Happy Wednesday folks and good day to you!  The time is upon us where the heat is coming and the energy to cook is slowly going down in some peoples kitchens.  Juices are a great way to have a quick snack or even as a light dinner.  Pair them with a fresh granola bar, maybe left over salad and you are ready to beat the heat and stay healthy.  I am sure you all remember about my juicer from the past posts but I wanted to talk specific about juicer recipes and the benefits of juice.  Now with juicer recipes, of course the one tool you will need is a juicer.

The nutritional benefits of drinking a glass of fresh juice far outweigh that which you get by drinking packaged juice, so make the effort to go for fresh juice.  When should you drink juice? Ideally, the best time to drink a glass of juice would be a minimum of 20 minutes before a meal. Don’t gulp it down. Juices should be sipped slowly as the enzymes in our saliva digest the carbohydrates present in our juices.

So let’s get right to it and talk about some juicer recipes.

Juicer Recipes

Orange Carrot

• 8 Large Fresh Cleaned Carrots
• 2 Large Fresh Peeled Oranges

Using electric juice extractor, press carrots and oranges. Whisk to combine.

A Beet Beauty – The color of this one alone will make your smile even larger.  This is packed with flavor and will keep you coming back for more.

• 2 beets, (including greens optional)
• 2 carrots
• 1 apple, quartered and cored
• 1″ ginger

Using electric juice extractor, press beets, beet greens (if using), carrots, apple and ginger. Whisk to combine.

Apple Green Grape – Simply delicious!  These flavors were made to be together.  The combination of grapes and apples is one of my favorites.  When you were a kid, what was your favorite color Kool-Aid?

• 3 Granny Smith apples, quartered and cored
• 1 Cup seedless green grapes
• 1 Thin wedge lemon, peeled

Using electric juice extractor, press apples, grapes and lemon. Whisk to combine.

Pure Orange

• 4 Large Fresh Peeled Oranges

Using electric juice extractor, press oranges. Add a shot of sugar if you feel it needs some sweetness.  Top with a slice of orange.

The Red Racer – This one will be a great treat for those sweet tooth’s out there like me.  Consumption of these berries will reduce your cravings for the unhealthy sweets.  Or so that is what I find with me.

• 1 Cup raspberries
• 1 Cup Strawberries
• 2 Oranges
• 2 Apples

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine.

The Green Carrot – Juice cucumbers with their skins on. The dark green skin is a great source of chlorophyll that can help build red blood cells

• 1 Cup of spinach
• 1/2 Cucumber
• 2 Stalks of celery including leaves
• 3 Carrots
• 1/2 Apple

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine. 

Cuc-Apple Zinger – One of my favorites for a quick wake me up and great flavor.

• 2 1/2 Apples
• 1/2 Cucumber
• 1″ of Ginger

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine.

Green Energizer Bunny – This one will keep you on your toes for hours!

• 2 Apples
• 1/2 Cucumber
• 1/2 Lemon (peeled)
• 1/2 Cup of kale
• 1/2 Cup of spinach
• 1/4 Bunch of celery
• 1/4 Bulb of fennel
• 1″ of Ginger
• 1/4 Head of romaine lettuce

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine.

The Hangover Juice – Calcium and magnesium (from both cauliflower and broccoli) are an essential combination that can help prevent and relieve headaches.  If you encounter a hangover headache the next day, juice and drink the above combination two or three times or until the headache subsides.  Vitamin C is needed to continually detoxify your system.

• 1 Cup cauliflower
• 1 Cup broccoli
• 1 Apple

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine.

Heartburn Reliever – This combination is very efficient in soothing the pain of heartburn. These highly alkaline produce neutralize the acidic environment, are very cleansing and building.

• 1 Cup Spinach
• 6 Carrots

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to combine.

Juicer Recipe Recap

Now for me – juicer recipes are simply fun and a total experiment.  I mostly just make the recipes by trying whatever I have around in the fridge and seeing what they taste like.  One thing I am not a huge fan of when it comes to fresh juice ( it can be warm!)   For this issue, I usually serve it over ice because I do not like having it sit in the fridge for any length of time.

Let me know your thoughts on these juicer recipes but more importantly – tell me your favorite juicer recipe.  Have a great Monday and I will talk to you tomorrow.

Take care

zesty

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Let’s pretend the weather is nice and sunny and you are craving fresh made juice as you sit on the porch and watch the sun beat down on you.  Can we?  Sure we can – despite reality of rain and miserable weather.

You know I love my juicer and making juice.  The other day I had a bag of carrots that were aching to get used up so I hauled out the juicer and cleaned out the fridge.  Great way to do such that!  The results were pretty good.  I have to say, I have not really had a bad juice.

