Monday 10 March 2014

New to Juicing - What To Do With All This Pulp? A Recipe is Born!

It's no secret that I love kitchen gadgets.  From my multi-temperature kettle and my combination coffee-espresso maker, to my milk frother, to my citrus reamer and my apple corer.

Fresh resolve (let's say due to the onset of sunnier days and the promise of warmer temperatures) inspired me to take the plunge and add a masticating juicer to my lineup.

I've been a fan of Booster Juice's Ginger Hammer for some time - I especially love it during cold season - and it was naturally the first juice I attempted to make with my new contraption.  I was pleased with the result, and the potency of the juice's flavour (especially that of the ginger - wow!).

My version:

Organic Ginger Power Juice
- 1" piece peeled organic ginger root
- 2 to 3 medium-large organic carrots
- 1 organic granny smith apple

This is the basic recipe.  Since my first go at it I've added to it with whatever I had on hand: a handful of fresh organic wheatgrass here, a third of an organic cucumber there, maybe a rib or two of organic celery.  It makes about a cup of juice - just the right amount for my needs as a juicing noob.

Now, I knew going in that I would be left with a lot of vegetable fibre.  I also knew from reading various posts on various health-oriented blogs and Facebook groups that one can use the fibre to augment soups, sauces, and smoothies.  I added about half of my first "batch" of pulp to a green smoothie that same morning.  Note that if you do add the pulp to a smoothie, you'll more than likely have to add extra liquid.  That stuff is absorbent.  Let's just say that first smoothie was quite thick, filling, and honestly, kind of hard to get down.  Live and learn.

I'd also read that the pulp can be used in baking.  I knew I wanted to attempt baking with my homemade "Ginger Hammer" pulp, so though I made different juices, I mostly saved the pulp from the aforementioned cocktail until I either found or came up with a recipe.  I had collected about 4 juices' worth of pulp, and was starting to worry it would all go bad before I got to bake with it.

I did a little searching online and in my cookbooks, but didn't really find anything I wanted to make, or could make with what I currently had on-hand.

So I adapted another recipe of mine, and hoped for the best.

The original recipe is one that my mother gave to me - a simple oatmeal muffin recipe that came from a school home-ec cookbook, circa her high school years.  Being vegan, I've since adapted that recipe to suit, and from there it morphed into my Banana Chai Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I wanted hearty, filling muffins that would do for a quick breakfast or snack.  Since the banana chocolate chip version uses 2 bananas and ½ cup chocolate chips, I decided to try replacing one of those bananas with  cup pulp, and the chocolate chips with sunflower and pumpkin seeds.  Then I hoped for the best...


...And was pleased with the result!

So here's the recipe.  If you don't have a juicer, but want to try these muffins, check out some alternative suggestions for juice pulp at the end of the recipe.

Carrot Seed Ginger Power Muffins
These muffins are loaded with fibre and healthy fats, great to start your morning on the right foot.
 
-          1 cup organic whole spelt flour
-          ¾ cup organic oats
-          ½ cup organic coconut sugar
-          3 tsp. (1 Tbsp.) baking powder
-          1½ tsp. (½ Tbsp.) baking soda
-          ½ tsp. organic cinnamon
-          ¼ tsp. organic ground ginger
-          ½ tsp. sea salt
-          ¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds
-          ¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
-          1 banana
-          cup Ginger Power juicer pulp*
-          ¼ cup organic coconut oil
-          1 cup unsweetened almond milk

Preheat oven to 400ᵒF.
In a medium-large mixing bowl, stir together flour, oats, sugar, baking powder & soda, spices, and salt until well-combined, then add in seeds and stir until just mixed.
In a smaller mixing bowl, mash the banana.  Fold in the juicer pulp.  Add in the coconut oil (it’s okay if it’s still solid) and mash with banana and pulp.  Pour in the milk and stir well.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until well-combined.
Using an ice cream scoop, fill the cups of a regular muffin tray about full.  Tip: Silicone or paper muffin cups can be used in the tray for easy cleanup.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool about 10-15 minutes before removing from tray.  Makes 1 dozen muffins.

*Make enough juice to yield approx. cup pulp.  This juice recipe usually makes a little more than that. 
If you do not have a juicer, try this instead:
½ cup finely grated carrots
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce (use instead of banana), OR 1 small diced apple, mixed in after combining wet and dry ingredients
½ tsp. organic ground ginger (instead of ¼ tsp.)

3 comments:

  1. I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
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    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a great article! There is definitely some very useful and valuable information in here that I will be keeping for my future resources. Thanks for sharing such a great article!

    Thanks Home Plix

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you have many different things that you want to juice if you have to clean your juicer by yourself you may spend quite a bit of time doing this. Thankfully this juicer has a self cleaning process. Best slow juicer in India

    ReplyDelete