Green Juice

Since I got my juicer last fall, I drink a 16-oz. green juice about 4 or 5 days a week.  I change up the recipe daily, though some elements are always the same, such as the apple, lemon or lime, and cucumber.  I like to add a beet sometimes, though the green juice then becomes red juice!  You’d be surprised how good this juice is.  The key is the apple to add sweetness and the lemon to cut through the bitterness of some of the vegetables. For the last week I’ve been loosely following Kris Carr’s 21-Day Adventure Cleanse….I’ll post about that later.  I’ve fallen off the coffee wagon because it was cold and I REALLY wanted coffee, but have managed to implement most of the other elements of the diet.  You can read about it on Kris’s website and/or buy her book, Crazy Sexy Diet.

The amounts in the recipe are imprecise, because I’ve never measured anything.  This recipe should yield about 16-20 ounces of juice, enough for one person.

Ingredients

1/2 cucumber, peeled

1 stalk celery

1 carrot, top removed

3 leaves Romaine lettuce, or 2 or 3 handfuls of green leaf or red leaf lettuce

1 or 2 handfuls kale

1 or 2 handfuls spinach

About 1 cup green cabbage

1 lemon, halved and peeled

1 medium apple, quartered

Preparation

Juice.  Drink.

Roasted Broccoli and Rice Salad with Tahini Lemon Dressing

This is one of those improvisational dishes that turned out well.  It is an iteration of the grain/bean/vegetable template that makes a satisfying and healthful meal.  I cooked up some brown rice for this ahead of time, though if I had any leftover cooked grain I would have used that.  Quinoa, for example, would make an excellent replacement for the brown rice, as would millet or bulgar wheat.  In place of broccoli you could use cauliflower or any vegetable really, depending on what you might need to use up or what’s in season.  The dressing has become a favorite of mine–a very simple combination of olive oil, tahini, and lemon juice.  In place of tofu, any bean would work, particularly chickpeas.

Ingredients

Salad

2 cups cooked brown rice

1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed for a minute in the microwave

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or almonds

1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 lb broccoli

Olive oil

Salt to taste

6-8 oz. extra firm tofu or 1 1/2 cups cooked beans, such as chickpeas

Dressing

2 T tahini

2 T extra virgin olive oil

Juice of one lemon

2 twists freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 400 F.   Prepare the broccoli by washing it and cutting it into small trees.  Toss with olive oil and salt (about a tablespoon of oil) on a cookie sheet or glass baking pan (I prefer the cookie sheet–easier to clean).  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender.

While the broccoli is roasting, prepare the other components of the salad.  Chop the walnuts, tomatoes, onion, parsley, and olives, and add to the rice in a medium bowl.  Microwave the corn for 1 minute on a small plate or in a bowl.  Add to the salad.  Make the dressing by whisking the tahini, olive oil, pepper, and lemon juice together.  Toss with the salad.

Mix in the broccoli and tofu.  Serve.