January 30, 2012
(last updated April 29, 2014) 
Happy Monday, all!
Before I get to juice, thanks for all of the enthusiasm over my cashew vanilla milk. Since a few of you emailed me to ask if store-bought almond milk is OK, I just wanted to be clear: yes! store-bought almond milk is just fine, and in fact, it carries the advantage of calcium and B-12 fortification. I’ve always preferred the taste of Blue Diamond, but in the organic realm, the Pacific brand is great. I’m also partial to Silk Pure Almond. These brands are very high-quality, and the cost difference between them and making your own is not, as some readers noted, very big (in fact, purchasing premade may be cheaper).
With that said, I really do love the taste of the homemade stuff, and making my own allows me to adjust sugar and salt as I like (it’s hard to find an unsweetened, store-bought variety that doesn’t contain at least 150 mg sodium per serving, which isn’t insignificant). So my typical policy is to purchase almond milk regularly to save time, and when I know I’ll have time to make some of my customized CR blend, I grab the opportunity!
Speaking of DIY projects, I have an article over at One Green Planet on how to get started with fruit and vegetable juicing at home. Specifically, it details why fresh fruit and vegetable juices are so helpful and beneficial within busy lifestyles, and it offers up five of my all-time favorite juice recipes. While the process of juicing and cleaning a juicer may seem to have no place in a conversation about time-management, trust me, it does: if you happen to be a student or a busy person on the go, making only 1 vegetable daily can help you to enhance your diet, and ensure that you’re getting an added boost of vitamins and minerals if you’ve been cutting corners with vegetable intake. Check the article out!
Finally, a head’s up that I’ll be doing a VegNews Twitter Chattomorrow, January 31st, at 6 PM PST (that’s 9 PM, east coasters). Julianna Hever (the Plant Based Dietician) and personal hero Michael Greger, M.D. and I will be speaking about healthy vegan eating. If you’d like to join us and ask us questions about health-related topics, please use the instructions here to log into the chat and participate! It should be a lot of fun. Hope to see some CR readers there! And if you’d like to mute the chat (ie, you don’t want 10308239 tweets from me for in an hour) you can use this link to do that.
Till tomorrow,
xo
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Yet another great read from! Its always great to get new ideas on how to use fruit and vegetables, the 2 most natural eatable foods in anyone’s menu.
Check out how many calories in a banana
I started juicing this past summer and I’ve never looked back. Nothing makes me feel as good as fresh juice does. I always feel so powerful! I’ve never juiced with beets, though, I’m hoping to very soon.
I’m a juice fiend! Just about everybody I know now has a juicer because of the positive effects they’ve seen happen to my husband and I since we started juicing regularly.
I really love your posts about juicing. I make a similar version of your “Salad Through a Straw,” but I add lemon to mine, It really matches well with the ginger and brightens up the flavor. Thanks for sharing!
Clean-up, preparation techniques and access to good tools is vital to consistently cooking your own meals. And taking care of your appliances and tools is just as important. I actually think thats one of the biggest deterrents to many people. Now that I no longer have a dishwasher, I will buy lunchy simply because I was too tired to wash the dishes from dinner and I don’t want to make lunch with dirty dishes in the sink.
Please excuse this continuing rant re. pros and cons of home made vs. packaged almond milk, Gena, but I don’t want anyone to be mislead by your citing 150 mg. of sodium per serving as cause for concern. In my opinion, this quite an insignificant amount of sodium, and in fact, likely translates into approx. the same amount you are adding in the “pinch” of salt in your recipe (1/8 – 1/4 tsp.) I’m especially concious of sodium content, and in fact usually find it necessary to halve the amount of salt in yours and many recipes to meet my taste preference, but even if one aims for the low end of the recommended daily intake, 1500 mg./day, 150 mg. is quite low, especially for those of us who consume so few processed/packaged products and no dairy or meat.
Point taken, Karen! Consider it simply a taste and texture alternative, then, to enjoy making one’s own. I’m sorry you have to modify the salt often in my recipes. Glad you use your intuition about that, though, as I’m always aware that my taste for a seasoning may be out of keeping with others’.
Clearly, I am being especially ornery today! 🙂
I am actually in a nutrition class right now, and just went over basic RDI stuff. Although you are correct that 1500 mg/day is the low end, what the body actually NEEDS to maintain normal physiological functions is a mere 200mg/day. Just thought I’d throw that out there. I don’t think 1500mg/day will hurt you, but in terms of actual body needs, it is excessive.
