Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Juice

Hubby received a juice extractor for his birthday. So.....

First I got a whole lot of fresh vegetables. While I was at the store I was taking note of all the great juice options there are today, and wrote down the price of the healthier ones. Also, the cost of the fruits and vegetables that looked the best.

ThenI got overwhelmed looking at the full fridge, wondering how to make juice we would like the first time we tried it so I wouldn't be wasting anything because of some strange combination I thought would be delicious. After reading a friends post on facebook about juicing, with a link to Amazon.com and books on juicing I went click click click and I bought a kindle book on juicing.

Then after I read the book on juicing, I wondered why the author hadn't mentioned anything about the leftover pulp. Previously, I thought I could use it in recipes but there was no mention of it - so I went online to find out ideas on how to use the pulp.

The first things I saw suggested for using pulp had to do with pet treats and composting piles - NOT exactly what I was thinking. But as I read further there were ideas for using the pulp in recipes. Actually one of the uses was to add the pulp to the juice - just not all of it - to boost the fiber content. Another one was to add it to smoothies, again to boost the fiber content.

One of my main concerns was whether I needed to cook the pulp prior to adding it to baking recipes - what was suggested was just to add the pulp as is into the recipe, however, I would suggest just being careful to NOT allow large pieces of vegetables such as carrots to make it into the quick baking recipes(30min or less). They just won't get soft enough in short periods of time.

THE JUICER

I took it out of the box today. Yes it was his present. But HIS birthday was 3/31. It was time to let it out of the box. IT WAS TIME.

I prepared the 6 carrots and 1 apple and began to "fiddle" with the machine. After a little carrot stub popped up and hit me in the shoulder, I decided to read the manual. No it is not just men who read the manual as a last resort. I enjoy trying to figure things out but not getting hit with vegetables - it goes against my stage training.

I successfully made a cup of juice. And that little sip tasted wonderful. I decided I would save the juice for hubby WHO I expected to be home in just a few minutes - and use the pulp to make scones!

But when I went into the fridge a few minutes later the juice was starting to settle - so I decided I would use the juice as the liquid, instead of water, in the scone recipe.
So that was my juicer adventure and here is the recipe for my carrot scones.



CARROT SCONES

Cut strips of parchment paper
Juice approx. 6 carrots and 1 apple

Preheat oven to 375

1 box spice cake mix
2 cups baking mix
1 cup juice from juice extractor ( approx. 6 carrots, 1 apple)
1/2 cup of pulp from juice extractor

Put dry ingredients in large bowl.
Add liquid and pulp.
Fold mixture until all dry ingredients are moistened.

REGULAR SCONE SHAPE
Form two balls of dough. Place each ball on parchment and cut into eighths with wet knife. Brush with cream or milk.

MUFFIN SHAPE
Place strips of parchment in each muffin cup. Scoop 1/2 cup of dough over parchment strip in muffin cup. Smooth tops of scones with cream or milk.

Bake 25 minutes at 375

OPTION
While scones are hot spread with cream cheese frosting. Let cool.

Thanks for reading, New Geri

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