Aunt J Knows Best

Last Thanksgiving, Jason and I were in California and stopped in to see my favorite Aunt J and Uncle K. Aunt J is Mom's little sister, and we are three peas in a pod. I don't know how many times growing up my mom switched our names or said, "You are just like your Aunt J!" And Mom was right. I know I can thank her for several of my wonderful personality traits, and my height. Although she lived half way across the country, we always managed to stay close. I called myself her sidekick, and everything we did together was an adventure. It is fitting that she has played an instrumental role in my road to vegan.

At our last visit, Aunt J had semi recently become vegan. The change was a good thing for her, and I could see that she was glowing and even more full of life than ever before (which is hard to believe if you know her). We talked some about the change while flipping through a vegan cookbook. We admired the colorful dishes and fun presentations. While I was intrigued, many of the ingredients listed in the recipes were foreign to me. It sounded like a good idea in theory, I just didn't know if I could do it. But with Aunt J making it look so simple, I thought I'd give it a try.

Each morning while we were there, Aunt J made us a juice concoction to go with breakfast. Jason and I have adopted juicing, and now swear by it. With juicing, your body does not have to work hard to digest anything, so all the nutrients are absorbed immediately. Some people make "green smoothies" which are also incredibly good for you. If you're looking for nutrients plus extra fiber, that's a good way to go, too.

Daily Juicing

The contents of our juice varies depending on what we have on hand. We buy greens in bulk from Costco, and the rest from the farmer's market. We try to do about 3/4 vegetables to 1/4 fruit. Here's what I made yesterday:

2 handfuls of spinach

2 handfuls of kale

2 stalks of celery

1/2 cucumber

1/2 beet

1/2 apple

1/2 orange

1/2 lime

3 carrots

1 inch ginger

*Makes anywhere from 12-20 ounces, depending on how juicy your fruits and veg are.