Cocoa Loco Juice

Hello! Hello! This is a drive by blogging - just before a cheeky workout with el podgero*. I have been juicing pretty much every day for at least a year now - and while I love all the combinations that veggies and fruits offer - I confess I tend to stick with some old faithfuls and I was getting a little bored.

Juicing is healthy, fun and easy but come winter it's easy to swerve the undoubted wonderment of juice and head to the sandwhich aisle. Fine - if you're all good with wheat - but the grain doesn't love me.

So here for you is an accidental discovery - made this afternoon. I just needed something naughty!
 
I give you a beet juice with choccy woccy happyness thrown in...

Chorizo & Barley Autumn Splodge

Hey! It's here... The golden tones of Autumn have crept up on my garden this year and the shift in the temperature has felt a little sudden for my liking. Still I'm dragging out my long boots, checking my cardies for holes and digging out my scarves and gloves ready for chillier mornings and leafy swish - swish walks.

To celebrate the changing of the season & the scoring of a sixer of lush chorizo inspired sausages from my local butcher I made a simple, insanely tasty one pan dish this week.

I give you Chorizo & Pearl Barley Autumn Splodge - it's a sort of thick, stick to your bones kind of a dish - so it's doesn't qualify as a stew. If you would like to experiment with other grains - this is a great way to get into pearl barley - you could also use pearled spelt too - it's a bit more pricey!

More Spelt & Fish | Salmon

My experiments with spelt continue. We're loving the nutty, chewy taste & it plays really well with nuts and beans. This is a little dish of loveliness I knocked up after scoring the most beautiful, fat, creamy avocado at the grocers. 

I think this recipe would also work with pearl barley which is a more hum drum ingredient & costs way less. 

Spelty Trout & Courgette Ribbon Salad

Yoo hoo! I'm experimenting this week with new grains. I'm trying out spelt tonight. Pearled Spelt - which has the rough outer jacket bashed off and makes it quicker to cook.

My good friend Aisha introduced me to this lovely nutty grain recently when she blew me away with a spelt, walnut and butternut squash recipe. It was just heavenly with some shaved mature, hard goats cheese. Oh lordy I'm hooked.

So tonight I'm having a go and in true cheffy style I'm using what I've got in my fridge.

Armed with some trout fillets & a couple of courgettes we're off!

Apols re: lack of pics - I'm having problems uploading... bear with... x

Marty's Smarty Joint Juice

Marty's off again on another juicy adventure - this time he's so close to goal he can taste it. Now one of the reasons our Mart is so hell bent on getting the weight off is to be slim enough to have his hip replacement ops.

He suffers with his joints and as he's off on another longish Juice Feast in a few days. I thought I'd come up with a juice that will help his old joints - while he's focusing on losing a few more pounds.

This juice uses fruit and veg rich in antioxidents and copper and has a little belt of omega 3 rich linseed oil.

Now most of the studies of arthritis and oil are done with fish oils - but I'm thinking fish oil would just taste nasty in a juice. So I've gone for Linseed.

If you are keen on getting more omegas into your diet - then using veggie oils is a really good way - but remember, heating them destroys much of their potency - and left out on the side, they can go rancid too.

So do your oils a favour and keep them in the fridgey box.

The cart is nothing to do with the juice - but it is orange and I like the idea of mart taking his juicer on the road in a beautiful gypsy wagon...

To the recipe!

Outrageous Smoothie!

I needed something quick for lunch this afternoon. Running late for a hospital appointment & needing sustenance that wouldn't sit heavy in my belly, I flung together a smoothie & it tasted so good I came back for seconds mid afternoon! Norty... I was too busy to take a pic, but the first one was a delicate pale pistachio colour, so elegant. In the 80's it would have been called  eau de nil. I had a pair of shoes from Hobbs the exact colour.

God I loved those shoes. I wore them through to the soles of my feet with the perfect dress from French Connection.

Sweet Potato & New Potatoes with Fancy Tomato Dressing

Hello!

Enjoying Summer? I am! I made griddled chicken last night and along with steamed broccoli florets & julienned red pepper I made a lovely potato dish with a spikey dressing that started off with an Italian vibe and then wandered off.

If you've got a blender, or a good handheld stick - you can make this quickly - and it will transform spuds and butternut squash - I think it would work as a salad dressing and even a pasta sauce with some shaved parmesan, whole olives & extra fresh ripped basil!

To the recipe and don't spare the horses madam!

