Juicing for 2 - The cost, recipes, weight loss and more!

Good evening wonderful readers! 

Cali, here and I hope you have all had a lovely week. Last month, my hubby and I ate at home for EVERY meal, ALL MONTH LONG. Now to most people this may not sound like much of a feat, but cooking for every single meal and snack requires much more time, effort, and planning than the average day. 

We embarked on this journey for a few different reasons. We wanted to see how much money we could save on food, open ourselves up to new recipes, and see if we could lose any weight. We threw a week of juicing in the middle to give our system a reboot during this month. 

If you don't know much about juicing, I strongly suggest you watch the very popular documentary- Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. The documentary features two stories of overweight men who completely turn their lives around and revitalize their health through juicing. You can check out the video here:

I think of juicing like this- every day since you were born, your body has been working non-stop to digest the food that gets put in it. Unless you stop stuffing food (and unhealthy food most likely) in your mouth, your body just never gets a break. So, how do you get all the nutrients you need and more without actually eating? By juicing!! The juice from fruits and veggies contains all of the goodness your body requires. Fact of the matter is, most of us don't even get all of the vitamins and nutrients we need in our food because what we put in isn't actually that great for us. That being said, if you aren't comfortable doing a "Juice Cleanse" alone, I would suggesting trying to add at least one fresh juice to your daily diet. 

So, how did I plan for this week of juicing? Well, my weeks generally go from Monday-Sunday in terms of meal planning. I sat down on Sunday and spent about an hour looking through juice recipe books and online recipes. My favorite book to choose from is The Big Book of Juices.   

  

Buy this book on Amazon.com!

I wrote down the juices that we would drink every day- breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. Approximately 4-6 juices every day. After writing down the recipes, I totaled up the amount of produce that was need and headed to the store. Now grocery shopping like this takes some time as a lot of produce is required. I spent about an hour at the store and about 90% of what I purchased was ORGANIC. The total cost for hubby and I to juice for one week was $110. This came out to about $8 a day for each of us. Surprising? It should be! Juicing gets a bad rep for being way expensive, especially if you buy organic. Planning is key! That hour I spent writing out our recipes and tallying up how much of each fruit/veggie we needed, saved us a lot of $$$ as we did not purchase food that would get wasted or spoil in the fridge. I will list the juice recipes we used at the bottom of the post. 

We have a Breville Juice Fountain Elite that we use to make our juices. It works great and is relatively easy to clean. We bought this juicer as a combined Christmas gift to each other and used a Visa gift card a family member had given us to knock down the price. It pays to save in every way! You may notice the plastic bag on the pulp container. We use our plastic produce or left over grocery bags as a liner to make the clean up process much quicker and cleaner! 

If you do decide to try out juicing, be prepared to have your fridge and counter tops covered/filled with goodies. I like to organize my fridge by using dishes to separate them by color.

 It makes for a pretty looking fridge. :)

During this wonderful week of juicing, I was hungry a lot the first two days, but then the hunger passed and the juices, water, and green tea was sufficient. I don't just limit myself to the juices I make- I still drink water and tea as well. I lost 6 lbs for the week and my hubs lost 8! I'm going to juice again this next week so this post makes for great inspiration once more! I hope you'll try juicing for yourself and see the amazing benefits it has in store. Not only will you lost weight, but you'll also experience clearer skin, that "healthy glow", and feel energized (after the initial detox which can take 3-5 days if it is your first time juicing). 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns- please share! I'd love your feedback and to hear your experiences with juicing as well. Cheers!

~Cali via LVL~

P.S. It'd be a great idea to brush your teeth after each juice you have as the sugars can be hard on your teeth. :) Keep it all healthy y'all! 

***Note for all the MAMAs out there: If you are breastfeeding, I advise against juicing as I personally noticed the "fat/nutrient" layer of milk had diminished. If you are looking to lose some additional weight while nursing, I suggest drinking two green smoothies a day, one cooked meal a day, and the rest raw fruits and veggies. Happy nursing, happy babies!

