There are so many juicer options out there now. And I will admit to having a few in my kitchen, but I hardly ever use a juicer these days. For the most part, they are slow, and exhausting to clean. After a few well intended days of juicing, many people find it too much trouble and time to keep up with. So I was looking for a way to make juice without a juicer. Here is one more place the versatile Vitamix came to the rescue!
Start with 1/2 cup spring water in the blender. Chop your veggies in big chunks & toss in. I find it best to put the soft and juicy ones, like cucumbers or lemons, in first. Blend until you have a consistant smooth mush, using the vitamix tamper to keep it moving. *Never use fingers or any other kitchen utensil to move food around in a blender unless it is unplugged from the outlet*
Once your mush is ready add in a few handfuls of your leafy green vegetable of choice. I love using kale or swiss chard from the farmers market. Blend again until you cannot see any leafy flakes.
Now you have a smoothie, but it probably will be too thick to drink and most likely not a flavor smoothie you would want to drink. By removing the fiber you can speed up the accessibility of the nutrients to be absorbed into your body.
With your nut milk bag placed in a large bowl, pour your smoothie mush into the bag.
Twist the top of the bag and starting from the top, slowly squeeze the juice through. This will take a few minutes, be gentle and squeeze until the bag is filled with just pulp.
Not only is this faster, you will most likely end up with more juice because you can squeeze every last bit of nutritious goodness out of the pulp.
Empty the bag out into your compost or trash can & rinse the bag inside and out with soapy water. This juice will not last as long as it would if you used a slow auger juicer, but will be nutritious and fresh all day if kept in a sealed jar in the refrigerator.
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