Thanks Amy! You’re right. Though gosh, I’d DIE on 200-300 a day (Joel Fuhrman recommends this, and I’m always thinking, man oh man, I like miso and tamari WAY too much!) 😉
Oh hush. Your point is very well taken, indeed! I think that almond milks have gotten so high quality that the notion of homemade as better, ipso facto, is no longer valid. But I do just like the homemade “treat” sometimes. And yes, my “pinch” of sodium would likely be 150 mg, unless I chose to omit it (which sometimes I do, if I want it good n’ desserty). xo
Yep…this is one of those unnecessarily restrictive guidelines In Eat to Live that turned me off from Furman’s program as a whole. Personally, I know I would likely exceed that limit with my daily veg intake alone – kale, spinach, carrots, celery all contain a measurable amount of natural sodium, as do most grains. Also, for someone who is active (and who sweats) if my daily sodium intake totaled a mere 200 mg., I’d likely develop an electrolyte imbalance, and my blood pressure would likely become dangerously low. (I do understand that for some populations w/ certain health vulnerabilities, his restrictions are effective and safe however.)
Much love, Gena!
the juicer makes me so sad, I feel like I am losing precious pulp or substance when I juice so I prefer the smoothie versions? any compelling arguments for the juicer over the mixer, Gena?
Hi Gena, great juice recipes, they all sound delicious! I don’t have a juicer but I do have a Vitamix. I was wondering if you can comment on the benefits of juices over smoothies? I know you mentioned easy digestion with the removal of the fiber. But I would think you would want to consume the fiber from the veggies and fruits as it is beneficial for us? Wouldn’t that make a smoothie a better choice? I do understand that you use your juice pulp and eventually consume the fiber, but why split it up? I’m very curious about this. Thanks so much, I love your blog!
Thanks- I needed some new juice ideas. I give my 1 year old green lemonade, but sometimes the lemon is a little too tart. What ratio would you recommend for the romaine carrot apple juice?
great recipes, thank you.
we have been on a juicing frenzy here at our household. our little kiddos have been chugging the green juices and mommy is oh so happy.
peace and raw health,
e
I’m having a carrot-apple-ginger juice right now and it’s delicious! The ginger adds such a tang to it and I think I’m going to be addicted quickly. I’m off to buy a juicer now!
I recently started saving my pulp to try making veggie pulp burgers. Woo too!
oh Gena you would be so proud of us, we had a fresh juice this morning!!! we made a decision over the weekend to try having juices daily again. and only hope we can keep it up. What are your thoughts on those companies that make juice and ship it to you??
I’m fine with them, but I don’t think it’s accessible for most normal budgets (mine included).
Thanks. Ya they are pricey, just wanted to see as a backup, haha
We juiced again this morning! yay
Hey Gena, What a wonderful collection of juices. I have a Vitamix but no juicer. Could I use that as a sub? How would I modify the recipes?
I’d make them as usual, and strain through cheesecloth! I think that’s fine.
Hi Gena, thank you for the wonderful recipes on how to make your own almond milk. The reason why I don’t buy the in-store brands is that most of them contain Carrageen, even Silk and many of the organic brands.
Great juice recipes! I am listening to Jay Kordich on Rawpalooza right now, inspiring stuff. I do struggle with juicing on a budget, but even a few juices a week make s huge difference.
This makes me want a juicer lol
Gena,
When you juice the kale, do you use the leaves or the thick stalk too? I know in your salad we take the leaves off the stalk, so I wasn’t sure.
Thank you!
Michelle
I use the stalks, too.
Thanks for the info and links, I want to get more into juicing, but it’s just not happening on week mornings.
That’s so awesome that you share with your readers how important it is to drink homemade juices!
Great guest post, Gena. Green Lemonade is my favorite go-to when I juice, so all of my juices tend to be variations of it. Juicing is the only thing that keeps my produce from ending up in the compost. I tend to go a little crazy in the produce aisle, you know, just in case 🙂
Fun recipes, Gena.
Now, if only someone would help me with my dreaded chore: juicer cleanup! The pulp, oh, the pulp…it multiplies in the juicer, I swear 🙂
I hadn’t heard that, Hannah, though anything is possible. Moderation is a good plan.
Thanks for the great links! I’ve been juicing quite a bit, especially after reading Kris Carr’s “Crazy Sexy Diet.” However, I have one question. Is it possible to overdo it on the beet juice? Beet, apple, and ginger is one of my favorite combinations, and I like to have it everyday, but I’ve read somewhere that beet juice is only good in moderation. Is there any truth to that?
I think its because beets are higher in sugar than other veggies. Pretty sure I took that straight out of CSD.
Moderation is right, but I think having that juice once daily is really OK.