Juicing

I am blessed in that I can eat pretty much anything, and thrive on a diet that includes a lot of vegetables, both raw and cooked.  But not everyone has the time, desire, or digestive track to consume copious amounts of vegetables. I think that juicing is a good way get nutrition from raw vegetables (and fruit too) if you need easy to digest calories because of health issues or endurance exercise and you don't want empty calories.  Unfortunately, juicing has more hype surrounding it that most food preparation methods, with health claims that are more false than true. Finding recipes for juices are a challenge, you need to wade through all sorts of weight loss advertising and "cleanses" which don't have any scientific basis.   And what you find are hundreds of seemingly random combinations of fruits and vegetables with vague quantities and no yields.  Which all just brings out the engineer in me.  I had the chance to do some experimenting with my mom's juicer, and here is what I learned.

Yields...  Most vegetables yield about 50% juice... If you start with a pound (16 ounces) you end up with 8 ounces. Celery is particularly juicy, you get about 75% juice, cucumbers and bell peppers will also will yield more than average.  Fruit, like apples and oranges, yields around 75% juice.   So if you want 10 ounces of finished juice, you should start with about 7 - 8 ounces of fruit or juicy vegetables, and 10 ounces of veggies (just over a pound total).

Flavors... In general, juicing concentrates flavors.  If you don't like the vegetable, you won't like the juice, so don't think that juicing is a good way to get lots of the vegetables you don't like.   Fruit and juicy vegetables are more neutral in flavor (but still there).  Ginger is especially strong, a piece the size of the end of your little finger will go a long way. Vegetables with bitter flavors (spinach, broccoli) will have juice with bitter undertones, and if you are not a fan of bitter, don't use too much of these, there is only so much you can cover up with sweeter or stronger flavors.  My mom even found she could taste the bitterness of carrot peels in the juice, and prefers to peel the carrots first.

Color...  You can get some beautiful red or green juices.  For red, beets, pomegranate pips, red bell peppers, and carrot all give a nice color.  For green, greens (spinach, herbs, broccoli, etc) will add vibrant green to a neutral base.   However, a mix of red and green can result in a fairly  mucky (i.e. swamp water) looking juice, which might taste fine, but you have to get it past your eyes first.

Juices are best when they are first made.  The same reaction that causes cut fruit (like apples) or vegetables to turn brown happens with the juice.  The mint that I juiced had a noticeable brown layer on top after sitting on the counter for an hour or so.   That said, the juices will still be tastely after being in the fridge (sealed in a glass container) up to a day but not longer.  There is a lot written about how the enzymes and other nutrients will drop over time, but it's not clear there is any science behind this (other that the drop that occurs for all vegetables starting when they are harvested).

So here is my advice.  Don't worry about a recipe, because even if you find ones that look interesting, you likely don't have everything on hand  (they are useful to give you thoughts about what else to juice, but leave it at that).    I liked a blend of juicy things (orange, apple, celery or cucumbers)  as a base plus some greens and root vegetables to get a nice color, more flavor and body plus a flavor pop from something like ginger, lime, and/or lemon.  Herbs like mint also give a nice pop, and sometimes a little salt is needed.  Like anything, you need to have a balance between the sweet / sour (acid - like lemon juice) / bitter / spice that can only come from tasting then adjusting.  Salt will balance bitter and grassy flavors, acid will brighten the taste.  Also, mix it up as you are putting stuff through the juicer, end with a good bit of the base, as some of this will stay in the juicer (for example, if you put the ginger in last, you would not get much of it out).  

One thing that everyone needs to tailor is sweetness.  You can do all fruit juice blends and they will be tasty.  But this is a big pop of sugar without the fiber of fruit, which I don't think is the best thing for you other than as a treat, like dessert.  The trick is to put in enough fruit to provide sweetness so its drinkable. Here is another bloggers input on juicing, which comes to the same conclusion.  I liked juices that had a good base of celery or cucumber, some sweeter vegetables like carrot or beet, plus a good hit of lemon or lime and ginger, but most people like to have a bit more sweet from fruit.  And when looking at the juice that you can buy at juice bars, they almost always have a good fruity base (so think of these as a treat, not a wholesome meal).

