Recipe : Fresh juice in a jiffy (Philips)

Before you roll your eyes at my title and skip ahead to another page, please STOP! I know that you know, juice has received bad press as potential contributor to childhood obesity but that is only half the truth. There is a flipside to this story and I am not talking about commercially prepared or store bought juices prettily packaged in cans, bottles or carts. I am talking about preservatives free and sugar free kind-a juice.

When I first received my juicer, I hopped on the wrong juicing wagon. I put all my effort into juicing fruits alone. It was a very tasty journey no doubt but little did I know, that there were extra calories hidden in my juice. On average, I was juicing up to 10 apples and oranges for my small family! It was easy to consume these many fruits at a go because with the fibre removed from my juice, we didn't feel full as opposed to eating a whole apple.

 

The effect wasn't immediate but over time consuming these fresh juices had lead to some weight gain. However that was the only drawback because drinking them helped in many other ways; great bowel movement, glowing skin and complexion, just to name a few.

 

It took some learning and after tweaking my juicing journey, I am happy to say we are now on the right band wagon.

Living in the fast lane

Nothing beats the benefits you get from eating a whole fruit, although some juicing enthusiast may not agree. But I turned to juicing because it fit my current lifestyle. Unlike my mother, who is able to sit with a platter of fruits and feed her grandchildren fruits on demand, I don't have the patient nor the time to do it.

Owning a juicer gave me the opportunity to ensure my kids had their dose of fruits and vegetable portion for the day. Because when fruits and vegetables are combined in one glass, even a picky eater may like because the taste of vegetables is camouflaged by the sweet tasting fruits.

Timing is Everything

With the older children who have the power of autonomy, I present to them these juices when they are in dire need of fuel - after school. I would stand proud and tall with a cooler bag which carried this precious cargo and to date, I have not failed miserably at ensuring they consume it.

After school happens to provide the best opportunity for you to introduce as many kinds of food and drinks because they are at your mercy and (almost) everything taste wonderful to them when they are hungry and thirsty.

As for my toddler who is still discovering, I introduce as much fresh produce as I can. Since her taste buds are still 'virgin' and she isn't able to demand for chocolates, ice creams, sweetened juices and other processed food, she is quite contented with her juice, the way it is presented to her.

Today's recipe: Sun

Ingredients

4 organic carrots

4 organic red apples

1 organic lemon

some mint from my own backyard (for garnishing)
 

 

I named it Sun because it is bright orange and I felt a flush of energy, invigorating my body after consuming it and my immediate thoughts went to Superman -just like how Superman recharged himself with the sun's rays and also because sometimes adding a story helped in ensuring my kids would drink it.

 

The method

I used Philips Viva Juicer to prepare this juice and it took only 5 minutes to juice all my ingredients straight into my glass, thanks to its spout accessory.

 

Prepping rocks

Prepping is the key here because it saves time and makes juicing easier when needed. Since I like to juice just before picking them up from school, I get all my fruits and vegetables washed, cleaned and skinned (necessary if you are not using organic) first thing in the morning and store it in Ziploc bags in my fridge. No cutting is necessary because this juicer is able to take in a whole carrot and medium sized apples thanks to its large feeding tube (80mm). It was rather surprising that this high speed juicer wasn't as noisy as some other high speed juicers that I have used in the past. So I can juice anytime of the day without fear of waking my toddler up with the awful loud noise. 

 

Another good thing about this juicer is that is very straightforward to use and assemble. Even my almost a tween daughter managed to assemble it without the help of a guide/manual.

 

Washing is easy too because there aren't any small parts which needs thorough cleaning and zero chances for any of its part going missing unlike my experience with my breast pump that had too many small parts. Thanks to its round shaped genius pulp container without any nooks and crannies makes removing pulp from the pulp collector, a breeze. All you do is just turn it over in your bean bag but some pulp did get splattered onto the lid and the feeding tube which came off easily at a rinse. And if you own a dishwasher, which I wished I had one, this is dishwasher safe.

Even the little one enjoyed this concoction, recipe taken from the recipe booklet that came together with the juicer.

Little Picasso in the making

Some details on Philips Avance Collection Juicer

• 2 speed setting
• 1500ml juice jug (provided) capacity
• 800W power
• comes with a recipe booklet
• RM799

Disclosure: I was not paid to review this product nor received any products for it. All opinions are mine and mine alone.

For more recipes, please head over to my Recipes page

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