Juices

Top Tips and Health Benefits of Juicing plus Kale, Beetroot and Green Pepper Juice Recipe

Posted on July 19, 2015 by leroy watson

Beetroot, Kale and Green Pepper Juice

Here is your five a day in just a few gulps! Juicing is the easiest way of supercharging your day and getting loads of shining fruits and veggies into your diet.

I love experimenting with new flavour combos in our morning juice. What do we have available and will they sing together in a glass?! This one is backed up by a hit of ginger and lemon (whole, the zest is awesome in many ways), apples, carrots and a handful of mint. Its a feast and a massive wake up call to the immune system. When you juice, you can forget about the need for expensive supplements, vitamin pills etc. Nothing can compete with a fresh juice. Juicing also helps in weight loss and makes you much sexier!!!

SUPERCHARGE YOUR DAY

Our favourite way to start any day is a glass of freshly made juice. It just seems to make perfect sense. Our bodies have just woken from (hopefully) a nice long sleep, when we have basically been fasting for many hours. We’re dehydrated and a little depleted, we need a serious boost of something nutritious and preferably, charged with vitality and vibrant flavours. Juicing is the easiest way to get loads of essential nutrients (vitamins, minerals, enzymes etc) down the hatch, very easy on the digestion and we can feel the benefit soon after. Energy levels rise and we get a healthy glow about us.

The contents of this juice are a sign that things are really flying now this summer. You could call this our ‘Veg Box Nectar’, basically whatever we get from the farm in a juicer with a little consideration for overall flavour. Really though, all these sensational veggies and fruits cannot taste bad in a glass. There are probably a few guidelines to a good juice; go easy on the cabbage, turnip or swede, too much whole citrus (with pith on) can be a little challenging.

We always try to add greens, like Kale, Chard or Spinach, to our juices as they are the bodies best friend. Greens contain so many amazing nutrients, not to mention things like protein, calcium, iron….the list goes on and on. They also contain bags of chlorophyll which helps the liver detox and purifies and rebuilds blood cells, also helping with high blood pressure. Eating a lot of greens regularly, daily if possible, is our number one suggestion for staying healthy and feeling amazing.

TOP JUICING TIPS

EAT YOUR FRUIT AND JUICE YOUR VEGGIES – As a basic rule, this works a treat. Many fruits are high in sugar and unless they are packed with fibre, can make your blood sugar levels rocket. Its best to drink a balanced juice, with sweet fruits as a sweetener and not a base. Some root vegetables can also be high in sugar, worth bearing in mind. Having said that, a pure fruit juice is an awesome treat!

PREP WELL – Get everything cut down to size and peeled (if needed) before you start. This will make juicing a breeze. We always fill our juicer shoot up (wide funnel juicers are best) before turning the machine on, this is more efficient. Wash up before you drink the juice, for some reason, this seems to make it less of a chore!? Not juicing because of the washing up is a very poor show.

DON’T HANG AROUND! – Juices are highly perishable and are best drank as soon as possible to get maximum flavour and health benefits.

REASONS TO GET JUICY

INTENSE NUTRIENTS – Juicing condenses down produce into a glass, you can cram so much goodness into a juice. One glass can contain 5 carrots, 3 apples, 1 lemon, 5 kale leaves…….whatever your imagination can come up with! To eat all of those in one sitting would take a long time and lot of chewing….

DIGESTION – Juices take almost no digestive energy, meaning the body is getting loads of nutrients and expending very little in return. That energy can be used for other things like replenishing and rejuvenating.

LOSE WEIGHT, LOOK GOOD – Juices can really help here, accompanied by a good, balanced diet (we’d of course recommend a vegan diet) and regular exercise. The intense nutrient hit you get from juicing helps keep the skin shining and hair and nails strong, it will also help to make you feel and look younger.

WHICH JUICER?

There are two main types of juicers, cold press or centrifugal. We have always used a centrifugal juicer and if they are well made and powerful, produce good results and extract plenty of juice (you can check this by pressing out the waste pulp – this pulp can be made into tasty burgers or muffins).

Centrifugal juicers basically extracted the juice using a spinning blade. Cold press (or masticating) juicers normally extract more juice and at low temperature, maintaining all of the nutrient content. They are quieter and can be used to make nut milks, however, they are more expensive.

