A juicing experience: Ruby Red Juice

Military Life:  Did you know all military members have to pass a annual/semi annual physical fitness test every year (PT test as we like to call it).  If you dont you could potentially be kicked out of the military for not staying physically fit. The military puts a lot of emphases on being "fit to fight" you wont do yourself or any of your battle buddies any good if you are huffing and puffing in your 50 lbs Kevlar gear in the desert under hostile conditions, trust me that gear is heavy I know.  Now we're all not constantly deployed or in hostile conditions, but you still need to stay fit incase you have to be deployed, not to mention its just healthier and better for you if you are constantly striving to be or stay fit.  Plus talk about a good motivator to get your butt in the gym, (at least for me it is) its either workout and stay in shape or basically get fired!  In the last few years as I start to creep up into my late 20's, dare I say close to 30 :/  I have found it harder and harder to keep those pesky pounds off, I was not fortunate enough to be blessed with the skinny gene, I have always had to make sure that I not only eat healthy but I have to add daily exercise into my routine or poof I swear in 3 months I can put on 10 lbs.  

Because of my constant need and my own personal desire to stay healthy and fit, I have been trying to incorporate more vitamins into my diet.  My kryptonite is a multivitamin, this girl cannot talk adult sized multivitamin without getting sick, seriously it will come right back up (sorry not trying to gross you out), I've tried taking Flintstone vitamins but I'm the worst at remembering to take it and even when I do they still make me somewhat nauseas. Recently I came across an article about juicing and how juicing your veggies and fruits deliver their vitamins and nutrients straight into your blood stream because your stomach doesn't need to break down or digest any of the fibers from the produce.  Well, I received a juicer a couple of months ago for a birthday present from my hubby, and he was smart and didn't buy a super expensive one, he got me something mid price and would get the job done and I could not be happier with my juicer.

 I love taking random fruits and veggies from the fridge and juicing them to see what delicious concoctions I can create, not only do I enjoy taking my vitamins in juice form but its quite filling and I sometimes will drink a big glass of juice as a meal replacement.  You'll also find out quickly which combinations dont work while juicing,  like celery ...Yuck, seriously I'm not kidding freakin gross! I dont know what it is but I thought I would like cerely, I cook with it, I like to eat it raw but I found that I do not like it juiced at all, it literally runis any juice if I add a stalk of celery in it, its just so over powering and bitter? not sure how else to explain it, but celery will probably never end up in a juice of mine ever again, especially not after having to choke down a juice I made recently with celery in it, because I refused to toss it down the drain, especially when most fruits and veggies are pretty pricy here in Japan. Other than hating on celery I really enjoy beets, they have a distinct taste but not in a bad way, and juicing beets produces the most gorgeous ruby color. This particular juice is very beety, if its too overwhelming try adding grapefruit. 

This picture does not represent the amount
I put into the juice, just the produce I used,
 I used almost half of what you
see here for my juice (not shown is lemon)

Ruby Red
Recipe by Oishii Treats

Yields:  8 oz

Ingredients

1/2 (2" in diameter) Beet, peeled and sliced small enough to fit in your juicer
1/2  (5 inch long) Sweet Potato, sliced
1 small carrot or 5-6 baby carrots
1 small apple, sliced and remove seeds
1 inch sized piece of ginger
2 think slices of a lemon, cut off the peel

Directions

-Add all ingredients into your juicer, once juiced, stir all together and enjoy.



This is a rough estimate of the nutrition and vitamins of this particular juice from using Juice Recipes Juice Builder

Calories: 108  Potassium: 497 mg  Vitamin A: 52.5%  Vitamin C: 15.96%  Calcium: 3.55% Iron: 10.56%

Note: If the juice is too beety try adding some grapefruit for a more sweet and sour flavor.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I love me some veggies in my cupcakes, who doesn't!  Its a great way to sneak in some vegetables and not feel so guilty eating a delicious cupcake or 2 ;)....okay who am I kidding, there's not that much veggies in a carrot cake cupcake, it would be better if you just ate a carrot.  But at least you dont feel as guilty eating carrot cake as you would say a chocolate cupcake :)  

I made these moist and delicious cupcakes for a birthday party last night, paired with a slightly tangy lemon cream cheese frosting it was the perfect addition that put these cupcakes over the top and made them a huge hit at the party.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Adapted from Paula Deen

Yields 24-28 cupcakes

Ingredients 

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups canola oil

3 cups grated carrots

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line your cupcake pans with 24 liners

- In a electric mixer combined your flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix together on low for 30 seconds.

- Add in your oil and eggs and mix until completely combined

- Mix in your grated carrot and mix until fully combined into the batter.

- Using a ice cream scoop, fill your cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter, at room temp 

12 tablespoons cream cheese, cold

1 tablespoon lemon juice

4 cups powdered sugar

Directions

- In a electric mixer beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

- Add in the lemon juice and slowly 1/4 cup at a time add in the powdered sugar until all of the powdered sugar is completely incorporated. 

- Beat the frosting for another 2-3 minutes and pipe onto your cupcakes.