Guess what came in the mail!?

They are not kidding when they day it's a 'big' book of juices. It's literally 2" thick. It's full of juice pictures that are really yummy looking. Almost like juice porn. I got it more for the tips on how to make juice and what not, not so much for recipes. I'm pretty adventurous, so I'll try anything.

What I was surprised to learn was that juicing in advance is really not a thing that's done. Most juicing is for the moment, so me making up a pitcher of carrot juice to use with other fresh things I make up for the week isn't the best route to go. Juicing everyday? I'll have to get use to that.

In preparation for the juicer I also upped my CSA. I got the large box for $50. This is practically enough food to feed me for the week, and I don't mean that lightly. 

My dinner of avocado, kale, romaine, and broccoli.

If I primarily use my CSA and perhaps a few odd meals out monthly, I'm looking at just under $300 a month for food. That's $10 a day! Good organic nourishing food. Considering Americans spend about 8-9% on food, compared to 14-18% in other parts of the world, me spending that on green fresh local yummies is a good thing. I have the money to invest in my diet.

My 'new' juicer being washed.

I got it refurbed for $200. Seems this is the best mid-range home juicer to get (according to all the reviews). It's also backordered in pretty much every store with used ones now going for $300. That's $100 over its retail price (Which is what I paid, the retail price, not the $300. I'm not crazy!).

This one works well, cleans easy, and went through those carrots like a champ!

A 25lb bag of carrots? $6. That's over a gallon of carrot juice. AND they are Bolthhouse carrots. You know, the company that makes all the smoothies and such. They are good (I believe I've commented on them before on this blog) so to get that much juice from the same company, all I'm doing is making it myself, makes me feel like I'm saving big and beating the system!!

I also juiced some produce. I don't think this juicer handled the oranges too well. I'll see about getting a citrus press for those. 

Total for veggies pictured...$9

The juicer came on Monday so yesterday I stopped by the local grocery and picked up a couple of things. The pineapples were on sale for $2 each! I got the limes to add to fresh juice to retard oxidation. I'm finding that if you are gonna keep juice for a couple of days, throw a wedge of lemon into the juicer to juice.

I also traveled back to my old haunt, the $1 store and got some cucumbers, pears and apples just to test. I juiced oranges and carrots yesterday (still have half a jug of carrot juice in my fridge). I'm planning on juicing some greens tonight. Now that I know juicing in advance isn't the best way to go, I'm going to experiment with what I can juice and keep for a few days. 

I also don't want to over juice and have it all just sit there. This whole thing is going to put me in a very 'in the moment' way of food preparation. That is something that I don't do too well, especially considering the last couple of years. I mean, planning my meals down to the wire has been a practice that has kept me going. Now that I don't have to do that as much, it's going to take some adjusting.

I think I'm still adjusting to everything. I'll keep you all posted.

I'm going to juice, watch me fly!

Hello all those still interested in my little blog. :)

So much has happened in my life in the past few months. I've mentioned it but sometimes it's still too hard to imagine. With my good fortune, I'm investing more and more in my food. My CSA is great. 

I've upped the delivery to large size and I'm having it delivered weekly. Why, you may ask? Because I'm getting a juicer!

It feels like I'm preparing for a kitchen baby.

I've been wanting a juicer for about a year, just to get off the super sugary Jamba 'Juice' and more into the Whole Foods order at the juice bar. Right now my favorite is apple base, lime and 2 oz of ginger. Mmmm, ginger.

I can't wait to get to juicing and I've started to get all the companion pieces: 

Bought a blender today (using a $5 off coupon, w00t!) and my used book from Amazon came.

Yes, this book is big. Kinda surprised me. It's close to 2" thick, filled with amazing photos and real good info on getting started with juicing. I'm going to enjoy it.

A couple of reasons I'm accelerating the juicing is from watching two documentaries:

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead champions juicing as a body cleanser and meal substitute. It makes a lot of since to me in the explanation part of condensing a lot of food into a juice instead of eating pounds of leafy greens. I always fall off my leafy greens. If I juice more, not completely, I think I can get in tons more than I do.

Also, Forks Over Knives is a great look at the Doctors involved in the China Study. That book is often dogma to some of my vegan friends. I haven't read it, but the documentary advocates a whole food plant based diet. No dairy of meat. So, a vegan lifestyle. But it's up against that tired adage, "Protein from meat made us the humans we are today!" Yeah, sure. Meat in the prehistoric era for humans I'm sure did help us evolve, but a could of things we have to think about today.

1) Chances are you eating a vegan diet now will not affect your evolution (silly people).

2) We are not prehistoric. We have been the same type of human for a good 20,000 years.

3) People are lazy, as was strikingly obvious in the first documentary.

If you haven't seen it, it's on Netflix.

I've been eating a bit more cautious lately. Just well rounded. The CSA is making me eat stuff I would not buy before. Those green avocados, ironically allied bacon avocados are from the CSA.

I'm also trying some more exotic stuff. I went to a food truck festival this past weekend at Santa Anita race track and partook in some lovely vegetarian delights. 

Mango sorbet on an oatmeal cookie with and eatable wrapper.

From left: Frybread squash 'tacos',
veggie dog with fried onions,
fennel slaw (delicious!).

Now, I'm pretty sure some of what I ate and sampled was not vegan, and I didn't expect it to. When I eat out, I try as hard as I can to get as muc vegan like food as I can find, but if its 90% vegan, then I fell that is okay. I only apply this rule when eating out. I'm going to  do a post on that a bit later. At home, I'm pretty hardcore.