Green Juice in a Blender

For the past 5 years or so, a juicer has been on my wish list…along with a host of other kitchen gadgets.  Every time I go to the restaurant Chaco Canyon Cafe in Seattle’s University District, I order a nice frothy glass of green juice, chock full of kale, sweetened with apple, maybe spiced up with a little ginger root.  To those who have never had green juice, maybe this doesn’t sound appetizing?  I know I was a little uncertain about it the first time I tried it.  But let me tell you, green juice is amazing!  It tastes great and it makes me feel so energized!

A couple of years ago I invested in a Vita-Mix blender.  This is a high-speed blender that can pulverize just about anything.  How can I justify buying a juicer when I already own a Vita-Mix?  Anyway, this morning I had this crazy idea.  I could just blend up all the ingredients that I would use in a green juice, then strain them through a nut milk bag!  (If you don’t know, a nut milk bag is an inexpensive mesh bag used to strain homemade almond milk and things like that.  You can get it very inexpensively on Amazon or several other sites.)

So, this morning I gave it a try.  Success!!  I got to enjoy a beautiful, frothy, energizing glass of green juice right here in my own home.  My husband and I loved it.  My 5 year old…not so much.  I think he was expecting that Odwalla Superfood drink that we have nicknamed “green juice” in our family.  This was definitely more…green tasting.  The cool thing is, you can really adjust this juice to your taste.  I put a whole bunch of kale in my juice.  You could put half that, and increase the apples.  Add in a banana if you want it really sweet!

Green Juice in a Blender (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole bunch of kale, rinsed (stems and all!)
• 1-2 whole apple, quartered and cored
• 1-2 cups water or juice (I happened to have some locally made apple cider in my refrigerator so I used that, and only used 1 whole apple)
• 1 small whole nub of ginger root
• juice from one lemon
• a few fresh mint leaves

Preparation:

Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender*.  Blend until very smooth.  Strain through a nut milk bag and squeeze the bag with clean hands until all juice is extracted.  Remaining pulp should be very, very dry.  Discard pulp, unless you can think of something creative to do with it!  Serve juice over ice, or chill before serving.  Enjoy!

*Note:  If you don’t have a high-speed blender, you can still make this juice.  You will just need to chop your kale and apples more finely before blending.