Doing Shots (of Wheatgrass)

At my local health food store, which doesn't offer a huge variety of fresh juices, wheatgrass is $3 per shot. I don't think that's unreasonable, but I already spend way too much time in farmer's markets and health food stores, and when I'm in the store I'm likely to spend more than 3 bucks. How can I resist another pack of Raw coconut wraps?

Green powders are great, but sometimes I want something that hasn't gone through that powdered state. My juicer is a simple one, that won't do kale, much less wheatgrass. I contemplated growing my own, but I'm planning to start a small garden, and that's probably enough added responsibility for now. I'm not sure how I stumbled on Evergreen frozen wheatgrass, (did someone blog about it?) but it was a great find.

According to the Evergreen website, their freezing method retains all the nutritional benefits of the wheatgrass, including the live chlorophyll. They also make a good argument for knowing how the wheatgrass your juice came from was grown. I paid about $16 for 10 servings, which is almost half as much as the cost I pay for the fresh shots I get down the street. The shots are frozen in cubes that separate, so you can defrost one shot at a time. The wheatgrass is mixed with rye grass, which has a very similar nutritional profile, but results in a milder taste. Best of all I can pull it out of the freezer and have a shot ready in just a few minutes.

My cousin, Monica, is visiting from Virgina, and I gave her the Evergreen as her first taste of wheatgrass. "Not bad," she said, "but I'm glad the glass is tiny!" There's hope for her yet.

Lovely Boyfriend Wins Gold Medal

So we're not supposed to exchange gifts for Valentine's Day. I purchased a blank card for LB and wrote him a slightly humorous message about how much he means to me (more than I can ever say). In the morning, when I opened my laptop, there was a nice card from him. All was right with the world, until...

Just before we left for dinner, Lovely Boyfriend called me into his room to take a look at something. On his bed there was a large box. Inside that box was a juicer! I've really been into juice lately, but the local juice bar is expensive, and not conveniently located to our home. We shopped online for the juicers all the Raw folks recommend, but they were incredibly pricey.

We'll have to get something else if we want to do wheat grass, but in the meantime, I'm thrilled to have a mid-range juicer than can do fruits and veggies for me. I'm doing the 3-day Green Smoothie Challenge next week, and I'll think of juice as my treat during that phase.

Once again, LB wins the Gold Medal for the Best Boyfriend Ever!

Brand New Taste Buds

Back before I turned my attention to Raw Foods, I'd occasionally go down to the local Mother's Market and buy a fresh juice drink. Usually this would follow a night (or several nights, maybe even weeks) of overindulgence. I'd indulge in fatty foods--you don't want to know what some of these were--alcohol, coffee, infrequent soda, and other highly processed crap. I always ate my fruits and veggies, whatever I could fit in around the party food.

I'd stride into the market, study the menu board for a few minutes and order the same thing every time: The Detox Shock. You see, this was meant to purge my body of all the toxins I was well aware of taking in. Unless I was feeling particularly polluted, I'd order the smallest size (8 ounces). This I would drink over the course of a couple of hours, taking tiny sips . The taste sort of grew on me, but I never enjoyed it.

Cut to today. I'm ordering the same juice blend of wheat grass, lemon, ginger and apple. But I can't get enough of it. Eating clean, natural, living foods has, for whatever reason, helped me to develop a taste for this refreshing combination. I now order the 32 ounce cup of Detox Shock. Unfortunately, it's $8.50 for that big serving of yummy deliciousness. Looks like it's time to start shopping for a juicer--in the thrift stores!