Happy Glow Juice

My very expensive, and jolly fancy juicer has been packed off to the supplier after the second one in 3 months failed. Which leaves me with my old faithful Kenwood - 20 years old and still managing to make great juice. It isn't as efficient, struggling along with a 250w motor as it is - but it has a new blade and if you don't mind the froth - job's a good 'un.

I made a great juice this afternoon - thought I'd share it. It's one of those - lob in what you've got in the fridgey cupboard and trust to the Juicy Gods that it will be drinkable.

Turns out - I'm good at this mixology game!

Sunshine Happy Juice

Yoo Hoo! I'm nearing the end of a Big Summer Juice Detox. 7 days of juice only deliciousness -and in this heat, turns out it's the perfect way to stay cool, hydrated and well fed. Hooray for Summer. Hooray for Juicey Highs and Hooray for Me!

There is a fully worked out plan that you can follow and if you are interested and fancy a go. I warmly recommend www.juicemaster.co.uk (there's an Australian site too). You don't have to buy the book, although if you are new to juicing then Slim4Life or the 7lbs in 7 Days books will set you up really well. Or you can simply follow along using the app or the wall chart - both are pretty cheap.

This is not the juice you are looking for**

You do need a juicer and a decent blender. Other than that - it's a trip to the fruit and veg shop & you're off! Expect headaches and some detox symptoms if you are a dedicated sugar and caffeine fiend - by day 3 or 4 you'll be over the worst and jumping about like a toddler!

Now then - I'm not as excited by the juices on the 7 Day Plan as I am a fan of Jason Vale's other juice plan recipes  so I have gone off piste with a few of my own - using the fruits and veggies that are good and cheap in my local grocery shops.

(I live on the longest street of independent shops in the UK - so I am a lucky duck. Throw a grape and you'll hit a grocery store. Then there are the deals on at the local supermarket and several local organic box suppliers not to mention the Sunday fruit and veg market! 

Yesterday on my way back from yoga, I scored a huge bag of nectarines and some baby gem lettuces for a song. I don't mind if the nectarines don't soften as they ripen - because I'm planning on slinging them in the juicer!)

To the recipe!

Betty Boop Beet Berry Heaven Juice

This is heavenly - the colour is the colour of a wicked girl's knickers and it tastes just as naughty. The great news is - it's so good for ya - you can do something scurrilous later and your naughty/nice balance will still be even!

You do need a juicer and a good strong hand blender to make this lovely juice. 

Ingredients:
2 raw boop boop beetroots (don't even think of using cooked)
1 apple
1 nectarine (stoned - oh I'm so resisting the joke... it's killing me!)
1 parsnip (don't panic - you won't taste it, it adds body and goodness)
small handful of frozen mixed berries (or you can use fresh blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, whatever berry you like)
1 large chunk of lemon, rind on (more or less, depending on how zingy you like it)

Method:
Juice the beets, lemon and then put through the parsnip, nectarine and the apple.

Add the berries (frozen or fresh) to the beaker and blend with the hand blender. Add ice if you're using fresh berries and you like it cold.

Find out what's in it...

Mart's Summer Sunshine Juice

My friend Mart is off on another of his juice odysseys. His first was inspired by the documentary made by Joe Cross - Fat  Sick & Nearly Dead - which is on TV this week. It's a great watch and after stumbling across it on you tube, Mart did a long juice feast himself with the blessing of his doctor - who incidentally has been amazed at his success. He's lost weight, come off any number of pills and improved his health massively. 

So now he's setting out to lose some weight in advance of an important operation in September.  This time, I thought I might support him in a more practical way - than just yipping on his blog* each time he loses a llb!


So here is my first attempt at a lovely juice for lovely mart x.

Power Oats | The Breakfast of Queens...

I've been on a bit of a journey lately - and in my quest to pack my day with delicious and high value nutritious food, I've tweaked my beloved oats to deliver some serious extra 'ooomph'!

I promise you if you try this - you'll sail through your morning to lunchtime without one single snack machine drive by... Terrue!

There are a few ingredients in it that you might not have kicking around your kitchen, but you can get the lot at Holland and Barrett and if like me you prefer to buy a little more cheaply - then try online. I have a cupboard full to bursting with seeds, and nuts at 1/3 of the price of high street 'health food' outlets!

Punk Pumpkin Swoop with Garlic and Chorizo

For the last couple of weeks - me and him have been suffering with a low lying bug. THE best cure is rest and plenty, plenty garlic. So here is the perfect swoop for when you're feeling miserable and sniffley. If the snot-monster's got you in his clutches - beat him off with a huge steaming bowl of Punk Pumpkin - TAKE THAT YOU BAD MONSTER!