Do you ever get a craving for a particular dish at a particular restaurant, where no other substitute will do? I had that for a Wagamama Chicken Ramen this weekend, so we ventured out into a very wet Cardiff city centre to find a Wagas for me. Luckily there was one in a shopping centre so we could nip into The North Face to buy Tom some hiking boots too so that I didn’t feel entirely selfish.
Whilst at Wagamama’s I tried one of their brand new juices, the Positivity, and loved it so much that I recreated at home the following day.
Recently QVC sent me a new Jason Vale retro style juicer (available here) to take down to Cardiff as part of their January ‘Wellbeing month’. QVC has loads of other great products, ideas and inspiration to help you get fit and healthy in 2016, and many of these products are on offer…I’m looking at you Vitamix!
The problem with splitting our time between London and Cardiff (apart from the fact that we live apart) is the fact that I want all my kitchen equipment and fit kit with me so it’s great to have the juicer to make fun healthy drinks in Cardiff too (I was missing my smoothies and juices!)
Although the juicer came with a Jason Vale recipe book I decided to make my own version of the Positivity green juice after a trip to the local Morrisons. On a separate note, I love that Morrison’s is the only UK supermarket that donates its food waste- I wish more of them did this!!
So into the juicer went;
- 1/4 cucumber
- 2 large handfuls baby spinach
- 1 apple
- 200g pineapple
The best bit… you don’t have to peel or core anything. Seriously I just chucked the whole apple in and pineapple with the skin and core on too! This made 1 large green juice, or two smaller ones- you could also top up with still or fizzy water to make it go further and reduce the sweetness/sugar level!
I’m hoping to experiment with the waste produce from the juicer in baking although not sure whether it will work with a mixture of waste!
The sieve catches some of the ‘bits’ and a lot of foam that makes it through the juicing process, although we actually removed it for our next juice to increase the fibre content.
My version wasn’t as sweet as the Wagamama juice, which I really liked, and was surprisingly filling. Even Tom liked it (he is NOT a Green juice kinda guy) but he enjoyed it so much that he asked if we could make one for him too!
I’m not a massive fan of juice diets or cleanses (see my Juice Cleanse Diary for my true verdict) however adding in a green juice or two to your balanced diet is no bad thing, and having it in Cardiff should mean that Tom stops buying processed juices and makes his own instead – definitely a win!
Do you prefer juices or smoothies?
This is really cool – if you’re interested in food waste – you should go dumpster diving and do an article about it. Would be really interesting to hear your perspective on it.
Think I might have to leave that to you – although happy to cook something and share a recipe made with the food you retrieve!
Morrison’s only started donating their food waste recently after Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s War on Waste program – they weren’t that good before!!
I know – still I think it’s a step in the right direction!
I love pineapple in smoothies and juices. It adds the best flavor!