Quick and Painless Juicing

 

It's no secret that the WORST part of juicing is the clean up.  Juicing can be extremely time consuming and tedious but don't let that prevent you from juicing all together.  Here are some tips to make juicing quick and painless.  

Here is a list of things you will need. 

1. A Juicer 
2. Fruit and Veggies
3. Paper Towels 
4. All-Purpose Cleaner 
5. A GOOD knife.  (if you don't have one.. invest. It will make your life a lot easier) 
6. A Beach Towel 
7. A trash can/bag 
8. Grocery Bags 
9. A Big Bowl 
10. A Cutting Board 

Tip #1  ALWAYS, always, always, ALWAYS clean your juicer immediately after juicing.  If you leave pulp in your juicer all day it will dry up, making it nearly impossible to clean out. 

Tip #2  Take REALLY good care of the strainer.  That's the most important part of your juicer.  If your juicer did not come with a scrubbing brush I recommend going out and purchasing one (probably the one that has a soap dispenser) It is very important that no pulp is left on the strainer after making fresh juice.

Tip #3  Use warm water when cleaning your juicer out... it will simply make your life a lot easier.

Tip #4   Clean as you go... Juicing can get messy.  I find  it a lot easier to clean up a few small messes rather than one large one.  

Tip #5  Clean your juicer piece by piece.  I usually take off the smallest piece first, rinse that, and then go on to the next piece.  Before you know it, you'll this down to a science!

Here's run down of my juicing process....

I always assemble my juicer first. I use my left over grocery bags as "trash bag" for the pulp.

  After I've done that I lay a beach towel down on the floor because juicing gets messy no matter how careful I try and be (Juice spilling, fruit falling etc.)  Then I place a Trader Joe's paper bag to the left of where I'll be standing so I can throw all the peels that I cut off into the trash bag immediately.  If you have a trash can that is easy to move around you can also use that. 

 

 Once I have all of that done I like to get out the fruits and veggies I'll be using.  I also get out my cutting board, knife, bowl, and the mason jars I store my juice in.  I then clean all my produce and start cutting everything up....

As I clean and cut everything up, I throw the ready-to-go stuff in a bowl.  I find it easier to grab out of a bowl rather than trying to reach all over the counter. 

I throw all of my peels in the trash right away so I don't have a million things all over the counter. 

 Then I just start grabbin' from my bowl and start juicin' away...

Once I have all my juice made I start rinsing off my juicer piece by piece with warm water.  I then toss the pulp out (if I'm not re-using it)  

 Once I have my juicer cleaned I then wipe off my counter tops ASAP.  You never want to skip this step or else you will be left with some sticky counter tops.  After that, I usually shake out my beach towel and then toss it in the washing machine.  

I know the clean up seems like such a long process but you will develop a routine over time, I promise! And the results you'll get from juicing will be so worth it :) 

P.S.  Summer is right around the corner!!! 

Have a very blessed week and happy juicing!!! 

XoXo

Ashley

For Daily Tips and Recipes follow me on: 

Instagram: ashleynicolemora1 

Twitter: MissAshleyMoora 

P.S.S. I never thought I would feel comfortable walking around with stomach showing... Like ever.  If I can do it... You can do it! 

15 Ways to Use the Leftover Pulp from your Juicer!

If you are anything like me, one of the not so great parts about juicing is feeling like you waste so much. (and after spending a fortune on fresh produce this thought can be very aggravating... I know) Well, here are a few ways you can use all of the pulp from your juicer!

1.  Freeze it and save it for later use! It may lose some of the nutrient value by sticking it in the freezer however, you will still have a significant amount of fiber left in pulp!  (Place fruit and Veggie pulp in separate containers)

2.  Fruit pulp can be used to add a little kick to your smoothies, muffins, bread, cookies, bread, granola bars, pie or cobblers. You can blend it up or cook it! 

