Green juices. They’re nutrient dense, they’re refreshing…and to be honest some of them are taste intensely “green”. My mission today is to share a green juice recipe that’s not only delicious, incredibly nutrient dense, while not loaded with sugar as many juices can be. Oh, and not to mention, you can totally make this using a blender! Learn how to make green juice with a little kick, without a juicer.
Juice, with a kick!
I don’t post too many juice recipes, but when I do they’re ones I routinely enjoy myself and are always heavy on the greens and lower in fruit. If you’re new to juicing, I highly recommend taking a quick peek at my Juicing 101 guide and Green Smoothies 101 guide to share more detail about the difference between a juice and smoothie and what I look for in both! Most days I enjoy smoothies since they contain the entire fruit or vegetable, fiber included which is much more satiating; yet there are times when juicing is really beneficial. For example, whenever you’re in need of a nutrient boost, feeling low in energy, combating a cold/flu and it’s hard to eat as many vegetables, or just want to squeeze in a couple extra servings of veggies that are otherwise difficult to get in- the Green Fiesta Juice perfect for this.
If putting a jalapeno in your green juice kind of freaks you out, you’re not alone. When I first made this for my friends, they were like “McKel….” that’s always a good sign when they initially question a radical recipe ha! Needless to say, they ended up loving it. Jalapenos like all peppers contain a certain amount of capsaicin which may help boost our metabolism (although research is lacking here), and much of this compound is found in the membrane surrounding the seeds which we often pick off while cutting peppers. Picking the right jalapeno depends on the color and size- the older the jalapeno, the redder and the hotter it is. In this recipe I use green jalapenos, but I’d be the last person to stop you from using a hotter pepper variety- I love heat!
I enjoy this juice most served on ice to get the juice really cold, the combination of heat from the jalapeno and chill from the ice is amazing, especially amazing when sitting on the porch in the heat, sun beaming down, soft breeze, toes in the grass, and little Zoey snuggled by my side. You can make a large batch of this to share with friends and family at your next outdoor picnic, to make the servings go further (i.e. serve more without making gallons of fresh juice), simply mix it with a sparkling water or club soda and fresh lime to create a nice little spicy green spritzer. It’s sublime!
HOW TO JUICE…SANS JUICER
1.
In a blender, preferably high-speed, add all ingredients for your juice with 1 cup of filtered water.
2.
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Add as little water as possible, blending the mixture until it’s completely pureed and juices have extracted from the cell walls of the whole foods (i.e. fruits and vegetables!).
3.
Using a nut milk bag/cheesecloth, line a large mixing bowl until the entire bowl has been lined. Pour the juice mixture into the nut milk bag/cheesecloth. The pulp will be caught in the cloth, creating a natural filter. Wait until all the liquid has settled into the large mixing bowl and then take each side of the cloth and bring it up to form an enclosed cloth “ball” around the pulp within.
4.
Squeeze the pulp in the cloth until no more liquid pouring into the large mixing bowl. The liquid that remains in the large mixing bowl after squeezing the pulp, will be the green juice!
5.
Store in an airtight glass jar, mason jar, pitcher, etc., for up to 4 days. Serve chilled. Enjoy!
- 1 bunch kale (optional)
- 1/2-1 head of romaine
- 1 whole english cucumber
- 6 stalks celery
- 1/2 pear
- 1 green apple
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, mint, cilantro (optional)
- 1 jalapeno
- 1 inch peeled ginger root
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 2 cups water
- Add all ingredients to a high speed blender and blend until smooth.
- Using your nut milk bag/cheesecloth, line a large mixing bowl until the entire bowl has been lined.
- Pour the juice mixture into the nut milk bag/cheesecloth.
- The pulp of the juice will be caught in the cloth, creating a natural filter.
- Wait until all the liquid has settled into the large mixing bowl and then take each side of the cloth and bring it up to form an enclosed cloth “ball” around the nut/seed pulp within.
- Squeeze the pulp in the cloth until no more liquid pouring into the large mixing bowl.
- The liquid that remains in the large mixing bowl after squeezing the pulp, will be the juice.
- Store in an air tight glass jar, mason jar, pitcher, etc., for up to 4 days.
- Serve chilled.
- Enjoy!
The best remedy to get jalapeno off your hands!
I’m sharing this little tid-bit of information with you all because I’ve been there before and experienced the pain of having lingering jalapeno juice on my hands then taking out my contacts or touching my face later to realize…ow, it’s burning.
- Wear gloves: not my favorite option and honestly never use them, but it’s an option!
- Coat your hands in oil: this is my favorite! Coconut oil is my go to, but just coating them like you would a hand lotion is good enough. Remember, oil likes oil therefore oil will help dissolve oil!
- Vodka: yep, a splash of alcohol or rubbing alcohol can help dissolve the pepper oils
- Lime juice + salt: squeeze a little lime juice and sea salt, rub together, rinse, and you’re good to go!
IN OTHER NEWS…
Read my snack breakdowns for Bon Appetit staffers- the good, the bad, and the healthy in the series Snack, Attacked!
I hope you all found this tutorial helpful, just in case you don’t have a juicer doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the benefits of green juices. Enjoy!
xx McKel
