Adventures in Juicing: Week 4

Beyond Juice
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
I have so enjoyed this series on juicing from SPUD.ca. In previous posts I have shared how awesome our juicer is, and all the delicious, fresh, organic juice I have been making. But this week I wanted to touch a little bit on how versatile the juicer is. Sure, it makes delicious juice, but it is also a useful kitchen appliance and is much more versatile than you may think. 
The juicer I own (Hurom Slow Juicer) works like a mortar and pestle to crush the produce, so it doesn't have blades or generate any heat (which can destroy some nutrients). When you juice, you are left with a nice big pile of pulp from the produce you have squeezed dry. It's perfect for the composter if you have one. But, there are other, useful things you can do with all that fibre! You can run steamed veggies and fruits through the juicer and combine the pulp and juice to make your own baby food or even soup! You can use the pulp to make your own marmalade, or you can add it to baking to boost the recipe's fibre. 
Because my juicer is not a blender, I can juice anything I can chew. You can even use the juicer to make almond or soy milk! And juicing greens is no problem. Since they aren't getting pulverized by blades, there is no gross stringy texture to deal with in the juice either. 
I am really excited to use it for baby food once this new little guy is ready. For now, my favourite thing is to use the pulp in baking. Here is my favourite recipe. Peanut loves it, and I love that it's super simple to make, and pretty healthy to boot. Of course, I like to heat it up and slather it in butter, so there goes the health factor for me! ;) 

Whole Wheat Carrot Raisin Bread

Makes 1 loaf Prep time: approx 5 mins Bake time: 1 hour
3 medium carrots 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup - 1 cup of honey  (original recipe calls for a whole cup, but that is a lot. It's tasty, but I have made it with 1/2 a cup without sacrificing much taste.) 2 eggs 1/2 cup raisins 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 325F. Run the carrots through the juicer and save the pulp.  (Also, if you are like me and very rarely have fresh, juicy raisins on hand, soak your old, wrinkly raisins in some warm water for a bit to re-plump them a bit.)
Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. 
In a separate bowl, mix the apple sauce, oil, eggs and honey together. Then stir in the pulp and the raisins. 
Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and stir until well blended. The batter should be very moist. If you have reduced the honey you may want to add some of the juice from the carrot into the batter if it is too dry. 
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan. 
Bake for approximately 1 hour until it passes the toothpick test. 

So there you have it...the juicer is a versatile creature! It has so much more to offer than juice.
I hope you have enjoyed this series as much as I have. It has been such a great, healthful journey for me and my family. 
If you are interested in getting a juicer for your family, I highly recommend SPUD's juicing program. Not only do you have the option to purchase the juicer in small, manageable weekly payments, but you also have access to delicious, fresh organic produce for your juicer delivered right to your door. I can honestly not say enough about SPUD. Beyond the service they provide, they also have the best customer service I have encountered in a long time. It means a lot to be treated like a valued customer in this day and age, let me tell you! And the convenience can't be beat. SPUD is my worst-kept secret. ;) 
*Please note that this series is sponsored by SPUD.ca, as they provided the juicer and the organic juicing produce in order to facilitate this series. But all content and opinions are completely my own (as usual!).