Green Juice, Little Chicken Style

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you've probably noticed that I've gotten back in to juicing...in a big way. 

Some of you may remember when I decided to put my sanity to the test and attempt to complete a 10 day juice cleanse. There were several times during the first 3 days that I actually thought I was going crazy. Who in their right mind would want to do this to themselves? The headaches, the crazy mood swings, being in a constant fog and wanting to eat anything...and I mean ANYTHING that crossed your path. I swear at one point my cat started to look like a ham sandwich. But I kept telling myself over and over again what good I was doing for my body and my health and that it would get easier - and it did. By day 4 I was a pro. I no longer had insane cravings for solid food, the headaches were gone, my energy levels were through the roof and (thankfully for my husband) my mood was better than ever (not to mention I ended up losing 18lbs after it was over). I finished my 10 days and continued adding juice in to my diet for a few weeks after.

That was back in March.

Between then and now there have been a countless number of times that I wanted to get back in to juicing, but for one reason or another, I never did. Until now

I had to get myself back in to the mentality that I'm the only one that can change myself. Nobody was going to force me or baby me back in to juicing - I just had to do it. So once again, to pump myself up for it and re-educate myself, I watched the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead." It did the trick and the next day I dusted off my poor, neglected juicer and started juicing. The first juice I made was my old favourite...green juice! Oh the smell...it instantly brought me back to the last few days of my juice cleanse when I felt the best I had felt in a long long time.

Since I wish that everyone could feel that amazing, I'm going to share with you my go-to recipe for green juice.

Green Juice, Little Chicken Style

Ingredients:

• 3 granny smith apples (seeds removed)
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 cucumber (I have used both field and english and both are equally delicious)
• 4-6 kale leaves (I use more if the leaves are smaller and I keep stems attached)
• 4-5 dandelion leaves
• 1 slice of lemon (Cut lemon in half, then cut one half in to 3 slices)
• 1 slice of ginger (See note below) 

This will make me roughly 27-30 oz of juice (depending on the size of all the produce). I usually start with my leafy greens and then work my way to the apples. It was trial and error for me in the beginning to get the right amount of each ingredient so that the juice didn't taste awful. This has quickly become my favourite juice and I try to have one at least every other day.

  

Note: When I first started making green juice I made the mistake of putting in A LOT of ginger. After that fiasco I started with a very small piece of ginger and gradually increased the amount to what I use now, which is roughly the size of dried apricot.

Moving on from green to pink

Every saturday in the summer right after swimming lessons, Little Chicken, myself and my husband go to our local Farmers Market. This past Saturday we stocked up. One thing about juicing is that you go through an insane amount of produce. We got almost everything I need for my green juice and then a few extras to try out some new juice recipes. 

Since it seems we've finally been getting some hot summer weather here (right in time for kids to go back to school) and that baby watermelon from the market was taking up so much room in our fridge, I decided to turn it into delightfully pink, refreshing juice. I just love the colour of watermelon juice. It's so girly. 

I saved about 2 cups of the watermelon juice to make a delicious watermelon, strawberry smoothie. 

So simple and so refreshing. 

I added about 1 1/2 cups of fresh market strawberries, 2 cups of watermelon juice and 3 ice cubes to my Nutribullet and blended. 

The perfect drink to help hold on to those last summer days

Enjoy