Juice Recipes for my buddies J

Orange Basic: 2 oranges, 1 apple, 3 carrots, 1 celery stick, and 1 in. ginger root

Capple Kiwi: 3 carrots, 1 apple, 2 kiwis

Minty Peach: 2 peaches, 1 apple, 1 lime, 1 bunch of mint

Carrot Deep Cleanser: 6 carrots, 1 apple, 1 beet, 2 celery sticks, 6 kale leaves

Water apple: 3 apples, 2 thick slices of watermelon, 1 lime

Apple Cleanser: 4 apples, 1 beet, 4 kale leaves, 2 celery sticks, 2/3  cucumber {my favorite}

Carrot Lift: 4 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 1 bunch of parsley, ½ lemon

Celery Jointaid: 3 celery, ½ pineapple, 1 in. ginger toot, 1 tbsp flaxseed oil

(^^^I didn’t try this one)

Williams Orange: 2 oranges, 2 pears

Digestaid: ½ pineapple, 1 thick slick of white(green) cabbage, 1 in. ginger root, 1 bunch of mint, 1 pear

Water, Water, Everywhere: 1 cucumber, 1 thick slice of watermelon

Blue Pear: 2 pears, 1 handful of blueberries, 1 handful of blackberries {hubby's favorite}

Pear Dream: 3 pears, 4 apricots

Veggie Carotene Catapult: 3 carrots, 1 red bell pepper, 1 broccoli spear, ½ sweet potato

Green n’ Pearit: 8 broccoli spears, 3 celery sticks, 2 pears

Green Citrus: 2 handfuls of spinach, 2 celery sticks, 2 oranges

Green Piney Hit: 1 lg handful of spinach, 1 handful of parsley, 1 handful of mint, ½ pineapple

Green Waldorf: 5 kale leaves, 2 apples, 2 celery sticks, ½ tbsp. flaxseed oil

Vegans in the News: Meet Dr. Esselstyn

Check out this great post from ABC News in Bakersfield, CA. They did a mini Q & A with Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr..

Dr. Esselstyn was featured in the documentary Forks Over Knives and has written a book, "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease." 

Check out the Q & A from ABC News with Dr. E here.

What have been your experiences with diet/lifestyle changes reversing adverse health effects? 

Wishing you a fabulous weekend!

LVL

Cali & Amy

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Let me just tell yall. I have NOT had a Pumpkin Spice Latte (SPL) yet, but these muffins have me ready for fall weather! Break out the sweaters, boots, and scarves. I am READY!

Photo: Lovely Vegan Ladies

I am honestly not the best baker. I have baked some things before, but generally, i do not make muffins and cupcakes from scratch. These were relatively easy. I learned that i used way too many dishes. I still have not mastered minimalist baking (maybe one day). But i tried to clean as i went which helped. My kitchen was a disaster, but these babies were well worth it!

I will include the original recipe and will put my notes in {}. This is not my original recipe. I found it on Pinterest. Click HERE to find the original recipe. I have included it below with more detail about each step. I had to google "how to melt coconut oil" because i had no clue.

This recipe made 12 muffins! 

Ingredients:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour ($1.98)
2 teaspoons baking powder ($1.56)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (already had)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (already had)
1/2 teaspoon allspice ($4.99 for a fairly large container)
1/2  teaspoon nutmeg (already had)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (already had)
pinch salt, optional and to taste (already had)
3/4 cup granulated sugar ($1.76)
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed ($1.86)
3/4 cup pumpkin puree ($1.78) (not pumpkin pie filling) {I did use Pumpkin Pie Filling because i could not find Pumpkin Puree at HEB.} **My mom sweetly explained to me that Pumpkin Puree is canned pumpkin, which i did not know. So, for those of you who were unsure, there ya go! So, i did use canned pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling. On my Canned pumpkin it did not say Puree.**
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted ($6.99) {To melt the Coconut Oil, i put it in a mason jar (Already measured) and set it in HOT water from the sink in a Tupperware dish. It took about 10 minutes for it to fully melt. At the end, i stirred it really well to get the last bit melted.}
 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk ($1.73) ON SALE WHOOO HOOO!!!
 2 tablespoons mild or medium molasses ($2.78) {I used a mild molasses. I just chose the cheapest one at HEB.}
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (already had)
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips  (Link to the ones i used HERE.)(already had) {I used mini-chips for mine. In the original recipe, she states you can use mini- or large, but i preferred mini.}
{Cupcake Liners - Optional - In the original recipe, she opted NOT to use cupcake liners. I did use the Liners and the muffins, thankfully, did not stick. I wasn't sure, but they did not.} ($2.99)