3.  Meat Loaf:  Add some fresh vegetable pulp to your meat loaf to make for a healthier and more delicious meal! (Use ground turkey to make it even more healthy)

4.  Omelets:  Add some veggies to your eggs with fresh vegetable pulp... so good!

5.  Soups:  Try making a vegetable soup with fresh juice and add some pulp for flavor and texture

6.  Lasagna:  There are some REALLY good spaghetti squash recipes out there, add some fresh veggie pulp for even more flavor with a healthy lasagna!

7.  Put it back into your garden:  If you have a garden you can use pulp as fertilizer or maybe you don't want to cook with the extra pulp,  just throw it anywhere in your backyard and let the earth do it's thing with it.  Might as well not waste it!

8.  Bulk your burgers up with some vegetable pulp.  

9.  For those with young kids:  You can sneak some of pulp into some everyday food.  For example, take some traditional Mac&Cheese and add some spinach, tomato, or kale pulp into their food and BAM, kids are gettin' more veggies! 

10.  DIY Salad Dressings:  With some fresh pulp, a little olive oil, and some vinegar you have your own homemade (and healthy) dressing! 

11.  Hummus:  Ok, I have had an obsession with hummus lately.  I just recently made my own and added in some fresh vegetable pulp and it was SO GOOD! A must try!

12.  "Tea":  Add some fruit pulp to some hot water, add a pinch of cinnamon, let it set and then run thru a strainer.  

13.  Pancakes:  Add some flavor and moister to some oatmeal pancakes! 

14.  You can use leftover pulp to make some homemade scrubs and face masks. 

15.  You can dehydrate the pulp and make crackers with it. 

This weekend I made muffins with my leftover pulp.  Here is the recipe for 

Orange Nut Muffins 

2 cups of gluten free flour 

3 tablespoons of honey 

3 teaspoons of baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon of salt 

1 cup of fresh juiced orange juice 

3 tablespoons of coconut oil 

3 tablespoons of orange pulp 

2 egg whites 

1/4 cup of chopped nuts (pecan, macadamia, or walnuts) 

 Preheat oven to 400.  Mix everything together and then bake for 15-18 minutes at 400! 

Peel Oranges 

Juice Oranges 

Save the pulp 

Put your gluten free flour in a bowl 

Add Honey 

 Add baking soda

 Add  Fresh OJ

 Then your coconut oil

 Two egg whites

 I crack my egg whites in a separate bowl 

 Add em' in

 Chop up whatever nuts you decided to use and add them in!

 Stir Everything together until there are little to no clumps

Bake for 15-18 minutes on 400 and then these babies are done! 

I also made some "Carrot Cake" muffins with fresh pulp that were TO DIE FOR! 

Carrot Cake Muffins 

3 cups of gluten free flour 

1 tablespoon of baking soda 

3 1/2 cups of carrot pulp 

1 cup of pineapple pulp 

1 cup of honey 

4 tablespoons of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of nutmeg 

6 egg whites 

1 cup of coconut oil 

1 1/2 cups of chopped walnuts 

preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients together.  Bake for 45 minutes!

Enjoy!!!


Xoxo
-Ashley

For Daily Tips and Recipes follow me on: 

Instagram: ashleynicolemora1 

Twitter: MissAshleyMoora 

Game Planning

Author Karen Lamb said it best when she said, “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” 

And last year that’s exactly where I was.  After a year of not paying attention to what went into my mouth, I finally came to the harsh realization that summer was creeping in and needless to say I was far from feeling comfortable struttin’ my stuff around the pool.  I was frustrated, embarrassed, and fed up with myself.  I absolutely had to make a change, although making a permanent lifestyle change is never easy especially when it comes to food.  Whether you are trying to lose weight or just trying to start living a healthier lifestyle you have to “Sacrifice what you are, for what you will be become” –Eric Thomas.  I think THE most important thing a person can do when starting this journey is to remember that it is a JOURNEY.  It’s a process and it’s far from easy, but it’s completely possible to achieve those dreams and goals.  There will be good days and there will be bad days, there will be easy days and there will be hard days, but a year from right now will you be so happy that you started today.

