Tag Archives: green juice

Kale, Apple & Ginger Juice

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Kale, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

You know it’s spring when…

You wake drowsily at 9:00am because you were forced to take a powerful antihistamine the night before. You took this antihistamine because of all of the mosquito bites that you have managed to acquire. They itch. You have a particularly gnarly one on your stomach, which proves curious since you don’t remember wearing anything resembling a crop-top. You’ve been spending a lot of time outside. Even at night. This is where all of those rosy mosquito bites came from.  It’s been sunshine on sunshine on sunshine. You’ve been sporting a tank top and frolicking in the outdoors despite your allergies. Your eyes are swelling slightly? You can’t breathe? We should probably go inside…BUT IT’S JUST SO GOSH DARN SUNNY! Your body craves this wicked vitamin D festival, so you ignore your allergies, eat some local honey, inhale some prescription nose spray and get real about eye-drops. You start scoping out and trying to guesstimate how much of your backyard your next door neighbors can see through their kitchen window. Obviously this is because you would like to read a good book while wearing your birthday suit. You surmise the neighbors can see way too much. You also surmise that they’ve already seen way too much. Why did you not check this out before you decided to go out into the yard in your underpants (MULTIPLE times)? Not sure. Oh well. You find yourself out at farmer’s markets. You find yourself paying $7.50 for a green juice. You know this is expensive, but you can’t help it. It looks so good. You suck down $7.50 worth of fruits and veggies in a flash. You try to be mad about the price, but you can’t because it tastes too good, although once it is gone you find yourself tinged with a bit of regret. You have an awesome juicer. You could have made three green juices at that price. Sheesh. Also, you should put sunscreen on your husband’s neck, it’s about to burn. This is our real life.

Kale, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

Spring is MADE for green juice. I will admit to you in the last weeks of winter my juicer took a nap. Something about rain and having to wear a sweater inside made it hard for me to want to spend a chunk of time making a cold glass of veggies. I made lots of soup. I baked too many cookies.  But, Friends! I am so jazzed on juice and smoothies right now (oh, and cocktails too). The sun is back, the flowers are blooming (just ask that tickle in your nose!) and it’s time to flood our bodies with things that are good and green. It might also be time to plant a tree in front of the neighbors kitchen window. Just sayin’.

I try to get creative with my juicing, especially when it’s a recipe I share with all of you lovelies  I realized in all of the juice recipes I have shared with you , I have never shared my go to green drink. This juice is something I could drink every single day. It’s simple, delicious and packed with tons of nutrition! Plus, I tend to have all of these ingredients on hand in my fridge. That is always a plus, right? Affirmative.

Kale, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

I hope you are enjoying all the loveliness of spring with 100% less mosquito bites! Dust of your juicers… ready…set…GO!  xoxo

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Kale, Apple & Ginger Juice

Yield: 4 cups of juice

Ingredients

  • 1 English cucumber, peeled
  • 1 Meyer lemon, peeled
  • 1 bunch of celery
  • 2 Gala apples, chopped
  • 1 inch of ginger root
  • 8 Lacinato kale leaves
  • 1-2 Romaine hearts

Instructions

  1. Wash and prep all of your fruits and veggies.
  2. Run them through the juicer.
  3. Enjoy immediately or bottle it up for later. Store in an airtight container such as a mason jar for up to 48 hours. Try to fill your mason jars as close to the top as possible so that there is the least amount of air between your juice and the tight fitting lid.
  4. Enjoy!
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Dandelion Green Juice

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Dandelion Green Juice | So...Let's Hang Out

Hello, Spring. You snuck up on me. I think I blinked and you showed up with your blue skies and your green hills and your different shades of wildflowers. I am totally not complaining. Look at the glorious view from our hike this weekend. It feels nice to have sunshine on my pale and wintered shoulders. Thank you for the tan lines. I can now pass as someone who spends time outside. I no longer look like that kid from The Secret Garden who was not allowed to leave his room. Cheers. You’re a good friend.

