The beauty of juice.

Fresh homemade juice is such a quick and easy way to absorb all the vitamins from your fruits and vegies, everyone knows that. Just chuck everything in a juicer, hit the go switch and Bob's your uncle as they say. There are so many delicious combinations so I have listed some of my favourites below.

When Adam and I arrived in our little English town last August, knowing we'd be setting up camp for a while, we wanted to make our staff house into a home for ourselves, so we bought a juicer. In the space of a few weeks, we started drinking juice, we went from no juice to a bit of a juice overload. After a while Adam noticed he was getting an upset stomach - acid reflux we found out, which it turned out to be related to too many fruits in the juice and not enough vegies. So from our experience I'd like to make an extra special mention to all the great juicy vegies out there!!

CARROTS are a fantastic cheap addition to any juice, they add sweetness and are full of Vitamin A.

CELERY is great for juicing when its fresh and crisp, but we find, if its on its last days chuck it in the juicer - it still tastes great and you avoid wastage.

KALE is a fabulous juicing vegie, I like to use about a handful of curly kale in about 500 mls of juice (in total with other items). I find that the kale has quite a strong taste and needs to be balanced with a sweet and light fruit/ vegie to create a better flavour.

BEETROOT is an absolute hidden gem in the juicing world. Those of you long term juicers out there might think I'm a crazy inexperienced juicer for saying that, but beetroot isn't everyone's go to vegie for juicing. I don't even peel the badboy, I just chop the green leafy bits off, chop the whole beetroot in half and put it in, half's enough for 500mls of juice (in total with other items). Another side note, we've done a bit of research here and there and found that although beetroot works wonders as a natural detox for your liver, especially after a heavy night out, don't have too much as it puts strain on your kidneys. (Remember everything in moderation). 

BROCCOLI STALKS are another winner in your juice, and a great way to prevent waste. When I steam up my vegies for a dinner or vegie salad (recipe to come) I often have the stalk left over, not knowing what to do with it, one day I chucked it in the juices and WOW. It has a really smooth flavour, and adds body to the juice or in this case it adds 'trunk to your juice. Use raw broccoli stalks not steamed. 

SPINACH is fabulous to up your iron intake just like that, I tend to put about 2 handfuls in the juicer and push it down with some whole carrots to get all the good stuff.

and now onto the fruits

ORANGES, APPLES, PEARS omg pears, BERRIES, GRAPEFRUIT, PINEAPPLE, MELON all types, MANGO - YOU NAME IT WE LOVE TO JUICE IT. 

We also love adding GINGER and MINT to our juices - just a smidgen, depending on how much you like the taste and it turns a yummy juice into a flavour explosion.

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A lady once told me:
If you have all the ingredients that you think you might like to put into your juice on the bench in front of you, and sort of let yourself tune out, your body will naturally choose the fruits and vegies that it needs most, and that's what will end up in  your juice.  

Everyone can put a pealed orange in a juicer and make orange juice. But have you tried it with beetroot and berries? We stumbled upon this juice a few years back by mistake - and lack of anything else to juice and what a winner it was. 

My all time favourite is carrot, pear and ginger, the sweetness of the carrot and pear is balanced by the sharp flavour of the ginger, I could drink this juice until the cows come home. 

A well known detox / hangover juice is carrot, celery, beetroot, apple and ginger. I love this juice, its smooth fresh flavour gives so much energy and clarity. YUM.

Mint, lime, apples and pears makes a yummy sweet take on a virgin mojito, or add some Bicardi for the real deal - once juiced pour over ice and add some more mint leaves and lime wedges. 

For the real boost of goodness, try orange, apple, pear, pineapple, carrot, celery, spinach, ginger, beetroot, and kale. It seems like a lot, so we often have it breakfast or lunch, brunch.