I'll come clean, I'm on the juice.

Over the summer I fell in love with juice. Specific juice. I visited Breathe Yoga and Juice Bar in Pittsford and got hooked on some of their cold pressed juices. They also offer juice at their juice bar that you can have made to order while you wait. The cold pressed juices are prepared ahead of time, bottled and they last for 2-3 days. Even though they are pretty pricey (9-10 dollars for 16 oz.) I got them semi-regularly and used them for breakfast. I have my favorite flavors, my two favorites contain pineapple and are on the sweeter side. They have a filling, lasting effect and they are a cool, refreshing treat on a hot summer day.  

Cold pressed juice on the left, juice bar on the left.

This got me thinking, would I be saving money if I actually bought a juicer and made my own? Would they, could they, taste just as good? Would I actually use it or would it just sit in the cabinet collecting dust? I started doing some juicer research, compared different brands, checked out consumer reviews and decided if we bought one it would be a Breville juicer. The price was way more then we could afford though.

Breville for sale at Macy's

Around the same time I was doing research, I started seeing those commercials on TV for the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Even though I haven't seen the documentary, the commercials made me curious and so I went to the website to check out what the big deal was. While I was on the website I noticed that "Joe the Juicer" uses Breville juicers exclusively. I also found this helpful page for describing the different styles of juicers and helping you choose which type of juicer would be best for you. The website also has great recipes, healthy properties & benefits of different fruits & vegetables and an EZ prep guide for tons of fruits and veggies for when you are actually ready to juice.

I found the juicer that worked best for us for sale at Macy's for $250. Yea, big bucks. Even though it was on sale for less and we had a wedding gift card it was still way too much. We also had some wedding money/discounts at Bed Bath and Beyond so I thought I'd check them out. The same exact juicer was sold for $100 less at BB&B!!! The juicer shown above started at $149.99. With the discount from our registry and gift cards, the juicer would cost us around $90. I probably spent more than $90 at Breathe this summer, so I totally justified that it would be worth it. I asked the hubs if I could use our wedding gifts for it and he gladly obliged! I was going to do it even if he didn't agree, but now that we are married I figured I should probably ask!!

Here she is!! 

When we did our weekly grocery shopping I picked up some apples, prepped pineapple, mangos and lemon juice. I have since experimented with pears, carrots and strawberries. My first juice was apple, pineapple and mango, with a hint of lemon juice. This was a bit too sweet. Since I wasn't following an exact recipe and I didn't quite know how much juice would be yielded I just kinda tossed stuff in. I was pleasantly surprised that it made more then I thought it would and it tasted good! Some fruits and veggies take prep work, others you can toss right in. The juicer has a lot of parts and it looks confusing, but it is really easy to assemble and use quickly. Clean up is also pretty easy. When doing my research I found that this juicer is almost entirely dishwasher safe, which is a big bonus in my book. Even though I have only hand washed it so far, since it is so easy. I have gotten into the habit of making my juice while I am cooking dinner. I refrigerate it over night and it is cold and ready to go to work with me in the morning. I am not a huge breakfast eater, especially during the work week, so this is an easy, portable, healthy alternative. It also keeps me pretty full until lunch!

For strawberries you have to remove the greens.

Small apples and carrots get thrown right in!
Normally I would use two carrots but I only had 1. 

Somewhere in my research I read that if you
use produce bags to catch the waste from
the food that it makes clean up a lot easier.
It really does!!!

This juicer has two speeds. Low for softer food,
like the strawberries and high
for harder food like the apples and carrots.

In goes the carrot, out comes juice!

In goes the apples, out comes a lot
of juice.

Last to go in is the strawberries.

Time to clean up!

The waste in the produce bag, remove
and toss into the trash.

Juice and the froth on top. This batch
didn't make as much as other batches
have, but since it is the end of the week
I am running out of produce.

The catcher/dispenser has a separator
built in to remove the froth.

Finished juice in my fancy juicer/travel
cup. It isn't that fancy, it cost $5 at
Wegmans and we bought it for
the wedding.

If you have any juicing questions let me know! Since I am pretty new to it I would recommend checking out the website links I shared above. I plan to get some more veggies when we go shopping this weekend. I also hope to try some of the actual recipes I have bookmarked on my computer. My juicing plan has kept me out of the Dunkin' drive thru this week and I am pretty sure it helped me be successful in the Ton of Fun challenge.

Do you own a juicer?

What are some of your 

favorite fruits and veggies to juice?