juicing for beans

Dr. Fuhrman recommends for optimum health to have a serving of vegetable juice or blended salads (green smoothies) a few times a week. My smoothies have spinach or salad mix in them so count in this category. However, I go in and out of the mood for smoothies. I think they are too concentrated and sweet, and I prefer chewing and eating more slowly. But you don't absorb as much nutrients from chewed salad as blended. I don't want to make smoothies next week, so should I juice? Well, I don't really like vegetable juice. So here's what I did. I juiced a ton of stuff yesterday. And decided it will be broth for beans. Here's what I combined:

5 lbs carrots

tons of collard greens from the garden (5 lbs?)

a bunch of parsley (from the garden)

a bunch of celery

some ginger

4 garlic cloves

2 lemons

2 small apples (what the heck)

I divided this into about 10 8-oz bell jars and put them in the freezer. I'll use them for broth for beans and soups.

I know you are suppose to drink juice raw but I just don't like it. It will still be nutritious cooked, I hope. Plus, it was a great way to use up lots of collards from the garden. Soon they will stop growing and the season will be over, but I have had an endless supply for about 4 months!

fresh-squeezed pomegranate/grape juice

I invested in a hand-crank citrus juicer and it's the best I've ever used--faster and easier to use. You can juice a pomagranate same way as an orange. First, cut it in half:

Then put it in the juicer and smash with the crank:

I also tried some concord grapes for fun:

It was a little more messy. I tasted this and it was yummy. I added the rest to a smoothie. mmmm.

good beans

These are beans a visitor would love, at least the one who at my house today. that's because they have carrot juice in them.

Ingredients:

1-3 cups dried beans, soak over night.

1-2 onions

1-5 cups veggie juice, I used carrot, beets, and celery, but carrot is sufficient

water as needed

fresh or dried herbs (optional), e.g., cilantro, parsley, chives

juice of (small or 1/2 large) lemon or lime (0ptional)

Cook the beans, onions, and juice for a few hours. Add some dried herbs if you want. When the beans are done, if you have some fresh herbs, add them and some lemon/lime juice or flavored vinegar at the end, if you want. It's pretty easy except for the prep involved in juicing. actually the juicing is easy too, but cleaning my juicer is a bit of a pain but I'm having fun with it right now. My favorite variation of this is red kidney beans, carrot juice and onion. It's a great combination.

collard veggie juice

My first attempt at a veggie juice worked pretty well. I had no idea how much of everything to add but it seemed pretty good. Here's approximately what I combined (based on a faulty memory):

about 12 collard leaves

4 lbs carrots

8 small beets

2 small apples

a bunch of parsley

It made about 50 oz of juice. I poured it into 5 bottles, each filled to about 8-10 oz. There was about 5 oz left which I drank. I froze the bottles for drinking throughout the week.