For the past two weeks, I’ve been dealing with a major juicer fail. Arg! But first, let me introduce you to my beloved friend. Meet Señorita. Yes, I call her that. My mom’s fiancé gave me this little gadget on temporary loan… but it’s been almost a year and he hasn’t quite asked for her back yet so I’ll be juicing my lil heart out until he does 
This is a Breville. It’s a centrifugal juicer. She’s fast and efficient and I adore her. But I’ve heard some wonderful things about masticating juicers as well. The best piece of advice I can offer you is to do your research before you make such a purchase, because each juicer has it’s pros and cons.
Centrifugal Juicers
Popular brands: Breville, Omega, Hamilton Beach, Juiceman
How it works: Crushes fruits into a pulp with the aid of small blades and then extracts the juice through a sieve.
Pros: Fastest juicers on the market, usually easy to clean and most parts are dishwasher safe. Takes many fruits whole or in large chunks. Usually cheaper in price compared to Masticating juicers. Stand-up vertical design, takes up less space.
Cons: Less juice is extracted, more waste is produced. Cannot juice leafy greens as well, i.e. wheatgrass. Also very loud when in use.
Masticating Juicers
Popular brands: Champion, Green Star, Omega, Samson
How it works: Chews fruit and vegetable into a pulp and then squeezes out the juice
Pros: Extracts more juice than centrifugal juicers, slow but quiet. Good for juicing leafy greens. Produces minimal foam. Preserves more nutritional value and flavor. Less waste. Can be used for other functions like making nut butters, grinding coffee, mincing herbs, etc.
Cons: Usually more expensive. Slow. Fruit and veggies have to be cut up into smaller chunks to go into the feed tube.
To be honest, I really really want a masticating juicer too. If you are really serious about juicing, I think having both types is the best way to go. Watery fruits work best in the centrifugal juicers but the masticating ones work amazing on leafy greens. But, like most people out there, I’m on a budget. And one juicer (that isn’t even technically completely mine) is what I have to work with now, so that’s what I use!
Anyway, back to my juicer dilemma. About two weeks ago I did something I’ve never done before. I put all of the parts into the dishwasher for a good cleaning. I usually wash it by hand because I juice about 2 or 3 times a day, but on this particular day I decided to give it up to Mr. Dishwasher. I had skimmed the online manual and read that the juicer was dishwasher safe, so I figured no big deal. Well, I should have read the manual instead of skim it because all parts are dishwasher safe except the food pusher. OYY!
The next morning I woke up to find a very beat up and bruised food pusher. Quite pathetic looking indeed. You see, this is what actually pushes the food down the shoot into the grinding blades below… it is a vital part of this machine to work properly. The dishwasher melted the plastic just enough so that it won’t fit into the feeding tube. Arrrg. And trust me, I tried to shove it. But it wasn’t happenin’
I was screwed. For the moment. I probably shouldn’t say this to the public but I decided to be creative and use an extra large and long carrot as a food pusher over the next few days, and it sort of worked. But you can’t use just anything because the food pusher fits exactly into place above the blades. If you stick a wooden spoon or spatula down the feeding tube it will be demolished. Don’t worry, I didn’t attempt to go there 
But my attempt with a carrot was exhausting and overall it wasn’t working so hot. So I called up Breville and they sent me a brand new food pusher for about $20! Woohoo! I have my juicer back! If only you knew how much it seriously made my day to open this FedEx package.
All spiffy and shiny and ready for action! Two weeks of juicing mayhem was 13 days too many if you ask me.
So I juiced my little heart out all day long just because I could. Welcome to What I Ate Wednesday, hosted by the lovely Jenn @ Peas and Crayons!
For starters, lots and lots of juice. Duh! This is cucumber, celery, watermelon, romaine lettuce and carrot juice. So delish!
For lunch I had a mini cold pizza. I topped some whole wheat flat bread with hummus, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, grated carrots and a heaping portion of homemade spicy guacamole. Mmmm. Green grapes and iced green tea rounded it off! This was seriously yummy and surprisingly filling.
Dinner was a combo of sweet potatoes topped with homemade raw cashew butter, shredded coconut and raisins…
For those of you that have been asking, my knee is doing a bit better! I’ve been taking it easy and icing it almost every night, but overall the sharp pain has subsided. I’ve been doing a lot of online research about my condition and some scary words have popped up, like… radiation treatment…tissue acts like a tumor eating away at the bone…possible joint replacement… ugh. Scary stuff. But I’m trying to keep my focus, all while praying that I won’t have to endure another surgery.
I actually decided to go back to yoga last night. I was missing it terribly and I was starting to feel super lazy and depressed about my lack of physical activity. Since my knee started acting up about 3 weeks ago I haven’t done much at all. I knew the only thing I could tolerate would be something like yoga. I talked to my instructor before class and let her know what I was dealing with so she wouldn’t try to push me like she usually does. ha! She was super supportive and gave me some bits of advice for class. The class went very smoothly. Although I was not able to go into every pose, and I didn’t push myself as hard as I usually do, I felt a lot better and rejuvenated after class. Plus the 90 minute sweat of Bikram yoga is always so cleansing!!
If you get a chance, please check out Frosting For the Cause. It’s a blog that features a new guest post daily with fabulous baking recipes from people around the world. The blog also features some pretty inspirational stories about cancer victims and cancer survivors. It’s purpose is to raise funding and awareness for cancer research. I just signed up as a registered baker in October and I’m uber excited about it! It’s easy to do, so check it out.
Also, Marla @ Family Fresh Cooking is having a $600 American Express card giveaway for the best 6-ingredient dessert recipe. Contest deadline is next Friday. You better believe I’ll be entering that one!
~Peace, Love & Veggies xo
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