Juicers are not a new topic on this blog. I’ve been using them and writing about them for years. There was a time I loved my twin gear Green Star back in the day when I was a newbie to raw food. Then, I moved to a cute n fast Breville because motherhood was taking most of my time (actually I’ve owned a couple of Breville juicers). I also fell for the Hurom single auger juicer in an attempt to up my quality of juice while keeping it easier than the Green Star. Finally, I topped out at the all time ultimate Norwalk Juicer thinking that it would save me money in the long long long long run, give me a superior juice never to be more superior, and offer me the option to juice big batches that can be stored for a few days so I wasn’t juicing every day. I wrote about these juicers, and I imagine when this post is done that the bottom “similar posts” links will feature them.
But, things change.
As most of my loving readers know, I am not raw anymore (or vegan for that matter) and my juicing habits have changed. For example, I’m cooking hard greens like kale and spinach instead of juicing them. And, frankly, my 50 pound(?) Norwalk juicer is fabulous at collecting dust. I’m still eating plenty of veggies but they don’t take center stage like they used to. Heck, they took the whole stage pretty much in the past.
As my body rejected wanting so many veggies and instead craving high quality fats and animal products, I wasn’t doing much juicing (or smoothie drinking for that matter). Ebb and flow, that’s life.
Here we are today and I’ve been drawn to the occasional smoothie more than I was 2 years ago after burn out. I also dusted off the Norwalk and had Greg juice a few times this year.
And, here’s what I decided.
I like juice. I like smoothies. I want them in my life to some degree but not like in my decade of vegan living. I gave up on paying off the Norwalk via saving on produce (because it gives a bigger yield) since I just won’t be juicing enough to accomplish that. I also am not crazy about waiting for Greg to make the juice, which is usually in the middle of the night while I sleep. The routine has been that I decide I want juice, then I shop for LOTS of produce to make a big batch, then I find a night where it fits into Greg’s schedule. Let’s be honest… If I want a juice or a smoothie, I want it now. I don’t want to wait long. My Norwalk is looking less attractive by the minute. (Truth: It does make crazy great juice, but it’s anything but super easy or fast to operate. It’s a full on production as you might have seen from my Norwalk videos.)
Sure… I can fall to smoothies which are easy to make in the Vitamix, or my personal favorite for making a smoothie… my Nutribullet. Wait. Why am I so fond of the Nutribullet? Well, it FORCES me to make a small smoothie. My habit in the past is making gut-busting huge portions because I simply get carried away stuffing everything in the Vitamix. This girl needs boundaries sometimes and the Nutribullet is great for that. It’s like when you eat your food on a smaller plate to eat less? Same idea unless you’re like me and you simply get up for seconds (and thirds). That doesn’t always happen with a smoothie though, lol, usually one serving is enough but after making a big one in a Vitamix with expensive organic produce, I was forcing it all down my gullet with my belly expanding unattractively.
Ok, so I decided my Nutribullet was great for small smoothies and I started making them here and there. Yum. Good stuff. But, while they’re easy and tasty and good for me, I really was only talking: 1 to maybe 2 celery sticks, 1/2 cucumber, 1/4 lemon, cup of filtered water, some fat, and maybe 1/2 a bell pepper. Yes, it’s definitely healthy but there’s not a whole lot there, right? That’s when I started thinking about juicers again.
As you all might already know, when you juice, you use more produce because the pulp (fiber) is taken out, which should mean more nutrition.
But, I don’t have my Breville juicers anymore because I gave one to a friend and sold the other. The Hurom isn’t as cool as it once was (not really easy or fast). What’s an impatient gal to do? Get inspiration from Amazon.com of course.
I decided I needed a fast juicer. I needed an easy juicer. I was inspired by Top Gun. “I feel the need… the need for speed.”
So, I bought a kick ass Breville.
It’s the Breville Juice Fountain Plus.
And… It arrived today!
Breville makes a number of models and I decided with my experience of using a couple of them that I needed a middle of the road juicer (in price) and it didn’t need any fancy bells or whistles. In the past, I have owned the model less expensive than this as well as the model more expensive than this particular Breville Juice Fountain Plus I’m loving.
I just want a quick juice once in a while that makes a decent amount and is easy to clean. That’s all.
A couple of the things I like about Breville juicers are the carafe that comes with it is AWESOME at separating the foam from the juice. I remember back in the day when I used my Hurom, I still used the Breville carafe to separate out the foam. I also like that the Breville Juice Fountain (and a couple other models of theirs but not the small one) spit the pulp out into a separate container. That makes easy cleaning.
So, funny thing. I put it in my Amazon shopping cart but wanted to think about it for a bit. I decided that maybe we should sell the Norwalk (any local interest? email me if so), and after talking with Greg, he fully supported my craziness of everything I shared with you. A couple of days later I received an email from America’s Test Kitchen where they had rated juicers. What timing!
Turns out, they recommended the very one I had in my Amazon shopping cart for the very same reasons. Duh, you can imagine that I didn’t waste any time clicking “purchase” after I saw that endorsement. I mean, come on, it was meant to be.
Interestingly, they discuss the topic of enzymes and degradation of juice in a way I hadn’t heard before now, making me even happier with my choice of the Breville lickety split juicer. Something about enzymes degrading juice and the speed of the Breville did something to actually help the situation. Don’t quote me ;) but it was something to that effect.
What am I looking forward to juicing? I’m particular in what I like in my juices and smoothies. I still stick by my rules of not consuming much raw kale, spinach, etc, and that means I like to juice or make smoothies of cucumbers, celery, fresh herbs, bell pepper, lettuce, maybe some citrus (or some mix of those). Occasionally I throw in a small beet or cranberries or carrot. Oh, I love fennel, too. And, I always include a form of fat to increase absorption of nutrients which is usually a spoon of nut butter, raw pasture-raised egg yolks(!), and/or some MCT oil.
Happy juicing and thanks for reading.
Love,
Kristen