here's another one my genius wife made up. Think to yourself, What would Ocean Spray do if their neighbors kept bringing over zucchini?

Juice:
A bunch of bananas
A bunch of zucchini
Surprisingly tasty.

Green Sauce

Juice:
3 heads of romaine lettuce
1 head of cauliflower
3 bell peppers
4 white potatoes
1 clove of garlic
2 chicken breasts
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
Cumin
Salt
Cinnamon
Curry powder
Rosemary
1 can white beans
1 can corn

Slice the chicken into thin strips across the grain, coat in salt and cinnamon, and fry in a fry pan--minimal oil. Add other ingredients and simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Serve over hot white rice.

V6

Another fresh and zesty, very refreshing juice.

Juice:
4 Roma tomatoes
5 bell peppers, red and green
4 banana peppers
1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves
4 backyard apples

Pepmato

Today's bountiful basket seems to be 93.5% bell peppers. Not really, but there are a bunch of them in there. And tomatoes, too. Juicing the two together is fresh tasting. If you like V8...this is nothing like it. It's not salty, but it's very refreshing. I thinking that basil or cilantro would be nice in it, too.

Juice:
3 Tomatoes
2 Bell Peppers
Chill and enjoy

Beakfast

Still working on that zucchini...

In the meantime, this is one is delicious. Asian pears have much less body in the juice than the Bartlett pears. I prefer the Bartletts, but it's a good use of small Asian pears.

Juice:
1 pink lady apple
4 small Asian pears
2 honckin' big nectarines
Yields one quart

Mellow Yellow

Do they give Nobel Prizes for the culinary arts? If not, they should, and I should get it. Today's juice is going to revolutionize the way we eat. That's right, I made summer squash taste good.

Juice:
5 yellow crook neck summer squash
2 nectarines
2 bananas

Yep, it's awesome. Slice up the squash and drop 'em in, peels, stems, and all. Not too sweet, and tastes nothing like a squash. Perfect.

Tomorrow I'll earn the award all over again, I hope: I'm taking on zucchini.

Three Juices in one day! What!

Started of the morning with an easy pleaser:

Juice:
4 Apples (I did two red delicious and two pink ladies; very nice)
2 cups of grapes
Yielded a little more than one quart

For lunch we enjoyed left over curry from yesterday:

Juice:
4 heads of broccoli
2 heads of cauliflower (these are surprisingly wet)Including greens
4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed with peels on
1 beet
Yields about two quarts

Prepare two chicken breasts using my squishing-between-two-cutting-boards method of tenderizing first. I salted the meat and coated generously in cinnamon before frying a large frying pan--I use a ten inch cast iron skillet. Remove the meat, and add the juice to the skilletover medium heat. I used about one tablespoon of curry powder, half a tablespoon of cumin, two tablespoons of cinnamon, two teaspoons of garlic powder (would have been better to have juiced a fresh clove), quarter cup of corn starch mixed into a little water for thickening, two teaspoons of ound ginger (again, fresh juiced ginger would have been better), quarter to a half cup of apple cider vinegar, honey to taste. Vinegar brings some bite and combined with honey lends a sweet and sour quality that I really like. Add the chicken back in, add a bunch of white raisins (I used about three quarters of a cup), make sure everything is hot, and serve over fresh hot jasmine rice. This was the very mild version: more curry powder and even a little cayenne pepper would be in order. Coconut milk would also make a tasy addition.

So, after that lunch, which was actually prepared yesterday, I was thinking that some sorbet would be nice in the evening:

Juice:
2 cups of grapes
1 box of figs (8-9 figs--they come in little rasperry box sized boxes...)
2 bananas

This is very creamy and super rich. I poured it into Pyrex bowls with lids and put them into the freezer; be sure not to fill them too full or they will erupt as they freeze and expand. This should be a good sorbet. I'll let you know tomorrow because this next recipe nudged the sorbet out of position.

We took a long ride on the scooter--Weston Canyon is very beautiful!-- and came back a little chilled: autumn is here, I think. So, I wanted something warm--something to keep my wife from turning on the heat. Hot fruit drink? Cider, of course.

Juice:
4 apples
6 Bartlett pears (when they're ripe, you've got to use them fast)
2 cups of grapes

I just put the sauce pan right under the juice spout. This yielded about a quart and a half, though, so I left enough in the pan for us to drink tonight and put the restin an airtight container in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow. Turn the stove to medium heat. Stir in about a half teaspoon of ground cloves, one teaspoon of nutmeg, and two teaspoons of cinnamon. I have about three cups of juice in the pot. Heat it up, stirring occasionally, and enjoy. It's a thick, delicious hot drink that will make you want more!

Whew! It's been a juiceful day.

Happy juicing!

On Bunches

I have a house full of women.

