It was becoming a little later in the night and my appetite still had not made an appearance, so I made a small batch of Vegetable Tomato Soup Inspired Juice. I found this juice to be extremely flavorful, savory, warming and oh so comforting with these snowy and windy days.

If there are any ingredients that you like in your tomato based vegetable soups that I did not use I would love to know and of course please add them in! I want this experience to be comforting for you too, what ingredients I find have this feeling for me might not tickle your fancy…and that’s just dandy!

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My best friend Kristine told me that she saw a juice at The Butcher’s Daughter with corn in it! Something I personally would have never thought of juicing, but in a juice like this it might add just the right sweetness.

I’d love to hear from anyone who juices corn, what recipes they have brewed up, the taste of corn juice and so on. This restaurant is still in the works of becoming completely settled, it sounds like they haven’t been open too long. So the link above that I provided is of Yelp! Reviews, The Butcher’s Daughter does not have a menu up or anything on their actual site, just contact info.

Several of their juices sound really fun, there are ingredients that I am not use to seeing here on the East Coast but have seen before in California Farmer’s Markets and shops. I’m a little confused as to why they are adding agave nectar to juices…that doesn’t make me happy But a few juices that sound interesting or just completely blissful are:

Mexican Sunrise: Corn, jicama, cherimoya, aloe juice, lemon, lime, agave, cayenne.

Water Flower: Watermelon, fennel, honeydew, cactus pear, agave, lime, lavender flower.

Eastern Promise: Lemongrass, anjou pear, cucumber, ginger, lime, kaffir lime leaf.

Stalks & Leaves: Zucchini, celery, green leaf lettuces, spinach, watercress, lemon, dill.

An Elixir shot, Green Day: Wheatgrass, jalapeno, cilantro, lime.

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I’ve mentioned before that I am a huge fan of checking out juice bars, when I am blessed enough to be traveling I try to check out different ones in the area. It’s a wonderful idea to look at juice bar menus and get inspired for juices on your own. What’s even better is using your money, your energy, to support the changes and good you want to see in the world. Everything you buy reflects what you support!

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If you are having difficulties whipping up your own juice recipes, try to see it as a soup or salad recipe instead. May be looking at it from another angle will help you see how delicious, simple and fun it can be.

Be experimental! If you are new to juicing, try a vegetable a day that you have never ever tried in a juice. Or you are so gosh darn interested in knowing what it will look or taste like.

Search online but please never feel obligated to strictly follow a recipe unless you are on a guided juice cleanse. Plenty of times feeling like you have to follow someone else’s rules or guidelines prevents us all from going out there and doing it.

Now back to my soup before I take us off on some other yummy adventure!

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Vegetable Tomato Soup Inspired Juice   

4 celery stalks

1/2 lime, rind removed

1/2 lemon, rind removed

1/2 yellow bell pepper

1 small carrot, peeled for smoothness

1 small zucchini

2 small roma tomatoes

1/2 cucumber

1/2 garlic clove, less or more according to your preference and totally optional

1/2-inch ginger, peeled

A pinch or two of dill

Half a sprig of fresh oregano

Small handful of cilantro

Juice & Enjoy! If you’d like add a dash of cayenne 🙂 or any of your favorite spices, maybe a chipotle or Italian seasoning blend.

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I’ve always been a bookworm, what can I say, I have good taste 😉 There are an overwhelming amount of books, websites, and famous juice gurus out there. At least for me, my head feels sometimes like it might explode because no one agrees on all of the same things. There is no one “diet” or ingredient that is the perfect thing for every single person in the universe.

Our bodies all have different needs. The history we each store, even before we were earth side is so figgin’ unlike anyone else’s.

There are some guidelines, nutritional values and so on that most people can agree on though. Like kale has protein, lemons are detoxing, cucumber is great for skin health and carrots promote vision health. Also, there are things that just aren’t so cut and dry yet people have managed to pretty much agree on.

I am going to share a list my top three “kitchen bible” books, meaning these are books that I literally have in my kitchen at all times. I’ll also go on record and say that I personally do not let anyone borrow these books because they are used that often.

