I’ve had a juicer for quite a few years. I think we bought it in 2005, but I’m not really sure. In any case, it’s been an on again, off again thing for me. I bought a juicer so I could grow and juice wheatgrass. That’s how it started at least, but to be honest, I can’t even smell the stuff without gagging anymore, so the juicer has been sitting primarily in a drawer in my kitchen for a couple years.

However, every late fall/early winter when I see fresh cranberries hit the grocery store, I pull out the juicer for awhile because I really, really like fresh cranberry juice. Particularly when it’s combined with celery or cucumber and apple. Really, really yummy. This year was no exception. I saw bags of fresh cranberries. Bought one. Pulled the juicer out along with my most fabulous juice book EVER, and started juicing*.

Having officially decided that I’m “over” trying to juice wheatgrass this year, I took a more serious look at the juices in my fabulous juice book, whereas before, I’d just dabbled with them.

Oh my, have we been having fun. I’ve juiced parsley, garlic, sweet potato, parsnip, fresh ginger root, fresh mint, broccoli, beets with their stalks and leaves, watercress, as well as the cucumber, celery, apple, carrot, citrus, kale, spinach, etc that I’d done in the past. I love it. I really, really love it.

And so does Max. If that juicer turns on, he comes running, because he wants to do it.

and if he doesn’t do it, he’ll stand there and scream at whomever is doing it. It’s really pretty annoying, but it’s also really cute. On occasion, he’ll decide that he’s done and he’ll just start eating my stuff. I end up cleaning up the counter and throwing pieces of fruit or vegetable in the juicer with Max sized bites in them because he doesn’t eat all of it. Just bites.

We’ve been juicing a couple times a day for a few weeks now. Yesterday, Max drank some. He had beet, cucumber, apple juice in the morning, and carrot celery juice at lunch. I’m not sure how I feel about this, ’cause I don’t really want to share.

All of the kids have taken more of an interest in the juicer this year, frequently calling out requests (hello, this isn’t Jamba Juice), but their tastes bend more towards the fruit juices, one of their favorites being 3 oranges, 1 apple, and a cup of cranberries, whereas I really like the more bizarre vegetable and root varieties. And Clark just wants granny smith apple juice or “green” juice as he calls it. It’s surprisingly good, actually.

Clark is demanding breakfast, so I’ve got to wrap up.

Basically, that’s one of the things we’re up to right now. Fresh juice. And I love the way it makes me feel. I feel good. I’m eating less and craving less. Well, other than craving juice, like, all the time. I had to run to the store late one night because I HAD to have the cucumber apple mint juice before bed and I was out of mint.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to come back soon. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. See ya!

*This book is out of print. The author has released a new version with much of the same content but based on my online perusal of the new one, I think mine is easier to use. However, if it was my only option based on availability, I would buy it without hesitation. It’s fantastic.