Certainly everybody has seen the great V-8 commercials trying to knock some sense into people to drink their way into a healthy vegetable diet, but how many people take the time to make their very own vegetable juices? Juicing is a great way to ensure that you get all of the necessary vitamins and nutrients out of your juice. Creating homemade vegetable juice is a great way to be creative, healthy and have a little fun.
Juice Base
One of the first things to decide is what the base of the vegetable juice will be. Will it be tomato or a green vegetable? This is important because tomato is a powerful base that adds both color and vibrant flavor. Green vegetables tend to get lost in tomato based juices when it comes to both color and flavor. Certainly, the taste of green juices can still be identified in tomato based juices, but their flavoring takes a back seat to the more primary flavor of the tomatoes.
To make a standard light and refreshing vegetable juice you can start with this basic recipe and add, spices and zest to season. This recipe is good for 1 serving of standard vegetable juice and should only be made in a juicer machine or high quality blender with juicing capacity for best results. To make a larger quantity of juice just multiply this recipe times the number of servings desired. First start with the following ingredients:
8 cut and peeled full size carrots
1 full stalk of celery
1/4 of a full sized beet
1 plump ripe full size tomato
1 small red pepper ( or green if desired)
1/4 of a typical store bunch of fresh parsley
Blend these items in a juicer to full speed. The juice will have a plump texture and a zesty fresh spring vegetable taste.
Recipe Additions
Other great vegetable additions to add a bit of flavoring to this basic recipe include: radishes, red and green leaf lettuces, carrot greens, summer squash, zucchini, cucumber, spinach, broccoli greens, or cabbage.
Spices
In addition to other vegetables, seasonings can add a nice flair to this base recipe as well. Spices such as cayenne pepper, a dash of celery salt, basil, turmeric, garlic, Tobasco or other hot sauces, a small amount of horseradish, salsa, 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, lemon, dill as well as other products like Mrs. Dash are great to liven up the recipe.
Adding Sweetness
For a little sweeter recipe, adding a standard size apple or pear can give it a little sweet flavoring without overpowering the recipe.
