My family started juicing a year ago at the start of summer. We had an economical juicer model with huge determination to give juicing a solid go. Turns out we didn’t love it. It was a ton of work, there was an awful lot of waste (pulp), it cost a fortune in fresh fruits and veggies and cleaning that juicer was a pain in the butt. Where we lived, hard water deposits or something worse grew on the pieces parts and that too creeped me out.
The trouble is we definitely liked what juicing did for our bodies. My head felt like I had a shot of Clear Brain every time I slugged down my morning juice, aka the Daily Grog. Ours became a healthy dose of green cabbage, beet root, celery, spinach, green apple and ginger. It burned going down but it was sooo good coming out. oops. Just erase that last part from your mind…
Once I was no longer working we had to come up with another option. We weren’t going to give up what we lovingly came to know as Grog.
I got a 2nd tier economy blender of the Ninja variety. I started blending the same ingredients which was a major improvement on taste but also on budget. We weren’t throwing out the pulp because it was now super blended. (Oh the money I threw away before! I try not to think about it.)
The daily making of juice became too tedious so I began making up a few quarts of it at a time. In the picture above you see the first layer of green which which is one blender full, then the 2nd which is a bit darker and finally the red which is all the beet and whatever fruit I toss in. Three blenders full each. Once they are all full I put the lid on and shake or if I have time I’ll actually dump the contents of each one back in the blender and give it a few pulses before re-bottling.
Grog has evolved. I’m now using a 1st ferment on kefir water (more on this in another post) so that we now have cheapo probiotics in our daily Grog. I use one of my recycled salad dressing jars to package up my husband’s morning Grog and he can drink it on the way in to work.
Here is how I make my Grog. Mind you, the ingredients change often depending on what I have available but this is the base that I usually use. I make such a big batch of it because let’s face it, it’s a lot of work. I’m just going to tell you what I use. Feel free to own this thing and make your own Grog that works for you. Your tastes, your likes, your budget. You get it.
Daily Grog Recipe by Mammawrites
1st layer of green:
3 fresh avocados (pitted and peeled)
1 to 2 Green apples (I wash, core and peel)
Fill with water or kefir water 1st ferment to 72 oz line
Using a funnel, add this to the three containers
2nd layer of green:
spinach and kale (I buy a bag from Costco) and fill the blender at least half way *see below for substitution
1-2″ ginger root (we like it spicy and I don’t bother to peel)
1 Tablespoon of ground pepper (again, we like it spicy)
1 Tablespoon of ground Tumeric
4 Tablespoons of Maca Powder
Enough water (or in my case Kefir water 1st ferment) to fill to the 72 oz line
Using a funnel, add this to the three containers
3rd layer of red:
3 large beet roots (peeled, chopped. If you’ve got the leaves, I wash, chop, and freeze those and use if I run out of beet root).
1 cup of frozen berries (we like mixed berry or strawberry) or whatever aging fresh I have on hand
Fill water or Kefir Water 1st Ferment to the 72 oz line
Sometimes I will add some greek vanilla yogurt if I have it as well as any left over veggie or fruit juice if I feel like it.
Using a funnel, add this to the three containers
Mix Each Bottle by shaking like crazy or toss the contents of each in the blender, pulse and re-bottle.
This lasts us 3 to 4 days in the fridge and we have 3 people drinking sometimes twice daily. We usually have about 10 oz as a serving. Sorry, I have no idea what calories, etc. are involved here. It’s just our thing and we have become accustomed to it.
*If Costco is out of spinach/kale, I substitute with a container of the organic baby spinach (which I freeze) and 2 heads of fresh organic kale. I won’t use all of this but I literally try to cram as much of each as I can fit in the pitcher part of my blender. The rest I freeze so I can use it for the next batch.
May the Grog be With You!
Heidi Macomber 