What’s In The Juice

• 3 apples
• 2 pears
• 12 carrots
• 3 ripe mangos
• handful or baby spinach

Give it a try and let me know what you think.  So you make juice and you have a ton of pulp on the side of your juicer…. what do you do with it?  Well I take the cover off and biff it in the compost bin.  But if you are Gena from choosing raw, you use the pulp to make crackers!  I know… brilliant!

I was reading Gena’s post on making pulp crackers and I was floored.  I thought this was an amazing idea because i hate throwing out food and I love crackers!  All this time, I have been throwing out this pulp and now I will stop.

Alright, I better go get ready for work.  Have a super Wednesday and I will see you all to wrap up the week.

Take care

zesty

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Holy Snow! The weather has been a little on the snowy side the last couple of days and the wind – well just nuts. I don’t have a lot of time to spend with you today but I o have a couple of things to note. I am buying a new lens for my SLR camera which makes me excited. I am picking up the Canon 50 mm f/1.8 lens as well as buying an umbrella lighting kit.  Trying to fool around with my pictures and stay on top of my game.

I have been noticing my pictures are somewhat boring and drab as of late.  Speaking of pictures… I was playing around with the camera yesterday as you can see below just practicing different settings and techniques.  I made this awesome smoothie using up some fruit that we bought over the weekend.

I prefer fruit smoothies over veggie smoothies but I will drink both. This one was packed with blueberries, raspberries, and cherries!

I know….. cherries – they took a bit of work to remove the pits but added a nice flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Raspberries
• 1 Cup Blueberries
• 1 Cup Cherries ( pit removed )
• 1 Scoop Protein powder
• 2 Tbsp. Flax seed
• 1/2 Cup Astro Plain Yogurt
• Drizzle of Agave Syrup
• 1/2 Cup Skim milk or Soy Milk

Method

1. Add yogurt, milk, berries, protein powder, syrup and flax.
2. Blend together adding more yogurt or milk if needed.
3. ENJOY!

Enjoy the day where ever you are in the world and I will see you on Friday.  Oh before I go, I have a question to ask you regarding smoothies.  What is your go to ingredient when it comes to smoothies?  Are you a creamy smoothie person or do you prefer them juicy? Just curious really.    I find myself always going back to the Juicer recipes just because I can drink them faster.  The only problem with that is I get a brain freeze and the juicer takes longer to clean.  Have a super Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

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It is mid week Wednesday and the end of the work week for me!  I will pretend I am not excited as I type this little intro but you know I am bouncing around in my chair with excitement.  Tomorrow is Canada day here and I took Friday off as well to make a 4 day weekend.  Whoooo Hooooo!

Both yesterday and on the weekend, I was inspired to make smoothies.  I had tried a smoothie with POM juice and I almost fell off my rocker ( I really mean my office chair ).  It was so damn good I knew I had to make it again and again.  For this creation I did a combination that I like to call POM Star Summer!

Ingredients

• Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
• Blackberries
• Raspberries
• Banana
• POM Juice
• Whey Protein Powder ( optional )

Method

1. Get out your blender or Magic Bullet.
2. Add all ingredients and blend
3. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: If you are using protein powder and a blender I like to add the powder at the very first so it mixes well.  The same holds true for a magic bullet but just in reverse because you flip the cup over so add it at the very end.

I hope you have a great Wednesday and I would like to wish all the Canadians a Happy Canada Day tomorrow.  I will be doing something fun for the long weekend and I am hearing rumblings of sun sun sun all weekend long.  Talk to you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

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If you have been following my blog or know me personally, you will be aware that I am not a huge fan of tea.  However the other morning I had a nice green tea from Tetley for breakfast and I really enjoyed it.  I matched the green tea up with some toasted oat bread with honey and cinnamon, stonyfield yogurt and berries and a single serving of bran buds.  I have to say it was delicious.

Last night after working at the house I made a quick trip to the grocery store and picked up a few bags of groceries.  At the office we are collecting food hampers for families in need around the holidays so I wanted to do my part.  While there I came across an interesting tea from Stash called “Vanilla Nut”.  I gave it a look over and a smell and I thought I would give it a try.

At first smell I thought it was very strong but it had turned out to be quite tasty.  Vanilla is one of my favorite flavors and as I sipped more and more the taste grew on me.  It was definitely stronger than the plain green tea.

What is your favorite tea?

When do you like to drink tea?

Just a couple of questions above and hopefully I get a better response than my milk quiz yesterday.  By the way in yesterday’s quiz all the answers were “True”.