We’ve tried out many juicers and our favourites are Sage. They sent us a juicer over a year ago and its been brilliant since then. Very well made, easy to clean and powerful. They are not the cheapest, but if you are serious about getting into juicing, its well worth the investment.

First Summer Strawberries

BERRY NICE SUMMER:)

We just ate our first wild strawberries from the garden and they were so sweet. The song ‘Summer Wine’ by Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra sprang to mind. A classic with a proper retro video. Lee knows how to wear a moustache! A perfect tune for strawberry munching in the sun. Jane and I have been playing it recently on guitar and it’s a cheeky tune that makes people smile. The raspberries are coming at Trigonos and we’ve been inundated with gorgeous gooseberries (so sweet) and blackcurrants (potently purple). This time of year is just one long celebration of sensational seasonal produce, even the cauliflowers are making an appearance!

FAT, SICK AND NEARLY DEAD

This documentary came out a while back and has influenced loads of people and certainly spread the good juicing word around the globe. Going on a juice fast can have wonderful health benefits, incredible transformations, as highlighted by the personal stories in this film. Some friends of ours are going to try it out, although a shorter version, it will be interesting to see the results. Jane and I feel that juice fasts can be an incredibly cleansing and revitalising opportunity, although we’d not recommend carrying them on for too long. Juicing does take fibre out of your fruits and veggies and we love fibre in the BHK. Its essential for maintaining good health and digestion.

Along with a healthy balanced diet, juicing can be a brilliant habit to get into, the benefits of which are best experienced to be believed!!!!

Here’s a recipe for a seriously tasty juice, full of zing and good things:

The Bits – For 2

3 kale leaves (with stems)

3 large carrots (scrubbed)

1-2 inch fresh ginger (peeled – with a teaspoon is easiest)

2 large apples (halved)

1 large beetroot (scrubbed – with leaves if you’ve got any)

1 green pepper (deseeded and halved)

1 small lemon (whole)

Do It

Pop all into a high speed juicer, leaves first, then ginger and lemon. The carrot and apple will flush everything through.

Serve

In your favourite glass (or jars if you are trendy, or poor, or both) with a smile.

Foodie Fact

Beetroots are in the same family as chard and spinach. The beetroot leaves (greens) are exceptionally high in iron, calcium, vitamin A and C.

Many athletes are now getting into beetroots. Apparently it lowers muscle fatigue and is of course, amazingly nutritious with huge amounts of beta carotene and a good hit of sugar to keep you well fuelled for a workout. Beetroot is also ideal for detoxing, as it kick started the detox process in the liver. Ideal for a morning juice.

TOP BEET TIP – If you have beetroot fingers, all purple, try rubbing some lemon juice over them. This helps. Or wear gloves in the first place.

Categories: Breakfast, Detox, Healthy Living, Juices, Nutrition, Recipes | Tags: beetroot, health, juicer, juicing, music, nutrients, raw | 11 Comments

Sage Nutri Juicer – Juicer Extraordinaire! A BHK Product Review

Posted on October 25, 2013 by leroy watson

Sage Nutri Juicer

We have the distinct pleasure of giving a Sage Nutri Juicer a new home. As regular BHK readers will know, Jane and I are partial to a morning juice. Actually, without it we feel a little under nourished and lack the incredible zing! that a fresh juice gives you in your waking hours. We had researched juicers and made up a shortlist, Sage where somewhere close to the top and definitely offer awesome value for money. So when one arrived on our doorstep, delivered by the juice crane we presume, we unpacked it with joy and then things got really juicy!

Juicing is so very good for us its almost outrageous. We find that a glass of good juice in the morning sates us until lunchtime at least. We also feel cleansed and energised by the whole process. Most fruit and vegetables can be juiced to good effect and this means that juicing is seasonal. We find that broccoli for example makes a wonderful juice and the stalk even tastes a little like egg (which is more appetising than it may sound!). We are also experimenting with recipes to utilise the pulp, normally discarded in the juicing process. Nothing is wasted!

You cannot beat a fresh juice, preferably with organic fruit and veg when possible. Please do not be fooled by processed juices or even worse, juices from concentrate. Many of these popular juice brands are just vehicles for added sugar to enter your diet and we don’t need any more of that. Fresh juices can also be high in sugar and it is worth balancing high sugar fruits and veg with lower sugar varieties, greens are a perfect example of this and bursting with nutrients and flavour. They also make your juice look very cool indeed.