So...Let's Hang OutBesides tanned shoulders, I also got a wicked case of spring allergies. I always forget that spring goes hand in hand with sneezing. Delightful. I like to keep my allergies on their toes. One of the ways that I do this is through juicing. Are you surprised? You don’t look surprised. Maybe I should stop being so predictable. Would you like me to tap dance while talking about juicing? Add a little flair. Maybe some jazz hands. No problem. Let’s talk about the awesomeness that is dandelion greens.

Dandelion Green Juice | So...Let's Hang Out

They are so good for you, it’s stupid. I love a workhorse of a veggie. They are loaded with calcium, iron, tons of minerals, and a surprising amount of protein. They are great detoxing greens! I have found them to be really helpful in the fight against my spring allergy ickiness. The greens have a spicy and peppery taste which reminds me a little bit of arrugula. The sweetness of the apple and the tartness of the lemon help to balance out the spiciness of the greens. I also added in a nice handful of fresh parsley which is another amazing dextoxing ingredient. I am not fooling around with this cup of juice. It is some serious stuff.

Dandelion Green Juice | So...Let's Hang Out

If you are a beginning juicer and are not used to the taste of green juice, I would either cut the amount of dandelion greens in half , or add in a nice big pear to the mix. I promise you wont regret it. Drinking up a big cup of greens always makes me feel like dancing. Jazz hands for days!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Happy Spring! Let’s punch those allergies in the face. Hard. xo

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Dandelion Green Juice

Ingredients

  • 2 cucumbers, peeled
  • 2 pink lady apples, chopped
  • 1 lemon, peeled
  • 1/2 bunch of dandelion greens
  • 2 romaine hearts
  • 1 large handful of parsley

Instructions

  1. Wash and prep all of your fruits and veggies.
  2. Run them through the juicer.
  3. Drink immediately or store in airtight containers such as mason jars for up to 48 hours.
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The Greeña Colada Smoothie

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The Greeña Colada Smoothie | So... Let's Hang Out

I am slutty for coconut.

You guys have probably figured this out by now. I can put it in a salad, I will sprinkle it on your donuts, and I will most certainly use it to make nutella. There is simply no shame in my game.

However, I have not publicly declared my love for pineapple. This is a love that  runs deep through my Hawaiian veins. It is some serious affection. I will eat it until the acid makes my tongue start to burn.I have vivid memories of sitting with my Papa in his kitchen and having him sprinkle salt on pieces of freshly cut pineapple, and then, as he would say, “we went eat it up.”  He is a good eating partner. I remember being small and always placing myself strategically near him if he was eating something like poi with dried shrimp or was cutting up a fresh tuna into sashimi. I am no fool. I would bat my big eyes, reach out my chubby kid hands, and a piece of fresh sashimi always seemed to land in my finger tips. I knew how to work that glorious system. Honestly, I think he just loves to share the things that he loves with me. It was a source of pride for him to see his tiny granddaughter developing a serious taste for all of the flavors he had grown up with on the islands.

You are probably not at all shocked when I tell you that I could drink piña coladas for days. I know, I know…pick your jaw up from the floor.

The first time I had a real piña colada I was far too young. I was visiting Hawaii with my family. My older cousin and I were lounging by the pool working on our tans. We ordered a couple of  piña coladas thinking that the dude working the pool area would know for a fact that we were just a couple of tweens and would leave out the rum. When the drinks came, I was so hot from letting my body bake out in the sun that I drank that thing like it was a Jamba Juice. My cousin was a little bit more dainty with her piña colada-ing. I was already finished with mine when she looked over at me with big eyes and said “Gina. This has alcohol in it.” I didn’t believe it, until I stood up. Oh, there you go. The pool was moving funny. I laid back down and took an extended rum-soaked pool nap on one of the lounge chairs. I think my cousin, being the older and savvier one, skipped the rum-drenched nap and ordered another. Well played, cuz.