There's a women's conference at the university this weekend, so my wife's mom and sisters and sisters in law all come up and attend together for the two days. I've planning for it, though, and was well prepared: I've been saving three bunches of bananas all week. Kinda feels like when you've been preparing for a sporting event and now it's time to perform and you know you're ready, but there's still the chance that you could be beat. Kinda.

Then, I found a whole gaggle of pears in a dark cupboard, hoping I had forgotten they were there. That's like a fat Gatorade just when the pressure is on. Now I'm cool and ready to juice.

So, I made these two juices, which were good individually, but when I got them together like Hayley Mills it made one super smoothie juice with that particularly pleasant grittiness associated with pears. I think you'll like them all.

Juice:
4 oranges
1 gaggle of pears
A handful of grapes
Enjoy

Juice:
5 peaches
3 bunches of bananas
Enjoy

Combine those two, but be prepared for a tropical smoothie that is a sure winner. Yielded about three quests total. That ought to get those ladies going for the conference.

Breakfast

The last of the figs. This juice was very creamy--bananas do that--and had a particular flavor that was very delicious; a little like the feeling a blueberry has in your mouth, but not the taste. Must be the higher concentration of figs, since we couldn't taste it yesterday. Also a note on grape juice: we kept some in a pitcher in the fridge and some in a jar in the fridge. The pitcher oxidized and turned brown, like a cut apple, but I think the flavor is still okay. The airtight jar is the way to go for storage over a few days.

Juice:
7 figs
2 bananas
3-4cups of grapes

Beakfast with Figs

I've only had fresh figs a couple of times in my life. I had them this morning because we got them in our bountiful basket on Saturday. They have a texture inside that is a bit like a plum. So, I juiced them with a ton of plums that also came in the basket! Plums are tasty and have a smoothie like quality when juiced. I think this juice would make a creamy sorbet.

Juice:
Figs--I used seven figs
Plums--I used those little purple ones, twelve of them
Yielded 30oz.

Full Bodied Breakfast

I need more vocabulary than, "This one was good." So, this juice was full bodied. The mangoes and peaches are very fine grained and so little pulp doesn't make it through the fine strainer in my juicer, the Hurom Slow Juicer. So it's a smoothie of a juice, and is quite flavorful and filling. I think that some diced mint would be tasty, and then frozen whis would be a good sorbet!
Juice:
1 Nerf football sized mango
1 banana
2 peaches
Some grapes to make a quart

Breakfast of Champions...and Rabbits

1 banana
1 head of green leaf lettuce
3 peaches

Regarding peaches, free the stone and the juice will follow.

Breakfast

3Nectarines, pitted
4Tomatillos
Grapes

This one was pretty tasty. I still liked the Grapiflower better for using tomatillos, but my wife really liked this one.

Sweet and Spicy

Tonight's dinner wass a good mixture of spice and sweet.

First course, of course, was soup.

Spicy Tomato Soup
Tomatoes--I used five average ones, and a handful of baby tomatoes I had handy
One bunch of celery, including greens, but cut it into short pieces
One chili pepper, including stem and seeds
Ten fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper

Juice it. Juice the celery last,or else it will clog the output. Oh, and if you leave out the chili peppers it makes a tasty drinkable juice. Pour the juice into a sauce pan and simmer over medium heat. Salt and pepper to taste.

Next, I whipped up a couple of sauces for rice.

Spicy Lettuce Curry
Juice:
One head of green leaf lettuce
One clove of garlic
Half a bunch of spinach
Three chili peppers
Three white potatoes
Half a 12oz. can of coconut milk

1Table spoon Red curry powder
Chicken breast sliced half inch thick
Cinnamon
Corn starch
Salt
Pepper

The white potatoes should be intermixed with the lettuce and spinach to keep things moving through the juicer. You're gonna love the aroma as the garlic goes through!

Coat the chicken in cinnamon, salt and pepper; I cooked it in the same cast iron frying pan I made the rest of the sauce in. I seared it a little--pretty tasty. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside. Combine juice and coconut milk over medium heat. Add curry powder. I use the corn starch to thicken it a bit-- about four or five table spoons is what I used (don't forget to add a little water to the starch, not the starch to water. It's stiff at first, then dissolves). Add the chicken back in. Salt if necessary.

Sweet Mega Red
Juice:
Three bunches of Spinach
Two sweet potatos, skins on, but scrubbed thoroughly (otherwise it's gritty) sliced
One medium beet, juiced twice to remove pulp
Sweet table grapes
Half an inch of ginger root

Half a 12oz. can of coconut milk
A hot madras curry powder, or other yellow curry powder
Chicken breast
White raisins
Apple cider vinegar
cinnamon
Corn starch
Honey
Salt

The sliced sweet potatoes keep the spinach from gumming up the machine, so feed some spinach, then some potato; the potatoes also give a creamy feel to the sauce. The beet juice I had made previously, but it had too much pulp because my juicer was already clogged by some other stuff. So, I took the pulpy beet juice and ran it back through. It sweetens and gives the mega red color to the sauce. Then I added grapes for a little more mass and sweetness.