One more word on juicing and we’ll get on with our review. Juices can be high in acid, that may, over a period of time, damage teeth. Its worth bearing in mind. Maybe brush your teeth after your morning juice (using non-flouride toothpaste por favor).

Our last juicer died in a dramatic flaming fashion, possibly due to one too many beetroots! We think it was a little under powered and couldn’t really handle the hard stuff, root veg and all. The Sage has no problems on this front, when you start it up, it sounds like an out-board motor and the high setting (there are two settings, high and low) cuts through hard vegetables like carrots like a knife through cashew butter. We are also very impressed with the amount of juice extracted, the pulp is very dry and even on high setting (think helicopter taking off on your work surface!) the extraction of juice is brilliant.

The Nutri Juicer is easy to assemble and take apart and relatively simple to wash up (the bug bear of many a non-committal juicer). The actual juice basket is as sharp as you’d imagine (like an uber grater), so taking care when washing it is important. Sage have provided a great little scrubbing brush for this purpose. There are a few parts that come apart with ease and fit together with the help of a reassuring metal fitting. It has a very solid feel when in use and is well balanced, no leaning or buzzing off around the work surface like some other juicers. The discarded pulp flies out of the juicer into a purpose built bucket, which when lined with a compostible bag, makes for very easy disposal in the compost bin, no scraping or blocked sinks here.

The juicer basket and pulp bucket

The Nutri Juicer comes equipped with its own jug, which even acts as a measuring jug for the pedantic juicer or doubles up around the kitchen when baking etc. As mentioned, the Sage is a powerful little contraption and this means that the juice comes out at a rate of knots, so the lid and rubber pouring spout are a must. There is nothing worse that walls covered with fine drops of beetroot juice! This power also means that the juice gets nicely whipped up and when extracted into the jug has a decent head on it. We like to swill this around and combine it with the juice, but if you leave the lid on when pouring the juice, it will separate the froth from the liquid.

A large chute on a juicer is essential and the circular chute on this machine is perfect. We have not found an apple that will not fit in there whole. This juicer will take care of whole apples without breaking sweat. Even if you are having a particularly hectic juice morning and the Sage overheats, it has a safety device which means that it will cut off and can then be used after 15 minutes of cooling down.

Mid juice – see the handy little rubber spout and cosy fitting jug.

This Sage is a centrifugal juicer and we had originally thought about a masticating juicer, which is alot slower and really squeezes the life force out of things (which we then drink!) They are generally more costly and there are only a handful of companies who make them, most based in the U.S. This means added shipping miles and cost to the equation. In the future, we’d love to try and ‘masticator’ but have been pleasantly surprised by the Nutri Juicer performance. One criticism of a centrifugal juicer is that it heats the juice and kills some of the enzymes and goodness, but Sage have got around that with some very clever design.

The Nutri Juicer is a real looker, with a shiny metallic finish and simple design, it sits nicely on the kitchen surface. Heston Blumenthal is involved with these guys and he seems to be a man who knows his way around a quality gadget. The Sage juicers were also used in the documentary ‘Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead’, I haven’t seen it, but people in a bad way use juice to help them get fit and healthy. I can see why they chose Sage, it is a well-priced juicer with brilliant overall performance.

Sage Nutri Juicer – Quite a looker!

For reference, we have a BJE410UK.

Juice, glorious juice.

Beetroot, Apple, Ginger and Lemon Juice

Makes 2 glasses of purple morning sunshine

1 large beetroot, 3 carrots, 4 small apples, 2 inch cube of fresh ginger, 1/2 lemon (juice only)

Scrub your veggies, do not peel. Cut the very ends off your veggies, they can get stuck in the juicer. Ensure no soil or woody stems get into the juicer.

Get your juicer up to speed, higher setting is best as these are quite hard veggies.

Add ginger, beetroot, carrots and apple in that order. Most flavourful and colourful to least seems to extract more flavour and colour. Makes sense!

Squeeze your lemon juice separate and stir in at the end.

Ready to juice

Categories: B.H.K Reviews, Detox, Juices | Tags: beetroot, heston blumenthal, juice, juicing, nutri juicer, recipe, review, sage, sick fat and nearly dead, vegan | 10 Comments

Kale, Carrot and Apple Juice

Posted on March 20, 2013 by leroy watson

Kale, Carrot and Apple Juice

The ultimate early morning kickstart! This juice will definitely get you wide awake and feeling wonderful.