The morals of this story are obviously: do not accidentally get drunk on family vacations and if you do, wear sunscreen because you will likely end up falling asleep on your stomach somewhere in the outdoors. Salt your pineapple if you want to consume close to a whole fruit by yourself without burning your tongue off. Sashimi is amazing but not as amazing as the grandfathers that share it with you! And last but not least, coconut belongs pretty much everywhere.

What I have for you today is a combination of all of the things I love, giving you tons of island flavor, and ditching the rum. I even threw in cups and cups of spinach! See that vibrant green color? Amazing. It is a smoothie that would be perfect to enjoy in the morning before work. You can pretend that there is rum in it if that would make your commute seem somehow easier. Just sip on it and let the island music play in your head. You are in a two piece. You have abs. You look like magic. You have a tan, but totally managed to get it without the skin cancer risk. You have no worries. It’s just you and a greeña colada.

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The Greeña Colada Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 cup coconut milk (I used lite coconut milk)
  • 1/2 cup coconut water
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh ripe pineapple, chopped
  • 3-4 cups of spinach
  • Ice

Instructions

  1. Add all of you ingredients into your blender and mix on high until everything is combined and smooth.
  2. If you want your smoothie to be a little bit thicker, add more ice and blend on high again.
  3. Serve immediately and enjoy!
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Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice

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Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

It’s juice time again.

I like ‘em real thick and juicy.

That actually does not pertain to how I feel about my juice, I have just been listening to a lot of 90′s music lately. Like…a lot. Like…I might have spent over an hour looking up music videos from the 90′s on YouTube last Friday. No big deal. Subsequently, I have had the song Baby Got Back stuck in my head for days. This only becomes awkward when you start singing it subconsciously in the checkout line at the grocery store. The woman in front of you turns around after you get to the “L.A. face with a Oakland Booty” part of the tune. You make eye contact. You stop singing. You think about winking at her but realize that just perpetuates the weirdness. Don’t make it weirder. It’s too late, you already winked. She probably thinks you’re hitting on her. Oh man, you can’t recover from this one.  Not. At. All. You could try to explain that you have just been listening to a whole lot of 90′s music lately, and you were not singing the song directly to her. You could try to explain that you sometimes just wink in awkward situations, or you could lie and say you had something in your eye. The explanation of your behavior will only make things weirder. You grab your groceries and pretend like you forgot something in the produce section. You wait until this person leaves and find another check out line. Whew. Yikes. Get out of there.

So, besides being the town creep, I have managed to make some juice today in the privacy of my own kitchen. My own kitchen is safe. I can sing at the top of my lungs. I can wink freely. It’s a good place.

In other less painfully awkward news…

I have been nominated for The Best Food Photography On A Blog category in this years The Homies blogging contest. Isn’t that neat?  If you are a So…Let’s Hang Out fan you can pop on over to The Kitchn and vote! It only takes a minute!  It’s a fabulous collection of food bloggers that are nominated, if you pop over there you might find some really cool new bloggers to add to your blog reading list!  The link is below. Vote away, Friends! I heart you.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE! 

Now, back to your regularly scheduled juicing recipe…

This juice is a sweet treat! Look at all these pretty ingredients!

Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

Cucumber and romaine serve as a nice base to all of the sweetness from the apples and the carrots. The lemon brings some brightness and acidity and the ginger gives it a nice flavor. It’s not the greenest of juices, but it is still packed with a lot of valuable nutrients. Yum. Did you know that carrots are good for calming your nerves? I just love veggies.

Hope you are having the juiciest of days! Wink, wink!

Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

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Carrot, Apple & Ginger Juice

Ingredients

  • 4 carrots
  • 3 small Pink Lady apples, chopped
  • 1 Meyer lemon, peeled
  • 1 English cucumber, peeled
  • 1 head of Romaine lettuce
  • 1 inch piece of ginger root

Instructions

  1. Wash and prepare all of your veggies.
  2. Juice all of the veggies in accordance with your juicer's settings.
  3. Drink immediately, or put in an airtight container such as a mason jar and store in the fridge for later. You should drink your juice within 48 hours in order to get the most benefit from all of the nutrients. Make sure to store your juice with as little air as possible in your jars (so fill them close to the top!) so that the nutrients do not break down too quickly! Happy Juicing!
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Lime And Coconut Green Smoothie

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limeandcoconutsmoothie-8359BLOG

 

It’s been cold and damp outside  for a long time now.

