Unless you have been living in a cave for the past several years, you have seen everyone from the health conscious to Hollywood celebrities swigging away at their green juice, green smoothie, or some green liquid.  Is this just the latest craze or something to consider?

I have been an AVID Green Juice devotee for well over a decade and I like mine GREEN. As in 3-5 pieces of kale, a good sized handful of dandelion, carrot or beet tops, fennel greens, parsley or cilantro, and a piece of fruit (usually half an apple or pear). Definitely like to use turmeric root, lemon and ginger. The bottom line for me is the more greens I add, the better I feel. And my belly really likes this in the morning to jump-start my day.

My GI system tends to run on the acidic side.  My daily green juice is fresh, organic, and chock-full of nutrition similar to a shot of vitamins and minerals right to my body. The fresh raw greens truly rebalance my system and the mega dose of magnesium mellows me out. No other food makes me feel like I do when I have my green juice, which is why I really miss it when I don’t drink one.

I used to have a fancy Champion juicer and made a quart of juice daily.  But then I started to develop a love/hate relationship with the juicer.  I loathed taking it apart and cleaning it.  Making juice became a chore instead of something I enjoyed doing for myself.  I knew their had to be another way…

I started experimenting with making large batches of herbal teas (I love raspberry leaf and nettles) and using the tea as a base for a “blended” green juice.  I use 20-24 oz of herbal tea,  add all my green juice ingredients, and blend it down for about a minute or two.  Mind you, it is optimal to have a high-speed blender like a K-Tec or Vita-Mix to do this to break down all the vegetable and root fiber, otherwise you will be wasting your time and money.

Then I strain the mixture well, and voila!  Fresh pressed juice without a lot of clean up.  Don’t toss out that awesome fiber!!  You can add it to a salad (Jenny Browne’s suggestion) or use to make dehydrated veggie burgers, dehydrated crackers (super yum) or doggie treats.

Believe it or not, this healthy alkalizing drink is what I miss the most when we are on vacation and there are no juice bars to be found in the area. So I get back on track with the green juice and ah, my body is happy again!

xo- Jennifer