Vegetable Juice/Smoothie Recipes

Hi chaps,

Bit of a random question but I’ve recently got hold of a good quality juicing machine and I’m aware that I’m not getting nearly enough veg in my diet so I’d like to get into making vegetable-based smoothies/juices.

I was just wondering if anyone else does this, and if so do you have any good recipes that aren’t super high in sugar but that also taste tolerable?

Thanks in advance.

Bump.

Made something gross with a whole broccoli yesterday.

[quote]furo wrote:
I was just wondering if anyone else does this, and if so do you have any good recipes that aren’t super high in sugar but that also taste tolerable? [/quote]

I have a lot of friends that do it, only do it a little bit myself.

Pretty much the only thing I make myself in this fashion is an apple-ginger smoothie with a heavy influx of greens (spinach is the mildest; kale is a bit harsher, but palatable). A splash of apple juice for sweetness (4-8 ounces), a few small chunks of fresh ginger (peeled), and a couple hearty handfuls of spinach or kale. That’s a good way to get a big influx of greens in you, the ginger has a nice bite, and the apple juice is just sweet enough to make it drinkable. Only do this if you can afford a splash of sugar every so often in your diet, as even a small glass of apple juice is pretty high in sugar.

Several friends from my yoga studio (quite a different demographic from the typical T-Nation member lol) make and sell their juice at the yoga studios (juicing and vegetarianism are both big in the yoga community around here). I have sampled their wares frequently and come away impressed. Combinations that I have fond memories of:

Carrot apple ginger

Cucumber watermelon mint

Beet…shoot, I can’t remember, but they make one with beets and some other stuff that’s really good (I want to see it also includes apples, but I’m not sure)

Hopefully that will give you a couple of ideas.

Broccoli: terrible idea. Stick to vegetables that have a fairly mild or sweet taste to them. Carrots and beets are both winners. Spinach greens are pretty neutral if you have something else like apple or ginger to give it flavor.

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:

[quote]furo wrote:
I was just wondering if anyone else does this, and if so do you have any good recipes that aren’t super high in sugar but that also taste tolerable? [/quote]

I have a lot of friends that do it, only do it a little bit myself.

Pretty much the only thing I make myself in this fashion is an apple-ginger smoothie with a heavy influx of greens (spinach is the mildest; kale is a bit harsher, but palatable). A splash of apple juice for sweetness (4-8 ounces), a few small chunks of fresh ginger (peeled), and a couple hearty handfuls of spinach or kale. That’s a good way to get a big influx of greens in you, the ginger has a nice bite, and the apple juice is just sweet enough to make it drinkable. Only do this if you can afford a splash of sugar every so often in your diet, as even a small glass of apple juice is pretty high in sugar.

Several friends from my yoga studio (quite a different demographic from the typical T-Nation member lol) make and sell their juice at the yoga studios (juicing and vegetarianism are both big in the yoga community around here). I have sampled their wares frequently and come away impressed. Combinations that I have fond memories of:

Carrot apple ginger

Cucumber watermelon mint

Beet…shoot, I can’t remember, but they make one with beets and some other stuff that’s really good (I want to see it also includes apples, but I’m not sure)

Hopefully that will give you a couple of ideas.

Broccoli: terrible idea. Stick to vegetables that have a fairly mild or sweet taste to them. Carrots and beets are both winners. Spinach greens are pretty neutral if you have something else like apple or ginger to give it flavor.[/quote]

Great, thanks ActivitiesGuy! The spinach, apple and ginger idea sounds perfect, I’ll try it out tomorrow. I actually added ginger to my broccoli one lol, and while overall it wasn’t a success the ginger definitely improved it.

Thanks again.

I found out that a few kiwi’s change pretty much the entire taste of the veg- heavy juices

[quote]outlaws wrote:
I found out that a few kiwi’s change pretty much the entire taste of the veg- heavy juices[/quote]

Thanks for the tip outlaws!

I have experimented with juicing to get more vegetables in my diet, but to make them taste any good you need to add a decent amount of fruit or use coconut water as a base.

I now prefer just to eat the vegetables and fruit. It provides more satiety. I think in one of TC’s more recent articles, he discusses the pitfalls of juicing.

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