The Mental Part 

For me personally there has always been an emotional attachment to food that I never realized I had before I started to cut certain things out of my diet.  For example, I like going out to eat on the weekends, I enjoy curling up on the couch with some popcorn while watching a movie, and when I find a sweet recipe on Pinterest that I can make for others, I feel like I hit the jackpot.  When I started to cut those things out of my life, I almost started to feel empty! How weird is that?!  On Friday night (a night that I would typically go out to eat with my parents) staying in felt foreign.  This to me was the hardest part about continuing to live a healthy life-style…. The mental part.  I’ve heard many people say before that diet is 80% of losing weight and the gym is the other 20%.  Well, my own personal opinion is that diet is 98% and the gym is 2%.  I constantly have to remind myself of a quote by Bill Cosby “Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it” because that’s what it really comes down to…We are afraid of missing out, or not afraid of not tasting something.  We MUST cut ties with what our “norm” was and accept the new!

Getting Discouraged

We all get discouraged at times.  It’s just a part of the journey.  Getting discourage can hit us out of nowhere and sweep us right off of our feet!  These are the times we have to remember why we started in the first place.  If you fall off track with your diet… it’s not the end of the world. It’s so important to take BABY STEPS.  If you eat healthy for one day, you are not going to see results immediately (very unfortunate, I know) it’s a process that takes time.  And likewise, if you have been eating very healthy… one “bad meal” will not cause you to gain 10lbs.  If you end up cheating at lunch that doesn’t mean you have to cheat for dinner as well.  Someone once said to me, “If you dropped your phone on the floor, would you keep smashing it until it was completely broken?”  Of course my answer was no, and their reply was, “Well then why would you do that with your diet?”  It’s something that we all do at times… We have a slice of pizza that we weren’t intending to have and we think “well I already cheated… now where’s the dessert?!”  There will be days when you give in but that doesn’t mean you should give up.  Keep going, keep striving, keep dreaming, and keep reaching to achieve those goals!

Making a Game Plan

I am a firm believer in game planning.  It’s so important to sit down and actually take the time to write out your goals.  “A goal without a plan is just a wish” There is something about writing your goals down on paper that makes them so much more realistic.  I highly encourage you to do this! Once you have your goals written out, hang them somewhere so that you can look at them everyday! I have mine on my bathroom mirror and I read them every morning while I brush my teeth.  I also like to set mini goals.  If my ultimate goal is to drop 10lbs by a certain month I will divide the pounds by the amount of weeks I have and then I will set mini dead lines.  For example:

(Let’s say you weigh 135)

You want to weight 120
by May 1^st, 2014…Which means you have to lose 15lbs in 3 months.  That is about 1.25lbs a week. 

 I like to make mini deadlines so every two weeks I would set a different goal.  This
helps keep you on track and holds you accountable. 

I also like to sit down on Sundays and write out my meal plan.  I mean like, to the T! Every meal and every snack down to the portions! If you do this, there will never be any question on what you are going to eat, leaving minimal room for error! We fall off of our diets when we’re confused and unprepared.

Create A Dream Board

I know this may sound like a silly and tedious task but I am telling you it’s so worth it! (and I think it’s fun :) )  Make a copy of your goals and paste them into the middle of a blank poster board.  Once you have done that go thru magazines and cut out anything that inspires you! It could be a quote, a food item, or maybe someone’s physique.  I also like to print out pictures of people who are close to me that inspire me.  Giving your dream an actual vision is a powerful thing! Hang your poster in a place where you can look at it everyday and constantly be reminded of why your making
these changes!

What You'll Need 

I'm not finished yet but here is what my dream board is starting to look like. 

 I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful week! 

xoxo

-Ashley

For Daily Tips and Recipes follow me on: 

Instagram: ashleynicolemora1 

Twitter: MissAshleyMoora