I hope you have a great Wednesday.  Guess what?  The cleaners are working at the house today!!  It is getting close …. moving day is FRIDAY!  Talk to you tomorrow.

Take care

zesty

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Happy Friday to you!  Sorry for the premature announcement yesterday as my Quaker/Goodbite debut doesn’t take place until next Friday October 23rd.

I have been drinking POM Juice and Tea for quite a while and I have been reading a lot lately about it.  When I received some giveaway coupons from POM Wonderful I read through some of the literature and I was very impressed.

I was browsing the POM website and decided to try one of the recipes.

It is called a Pomegranate Mocktail.  Fairly simple so I thought I would give it a whirl.  Turned out great.  Have a look.

Ingredients

• 3/8 cup freshly squeezed pomegranate juice* or POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
• 3/8 cup fresh lemonade
• 1-1/2 oz. sparkling water

Method

1. Fill a tall tumbler glass a little more than halfway with ice cubes.
2. Pour 3/8 cup fresh lemonade into the glass, up to the halfway mark.
3. Slowly add pomegranate juice. (The goal is to create a mix of half lemonade and half pomegranate juice, so adjust accordingly for the size of your glass.)
4. Add sparkling water.
5. Stir and serve.



6. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Try and keep the juices you consume as all natural as possible.   I find that way you are not wasting as many calories with unwanted sweeteners in your drinks.

Have a great Friday and a great weekend.  I am working at the house today getting it ready for drywall.  Mrs. Zesty is running a Half Marathon on Sunday so I will be going out in full support with the kiddies.

Take care

zesty

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Happy Monday to you!

I am aboard a plane to sunny (or maybe not) California this morning.  There are lots of things going on right now but I did manage to have a nice family weekend.  We had a fun Friday evening visiting our Grandmother, a visit to the house build on Saturday along with a visit to the Vet College Open House. Yesterday, we had a birthday party to attend. I hope to get a lot accomplished throughout the week regarding zesty and all the blog makeovers that are on my list.  I also have another pretty big announcement to make in the very near future.

I was out at the house talking to a few contractors on Saturday and trying to get everything organized for the week I am gone.  I added some updated pictures at the bottom of the post to keep you up to date on the progress.

Back to the food… or juice!  We bought a  juicer back when I was on a big juice kick .  It faded away the last little while but I wanted to share with you a fun juice to have when you are craving something a little different.

Carrots are a great way to get into juicing…. they are a great staple for any juice recipe. They provide a good base to mix in and experiment with other vegetables. They are not too sweet and not too bitter.

Ingredients

• 1/4 inch piece of ginger
• 1 apple
• 4 carrots

Method

1. Cut the ginger leave the skin on.
2. Core the apples.
3. Slice off the tips of the carrots.



4. Put through juice extractor.

Zesty Tip: A lot of people tell me that the juice that comes out of the juicer is too warm – I totally agree.  I like to add the juice to an ice bath after I make it for about 15 -20 minutes to reduce the temperature of the juice.  Try it!

House Update

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you have a great day. I will be on the road all week but I have a couple of guest posts lined up for the next couple of days.

Take care

zesty

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Hi Zesty Readers! Alisa from One Frugal Foodie here; just visiting for a guest post while Zesty is away.

I confess, I am a smoothie addict. My blender rarely sees a rest, particularly when the summer months arrive. Not only does the thermometer peak high enough for me to warrant several cool beverages during the day, but it is also when fresh, seasonal fruit is at its most abundant.

Lately, I have latched onto the seedless watermelon. They seem to be on sale everywhere, and are sweeter than I ever remember them. Recently I shared a deliciously refreshing Strawberry-Watermelon “Soul” Smoothie, but this week, I was smitten by yet another watermelon beverage idea, Watermelon Lemonade …

Sweet-Tart Watermelon Lemonade
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

This recipe is naturally Vegan, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free, and Fat-Free. It is also free from Refined Sugars.

• 6 Ounces Watermelon Flesh (yields 3/4 cup once pureed; about 1 cup of melon balls), Seedless or Seeds Removed
• 1/4 cup Fresh-Squeezed Lemon Juice
• 3 Tablespoons Agave Nectar*
• 3/4 Cup Cold Water
  Ice

Place the watermelon, lemon juice, agave, and water in your blender and puree until liquefied and smooth. Fill two large glasses with ice to serve. Garnish with lemon wedges or slices if desired.

Yields 2 large and refreshing glasses

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Happy Tuesday!  As I was eating pizza on Saturday night after taking a break from packing, I tuned into the food network where there was an episode on cranberry harvesting.  I was very intrigued.  I never really payed much attention to the harvesting of cranberries before, I just know that I love to eat them.  Whether they are fresh, frozen or in cranberry juice – I am a huge fan.