I'm not ready to go out an get a juicer of my own, but really glad I got to try one out.  Next I'll have to experiment with a Vitamix and smoothies.  Any volunteers with a Vitamix?

Less is more

First: yes this ironic coming from me. But with 2 kitchens, I have discovered something: you might have enough stuff in your house to equip 2 kitchens.  Sure, there are a few things you will want to duplicate, because they are perfect and you use them everyday.  But beyond the basics, having more stuff in your kitchen will not made you cook more. Or be a better cook.  In fact, having more stuff will slow you down. If you have to dig through the utensil drawer to find your favorite spatula (and in those of you fortunate to have large kitchens, look through 3 utensil drawers to find that spatula), it delays getting dinner on the table – no matter how many time savings gadgets are in that drawer. 

So apply those same rules that you are supposed to use for your closet:  if you haven’t used it in a year, get rid of it.  Yes, make exceptions for those special event type pans, but don’t put them in prime locations.  If it doesn’t fit (your dishwasher, your lifestyle, or your cupboard), find it a new home.  If you never run out of something because they are all in the dishwasher, you probably have too many.   If you love a pan but don’t use it, try using it differently.  For example, I received a really nice ceramic pie pan as a gift.  I loved it.  But it was a little deep for a pumpkin pie. Apple pies have been replaced by apple galettes in my kitchen.  It moved to the 2nd kitchen and gets used for quiche and cakes (since I don’t have quiche or round cake pans), used for serving, used for holding breading for chicken. It even has been used for pumpkin pie.  It does the work of 5 different cooking tools!

Don’t stop with the pots and utensils.  If there is food that has been in your house for over a year … realize it needs to go, no matter how healthy it is (or was), how enticing it looked at the store, or how well intentioned a gift it was.  If you have to dig through your freezer and dig through your cabinets to find what you need to get dinner on the table, dinner will take longer to make. 

The real irony:  Having fewer options will make you a better cook.  If you cook the same things over and over, you get good (and fast) at fixing that thing.  If you don’t have a pan or ingredient the recipe calls for, you will learn to be creative.  If only I was good at applying this logic to my closet. 

I will close this rant with a simple recipe that I learned from my mom. 

Ice Tea:  

Use whatever tea you like.  I generally use green tea, and sometimes mix green tea and ginger tea.  This works for black tea too.

6 – 8 tea bags (depending on how strong you like your tea)

2 quarts of water

Put the water and tea bags in a pitcher.  Put in the refrigerator.  The next day, remove the tea bags.  The tea is ready to drink. 

Chocolate Milk

I’m not a vegetarian, but I find myself going days at a time without eating meat (except maybe some bacon in my beans). Sometimes I wonder if I get enough protein, especially with the studies that say athletes need extra protein. (I finally am comfortable with calling myself an artist… I wonder when I will be comfortable with an “athlete” label.) 

Protein requirements are typically given as “grams per kilogram body weight”, something completely non-intuitive to me (like how much bacon is this?). I think it’s much easier to understand a % of total calories. The protein requirement per the FDA (after the math of grams and calories and body weight* ) is about 10% of calories from protein. But there are lots of studies**  that say for more active people, like athletes and kids, more protein is needed, closer to 15 or 20% of calories. But food labels don’t conveniently label anything but the total grams of protein (1 gram of protein is 4 calories). NOTE: I’m not a doctor or dietitian, if you are not eating nearly enough calories to maintain your body weight or have other special diet needs, this might not apply. 

My (simple) system is to think of foods as low protein (less than 10% of calories are from protein), adequate protein (10-20%), and high protein. I’ve done some math to provide some examples as a frame of reference:

High protein:

Meat and Eggs: No surprise, meat is high in protein. Most meats and whole eggs are around 40% (+/-5%) protein calories. This would be lean sirloin steak, pork chops, or chicken with skin. 

But prime cut steaks (like a nice rib eye) are likely only getting 25 – 30% of calories from protein. Bacon is 25% protein. Since meat has lots of calories, you are getting lots of protein.