The combination of kale and a whole lemon here (zest and all) make it a real eye opener, very different and refreshing flavour. You can also use something like a savoy cabbage here which also has great flavour. Who knew that cabbage juice could be so tasty?!

You will need a juicer to make this green and lean juice, and if you don’t have one, this juice is the perfect excuse to get one!

Jane and are glad to be back in the Beach House and eating our favourite foods. After our experiences last summer with the raw food diet, we are planning another venture into crunch this year, probably starting in late June (after Jane’s birthday). Last year we celebrated in a windy tent on the Pembrokeshire coastline with a salad and raw starwberry tart. Delicious, but lacking bubbles!

If this doesn’t wake you up of a morning, then I would advice you go back to bed and try again tomorrow.

PS – This is serious detox territory too.

Make two glasses:

The Bits

1 apple, 2 handfuls of green leaves (savoy cabbage or kale), 3 good sized carrots, 1 inch cube of ginger, 1 lemon (whole)

Morning juice smiles

Do It

Pop all in the juicer, we add the lemon first, then ginger and normally finish with the carrot. It is dense and juicy and seems to flush out any lingering bits.

Serve

Straight away with smiles.

We Love It!

Jane and I are not really morning people, our bed is normally the only warm place in the beach house! But this juice will drag us out and with the ginger kick, wakes and warms! Its a beauty.

Foodie Fact

Kale is one of natures most amazing gifts. Kale helps the body detox, lowers the risk of the big ‘C’ and actually lowers cholesterol (I love these types of food). Kale is packed with Vitamin K, C and A, Kale also has ‘unusually’ high levels of flavanoids and carotenoids which highly reduce oxidative stress (which is definitely not good for you). Read more.

Tunes

I can think of no better soundtrack to this juice, Mungo Jerry:

Categories: Detox, Juices, Recipes | Tags: detox, health, juice, juicing, kale, music, nutrition, photography, raw food diet, vegetarian, vitamin K | 2 Comments

Pina Colada Juice

Posted on September 27, 2012 by leroy watson

Pina Colada Juice

At this time of the year, with summer on the wane, you need some colour adding. You need something to remind you that holidays, beaches and the sun, are not just figments of your imagination. They exist and are alive and well in this pina colada. It is guaranteed to add a little tropical swing to any day. Sweet and vibrant, when we tried this, we both felt like we were back on a Thai island or any land where the pineapple grows.

Pineapples always remind me of Costa Rica, where in many places, pineapple plantations stretch to the horizon. Quite a site, rows and rows of those sharp leaves. Pineapples take a long time to grow, like a lot of the fruit and veg we eat and they are real gifts from the earth. They also look quite amazing, bar the rambutan and the dragon fruit, is there a cooler looking fruit?

You can technically grow your own pineapple, just take the severed head part and plant it in the ground. Quite shallow. After a year, a pineapple may have grown. We have not tried this for obvious reasons. Wales is not a pineapple friendly environment (however the raspberries are looking well this year).

You can see we quaffed this with a rather funky fruit salad, putting the meat of the coconut to good use with some other fruits seeds and yoghurt. You can try to make your own coconut butter/paste, just blend it up in a decent blender and after a few minutes it will take on a lovely creamy texture. Ideal to keep in the fridge and add to dishes.

This sweet and tarty juice takes half a pineapple to make, but its well worth it and the lime juice adds a nice tang to proceedings. We’ve added a little bit of canned coco milk, for creaminess. The combo of coco and pineapple is always tantalising and a quick burst of escapism in the morning sets you up nicely for the day.

The Bits

1/2 pineapple, 1/4 tin organic coconut milk (stirred and creamy), juice of 1 fresh coconut (the water only), 1 squeeze of lime juice.

Do It

Get the magimix fired up!

Juice your pineapple in large chunks into a large container. Stir in the coco water and milk. Just before serving, squeeze a little lime into the juice and stir.

Serve

Immediately, with sun hats on and some calypso music.

We Love It!

It’s a tropical juice to spark wanderlust in even the most rooted of souls. The tropical beaches seem ever closer with this juice in your life.

Foodie Fact

Pineapples are drought tolerant and the plant grows up to 8ft tall. Pineapples are a brilliant source of vitamin C and dietary fibre. They also contain bromelian and incredible enzyme that actually helps you digest your food and fight all sorts of infection/ disease.

