Apples are our ingredient of the season. Before falling down the rabbit trap of indulgent baked goods, we’re kicking of this series with a wholesome, homemade juice.  

Now that apple season has arrived, I find myself juicing those little gems on the daily.  We have a whole host of apple beverages in store for you this season, but we thought we would start out with some fresh cold juice while the weather is still warm.  I never feel better than when I wake up and immediately make myself a big jar of juice and a cup of coffee.  It’s 1 part routine, 1 part you’re doing yourself a favor-if you know what I mean.  I’m also not a big breakfast eater, so juicing allows me to fuel my bod without munching too early, which I almost never have the appetite for.

For this recipe you’ll need a juicer or an extremely high-powered blender like the Vitamix.  I currently use this Breville juicer, but this Omega juicer is another favorite of mine.

Supplies:

• Juicer (see above)
• 16 oz Jar or BIG glass.
• Chef’s knife
• Compost pile 😉

Ingredients:

• Pile of red delicious apples (about seven or eight)
• 3 big carrots
• 1 inch chunk of fresh ginger

The process:

• Rinse your apples and scrub your carrots.
• Trim off the ends of the carrots and juice on the high setting. By the way, I don’t peel my carrots because most of the nutrients are in or just below the skin. As long as you scrub your carrots throughly, leave the skin on.  You want to end up with about 6 oz of fresh carrot juice.
• Using a sharp chef’s knife, cut your apples in quarters.  The seeds should fall right out of your apples.  I don’t like to process apple seeds through my juicer or blender because it inevitably destroys the seed’s protective coating and therefore adds a bit of poison to my drink.  By no means is it lethal, but I figure the less toxins the better. I also pluck or cut off the stems. Again, I like to leave the skin on.  Apparently 1/3 of an apple’s fiber is found in the skin, who knew?
• Toss several pieces of apple into your juicer at a time using the low setting.  Continue juicing until you have about 10 oz of fresh apple juice.
• Peel your ginger with a spoon. (Am I the only one who found out about that trick way too late in life?) You can either toss the ginger chunk in your juicer or blender or you can grate it directly into your juice.  I always grate it right into my drink because I feel that nothing is lost that way.
• If you’re drinking out of a mason jar, put a lid on it and shake it up really well. If you’re using a big glass, give it a few good stirs with a spoon or straw. Throw in a few ice cubes and enjoy your sweet and spicy juice drink!
• *Pro Tip Sarah Tip: The sooner you clean your juicer the easier it is. I swear it gets exponentially harder by the minute. I like to stash my juice in the fridge so it gets a bit colder while I clean everything up and then I like to sit back and enjoy my juice, but hey, it’s your life 😉

Like I said, I love this apple, carrot, ginger juice in the morning.  It’s the perfect combination of sweet and spicy.  To be honest, you really can’t taste the carrot.  It is kind of just there to cut the sweetness of the apples and add a big more nutrients. Please tell me you’ll try this juice for breakfast one day.  It’s like you are being woken up by the sound of the breeze rustling through dry leaves. Except it’s your stomach that’s being woken up and the breeze is the ginger and the dry leaves are the apples and carrots. Yep, that’s how I’m signing off. If you’re not sold now, I don’t know what else I can tell you!

I lied, I have more to say, I mentioned that you need a compost pile.  As you can see, there is a lot of pulp left over.  Please don’t throw this in the trash.  Throw it on your compost pile, your community’s compost pile, your favorite farmer’s compost pile, use it in your worm factory or maybe even in another recipe. I’m actually going to try to bake with my carrot and apple pulp right now.  If it works out, you’ll see a recipe on here in the future. Ok, now I’m out!