This is my special super tender chicken. Lay the chicken on a cutting board and coat copiously with cinnamon and salt. Then lay another cutting board on top and apply pressure. Smash the chicken until it is thin and uniform-- the thinner the more tender. I've also had good luck laying plastic wrap on top of the chicken and using a rolling pin to flatten it. It makes it super tender. Then, add some salt to an oiled frying pan on medium high heat and use a spatula to lay the chicken in the pan in one flat piece. Cook until you can turn it over, and cook both sides until it thoroughly cooked and pleasantly browned. Remove from heat, slice into thin strips and set aside.

Combine juice and coconut milk over medium heat; I like using the same deep frying pan i used for the chicken. Add curry powder. I used at least a quarter cup of corn starch with a little water added for thickening. The cider takes the edge off the pastiness left by the potatoes, and lends a sweet and sour flavor. I only usd a couple of table spoons' worth, but it could certainly stand more if you like the sourness. Add raisins and chicken. Honey and salt to taste, serve hot over Jasmine rice.

These two sauces are great complements, one spicy and one sweet. Plus the ultra green of the lettuce sauce next to the mega red beet sauce over white rice is a pretty stunning presentation.

On Grapes

When you're making juice everyday, you go through lots of roughage. A few minutes ago I juiced three big bunches of spinach and it yielded only about two cups. So, we use Bountiful Baskets each week to provide fodder for the juicer. This seems to be the best value in produce around here. But the best part is that you never know what you'll get in your basket each week, which means you get to be creative.

They've been supplying us with grapes the last couple of weeks. For a few buck extra you can get an entire flat of grapes--seedless table grapes, the small, super sweet ones that are not like the big ones you usually buy at the store. Thompson's seedless? Anyway, we've been drinking lots of grape juice. It's amazing how filling just juice can be.

But it's nothing like Welch's: even with a powerful juicer, the grapes leave some pulp in the juice. And it's actually very good. Last night I made two gallons of straight grape juice. After sitting in the fridge overnight it had settled and left the pulp on the bottom. I drank the pulp less stuff, and it was good, but not necessarily better. It's very sweet.

So, here are a couple of favorite grape mixtures from the last couple of weeks.

Grapiflower
1 head of cauliflower, including greens
6 tomatillos
Grapes to make 1 quart of juice total

Juice 'em and drink 'em!

Grape Cocktail
A handful of baby carrots
A box of strawberries, including greens
Two pears, just remove the stem
Plums, pitted
Grapes to taste

Lipeade
Eight key limes, peeled
Half a banana,peeled (takes the edge off)
Grapes to make at least a quart
Agave nectar for sweetness if desired; but I bet more grapes would do the trick.

Lettuce Curry

So, I watched videos and read articles and everyone said that juicing greens is really good, and it's some kind of super food. So I fed the green leaf lettuce into the chute, followed by some bell peppers and cucumber and onion slices. However, as I looked at the pitcher and contemplated drinking the concoction I felt sure it would turn me into that villain from Darkwing Duck--you know, Dr. Bushroot? And since I didn't want to be a broccoli headed villain for the rest of my life, I considered my options.

 And, in my experience, when in doubt add curry.
 Ingredients:
A head of green leaf lettuce
A cucumber
A bell pepper. Or two. I used green, but go crazy--try red
A few slices from an onion; I used about 1/4 of a baseball sized onion
Half a can of coconut milk (half a 12oz. can is what I used, but a whole can wouldn't hurt, either)
Two tablespoons of your favorite curry powder; I used Hot Madras Curry Powder from McCormick

Juice it. Juice it all. I started with the lettuce. When juicing lettuce, I recommend bunching it tightly into balls, or cutting into small bunches and balling those up. That way it has some mass and doesn't gumm up the juicer. Fibrous veggies like lettuce and even the peppers may gobb together and not come out the out feed chute as smoothly as less fibrous greens (celery is particularly bad). Now that you've got some powerfully evil looking green juice (I got about one quart from my veggies) combine the juice and the coconut milk in a sauce pan and warm it with medium heat. Stir in the curry powder--I find it's easiest to get it to blend in well when the mixture is already a little warm and I sprinkle it on top while stirring so it doesn't make clumps. Keep stirring a while, simmer a little, and get ready to eat it. It's delicious on jasmine rice, but I also enjoy it as a sop for my sourdough bread.

Cooking probably leeches out all the good stuff in the veggies and makes it a green mass that doesn't provide any nutrients. But, I'm not a raw food person, just a good food person. Leave comments with your results. Happy Juicing.

Oh, besides being a delicious sauce, I finished it off by mixing into my scrambled eggs: green eggs with diced ham!