Go-go Green Juice

As I type, my newborn baby girl sleeps by my side. Our little Fern Aila Sibley arrived into our home two weeks ago today, and my life has been over flowing with love, bliss and devotion for this wee bundle of joy ever since. She arrived very fast which was a huge surprise for me! I always imagined a long labour, so labouring through the night with only mild contractions until dawn, and her arrive in our bathroom at 9am before the midwife arrived was a bit of a shock! Thankfully though, there was no trauma whatsoever and we have been snug in our home ever since. Understandably, my life has changed immensely in these past weeks, and I now spend the majority of my time playing, feeding, watching, changing and simply being with our little girl. I have a new passion for everything babies, birth, pregnancy and natural earth mumma. For all of these reasons, my time put aside to work and write may be limited as I re-establish my new life as a full time mother along side my love of food, writing and creating new recipes. So please bare with me.. I will be full of new and exciting recipes as my time allows! I have decided also, and already created a new space online for sharing my thoughts on parenting, babies and birth, including lots of recipes more specific to my diet as a mother, and later on, feeding a hungry baby its first foods! I will keep this space here for all of my veggie/vegan, gluten and sugar free recipes. Things which you will find in my lovely cafe and wonderfully healthy, detox-y organic seasonal stuff! Lets get back to the recipes now as I give to you my favourite green juice recipe. Please check out my new blog, Earth Belly if you are at all as into the miracle of birth and parenting as I now am, otherwise, read on for plenty more healthy yummy posts!

There are heaps of recipes out here for green juice, so I don't expect much more from writing this today than hopefully inspiring you to reach for your juicer or blender and get juicing! A green juice can be as sweet or as hardcore green as you wish, and contain whatever combination of green leafy veggies and sweet fruits you have to hand. Leafy green veggies are high in chlorophyll, which makes their beautiful green colour. Chlorophyll in our diet is very cleansing for our blood, and especially good for us when we are in need of a cleanse (the beginning if spring is a great time to do this). The molecule structure of chlorophyll is almost exactly the same as the hemoglobin in our blood except for the center atom. In hemoglobin this is iron, whereas in chlorophyll it is magnesium. This means that when ingested, chlorophyll actually helps to do the job of hemoglobin (hemoglobin is so vital to the health of our blood – in fact, blood is approx 75% hemoglobin). Other benefits of chlorophyll include antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, helping the delivery of magnesium, contains vitamins A, K, calcium, folic acid, iron and protein, helps against blood sugar imbalances, relieves gastric ulcers, improves bowel movements and improves milk production in lactating mothers!

I have been getting back into my green juices after the winter when all I wanted was hot food. I feel a daily green juice has helped rejuvenate and hydrate me after the birth of our baby, and get some much needed iron back into my system. Not only that, they taste amazing! I like to 'juice' in my vitamix (high-speed blender) although if you have a masticating juicer, you can juice almost any leafy greens in that too. I have given instructions on how to use a blender to make juice in the recipe below. The ingredients I have used are purely suggestions only. I generally use what ever is in season or in my fridge at the time and urge you to do the same! Happy juicing!

Go-go Green juice

 Makes 1 large glassful 

2 stalks celery

¼ cucumber

8-10 leaves kale, chard, spinach or a few handfuls of mixed leafy greens

Small bunch of parsley

½ apple, quartered

½ a lemon, outer skin removed

In your blender, put ½ cup of water and the lemon. On top add the celery chopped into sticks, cucumber and carrots, and blend until the consistency of apple sauce. Add the green leaves and parsley, and blend again until all smooth.

Pour the mixture into nut milk bag over a large bowl, and squeeze the bag until all the liquid comes out and the bag is just left with dry pulp. This will be a bit harder than with nut milks as the mixture is thicker, but it’s great fun and gets you literally hands on with your juice! Compost the pulp and pour the juice into a big glass, sit back and enjoy, preferably outside or by a sunny window!

 My Green juice with  the Go-Go! Cucumber, celery, kale, apple and lemon.

My Little girl, born 27/02/13.. Happy bubba and happy mumma! ♥