Our backyard is in a perpetual state of wetness. The earth is cold and crumbly. The rain stopped a while back, but the mud just hasn’t recovered.

I’m painfully aware of the state of my backyard because I have a puppy and a white carpet.

Perhaps it was after this morning’s shenanigans where my muddy dog came tearing past me into the house, running laps and dodging my attempted side tackles, leaving a trail of her dirty feet like a horrifying dance-step diagram, that I really started longing for warmer and drier days.  She is currently on time out. She seems pleased with herself as usual.

It was at 8:30 this morning, on my hands and knees, cleaning up a trail of muddy paw prints, I started fantasizing about luxuriating out in the sunshine and sipping on mojitos and  piña coladas.

Don’t worry, this story does not take a weirdly uncomfortable and depressing turn. There was no early morning  solo drinking (However, if you are on a beach somewhere ordering booze for breakfast, can you please have some for me? Thank you.). I created you a healthy smoothie that mimics some of the tropical flavors of my favorite vacation drinks. There is lime and plenty of coconut flavor with some sweetness from a nicely frozen banana. I made it green because who are we kidding, we could all use more greens in our diet. A smoothie is a sneaky way of putting a couple of cups of spinach in your body without realizing it.  Hooray!

I hope you enjoy this hydrating and refreshing powerhouse!  I also hope that you are not chasing a wild-eyed, muddy-pawed animal around your carpeted living room. It’s rough. Don’t worry though, this smoothie will help. xo

limeandcoconutsmoothie-8366blog

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Lime and Coconut Green Smoothie

Ingredients

  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup coconut water
  • 1/2 frozen banana
  • 2 cups of spinach
  • Ice (if you like your smoothie a little thicker)

Instructions

  1. Juice your lime and measure out all of your other ingredients.
  2. Layer them together in your blender and blend until smooth.
  3. Garnish your glass with a little extra lime if you so desire.
  4. Bottoms up.
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Killer Cabbage Juice | Juice Of The Week

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killercabbage-7425blog

I got ballsy.

I juiced a cabbage.

If you had told me last year that I would be juicing pretty much anything and everything, I would have told you to back off and stop making weird predictions. Also, out of all the things you could predict with your psychic gift, you should give me something juicier than becoming a juicer. Maybe tell me that I am coming into a fortune, or that I will have really great hair for all of 2013. Tell me that my dog will be perfectly trained and stop trying to gorge herself on the cat-box  Tell me that Pajama Jeans are now finally in fashion for reals and I should really just woman-up and buy them. I would welcome any of these predictions.

I am constantly doing highly scientific research google searching new vegetables and fruits to juice according to their benefit on the body. It turns out red cabbage is really good for you. It is packed with vitamin A , C and vitamin E, which helps boost your immunity! Who else has been feeling this pesky cold and flu season? I feel like I am perpetually on the precipice of getting sick. We need all the help we can get. If it takes juicing a cabbage, I am so on board.

I will not lie to you (do I ever?), I was expecting this juice to be funky. You have smelled cabbage. It smells sulfurous. People usually shred it into salads or drench it in mayo to make a slaw. I was just going to extract this sulfurous juice and pour it down my gullet. There would be no mayonnaise or no flavor-concealing, Asian-inspired salad dressings.  I braced myself and just bit the bullet. Anything for vitamins. Down the hatch it went.

Turns out I was just being a real drama queen. Not only is this juice pretty (I mean, look at that color! BAM!) It is totally delicious. I should really stop being such a baby.

Here is your cast of characters for this killer cabbage juice:

killercabbage-7416blog

This recipe will make about a pint and a half of liquid love.

