Nina Estabrook.: 3 Simple Juicing Recipes

Juicing is a great way to consume a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to supercharge your body. The nutrients found in fresh and raw fruits and vegetables are buzzing with vitamins, minerals and anti-inflammatory agents. The following three juicing recipes are simple to make, healthy and you will want to drink them often because they are delicious and refreshing.

I'm not a dieter and I like to enjoy whatever food I am in the mood for, but I do have some healthy options that I really love and that I take to consistently. Regular juicing is one of my favorite things to have. Please know these juicing recipes are not meant as a juice fast, juicing challenge or some excessive force-fed diet I never could and never wanted to upkeep. Instead of being on a juice diet, juicing is a delicious addition to my diet. I like to enjoy a 16oz glass with my breakfast in the morning or as a refreshing afternoon pick-me-up in the sluggish hours of the day.

When it comes to juicing, I usually don't tend to adhere a "strict" recipe. I love my greens (celery, kale, and various herbs like mint, parsley and basil) and I always like add in with a few apples, pears, oranges, lemon or pineapple for a sweet taste. The following recipes are my favorites, perfect for anyone new to juicing and each recipe is a great base for experimentation.

A word of caution about experimentation. I got way overexcited when I figured out that juicing was not just for fruit, which I loved eating anyway, but that I could also shove all kinds of vegetables through the juicer and I still loved the taste. These were vegetables that normally required a great deal of attention, cooking or mounts of ranch to make palatable. I thought if I could handle beets and a variety of fancy leafy greens, there probably isn’t much I can’t handle. “Hop into my juicer, gross, unappealing veggie!” I said cheerfully. “You’ll taste great liquefied.” Well, this idea didn’t always work and we had some pretty gross juices. I learned, I can’t make everything taste good (things I normally dislike to eat, most likely didn’t work as a juice either) and that I should stick to simple juice recipes. As it so often is in cooking, having more and ever more ingredients generally doesn’t improve the flavor.

I’ve been juicing on a regular basis for about a year now and I love the way it tastes and the way it makes my body feel. I noticed an increase in energy, I feel satiated and well nourished as opposed to eating not so nutrition rich foods. In addition, drinking regular juices helped calming tummy troubles, balanced skin conditions and fostered hair and nail growth.

Each Recipe Serves 2. Ready in 5 minutes + 5 minute cleanup.

A good juicy and tart apple is essential for this juice. Honey crisp apples work best for us, but you should experiment with your favorite kind of apple.

2 large Apples
3 Carrots
1 Celery stalk
1 stalk of fresh Basil or Mint

A sweet refreshing juice with that little bit of extra froth.

2 large Apples
1 Celery stalk
2 Carrots
2 leaves of Kale
1 Pear

This gorgeous purple fruit & veggie juice is not only vibrant in color, but also refreshing, smooth and earthy. After braving to include beets, beet juice soon became one of our favorites.