Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer Elite!

I really do love juicing, but this Christmas I was not expecting to find this under our tree!!!
This juicer is one of my dream appliances for my kitchen. I used to drool over the infomercials, uhh not that I watch infomercials haha. Anyways, I love this juicer! It makes the best juice I have ever tasted, not to mention squeezes out ever last drop of liquid from whatever you are juicing. I don't know if you can see it on the box in the picture, but it also makes soy, almond and rice milk. I have yet to try it, but it's on my list of things to do.

Last night I was reading some news headlines and I came upon this!

"Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru who inspired television viewers to trim down, eat well and pump iron for decades before diet and exercise became a national obsession, died Sunday. He was 96." (The Record)

The link will take you to the actual article. The man was 96 years old and a fitness icon. Thank you Jack for encouraging people to exercise and live healthy lives :)

It seemed fitting that my lil one and I would make our favorite juice this morning.

The ingredients:


Juice the apple, orange and pineapple. I sometimes add 2 apples to this recipe or an extra orange. Whatever I have more of really :) Just remember to peel the orange, otherwise you will get a very bitter juice. You can also juice the apples whole, however there is conflicting research about whether or not it's healthy to consume apple seeds. I usually cut them out, just to be safe.

The juice..mmmm

Here is an action shot for you :)





If you want to take your juice one step further like we did this morning, than pour it all into your blender.

Add one med-large banana or if you prefer 1/2 cup plain yogurt.

5 cubes of ice or 1/2 cup of crushed ice.

Blend till smooth!





The final result! Delicious!
2 common questions?!
There are 2 questions I am always asked about this juicer. The first is "Do you really get more juice?" The answer is, yes! The infomercials claim it makes about 30 percent more than other juicers. To be honest I was surprised, I thought it would be more. I guess my old juicer was just that horrible!

The second question is, "What's clean up like?" Clean up is easy, I just remove any pulp and rinse. I was concerned that the filter and blade would be difficult to clean, but I don't even need to take a scrub brush to it. I just rinse everything in my sink and give it a wash and dry. Takes me about 5 minutes.



To end this post I think this quote is appropriate and oh so true...probably more truth behind it now than ever in North America.

“The only way you can hurt the body is not use it. Inactivity is the killer and, remember, it’s never too late.” -Jack LaLanne

When a blogger is away...

Hi everyone! Happy New Year!


This winter I took a hiatus from blogging. I was uninspired to write and I pressured myself into thinking that I HAD to write something on here. It was a vicious cycle, so I decided to shut the blog down for the winter. Over the break I have came to the realization that this blog is for me, its purpose is to make me happy. I shouldn't feel like I have to live up to any one's expectations but my own :) I created this blog as an outlet for me to begin with, so why would I want to change that.

So here we are into the middle of January 2011! With most new years everyone sets out resolutions. I usually don't make any because I think that I could make resolutions to "change" something in my life anytime of the year and stick to it. This year, well last year, particularly December 1st, I decided that I needed to jump start my weight loss and get into shape. Yes the dreaded "lose weight, tone up" resolution. To be honest even though I eat healthy it was easy to go over my daily calories and just maintain my weight. I joined myfitnesspal.com and started tracking my food and exercise. I've been at it since December 1st and so far have lost 12 inches from my chest-waist-hips and altogether 17lbs. I'm really happy with the results and am determined to continue.

One of my very best friend's Caleb and I hiking in cold December weather!

I'm trying to eat about 75-80% raw, clean food a day. That 20-25% that isn't raw are made up of things like cooked vegetables, yogurt, oatmeal, grains (multi grain bread, wraps, shredded wheat), warm soups, protein shakes, and on occasion a salmon fillet. Sometimes my daily food intake is more raw than other days, but it all depends. What makes me happy about this is that I feel really great and not deprived. I also have money in my wallet. I was having some financial issues in terms of funding a really high raw lifestyle for my whole family especially in the winter. I'm pretty confident in saying that once the summer harvest hits we will be able to spend and consume more fresh, clean food.

This blog will continue to be about fresh healthy food, but also continue to be about my journey towards becoming a heathier, happier me.

~Maggie