View of a autumn sunset from the Beach House Kitchen window

Categories: Juices, Recipes, Vegan | Tags: coconut, food, juice, juicing, magimix, pina colada, pineapple, raw, vegan, vegetarian | 6 Comments

Purple Joy Juice

Posted on July 16, 2012 by leroy watson

Lovely farm produce

This is the ultimate juice for us at the minute. Beetroots don’t come anymore vivid and radiant than the ones we are getting from the farm. We are buying them by the bunch, with their long tasty leaves still on. It is a real treat to be able to use such amazing produce.

You cannot mess around with juicing. There are no textures to confuse the palate, there is nowhere for poor produce to hide. If you juice something grown in mass barns by machines (possibly) you won’t get any flavour and little colour. There will be no joy in your juice. You can see by the photos, this juice was brimming with purple joy.

Juiced beetroot is quite potent and a powerful elixir for the body. They have discovered that its boosts athletes performance, according to the Independent newspaper. So much so, that beetroot juice is being called the new super fuel for athletes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some ‘purple joy’ being cracked open at the Olympics this summer.

Beauty beets

There is a new brand in the UK shops called ‘Beet It’, an organic beetroot juice that is really getting this message across. Its good to see this type of juice alongside the sugary, from concentrate brigade that you normally find. So much rubbish can be hidden in most fresh fruit juice cartons.

There is no getting around this, to juice, you need a juicer. Sorry….. (get a red Magimix like ours, they’re ace!)

The purple joy juice is so sweet and is really revitalising, after a few minutes you are buzzing in the nicest possible way. Full of energy, like a bee. If you need a pick me up, hit the beets…..

The Bits

3 vibrant beetroots, 4 carrots, 1 big juicy apple, small piece of celery.

Do It

Juice the beetroots first, we don’t peel anything, just scrub it a little and trim off tops and bottoms when necessary. Then the carrots, celery and apple. Leave the juicer on for a while to catch all the precious dribbles.

Purple Joy Juice

Serve

We like ours out of jars, but glasses will do just fine.

We Love It!

We are drinking this everyday at the moment and a friend warned that too much beetroot juice actually turns you purple!

Foodie Fact

Beetroots contains lots of Nitrogen Oxide and scientists have only recently discovered how wonderful this stuff is for the body. It is a regulator of blood pressure, controls blood flow to certain organs, is a stamina enhancer via oxygen usage efficiency and is a weapon against infection.

Categories: Juices, Local food, Recipes, Vegan | Tags: beetroot, carrot, food, health, juice, organic, recipes, vegan, vegetarian | 19 Comments

Four C’s Juice with Barley Grass

Posted on June 14, 2012 by leroy watson

About to get juicy

CARROT, CELERY, CUCUMBER, CORIANDER…….the fours C’s.

Why has nobody thought of this before! Or should I say, why have I never heard of this before, a carrot and coriander juice.

A classic soup recipe will no doubt make a tasty juice, just colder and thinner but still full of all those good enzymes and nutrients we need to keep ticking over.

I’ve made a few additions here to spice things up a little. The cucumber adds some freshness, the celery a more savoury edge and the ginger and nice little POW.

We take the skin off the cucumber as it has a bitter flavour and also turns the juice a peculiar beige shade.

We have been using barley grass in our savoury juices, it is a real super food and also has a pleasant taste. We’d like one day to start a little wheat grass farm here, but this dried barley grass is a more than adequate substitute for wheat grass.

Fire up the Magimix!

The Bits

Makes two good glasses

4 Carrots, 2 sticks of celery, 1/2 cucumber (de-skinned) 2cm cube of ginger, 1 handful of coriander (celantro, stalks and all). If your juicer is not great, you may need to mash up the celantro in a pestle and mortar and add it to the juice later. It can get left behind. If you have one of those little wheatgrass crushing machines (lucky you) use that instead.

Follow the instructions on the barley grass packaging (don’t over indulge!) we use half a teaspoon per glass. Add a little juice and mix to a paste, then add the rest of your juice, stirring all the time. This avoids blobs of intense barley grass surprising you mid-slurp.

Do It

You will need a juicer here unfortunately, we are blessed with a crimson Magimix that is by far the greatest appliance we have ever owned (purrs like a Rolls Royce when started).

Juice your coriander and ginger first, then the rest goes in with the carrots last. Carrots are a great veg to juice last as they give off alot of juice and really clean out any lingering bits and peices.

