How to juice without a juicer

There's been a lot of hype lately about the benefits of Juicing. A basic google search will pull up article after article touting the health benefits of vegetable-and-fruit laden juices. Some do it as a meal replacement (like yours truly!), some to sneak more veggies into their diet, some to lose weight, and some to stave off or manage diseases. There are lots of juicers out there, this craze has really taken off, but they all have one thing in common- THEY ARE EXPENSIVE! Also, they are single purpose, and in my tiny kitchen, that's just not going to fly. I knew there had to be a way to Juice fruits and veggies with the equipment at hand- equipment that could also be used for other things. So let's start from the basic premise that you want to Juice, but you don't have a juicer. You with me? Great. Let's get started.

I've been into Dr. Oz's green drink as my main staple juice. There's a lot of veggies in that one, BIG veggies, like carrots and celery. So, you may not need a juicer, but you DO need three things:

* A food processor

* A flour mill-

* A square of muslin cloth.

Don't know what a flour mill is? Ask your Grandma. Seriously- she'll know exactly what you're talking about. A flour mill is also known as a sifter, and it looks like a measuring cup with a metal mesh bottom, with a hand crank attached to an arc of metal inside. There's a picture above. I got mine at the grocery store for about 5$.

As for the muslin cloth, I used a gauze woven gerber diaper (RELAX- it was only used for a burp cloth!). They are something like 5 for 10$ at your local Walmart. You COULD use something like a coffee filter, or cheesecloth, or something of the sort, but I like this method for two reasons: 1) The cloth is sturdy! That vegetable mash is pretty heavy, and I think it would tear right through a paper towel or even a coffee filter. 2) You can re-use the cloth! just throw it in the wash with the other dish towels- there won't be anything on that cloth worse than the spit-up it used to be used for.

1. First, chop up all of your vegetables, fruits, herbs, and anything else you're putting in this bad boy. Smallish chunks about an inch long will be kinder to your processor.

2. Process in batches, don't overwhelm your machine.

3. When you're finished, you will have a large quantity of chunky, wet, green, mash. Which you could totally drink- I did for a week before I wised up and went on to the next steps.

4. Working slowly, spoon about 2 cups of mash into the flour mill.

5. Hold the mill over a bowl, and slowly crank the handle to extract juice.

6. Dump the milled mash into a separate bowl for the muslin cloth.

7. Once you've finished milling all of the mash, it's time to move onto the cloth.

8. Drape the muslin cloth over a 4 cup measuring cup, and spoon about a cup of the milled mash into the center.

9. Collect all the edges, and squeeeeeeeze from the top down, squeezing all of the extra juice out into the measuring cup.

10. Repeat until all of the milled mash has had the muslin cloth treatment.

11. Discard the mash- or keep it for compost or soup.

12. Drink your delicious, nutritious juice!!!!

This is a great little drink to get you hooked on juicing.

You will need:

You can blend this recipe too, but I imagine you'll want to peel the lemon, lime, and ginger.

Ingredients

• Apples - 2 medium (3" dia) 364g

• Celery - 3 stalk, large (11"-12" long) 192g

• Cucumber - 1 cucumber (8-1/4") 301g

• Ginger - 1/2 thumb (1" dia) 12g

• Lemon (with rind) - 1/2 fruit (2-3/8" dia) 42g

• Lime (with rind) - 1 fruit (2" dia) 67g

• Parsley - 1 bunch 150g

• Spinach - 2 cup 60g

I didn't use the rind of the lemon or lime in mine- I thought it would make it too bitter. I've also added pineapple, avocado, and a few teaspoons of fiber powder. I use this as a meal replacement, so you could also add protein powder.