When life gives you juice pulp, make muffins!

So this is my last day of my makeshift juicing cleanse.  Have a couple confessions…although I did supplement my breakfast and lunch with juice, I couldn’t sacrifice my dinner.  The first day was miserable, second day got a bit better and by the third I was comfortable with just the juice for the greater portion of my day.  BUT everyday around 3pm I would literally go crazy insane….tired, irritable, delusional, emotional- the whole bit.  SO, I had to snack on raisins, walnuts, fresh veggies or a little peanut butter to curb my appetite.  I constantly drank water or jasmine pearl tea (one of my favorites) and naturally cut out my daily Nespresso shot in the morning.

Things I noticed immediately…trimmer tummy, clearer/smoother skin and I feel much lighter than normal…if that make sense.  I definitely have a new found appreciation for vegetables and fruits so I think I am going to keep this going by making one juice a day.  I also think I dodged a cold that was going around the office this week by juicing- had a little sniffle and sore throat at the beginning of the week and now I am 100%.  Overall, I am happy Jack LaLanne came into our lives.

Mark on the other hand…ask him about his juicing experience and he will just say that it was “boring”  :0) …. but secretly I know he likes the concept, he just enjoys all food- period.

So while juicing you will have tons and tons of pulp that is 100% editable.  We don’t have the need to save it for compost and Jack certainly doesn’t eat leftovers so I felt a little guilty disposing of the pulp.  My sister, Maggie (who also did the cleanse with me this week), found a recipe for muffins made of juice pulp so we gave it a try last night…the recipe itself was horrible (poorly written) so we improvised and although the muffins taste great, they look a little….earthy.

What you will need:

• Pulp of 4-5 medium carrots
• Pulp of 1-2 medium apples (we used green, but I bet honey crisps would be awesome)
• Pulp of 1 orange
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk (I bet you could substitute for almond milk or soy if desired)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup dried cranberries or raisins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and you can either use paper-lined muffin tins or spray the tins with a baking spray.  Next time, I am going to try using just the tin because some of the muffins were sticking to the liners.

Juice carrots, apples and orange and put the pulp aside in a medium mixing bowl.

In another bowl, mix eggs, apple sauce, oil, milk, sugar and vanilla until smooth and then add the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and cranberries/raisins.  Mix thoroughly!

Add the mixture to the pulp and blend well.  Taste test to see if you need a bit more sugar!  And then fill each muffin tin about 3/4 full.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes…just keep an eye on them and use the toothpick test to see when they are done.

Will be a perfect snack around 3pm today!

Happy Friday everyone!!