The Juice Is Good

Recently I liberated a Jack Lalanne power juicer from my mother's clutches - she owned it for many years, and in that time it gathered a lustrous coating of dust, nearly changing its color from white to gray (shortly thereafter, she purchased a second juicer, this time in stainless steel... perhaps so the dust would be less noticeable?).

In any case, I too let the juicer languish in my kitchen. I tried one time to make a juice from a couple different ingredients, and the result was less than stellar. The last time I was visiting the parents in Connecticut though I found a copy of Elaine Lalanne's Power Juicer recipe book; I liberated this item as well and perused it for ideas about different combinations of fruits and vegetables, and proper ratios for good tasting results.

Having read through it a couple of times, I feel like I have a grasp of the fundamentals. Today I made a carrot, beet, celery, and onion juice (little spring onions) and it came out totally delish. I generated a huge amount of pulp, and I proceeded to take that, saute it in a pan with olive oil and garlic, then added a bunch of water, pepper, curry, cumin, and bay leaves and simmered it for a bit; so in additional to six cups of tasty juice, I created another ten or so cups of a spicy gazpacho for this awful heat wave. Not bad!!