So after watching the episode I learned a great deal on the process of harvesting cranberries.

Did you know?

Cranberries are harvested in the fall when the fruit takes on its distinctive deep red color. This is usually in late September or early October. To harvest cranberries, the beds are flooded with six to eight inches of water above the vines. A harvester is driven through the beds to remove the fruit from the vines. For the past 50 years, water reel type harvesters have been used. Harvested cranberries float in the water and can be corralled into a corner of the bed and conveyed or pumped from the bed. From the farm, cranberries are taken to receiving stations where they are cleaned, sorted, and stored prior to packaging or processing.

Although most cranberries are wet-picked as described above, 5-10% of the US crop is still dry-picked. This entails higher labor costs and lower yield, but dry-picked berries are less bruised and can be sold as fresh fruit instead of having to be immediately frozen or processed. Originally performed with two-handed comb scoops, dry picking is today accomplished by motorized, walk-behind harvesters which must be small enough to traverse beds without damaging the vines.

White cranberry juice drinks are made from regular cranberries that have been harvested after the fruits are mature, but before they have attained their characteristic dark red color. Yields are lower on beds harvested early and the early flooding tends to damage vines, but not severely.

About 95% of cranberries are processed into products such as juice drinks, sauce, and sweetened dried cranberries. The remaining 5% is sold fresh to consumers. Cranberries destined for processing are usually frozen in bulk containers shortly after arriving at a receiving station. To allow air movement deterring decay, cranberries for fresh market are stored in shallow bins or boxes with perforated or slatted bottoms. Because harvest occurs in late autumn, cranberries for fresh market are frequently stored in thick walled barns without mechanical refrigeration. Temperatures are regulated by opening and closing vents in the barn as needed.

Information taken form both the food network tv show and Wikipedia.

Cranberry Sizzler

In honor of the cranberry, I thought I would make you my version of what I call the cranberry sizzler.  This high impact drink contains frozen cranberries and gives off a lot of attitude.  The tartness  of the cranberries really wake you up.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup frozen cranberries
• 1/2 Cup Apple slices
• 1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
• 1 Tbsp. Flax Seed
• 1/2 Cup Raspberries
• 1 Scoop of Protein Powder

Method

1. Add all ingredients to blender and mix until smooth
2. Pour into your favorite glass
3. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: When blending frozen fruit it is best to put liquid at the bottom of the blender if possible to avoid the fruit from stopping the blender and getting stuck.  If you have a high powered blender you have nothing to worry about.

If you have not already entered the latest zesty blog giveaway – do so right this second!  I cannot wait to reveal the winner on June 8th.  Have a great Tuesday and see you tomorrow.

Take care

zesty

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Middle of the week has arrived and what a week it has been.  Can you believe I woke up to snow yesterday – unbelievable!!  Luck may have it, I decided to park the car in the driveway the night before instead of the garage.   I didn’t use the garage because I just put gas in the car and the fumes can be unbearable.  I did not think for a second that I would have to scrape snow off the car before heading to the office.  Such a disappointment.

In brighter news, Shelby received the first ever zesty apron and she said it is “AWESOME”.  Thanks Shelby.  I hope you get lots of use out of it.  I am going to create a page where I can display all the images of people who bought zesty gear.  I am so excited!

Now, onto the recipe, how about a healthy chocolate monkey?  I am a huge fan!  I started making these a little while ago but just realized that I should have shared this quick recipe with you.  The ingredients are quite simple and easy to find.  The chocolate comes from “chocolate milk“, either 1% or Soy and the monkey comes from a banana.  I also like to add a heaping scoop of protein, flax seeds and a dollop of plain yogurt for thickness.

Next time you are in a hurry, need a chocolate fix or just craving a pick me up… try this monkey on for size.

Ingredients

• 1 Banana ( frozen )
• 1 1/2 Cups Chocolate Milk
• 1 Heaping Scoop of Protein Powder (vanilla)
• 1 Tbsp. Flax Seed
• 1 Tbsp. Plain Yogurt or Vanilla

Method

1. For my smoothies, I just throw everything in a blender/magic bullet and blend until smooth.













2. Then I take a taste and adjust accordingly.
3. Pour in a glass, snap some pictures.



4. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Saved over-ripe bananas and throw them in the freezer.  These are great for smoothies or banana bread or anything banana for that matter.

Question of the Day:  Milk or Yogurt… Which do you prefer?

Have a great Wednesday and I will see you tomorrow.

Take care

zesty

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