TOTAL COST: $28.42 Per muffin About: $2.37
The good thing about this, the main cost comes up front. I have plenty of ingredients to make many more batches! The only thing i will have to buy next time is the Pumpkin!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. {Place your cupcake liners in your muffin pan. If you aren't using muffin liners, you may want to spray your pan so they don't stick. But i did not do this.}
2. {In a mixing bowl mix together all of your dry ingredients except for the sugars. We will add those into the wet mixture. I did this step first and just set it aside while i measured out and put together my "wet" ingredients.} {Also, i opted to use a pinch of salt!} {I also had to buy mixing bowls, because mine are in storage, and i am currently cooking in the worlds tiniest kitchen.}
3. {In a separate bowl add your sugars}, pumpkin, oil, milk, molasses, and vanilla. {I put the sugars 1st, then the molasses, then the vanilla. I stirred that all together well while my coconut oil melted. Like i said, it took several minutes for it to fully melt using the method i found, but i don't think it effected the outcome.}
4. {Next, i poured the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients slowly, stirring as i poured, until they were well combined and all the flour was well mixed.}
5. {I then added my chocolate chips slowly, stirring as i poured them in!}
6. {I then scooped the batter into the muffin cups using a spoon. I just gave each cup a scoop and then went round and round until the mix was gone!}
7. {I baked them for 18 minutes. The original recipe says 18-19, but my oven "almost" burnt them, but thankfullest they came out perfectly! Just keep an eye on them, and do the old toothpick trick!}

Please visit Averie Cooks if you want to read exactly how she did hers! They looked delightful. I am so glad i stumbled across this recipe and actually tried it out! I cant wait to make these again.

LVL

Amy

Three Day Challenge Pt. 4

Sorry for the delaying in post the final installment of the 3 Day Challenge!
 
For the last night of the challenge, i decided to make a Skinny Mediterranean Pasta Toss i saw on Pinterest. Link here.


The original recipe had feta cheese, but i just left that out.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil(already had)
• 2 small zucchini, sliced($.74)
• 10 small sweet bell peppers, sliced($2.99 for a whole bag at Sprouts)
• 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved ($2.78)
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced ($.22)
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced(already had)
• 1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs($5.81)
• 1 teaspoon salt (already had)
• 1 15 ounce artichoke hearts in water, drained and sliced in half($2.48)
• 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes in oil($2.59)
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar(Already Had)
• 1 1/2 ups dry whole wheat penne($1.18)

Total Cost:  18.79

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add onions, garlic, zucchini, peppers and cherry tomatoes and saute till tender.
3. While vegetables are cooking, bring pot of water to boil and cook pasta according to package instructions till al dente.
4. Drain (reserve a little of the pasta water) and hold.
5. When vegetables are tender, add Italian herbs, artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes.
6. Mix well, then add balsamic vinegar.
7. Allow the vinegar to reduce for a few minutes, stirring often. The balsamic will become sweet and sticky and will coat the vegetables.
8. Add the drained pasta to the vegetable mixture.
9. Toss to coat the pasta, adding hot pasta water if necessary.
10. Serve topped with feta crumbles and cracked black pepper.

Nutrition Info and Tips

Per Serving (1/4th of mixture):

Calories: 289
Fat: 2.5g
Carbohydrates: 39.7g
Fiber: 7.7g
Protein: 9.2g
Sugars: 7.5g
WW PP: 7 points

I LOVED this dish. It was SO yummy. I ate it for snacks and for many days after we ate it for dinner!

What health challenges have you given yourself lately? How successful were you? Don't get down on yourself if you make a mistake! Just look forward. One good decision at a time! 

LVL

Amy 

Three Day Challenge Pt. 3

Day 2 I decided to make this yummy Kung Pao Broccoli and Tofu. You can find the link to the original recipe here. This is NOT my own recipe.

Stir-fry:

• 1 container of firm or extra tofu, drained and cut into bite-sized pieces ($1.19)
• 2 bunches of broccoli, cut into small pieces (about 6 cups) ($.75)
• 1 teaspoon peanut oil ($7.99)
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth or water ($2.48)
• 5 or 6 dried chile peppers ($.36)
• 1/2 cup unsalted peanuts  ($2.77)
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced ($.68)
• Rice noodles ($2.25)

Sauce:

• 1 cup vegetable broth (Same box as above, there are about 6 cups in one box) ($2.48)
• 1 tablespoon tamari or Braggs Liquid Aminos ($2.38)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (already had)
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced (already had)
• 1 teaspoon garlic chile paste ($2.00)
• 1 teaspoon peanut oil (same as above)
• 4 tablespoons rice vinegar ($1.92)
• 1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar or vegan Worcestershire sauce Annies Brand $4.49)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch ($.71)

Total Cost: 29.97

Directions:

1. Prepare the noodles according to the package. Set Aside.
2. Stir the sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Cook the tofu pieces in the peanut oil tablespoons of peanut oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Flip occasionally and cook until the pieces are golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside.
4. In the same pan, add the broth and the broccoli. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until the broccoli is bright green. Add the tofu back to the pan along with the sauce and the dried chiles. Stir thoroughly and cook for about 5 more minutes, until heated throughout. 
5.  Serve over brown rice noodles and top with scallions and peanuts

 

 

(This is a picture of my 2nd attempt making this, last night! I did MUCH better with the tofu being cut into larger pieces.)

