Tag Archives: parsnips

Featured, Get Juiced

Get Juiced

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freshly washed apples and parsnips

OK, it’s time to come clean. Sarah and I aren’t very good at eating vegetables. Despite the CSA box and good intentions, it’s just really hard to get excited about vegetables, unless there is quite a bit of cheese and/or ranch dressing involved. And even then, it can be a stretch. But we know how important it is to eat fruits and vegetables, so it was with that in mind that we decided to take the plunge into juicing. We’re only a few weeks in, but it really has changed things around here. It’s easy, it’s fun, you feel good about yourself, and you probably should! Look at me, I just drank 5 handfuls of spinach. Spinach!

Omega Juicer making apple & parsnip juice

Look at it go! Chewing up those apples and spitting ‘em out.

We had thought about buying a juicer for some time, but we were hesitant to make the investment. Juicers can be pretty pricey. Two things helped sway us. First, we tried some pretty vegetable-y juice at Kramer’s (a health food store near where we work) and discovered that vegetable juice isn’t totally disgusting. Hey, maybe we could start juicing! Second, I happened to read a pretty excellent review/essay on juicing on wirecutter.com, which pointed out a good, mid-priced juicer. This was an immense help as the options out there can be overwhelming, with a large range of prices and juicer types. For a juice novice, it’s pretty hard to make any sense of it.

Omega 8003 Juicer

So we ended up buying the Omega 8003 for around $200. This is a mid-range juicer, but it comes with a 10-year warranty and feels like it’s built to last. It’s basically a big motor with an augur attached to it that crushes whatever you put into it, extracting the juice and expelling all the fibrous bits. It makes short work of any kind of leafy green you give it, but is a little bit hesitant around some fruits and more watery vegetables like cucumbers. Overall, however, we’ve been pretty impressed with it’s performance. It’s also quiter than I was expecting. It’s a slow methodical crushing — not like a blender or some centrifugal juicers. This is ideal, because it will keep nutrients intact and not allow too much oxidzation to occur, allowing your juice to stay fresher longer.

fresh apply & parsnip juice with the leftover fiber

Fresh juice on left, fibrous remains on right.

So thats a bit about what we’ve been up to — getting juiced! Later we’ll share the first juices we’ve been making and how we’re feeling about our investment.

fresh fruit & vegetable juice

Fresh juice! Recipes coming soon…

Fine Fixin's

Fine Fixin’s: Skillet Roasted Carrots and Parsnips

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Pan Roasted Carrots and Parsnips
It’s birthday season! Well, it’s birthday season for me anyway, and you know what that means: presents! Over the weekend, I received some early birthday presents from my parents including America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook. This is one of those giant cookbooks that seems to have a recipe for everything. I wanted to add another one of these to my collection and thought that it might as well be a ‘healthy’ one. So far, Sarah and I have only glanced though it, but we’re both pretty excited. Hopefully we’ll be sharing some of the best recipes with you this year. But for now, you’ll have to settle for this recipe, which I made yesterday because I had an excess of carrots and parsnips.

Skillet Roasted Carrots and Parsnips

3/4 c water
3/4 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
4 carrots (12 oz), peeled, and sliced 1/2″ thick on the bias
3 parsnips (9 oz), peeled, and sliced 1/2″ thick on the bias
1 tbsp minced parsley

1. Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium heat. Combine the water sugar and 1/2 tsp of salt in a bowl. Add the carrots and water to the skillet. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the carrots begin to soften. 7-9 minutes.

2. Uncover and turn the heat up to high. Add parsnips and cook, stirring occasionally, until the water evaporates and the veggies brown. 13-18 minutes. Add some salt, and any other tasty herbs you might have. I used some Herbes de Provence.