Four C’s Juice

We Love It!

This is a delicious savoury way to start the day, packed with vitality and goodness.

Foodie Fact

Several reasons that barley grass is worth adding to your diet. It contains:

– Five times more iron than brocolli.

– More iron than steak.

– Seven times more vitamin C than orange juice.

– Eleven times more calcium than milk.

Our bodies are mainly too acidic for our own good, leading to many health issues. Barley grass is a strong alkalizer and helps to neutralise the effects of an acidic diet and let our cells get on with their business.

Categories: Breakfast, Juices, Nutrition, Recipes | Tags: acidic diet, alkaline foods, barley grass, carrot, healthy eating, juice, juicing, nutrition, raw food, vegan | 1 Comment

Pineapple and Blueberry Juice

Posted on May 25, 2012 by leroy watson

Pineapple and Blueberries make happy

This mornings juice worked out a treat. The sun is out again, which is a rarity and always cherished. All the windows and doors are open as the Beach House breathes in the warm air. It has been a long cold winter, we need all the sun we can get!

There has been a pineapple ripening on the window ledge for weeks now, getting nice and sweet, waiting for just such a day; when we can close our eyes and outside, drift off with the birdsong. Maybe imagine that there are palm trees swaying above us and pineapples grow freely in the next field. Instead its a fuchsia bush and potatoes that grow, but I wouldn’t change it.

I had the good fortune to stumbled across some luscious looking organic blueberries (unfortunately not from this island) which will complement our lovely tropical friend, adding their vivid dark colour and nutrients to proceedings.

I started the Magimix up and here the rest is here:

The Bits

Half a pineapple chopped into chunks, two good handfuls of blueberries.

Do It

Stick it in the Magimix, blueberries first, followed by the pineapple. We always juice like this, always dense and concentrated first, followed by something juicy/ watery. You will get better extraction of juices.

Pineapple and Blueberry Juice

Serve

Your favourite wine glasses!

Foodie Fact

To grow pineapples all you need to do is chop off the top and plant it! It does take years to grow (which heightens my respect for the fruit) and very tropical conditions. Our pineapple tops add a tropical flavour to our compost bin!

Buster takes in some sun

Categories: Breakfast, Garden, Healthy Eating, Juices, Organic, Raw Food, Recipes, Relax, Vegan, Wales | Tags: blueberry, breakfast, britain, cats, compost bin, food, fruit, garden, grow, health, healthy living, juice, juicing, long cold winter, magimix, organic, pineapple, recipes, summer, sun, tropical flavour, vegan, vegetarian, wales, weather | 2 Comments

Carrot, Orange and Ginger Juice

Posted on May 16, 2012 by leroy watson

Carrot, Orange and Ginger Juice

Playing with the Magimix is becoming a great pastime. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it. All those combos of veg and fruit, it really inspires you to get juicing.

I have been feeling great the last couple of days and I’m putting it down to our new morning juice routine. As they say, “an apple a day keeps the doctors away”. Well I could probably fit seven apples into one glass of juice. That’s putting yourself at some serious distance from that doctor!

Here was todays wonder juice. Granted not the most amazingly original, but a classic combo.

The Bits

4 carrots, 6 oranges, one cube of fresh ginger.

Do It

Juice your oranges first (using your juicer if you have the right fitting, saves plenty of time), then put your ginger in the juicer first, followed by the carrots.

Foodie Fact

This one is jam packed with Vitamin C and A.

Toast the morning, smile and drink…..

Categories: Healthy Living, Juices, Raw Food, Recipes | Tags: apple a day, breakfast, food, ginger juice, happiness, health, healthy living, healthy-living, juice, juicing, morning buzz, nutrition, raw, raw food, recipes, seven apples, vegetarian, Vitamin C | Leave a comment

Green Kiwi Juice

Posted on May 15, 2012 by leroy watson

The bits

Our first juice with the Magimix, quite a moment. I have never had a more pleasing kitchen gadget. The motor purs and hums, no clattering and pops like our old smoothie maker.

I looked at the fruit bowl and veg basket and decided it was a green morning. Kiwi would go very nicely with apple, the cucumber is always refreshing and the pear would add a nice sweetness.

We loaded it all into the extra big funnel and whizzed it up. The Magimix made quick work of it.

The juice was lovely, fresh and sweet, with a good kick of kiwi.

The Bits

2 apples, 1 pear, good chunk of cucumber, 2 kiwis.