Tomorrow or so, depending on how bad this snow gets I would love to share a second list with helpful detox and juicing books. If you are looking for resources that are just about raw/living vegan food, how to find restaurants, good recipe websites and chefs you can find that here in my previous post.

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My Handy Kitchen Books Or “Kitchen Bibles”

I tried to make this in order of how often I think people will probably use these books 🙂 I hope this works out! These are book reviews essentially so get comfty and snuggle up to some juice.

Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Healing Juices

by Dr. John Heinerman

I’ll admit I was skeptical about this book when I was researching it online. The book was published in 1994, so I was curious about how these facts would hold up in 2013! My other big thing was Dr. Heinerman uses the word “Vita-Mix” a little too much and I’m a juice girl, I believe juices are more healing then blended drinks. So what’s my beet with Vita-Mix? To keep it short, Vita-Mix machines typically heat up your drinks thus some of the once living enzymes have been killed. The Enzymes Of The Dead O_O Last but not least, many of the recipes in the back of the book call for specific brands of supplements and the use of dairy products.

But overall, the facts and information John Heinerman has provided are absolutely amazing. He shares stories of clients who have healed with juices, and stories from centuries ago where rulers and those of high social standing have even used juices to remedy their illnesses (folk medicine may be ringing in some of your heads but to me we need to go back to living and being more simple). Heinerman provides the facts straight up (he is a medicial anthropologist)! This isn’t just another juicing book. It truly is THE juicing book for healing.

Heinerman goes over chapter by chapter different fruits, vegetables and herbs. He begins the chapter by going over a description of the item; what family it is from, it’s history, where it is grown, and what it tastes like. Nutritional data, therapeutic benefits, ailments it aids in healing and method of preparation are all deeply described also.

The chapters are broken down into the produce item and in the appendix are were all the recipes are stowed away. You can use the index to search for the food item you are interested in or ailment. For example let’s say you are looking up Gallbladder inflammation, next to that it says radish juice and the page number. I almost forgot to mention, there are even recipes for babies!

I have personally found this to be the most helpful book in my kitchen especially since I love juicing! I highly recommend this book and if you can check it out at your local library first. Make sure you enjoy this book as much as I do before buying it 😀 I give it 4/5 Stars, since it really bugs me that certain supplements/brands are really pushed! Even though I do not care for the dairy recipes, it is a great half-way meeting point for those on the Standard American Diet.

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The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs

by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

Yes, this was one of my mandatory books for culinary school and I am positively in love with it. Whenever I want to think out of the box with a recipe I will flip through this book for ideas. There is a huge selection of ingredients from meats, cheese, spices, herbs, fruit, vegetables, grains and I think you get the point now haha.

The authors explain the aesthetics of flavor as a combination of taste, mouth-feel, aroma, and our own personal emotions, history and attachments.  You can even look up a nations cuisine and see the most common ingredients used in their dishes.

This can be somewhat helpful with juicing, but I find it to be exceptionally handy with recipe development and making a dish that has a more flavorful story. If you are trying to make a dish that you are not too familiar with the ethnic flavors, you want to try out an ingredient that is new to you but aren’t sure what to do or for me it’s even fun to just read the book picking things at random.

Since The Flavor Bible is rather expensive I recommend flipping through it at your local book store or at the library. I find this book to be most helpful to those who feel like they are fairly new to cooking, they use the same ingredients or spices over and over again or anyone who has a serious craving to create something out of their comfort zone.

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The Big Book of Juices: More Than 400 Natural Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day

by Natalie Savona

I have mentioned this book before in a previous post so I will not discuss it in too much detail here. But I like to flip through this book when I want different ideas, the images in here are stunning, clean, bright and everything is styled oh so deliciously!

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I hope this post was helpful and I am sorry it ended up being terribly  long. I know it is not easy sitting still for this long reading something on a glowing screen. But I have found these ideas, information and books to be extremely helpful over the years. In writing this post I aspire to assist others in their journey ❤

Much love ❤ and raw power 😉

BIG HUGS, SNUGLY BLANKETS, AND MAGICAL JUICES!

Jess