Protein as a percentage gets higher when you start stripping fat from meat – skinless chicken breast is about 80% protein calories, egg whites are over 90%.

Dairy varies quite a bit depending on how much fat, but lowfat (1%) milk is 30%, cheddar cheese is 25% protein calories.

Beans fall into the high protein group: they typically get 20 – 25% of their calories from protein, they have lots of carbs instead of fat to go with the protein.

Some vegetables even fall into the high protein group: Broccoli is about 30%, yes, calorie for calorie, you might be getting more protein from the broccoli than steak (but its tough to eat 500 calories of broccoli). 50% of the calories in mushrooms come from protein. Lettuce is also over 30%.

Adequate (10-20%) protein:

Most “starches” like pasta, oats, bread, quinoa are in the 15 – 20% range. Rice and potatoes are around 10%, maybe a bit lower. Nuts fall into this group, ranging from walnuts at 9% to almonds at 14% to peanuts at 19%.

Low protein foods (<10%):

Most fruit comes in at under 5%. Many vegetables (carrots, squash) are in the 5-10% range.

No protein foods: (0%).

Sugar and Fat. So anything that contains lots sugar and/or fat will be low protein. For example, if you add large fries and a coke to your Quarter Pounder (which is about 25% protein), the meal comes to just 11% protein. Not enough protein for the athletes (who are really the only ones that afford the 1300 calorie meal).

If you are eating a variety of whole foods, you probably don’t need to worry much about getting enough protein, even if you are not eating meat, even if you are exercising. In fact, my guess is that in the US, too much protein a bigger problem than not enough. It is believed that too much protein is hard on the kidneys and liver, and contributes to osteoporosis and kidney stones. If you eat meat every day and/or use protein supplements, I would recommend counting your protein consumption for a day or two. There are several web-based and iPad/Phone app’s available to do this, I have used MyFitnessPal but not convinced it’s the best. I have heard of a couple of others I am planning to try out (stay tuned for a future post).

Congratulations if you have made it this far! As your reward, I will share my latest favorite-after-running snack… Lots more protein than just a banana!

Chocolate Milk
1 Serving

½ a large ripe banana, or 1 small, best if it’s been in the refrigerator
1 spoonful peanut butter or almond butter (about 1/2 a tablespoon)
1 big spoonful of cocoa powder (1 1/2 tablespoons)
8 ounces unsweetened soy milk (or other milk of choice)

Cut banana up into small pieces into a cup suitable for use with immersion blender. Add nut butter, cocoa, and milk. Blend until smooth with immersion blender.

224 Calories, 20% protein

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Notes:
** See the Wikipedia post, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_(nutrient) for lots more detail. 

* If you want to do the math, here are the recommendations: 

1 gram of protein is 4 calories

Sedentary person: 0.8 g/kg per kg body weight
Endurance athletes: 1.2–1.4 g per kg body weight
Strength-training athletes 1.4–1.8 g per kg body weight

Lemonade

As I am now the proud owner of an old and large lemon tree, expect to see more recipes that call for lemons. As an added benefit, the tree is in California, near the ocean, where the lemons can just hang on the tree all year as opposed to Arizona, where lemons turn to mush when it hits 100F.

I'm just not used to drinking really sweet stuff: I have weened myself off any kind of soda (and for that matter, rarely drink juice). But I like lemonade, and have adjusted the typical recipes (which typically call for a cup or more of sugar) to one that fits my taste and my lemons.

Lemonade

1 ¼ cups lemon juice *

¼ cup sugar **

Optional: a few thin slices of lemon

Dissolve sugar in a ½ cup or so of boiling water. Add some ice cubes to cool off. Put lemon juice, sugar syrup, and enough water and ice to fill a 2 quart container. Garnish glasses or pitcher with lemon slices

* Suspect that if you are using fully ripe Meyer lemons, you should use a bit more, and if more sour store-bought lemons, a little less.

** at this sugar level, there is a little less than 10g of sugar per 12 ounces, compared to 33g for your basic cola. Still not something I will guzzle by the gallon, but very nice treat.