Makes enough for two glasses.

Do It

Pop it all in a juicer.

Foodie Fact

Kiwis are sometimes called a Chinese Gooseberry as they are the national fruit of China. They contain more vitamin C than orange, it is also full of Vitamin K and is amazing for protecting our DNA (which is important!).

What a wonderful way to start a day. Let the juice experimenting begin!

Green Kiwi Juice

Categories: Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Juices, Recipes | Tags: apple, breakfast, chinese gooseberry, DNA, food, health, healthy eating, healthy living, juice, juicer, juicing, kitchen gadget, kiwi, magimix, recipes, vitamin K, way to start a day | Leave a comment

The Magimix arrival

Posted on May 15, 2012 by leroy watson

Magimix Arrives

The Magimix juicer arrived yesterday. I was overcome with a ‘child at christmas’ feeling. It’s a heavy thing and as we all know, heavy means quality. A good sign.

The juicer is a ‘Le Duo XL’ and judging by the way it all slots together so well and the 12 year guarantee with the motor, it is a good piece of kit.

We had ordered it in red to go nicely with our utensils and teapot, it fits in perfectly, like its always been there. It boasts an extra large funnel, so whole pieces of fruit and veg can be juiced in one and a citrus press fitting, making OJ nice and easy.

We cannot wait to begin the juicing in the morning. The Magimix will be an essential part of our ‘Raw June‘ Challenge.

We’re getting juicy!

The Magimix Le Duo XL

Categories: Juices, Raw Food | Tags: food, health, juice, juicer, juicing, magimix, raw, raw food, raw juices | Leave a comment

Wonder Pulp – Aloe Vera Juice

Posted on May 9, 2012 by leroy watson

I’ve heard loads of people talking about the benefits of Aloe Vera Juice, in fact, I nearly had a job selling the stuff! The only problem is that I knew very little about it. This was until we were given a bottle of the wonder pulp. It is made by Pukka; organic, ethically sourced, comes in a nice glass bottle, we thought we’d give it a go.

Pukka Aloe Vera Juice

The Aloe plant originates from Northern Africa and it has been used in herbal medicine since the 16th century BC. The flavour is what you’d call an acquired taste (you can flavour it with juices etc) but you’re not drinking this for a Dom Perignon moment. This is all about getting you feeling good from the inside out. Having said that, Aloe Vera is also amazing when rubbed on the skin and has incredible healing effects for burns, scars and many skin conditions like eczema. You get used to the flavour and it does have a very soothing texture and quality.

The Aloe Plant looks alot like the Agave plant, the famous succulent (that’s a type of plant) that is used to make tequila. So technically you are drinking a distant cousin of raw tequila. That’s about as ‘rock and roll’ as the health food industry gets really! You ain’t going to look like Keith Richards drinking this stuff (which is surely a good thing).

Some technical info:

Pure Aloe Vera juice can be extracted by cutting the leaf, collecting the juice and then evaporating it. When used for drinking, the juice provides many benefits. This is due to the fact that it contains 12 vitamins (including A, B1, B6, B12, C and E), 19 amino acids and over 20 minerals, with most of these being essential to the body.

Aloe Vera Plant

In Ayurveda, the Indian health system, Aloe Vera is known as Kumari (‘The Princess’) because of its positive effect on the menstrual cycle and female reproductive system. It is also known for its ability to cleanse the liver and protect the digestive system by reducing intestinal inflammation.

With ‘Raw June’ coming to the BHK, we are stocking up on all things healthy, revitalising and nutritious, it seems like Aloe Vera juice ticks all of these boxes and then some. This bottle of Pukka Aloe Vera Juice now graces our fridge door shelf and we will soon be taking a few teaspoons a day to give us a boost, especially in the first week of the Raw diet, which we hear can be tough.

Just to clarify that we are in no way health experts and all of the medical claims above are exactly that, claims. It is difficult to prove these things conclusively.

Categories: Ayurveda, B.H.K Reviews, Detox, Healthy Living, Juices, Nutrition, Organic, Raw Food | Tags: aloe vera, aloe vera juice, eczema, ethical, food, healing, health, healthy eating, herbal, juices, keith richards, medicine, nature, organic, plants, pukka, raw, raw food, raw juices, rolling stones, superfoods, tequila, treatment, vegan, vegetarian | Leave a comment

RAW! The Beach House goes raw in June

Posted on April 11, 2012 by leroy watson

Fancy a juice?

