My first juice...and I used the pulp - no waste here!

Yeah Yeah!!!  ::Happy Dance::

I made my first juice today in my new juicer (thank you again to Josh for letting me keep it!)  I have to say, all things considered, it was not at all bad.  I took a cue from my good friend Dana, and I added a couple of ice cubes, which definitely added a smoothness to the juice.  I had no idea what to expect, but I think I might get the hang of this fairly quickly.  I'm looking forward to making all sorts of juicy recipes!

Today I felt like veggies.  Straight veggies.  I had already had an apple for breakfast, so I didn't want to add that for sweetness.  I opted instead for beets & carrots which have their own sugars & sweetness.  So, what could I add to beets & carrots?  Celery and Romaine looked good!

• One medium organic beet, peeled
• 3 organic carrots, greens and tops removed
• 2 large organic stalks celery with leafy greens
• large handful red Romaine lettuce (not shown)
• 4 ice cubes

This is after adding the romaine to the celery

This is after adding the beet

The final product - my beet, celery, romaine, carrot juice!!

I missed getting a picture of the pulp!!  ARGH!  For anyone who is new to juicing, like me, the pulp was all ground up and extremely dry (makes sense, right, we juiced it!)  When I took the top off of the juicer, there was this beautiful pulp leftover.  There are lots of things I could do with this pulp, rather than toss it in the garbage disposal or into the trash can.  If I was into composting, I could add it to the compost pile.  But, since I don't compost, I wanted to find another use for it.  I read that I can stir it into batters for muffins (good way to sneak fiber into my kids!) or add it to casseroles.

For dinner tonight, I wanted a grain, so I made quinoa.  While the quinoa was simmering, I took a carnival squash (it's small, like an acorn squash), sliced it in half from top to bottom and scooped out the seeds & strings.  I sprinkled the halves with dried herbs and roasted at 425 for about 25 minutes.  When the quinoa was done, I fluffed it with a fork and added the pulp from the juice, bean sprouts and Bragg's Liquid Aminos (like a healthy soy sauce).  I added this mixture to the squash halves to stuff them, topped with a sprinkle of Daiya non-dairy cheese and baked for about 10 minutes longer.  I served this with roasted Brussels sprouts that I topped with a little Wayfare cheddar "cheese" sauce.  I got my protein (quinoa), fiber (pulp), veggies - plus some extra yumminess from the Daiya & Wayfare without using dairy products.

Stuffed squash with  Brussels sprouts

Isn't it pretty?  So colorful due to the beet pulp!

Mouth watering bite - squash, quinoa, pulp and a little bit of Daiya

Another bite of fabulousness!