 We really loved this. It was even yummy on day 2. My only mistake was cutting the Tofu pieces too tiny, so they werent really manageable when i tried to flip them over. I would also recommend continually stirring the sauce once you make it. It kind of settles so, i had to stir mine several times before it was time to poor it into the pan!

I also HATED the smell of the peanut oil. I dont know why it made me so sick, but all in all the dish was really wonderful once it was done. 

 LVL

Amy

Vegan Three Day Challenge Pt. 2

The 1st recipe I chose for the 3 Day Challenge that my husband & I did last week, is called Vegan Fajita Soup.

Literally, it was the most tasty soup I have ever had.  The only thing i will probably do different next time is puree my veggies ones they are cooked (Minus the mushrooms).

My husband really doesn't like "chunks" in his food, so that was his only complaint. But he LOVED the flavor. He said it was even better than Baby A's Famous Tortilla Soup, which is his all time favorite.

I also used Salt/Pepper/Tony's to spice it up. I used more veggie broth because i allowed my soup to simmer for a few hours instead of the suggested 15 minutes. The recipe can be found below. Even if you are not Vegan, this a crowd pleaser for sure. I plan on making it in the fall for any parties we might have at our house! It would be the perfect cold weather delight!

This is from the book: Great Gluten Free Vegan Eats.

Ingredients:

1/2 cu. chopped red bell pepper ($.50)
1/2 cu. chopped yellow bell pepper ($.50)
1/2 cu. chopped orange bell pepper ($.50)
2 cups chopped zucchini ($.74)
1 small red onion($.84)
6 mushrooms sliced ($5.00 for a lb. @ Farmers Market)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (already had)
1 can black beans drained/rinsed ($.74)
1 can diced tomatoes ($.98)
6 Cups Veggies Broth ($2.48) (Sprouts sells it for $2.99 HEB sells it for $2.48)
2 teaspoons cumin (already had)
1/2 tsp chili powder ($2.89)
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice (5 for $1.00, i used 2)

Total Cost:  $16.17

Directions: 

Heat a large pan; medium heat, just until hot.
Toss in peppers, zucchini, onion, mushroom, and oil.
Saute over medium heat until veggies are tender (10-15 Minutes)
[While the veggies were sauteing, i pureed my diced tomatoes, drained/rinsed my blackbeans, measured my spices, and prepped my lime juice/broth.That way when the veggies were done, i was ready to throw everything into the pot.]
Transfer cooked veggies to a large pot, stir in black beans, diced tomatoes, veggies broth, cumin, chili powder, and lime juice.
Add salt to taste
Simmer until heated through.
[I actually let mine cook for several hours, and just added more broth/water as necessary}
We ate this for several days, so the cost was definitely worth it!

LVL

Amy

Three Day Challenge Pt. 1

 As I stated in my About Me Post, I am a "wanna-be" Vegan.

My husband is completely supportive and is on board with me, which makes it easier. Since we are having a hard time, going 100% into the lifestyle, my husband decided it would be best if we did a 3 Day Challenge. We decided that we work best with small goals. We planned to juice 2 meals a day and have healthy snacks between meals (nuts, peanut butter, and fruit) and for dinner we would eat a sensible NEW vegan dish!  The reason i decided to cook new meals was because i found myself stuck in a rut. We were eating the same old things over and over again. And i needed a change.

Before the challenge, we mainly ate Red Beans and Rice, Vegan Pizza, and a Broccoli Orzo Dish.

I went to Barnes and noble before my yoga class and researched some cookbooks. I also went to my Pinterest Board as well. I have one completely devoted to Vegan Recipes or Recipes that i want to try and convert.

The Three Recipes i decided on were:

Vegan Fajita Soup (From the book: Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats) (I will have a picture of this on tomorrow's  post) (Let me tell you, you dont want to miss this recipe! It was DIVINE!!!!)

Skinny Mediterranean Pasta Toss (Minus the Feta Cheese)

Source

 

Kung Pao Tofu and Broccoli 

Source

Over the next few days, I will share with you my successes and failures along with the pricing and ingredients for each dish.

If you want to give being Vegan a try, I suggest starting small if you can't take the full plunge. For some people, they have to just jump all in, but for me, I work best in baby-steps!Or even if you don't think a vegan lifestyle is for you, i think you will still enjoy these recipes! Trust me, this is coming from the worlds pickiest eater. You definitely want to try these recipes! 

Find what works for you!

If you are Vegan, how hard was it for you to transition? If you are a "wanna-be" Vegan like me, what do YOU think is keeping you from taking the plunge?  I would love to hear from you!

LVL

Amy