Ingredients:

1 large English cucumber, peeled

1/2 of a medium red cabbage

1-2 D’Anjou pears

2 meyer lemons

1 inch piece of ginger

Wash, prep, cut into manageable juice-able pieces and send them all down your juicer.

Bottle the juice up in airtight containers or better yet enjoy it right away! Don’t wait more than 48 hours to enjoy your fresh juice!

Have a great day, Friends! xo

Rainbow Veggie Juice | Juice Of The Week

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Rainbow Veggie Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

I started this morning with a cookie in my hand.

How does that happen?

You wake up, you put on some work out gear, and you go to head out the door. When I bent down to tie up my sneakers I realized that I was halfway through a cookie. What? Where did that come from?

How are these cookies even still on my counter? I asked my husband to take them to work (turns out he filled up the biggest Tupperware he could find and left the rest).

Creepy, unconscious phantom cookie-eating. It happens.  It’s spooky. It’s also kind of delicious, I won’t lie to you.

These cookies I speak of are pretty amazing and will be making an appearance here very soon.  But still. The first thing I did this morning besides push a 14 pound cat off of my stomach, grumble and throw on some stretch pants was shove a cookie in my face.  I can do better.  So, I did.  After I finished that cookie.

I walked and I walked. I rocked out to some old-school, early 90′s rap, and then followed it up with one of my fave podcasts. It was so nice to feel the freezing early morning air on my face as I cut through it with my strides.

I then came home and put THIS juice into my body. It’s totally more nutritious  than cookies, and turns out it too is delicious.

Rainbow Veggie Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

This year I am going to try to post a juicing recipe a week. It will help me keep striving to drink these fruits and veggies.  This week we have a RAINBOW veggie juice. Just look at all those colors!! It’s like Rainbow Bright meets the Care Bear Stare. Yes, you just got 80′s-ed.

Rainbow Veggie Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

 

As it happens, in real life, “tasting the rainbow” does not taste like Skittles. This is okay. Nothing natural should taste like Skittles. That would be unsettling.  Instead, it’s both sweet and a little bit spicy. If you like V8 you will most likely love this. Truth, I don’t like V8 and I love this.

Have you ever juiced red peppers? They are so flavorful and full of yummy sweetness! They are also a great source of vitamin C (more so than oranges!) and the internet says that they are good for my complexion. Awesome. I also crammed parsley and cilantro down my juicing shoot. Both of these herbs help aid in detoxification. If you are not a cilantro fan, just leave it out. You can add either more parsley or sub in something else that you love. That is part of the fun of juicing… there are no rules. It’s not like a cake. If you leave out an ingredient it will still be delicious (I once made a cake and forgot BOTH baking soda and sugar. I was distracted by a Real Housewives of Orange County Marathon. That was not delicious. Also, that might be the worst reason EVER to have messed up a cake. Shame.).

Rainbow Veggie Juice | So... Let's Hang Out

So, here we go. Off to the juicer.  This recipe will make approximately 3 pints.

Ingredients:

1-2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced

4 tomatoes, sliced

3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

2 heads of romaine lettuce

1 bunch of celery

large handful of parsley

large handful of cilantro

1 English cucumber, peeled and chopped

2 meyer lemons, peeled

1 inch of ginger root

Juice all of your lovely veggies. Give your juice a good stir. Put it in mason jars. Drink it as soon as possible, not waiting longer than 48 hours! Simple, simple.

Enjoy! :)

Honey Baked Grapefruit

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Honey Baked Grapefruit // soletshangout.com

 

Something magical happens to fruit when you heat it up.

Think about it…Grilled peaches. Apple crisp. Fried bananas. Wine-poached pears. *Drool*

Grapefruit is no exception. Heat it up and it’s a whole other animal.

