My first adventure in juicing

In my post yesterday I mentioned that I bought a juicer.  Of course as soon as it came in I had to give it a go.

Juicing takes a lot of work.  A lot of prep time and just as much cleaning time.  The best advice I found around before I decided to try juicing was to line the pulp basket with a plastic bag and to clean the juicer immediately after use.  I know that doing these two things saved me so much time and effort after an already long process.  I also know that part of what took me so long is that I'm new to this, so I'm hoping with time I'll get better.

First I found my recipe.  I found a few online that looked awesome and I bought The Big Book of Juices, but when I got to the store we there was no kale, so I was a little limited in what I originally planned to do.  Instead I just upped the amount of spinach and it seemed to work out just fine.

1 Green Apple
3 1/2 cups of Spinach
1/2 Cucumber (peeled)
4 Stalks of Celery
1/2 Lemon (peeled)

I found a lot of different opinions on whether or not to peel the cucumber and the lemon.  I decided to go ahead and peel them both because the peel or rind can give a bitter taste and I didn't want a bitter juice my first time.  So maybe in the future I'll give it a shot with the peel on, just not now.  I also quartered my apple to get rid of the seeds.  I didn't technically have to, but I felt like I needed to. 

Then I put it all in my new juicer (that I didn't take a picture of and it's now disassembled and drying, my bad) and was amazed.  I was nervous putting vegetables in at first, but then it became pretty fun.  I was also shocked at the amount of pulp that came out.  Don't forget to line your pulp basket!! Seriously, it's worth it.  I can also see myself using the pulp in the future.  I thought of several Skinny Taste recipies I could use that call for shredded veggies and I think this could work.  Just not right now.  Again, baby steps here people.

Once it was finished I poured it into a cute little cup with some ice and there you have it.

 Then you enjoy.  The first sip was weird.  Not in a, this tastes weird way, but in an OMG what am I about to drink way.  It was really fresh and suprisingly tasty.  I think 4 stalks of celery might be a bit much because this was a smidge on the salty side, but overall it was really good.  I don't know that last time I had that many vegetables in one sitting.

I planned on having it as an after workout snack (I just got done walking right before I took this lovely picture), but once I finished I was full and not even the slightest bit hungry.  So I didn't eat dinner, I drank it. 

I'm trying to remember to drink plenty of water when I have my juice.  Staying hydrated is a super important part of juicing, well at least that's what my book and online research tell me. 

My next juice will be fruity for breakfast and then I want to try some apple and carrot juice.  I feel like I could be addicted to juicing and I've only just started!