Big Friendly Green Giant Juice

 

 

 

Seems we skipped a beat with spring here in Daegu—with temperatures already in the mid-to-high twenties, it’s practically summer and I’m not complaining. The closet’s been spring-cleaned, the body’s getting all it’s winter waste out, and I’m getting in all the greens I can. And with a little encouragement, I’m kicking coffee and sugar for the near future. Out with the gunk, in with the greens. I like it.

Usually I add half an apple or some orange segments to my juice so I’m not choking down full-frontal army-assault-green swill first thing in the morning, but I’m not having fruit for a little while. Problem solving mode: Engage. Carrots and beets are some sweeter vegetables, both ideal for juicing, but unfortunately the latter is a bit tough to track down in Korea—so no Beety Bliss juice for me here. A carrot, on the other hand, does the job quite nicely! Enough natural sugar to make the juice palatable without making it feel like you’re drinking Kool-Aid for breakfast.

I love parsley in my green juices for its cleansing, purifying effect. It’s more than just a garnish, it’s actually an antioxidant and great source of vitamins—plus it kinda just smells like spring. Lemon is another excellent cleanser and detoxifier, helping to stimulate the digestive system and kick the bowels into gear. I’ve added ginger here for helping with digestion and its anti-inflammatory effects, but if you’re down with some garlic in your juices, go for it! It’s anti-fungal and great for your immune system. For more of my juicing tips, including thoughts on organics vs. conventional produce, when to juice, what order to put your veggies through the chute, and how to get your mix right, check out my post here.

If you’re wanting to avoid sugars, this juice is blood-balancing, detoxifying, and sure to keep sugar cravings calm. It’s not bitter, not overly sweet, but pleasant, fresh, clean. If you really need something a little more saccharin, you can always add one or two drops of stevia, but be careful! Add them one at a time—even a few can make your juice taste artificial.

Big Friendly Green Giant Juice (sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free)

Try to buy everything organic, especially for juices: A glass of pesticides isn’t too appealing, is it?

1 or 2 sprigs of parsley

handful dark leafy greens (spinach, a stalk of kale, or swiss chard are great—I think I used bok choy here?)

1/2 lemon, peeled

thumbnail-sized knob of ginger

1 cucumber

3-4 stalks of celery

1 medium-sized carrot (I used 1/2 a large)

Directions:

Juice all ingredients in the order listed. If you have a centrifugal juicer, drink within fifteen minutes so that your greens don’t oxidize and lose nutrient value. If you have a masticating juicer, you’re okay for a day or two. Drink your juice slowly, and try to “chew” if you can—it may sound and even look funny, but it helps get your digestive juices going, signalling your body that it’s got some incredibly nutrients coming its way and it might as well prepare itself for full absorption!

You can use your leftover juice pulp to make an omelette, separate out the carrot pulp to make raw cupcakes (!), or make veggie pulp crackers. Feel like a superhero, and enjoy the rest of you day. <3

 

Green Juice Omelette

 

As someone who’s into veggies, and isn’t easily grossed out, I have to (and hate to) admit that I find juice pulp kinda icky.

Maybe it’s the texture, maybe it’s the fact that it’s food coming from the deject pile. Or maybe it has something to do with the day in the summer where I didn’t clean out my juicer and left for work… (oh yeah, if you’ve never done that before, I don’t advise you start doing so now.)

I know it’s such a waste of beautiful, fibrous, organic green veggies, but other than making dehydrated pulp crackers on occasion (back in the good ol’ days when I had an oven), I tend to donate my juicing leftovers to Toronto’s Green Bin program and call it a day. Except here in Korea, where they just get tossed atop the mountains of garbage outside my building’s front door. When I make juice once a week it doesn’t really bother me—but since I’ve decided to mostly quit coffee (I can do it!) and dump sugar for a little bit, I’ve been juicing almost every day! Greens pulp galore.

I tried putting them in my smoothie one time, choked down half the thing and dumped the rest in the toilet (sorry, earth!). The thought of putting them in a soup thereafter made me gag.