Most people either love or despise grapefruit. I get it. For years Up until my twenty sixth year on this earth, I was a big time grapefruit hater. I vividly remember my mom disliking them when I was growing up. This was the lady that told me I had to eat my lima beans. If she thought grapefruit was gross, who was I to argue with her. I put it in the must-taste-worse-than-lima-beans category  I never really tried one myself. In fact, I openly feared them.

It wasn’t until my mother in law offered me one over brunch that I reconsidered. I thought to myself, “Hey, I am a grown-up now. How bad can it be?” These are grown-up taste buds  I like kale, now. I would eat a lima bean without supervision. It’s a new day.

Sure enough, I loved it. I ate them every day for weeks.

Honey Baked Grapefruit // soletshangout.com

For all of you whose taste buds still just say NOPE, I think that baking your grapefruit might be the gateway you need to stop fearing this lovely citrus.

The bitterness is practically baked out and what is left is sweet, juicy and a little bit tart. Did I mention there is a coating of honey and cinnamon on the top? Yum.

I paired mine with a tall glass of my Sweet and Sour Green Juice. Holy health! That’s a ton of vitamins right there. Happy New Year, body! (I might have baked donuts later in the day. Recipe coming soon. Sorry. They are “healthy” donuts. Don’t be scared.)

Ingredients:

1 grapefruit

Organic honey, to coat the top (If you are vegan, I would substitute maple syrup or agave)

Cinnamon

Honey Baked Grapefruit // soletshangout.com

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

Slice open your grapefruit, and place it on a baking sheet.

Add a slick of honey to the top of each half. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Wishing you all a stellar weekend!  xo

Sweet & Sour Greens | A Juicing Recipe

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Sweet & Sour Green Juice | soletshangout.com

Start your engines, Friends!

It’s a new year and it’s time to get juicy.

I hope you all had a great New Year’s Eve, and a rocking start to 2012  2013. (I keep on typing and typing 2012. AHHHH! Here we go again. Well played, new year, you get me every time). We had a nice and quiet NYE. There were pajamas, a Homeland marathon, an eggplant parmesan and a bottle of champagne.

So while it’s 2013, I can’t help but look back at the past year. I don’t know about you, but my instagram feed has been looking something like this: dog photo, dog photo, green juice, cookies, peppermint bark, green juice, dog photo, dog photo, chocolate, booze, dog photo, green juice with explanation of how I failed to eat nothing but cookies the day before, dog photo, dog photo, cat photo, dog photo, artsy photo of my shoes and some leaves, dog photo.

I take a lot of photos of my dog. It’s a thing.

Emma

The rest has been an unintentional yet awkward public journal of me trying to correct my holiday eating choices.

Like everyone else in the new year, I have made promises that I will be kinder to my body, drink more veggies, and try to shake my butt on the daily. Break a sweat, tear myself away from the computer, and engage in some real life with nature and fresh air.

Maybe my 2013 instagram feed will look like this: dog photo, dog photo, dog photo, running shoes, green juice, awkward bathroom mirror self portrait, vintage picture of salad, green juice, cookies (no one is perfect), dog photo, cat photo, dog photo, vintage effected picture of a sunrise.

I can strive.

Here is one of the green juice batches that I whipped up recently with my brand new juicer! (Thanks, Santa!)

It’s simultaneously sweet and sour with a hint of ginger. I have been putting ginger in nearly all of my juices lately. I am obsessed. It feels calming, and makes me smiley and warm inside. It’s like whiskey, but for the daytime.  Plus, ginger helps to settle your digestive system, fights off colds or pesky flus, and helps to cut down on inflammation in the body. These are just a few benefits of this magical root. That’s more than I can say for whiskey.

Sweet & Sour Green Juice | soletshangout.com

Ingredients:

1 large cucumber, peeled

1 head of romaine lettuce, washed

1 large handful of parsley, washed

2 meyer lemons, peeled

1 medium apple, washed and chopped

1 inch of ginger root

Juice your ingredients and enjoy!

Drink immediately, or seal in an airtight container such as a mason jar. Make sure you fill your jar all the way to the top so that there is little to no oxygen breaking down your juice nutrients. Drink within 48 hours for maximum nutritional benefits.

