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I started juicing vegetables only recently but I juice them quite often because of the “feel good” factor. We are not on a juice diet but instead drink them only to compliment our everyday meal and fulfill our nutritional requirements. Initially, I started juicing vegetables with beetroot because I was hesitant to try juicing the greens. Once I knew I liked the beet juice, I went ahead and experimented with other vegetables and came up with this green juice recipe. Try not to be discouraged by the color of the juice, because it tastes really good! The apples and the carrots give the right amount of sweetness and the lemon and the ginger give the perfect combination of tangy and spicy flavors. Juicing vegetables will make certain nutrients more available for easy absorption and greens like spinach and kale help in detoxification. It is best to drink these juices first thing in the morning and as soon as they are prepared.
I use Hamilton Beach juice extractor for juicing the vegetables. This juicer is easy to use and clean, and gets the job done without much hassle. The resulting pulp is quite dry but re-juicing the pulp is always advised in order to avoid any wastage. Wheatgrass is optional in this recipe – I decided to use some homegrown wheatgrass. For juicing wheatgrass and other greens, masticating juicers
are more efficient than regular (centrifugal) juicers but come with a hefty price tag. When using a regular juice extractor for juicing wheat grass, it is important to chop the grass into small pieces and to juice them at the very end to prevent clogging of the blades and filter. Also, softer vegetables are juiced first and the leaves are juiced between any two varieties of solids for a good push.
I used to use a regular blender/mixer and strain the juice using a sieve or a cheesecloth until I was sure I wanted to invest in a juicer. This used to work just fine, but the whole process took more time than I would have liked. Investing in the juicer was totally worth it for me!
Green Vegetable Juice Recipe

(Serves two)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 cups spinach or chopped kale
4 carrots
2 apples
1 large cucumber
1/2 inch ginger
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 handful wheatgrass (optional)
Method
Thoroughly wash all the vegetables and cut cucumber and carrots into 1 inch pieces. If the vegetables are not organic, peel them. Cut apples into four pieces each and remove the seeds. Cut wheat grass into 1/2 inch long pieces if not using a masticating type juicer. Feed the vegetables into the juicer in the order of cucumber, spinach/kale, apples, ginger, and carrots. Re-juice the pulp along with wheat grass. Rinse the juicer with 1/4 cup water. Add lemon juice to the bowl of juice, mix well, and serve immediately for best results.