The Beach House Kitchen is going RAW for June (maybe longer). We are really looking forward to the challenge and the obvious health benefits. Our inspiration for this was a great man named Rob, his enthusiasm for all things raw convinced us to give it a go.

I have some experience with raw food, but would love some advice/ tips/ recipes from avid raw ones. Any ideas would be brilliant.

We are planning to acquire a good juicer/ blender and are fortunate to have a few good organic producers nearby, we may look on-line to get some ingredients in. It won’t all just be juices, I plan on making cakes, raw soups, stews etc. It really is a very diverse and little known area of cooking (or non-cooking). I fully expect a surge in energy levels and a full dose of shiny energy.

All tempting food stuffs will be banished to the garage, the cravings will be tough for the first few days I’m sure. Better that the muesli and coffee is kept under lock and key.

This may sound strange to non-raw folk, but your energy levels go through the roof when you cut out cooked and carbs. We will be going down the raw vegan route, so the lack of dairy gives the system a rest also. One of the primary reasons for the surge in energy is that so much of our energy is diverted to digest the food that we are getting energy from. It’s a roundabout process. Raw food cuts out the work of digestion and leaves the energy to flow to other parts of the body, most notably the brain. You get a real buzz from the raw diet and creativity levels soar.

Here is good Rob’s raw food site, with excellent information on all things raw and juice:

http://www.squidoo.com/raw-food-today#module154034673

I know Rob is a big fan of Matthew Armstrong, so I checked out his stuff. He is certainly an active chap with bags of energy:

This clip goes some way to dispelling the theory that raw foodists suffer from a lack of energy!

We will be keeping a daily (I hope) blog on the Beach House Kitchen about all of our antics, struggles and successes. I hope you join us for the ride.

Categories: Detox, Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Juices, Raw Food, Smoothies, Vegan | Tags: dairy free, food, health, healthy living, healthy-living, juice, juices, Low carbs, matthew armstrong, no carbs, nutrition, raw, raw food, raw juices, raw smoothies, smoothie, vegan, vegetarian, worlds healthiest diet | 3 Comments

The Buzz Smoothie

Posted on March 30, 2012 by leroy watson

The Morning Zing!

It’s called ‘The Buzz’ for a reason. It’s a real lipsmacker!

This beats a double espresso buzz any day. One glass and you’re de-fuzzed. After drinking this concoction, the fruit sugars (fructose) and vitamins get to work and the morning coffee jolt seems a little beige in comparison.

It’s a vibrant looking number and bursting with citrus, sweet apple and carrot flavours. Packed full of all the good stuff that you need in the morning to get you fired up for another day of life. It’s a wake up call for the body and mind.

We don’t have a juicer (yet) so we blitz it all up in a food processor. I imagine these ingredients will make an amazing juice, maybe you’ll need to throw in another carrot or so.

Organic fruit and veg will make all the difference in your juices and smoothies with bags more flavour and juice, even if they cost a few pennies more. They will definitely have more nutrients in them, keeping your insides and outside in better condition. After visiting a few shops in Spain, I feel fortunate that we have the choice of organic in Britain. The carrots in this were particularly special, from Hootons Homegrown, Farm Shop on Anglesey (thats in Wales for global readers). We are blessed with some amazing producers in these parts.

Enjoy responsibly, this is full-on juice!

This recipe will make enough for 4 glasses of what is more a chunky juice than a smoothie. We keep some in the fridge for later, it’s so full of good things that it takes care of any mid-morning hunger pangs.

The Bits

All chopped into chunks – 1 apple (unpeeled), 1 carrot (unpeeled), 2 oranges, 1 grapefruit (a squeeze of lemon if you really want a hit!), 2 cups of filtered water (or 1 cup of water, 1 1/2 cups of ice)

Do It

Put it all in a blender and whizz it up. Taste and add more water if needed.

We Love It!

The colour alone helps get my juices going. We like the balance of sweet and acidic in this one.

Foodie Fact

Grapefruit (Citrus Paradisi or Paradise Citrus in Latin) is full of vitamin C. On average, half a grapefruit contains 75% of your required Vitamin C for the day. It also contains the super antioxidant lycopene.

Without getting to grim and technical, eating more grapefruit (and Organic fruit and vegetables) lessens your chances of catching things and dying in general. Hooray!