But I think I found one way to get those leftover greens down: Enter the Veggie Pulp Omelette.

Hey, it’s not the most beautiful dish going around. But it is a win-win-win, really—reducing kitchen waste, saving a buck or two, and of course, filling your belly with nutrient-dense green goodness. And it’s so easy.

Sprinkle  a 1/2 cup of juice pulp (I like kale, spinach, celery, lemon, and garlic) with your favorite seasonings—here, I  use sea salt, pepper, and plenty of Korean red pepper powder. Add the pulp to 3 beaten eggs (and a splash of non-dairy milk, if you prefer).

Fry in coconut oil as you would a traditional omelette, a few minutes each side until both sides are browned slightly. Serve alongside toast, potatoes, or atop some leafy greens with melted coconut oil and green onions as I’ve done here.

Enjoy and give yourself a pat on the back for your resourcefulness!

Do you have any more ideas for juice pulp? If so, please share in the comments! I’d love to hear your suggestions and maybe you can help me thing of more ways to save my kales

 

Rice Milk: Riches from (Dish) Rags

It’s been a banner Lunar New Year so far.

Luke got food poisoning. I got head lice. (Who gets head lice?!) We had a nice run-in with some soju swaggin’ Koreans and some near-nasty repercussions. Our school closed down. Our school closed down! I guess it is, as they say, the Year of the Snake. We’ll be taking a pay cut for the next little while, but things could always be worse.

We still have jobs for the duration of our original contract here in Korea. We can keep our little, cozy apartment. Nobody got arrested or deported. I don’t have any little pests crawling through my hair, and Luke’s internal organs are in the clear. Also, I learned how to make rice milk.

Taking a temporary pay cut wasn’t in our original plans, but it looks now it’s part of the challenge to keep saving for our upcoming trip. We’ve been looking for ways to cut back, and one of the easiest ways to do so is to make do with what you have (right, dad?).

For example, we have rice. And lots of it.

I do love my hyun-me bap and it’s sure a nutritionally sound alternative to the usual choice grain here, it’s bleached-out brother (see: my earlier post on its bountiful benefits), but man—nor woman—can live on rice alone. Faced with a barrel of the brown stuff, I decided to transform my grains into something a little more practical: rice milk.

Almonds aren’t cheap on this continent and I generally try and steer clear of soy, so my non-dairy milk options here are pretty limited. Thankfully, rice is everywhere, cheap, and organic is pretty easy to find. Perhaps if you head up to your local Koreatown or Chinatown you’ll find the same? If you’re on a tight budget of your own, maybe this trick will benefit you like it has me and my belly

Here’s the how-to:

1. Soak 2 cups of rice overnight and rinse well.

2. In your food processor or blender, blend the rice with 4 cups of filtered water (If you want more or less, just stick with a 1:2 ratio and you’ll be fine).

3. Use a nut milk bag, cheesecloth, or, in a pinch, a clean dishcloth or fine mesh strainer to separate the pulp from the liquid. (See my tutorial on almond milk for technique and photos.)

4. (Optional) Rinse out your blender or food processor, pour the liquid back in and blend any combination of: 1 tsp. vanilla extract, a pinch of sea salt, a pitted date or some agave, or even cacao powder to make chocolate rice milk.

5. (Also optional, but highly recommended!) Save your rice “grits” to make porridge–cover one cup of the rice pulp with water in a pot, stir in your favorite oatmeal ingredients (I like cinnamon, vanilla, and chopped medjool dates), bring to a boil and simmer, covered, till the water is absorbed. Add in a splash of your fresh rice milk and bask in your incredible utilitarianism.
I’ve been freezing batches of my rice grits in single-serving portions to cook up for quick breakfasts—one benefit of only having a hot plate to cook on is that I can get my grits boiling in under a minute… a benefit, so long as I can avoid burning said grits immediately after Maybe you’ve better luck than I? Feel free to share your experiences below!

Until then, enjoy and annyeong ka-sey-oh!