Morning Mojito | Dangerously Delicious Juicing Adventures

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I’ve never been a big juicer.

You can listen to me complain about it here.

But, who says people can’t change?

This past week I made it my mission to embrace all that is wonderful in the world of juice. After thanksgiving happened, and I overdosed on cheese and sweets, I was feeling lackluster. It was time to step up my health game. I was ready.

So I loaded up on veggies and fruits for the week, took out my juicer and I haven’t looked back. The juicer has earned its spot on the counter right next to my kitchen aid.

So this particular juice is straight up delicious. It’s like a drinking a mojito, except  no one is going to judge you for tossing this one back at 7:00am on your way to work.  In fact, they might pat you on the back. Good for you.  You drank a whole head of romaine lettuce? You’re a total champ. If you had an actual mojito for breakfast you might get some weird looks on the bus that morning. Someone might comment about how you are sweating rum through your sensible pant suit. You smell like those Pirates of the Caribbean guys look.  Less of a champ. Maybe just stick with the juice version for the work week. Perfect.

Side Note: Spell check is trying to make me change the word “mojito” to the word “mosquito”. Why are they not acknowledging that mojitos are real? I have a bachelorette party hangover story to PROVE those suckers are real. Coincidentally, I have a honeymoon story to prove that mosquitoes are EXTREMELY real. That, my friends is totally for another day. In the mean time…wear bug repellent while in Mexico. It’s sexier than the alternative.

Since I’ve started cramming all of these veggies and fruits into my body, I have noticed some awesome changes in my overall mood, energy and vitality. Did I mention I’m sleeping better? Dangerously better?  Yeah…that’s happening.

I am not going to lie to you. You are my friends. We share things.  I’m a pretty good sleeper. My body lets me know when it’s time to hit the hay. I will usually just pass out on the couch come 9:30pm. It happens swiftly and without warning. BAM. Out. Commence drooling. Usually my wonderful husband will wake me up and some point and escort me to the bedroom and tuck me in.  The juice has only enhanced this already tried and true pattern. This is not what happened on Sunday evening.

Honestly, I wish I could tell you exactly what happened on Sunday evening.  Don’t you ever wish there were surveillance tapes of your life? You could just roll back some footage and make sense of things?  This would also help to keep my husband from stealing my chocolate stash.

Like most evenings, I was getting my narcolepsy on. I had passed out on the couch in a juice-filled healthy slumber. What happens next is puzzling. I believe, I might have decided to stand up while half awake.  Perhaps I was sleep walking. I somehow tripped over myself and sprained my ankle. I woke up fully to the sounds of my ankle popping and my clumsy butt hitting carpet. My husband heard a loud thud followed by some light screaming. One tends to get a little dramatic when woken up with injury.  Not great. It’s swollen. There is bruising. I am walking like the brand new owner of a shoddily-made peg leg.  And yes, it hurts real bad.

This is my only juicing cautionary tale.  You might sleep dangerously well. You’ve been warned.

Other than that, it’s dreamy. If you are not a big juicer, I say give it a chance. The more you drink it the more you like it. I almost crave it now.  I would say start out with a little more fruit than the pro I-only-drink-leafy-greens juice fanatic. You will slowly need less and less.  Just ease into it.

Let’s get our juice on.

Ingredients 

1 head of organic romaine lettuce

3 cucumbers, peeled

1 lime, peeled

1-2  organic pears, chopped up

2 sprigs of mint

You ready for the easiest instructions ever?

Take out your juicer.

Juice these fruits and veggies.

Either drink this cocktail right away, or put into an airtight container like a mason jar and refrigerate it for later. Make sure to fill it up as close to the top of the jar as possible. The less oxygen that is in your jar the better. It will help to keep the nutrients from breaking down.  Make sure to drink within 48 hours!

And last but not least…

Make sure you are totally awake before standing. Always. :)

Bottoms Up.

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