fifty shades of green

This winter -- my juicer -- after several months of collecting dust -- has finally been seeing a lot of action. 

Weekend mornings, post bacon and eggs, have been replete with the happy hum of my juiceman 400 - churning out colorful fruit filled concoctions...mostly orange, apple, berry, carrot based infusions with the odd grapefruit, pineapple or mango thrown in the mix.  

wonderful way to knock out your daily serving of fruit-- combat the tsunami sized wave of influenza sweeping the nation (vitamin C!) -- and get a little taste of summer in the dredges of January's arctic chill. 

Been preeeettty pleased with the majority of my results -- although, in all honesty, it's kind of hard to muck up mango + raspberries or strawberries + pineapple  -- it's kind of like peanut butter plus chocolate or melted butter and garlic -- fool proof. 

As I've begun clicking around pinterest for suggestions on other yummy juice blends - I've started reading lots about the benefits of green juicing. Apparently the stuff is chock full of  buzz words (and things) like vitamins, minerals, enzymes and amino acids--plus it keeps you skinny! gives you a clear, glowing complexion! keeps cancer at bay! And....it FIGHTS FREE RADICALS!!!! Whatever that actually means....

So I've decided to expand my juicing repetoire, take it to the next level and get my green on. Bit of a challenge for me as liquified leaves don't exactly induce cravings...nevertheless i figure i'll start slowly, sneak the spinach in little by little and work my way up to be a hardcore swiss chard loving, parsley popping, broccoli blending fool! Below is my adventure in green juicing....take one:

MY MIX: 

cucumbers

celery

spinach

green apples

blueberries

kiwis

I poured it over crushed ice and squeezed  in a very much needed wedge of lime....and although it was still a little on the leafy side for my liking...all in all, it was a good first attempt. next time i think some pineapple or grapes to sweeten the mix and take the edge off....or perhaps some agave swirled in....

Side Note -- guess the greenery went to my head -- because I also decided to make the following -- reaffirmed that avocado makes most everything better. enjoy!

Avocanana Bread

INGREENIENTS

• ⅓ cup
  old-fashioned oats
  1 cup all purpose flour
  1 tsp. baking powder
  1 tsp. baking soda
  ½ tsp. salt
  1 tsp. cinnamon (i used 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 pumpkin pie spice)
  1 ripe, Fresh California Avocado, pit removed
  ¼ cup canola oil (i went with 1/8 cup veg oil)
  1 cup (packed) brown sugar
  2 eggs
  2 very ripe bananas (i used 2 1/2 bananas )
  ½ cup chopped walnuts (i left these out)
  ¼ cup buttermilk (i used 1/4 oikos vanilla greek yogurt)