It's Easy Drinking Greens: No Juicer? No Problem!!

I admit it, I haven’t yet totally acquired a taste for green juice. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it.However, it is touted by many as a fabulous elixir for health, so I know I should drink it! So I do, sometimes…although not yet being in possession of a juicer (I’m far more partial to drinking my greens in smoothie form), I’ve had to improvise a little and use the blender and a creative straining process. Purists would tell you that blending the juice and then filtering out the solids is not as good a method for getting the most of your juice as, say, actually making it with a juicer, but I think it is still a pretty darn good way to get a lot out of your greens. So if you don't have a juicer, and would like to try green juice, and don't live next door to a juicer bar, give it a shot! Adding an apple or some lemon the first couple of times will help you get used to it...Depending on how juicy your veggies are, this probably makes about 16 oz.

Here’s my recipe, meant to be tweaked:

1 large cucumber (peeled if it is waxed)

1 heart of celery (7-8 stalks)

Couple handfuls of spinach

Sometimes ginger, an apple, some lemon juice or some parsley

1 ½-2 cups of water

First, roughly chop all your veggies, and put them in the blender with 11/2 cups of water if you are using a cuke, 2 cups if not. It looks like this:

Second, blend. Depending on the size of your blender, you may have to blend up some of it first to fit the rest in. Blend until very smooth. Make sure it doesn’t get warm in the blender.

Third, filter through a nut milk bag, or an 8 inch foot section of CLEAN pantyhose. I fit the pantyhose over the mouth of a jar, secured it with a rubber band so that about 2 inches were hanging down, and poured in some of the green mix, like so:

Repeat this process – occasionally undoing the pantyhose, if that is your method, and gently squeezing out juice (yes, it is a little like milking a cow), or squeezing out the nut milk bag, emptying pulp, and adding more mix, until all the mix has been separated…

Finally, enjoy your juice! It has already been diluted, which it should be in any case, but feel free to dilute further with water. Remember to enjoy your juice immediately after making it, and preferably on an empty stomach! It is alkalizing and provides you with a better nutrient punch that any vitamin capsule. Raw appétit!