Who doesn't love fresh pressed juice on a hot summer day? Particularly one packed full with vitamins and minerals, antioxidants and a vegetable derived diuretic to help reduce bloating.

To achieve the best flavor, ensure that the peaches are nice and ripe. The fruit should be fragrant with flesh that yields when lightly pressed.

Kirby cucumbers are typically small to begin with, and it might be tempting to add the entire thing. But too much can overpower the fruit. In this case a little goes a long way.

Some high speed juicers refuse to play nice with soft berries, flinging the fruit into the pulp bucket without extracting a drop of juice. If this describes your machine, add the raspberries to a blender. Pour the juice from the peaches and cucumber over the raspberries and blend until smooth. Then press through a sieve to remove the seeds prior to serving - preferably by the pool with a really good end-of-summer book!

(Psst! Check back next week for my Double Chocolate Reward Cake!)

Center Right: Keyboard-The-Photobombing-Kitty arrives during test shooting.

Ingredients:
3 medium ripe peaches, halved and pitted
1/2 Kirby cucumber
​1 pint fresh raspberries
ice cubes
garnish: fresh raspberries, peach and cucumber slices

Directions:
Run the peaches, cucumber and raspberries through a juicer. Fill a glass with ice. Pour the juice over the ice and add the garnish. Serve immediately.

Yield: 1 serving of juice

Shown here: knobby turmeric looks very similar to it's cousin, ginger. It can be grated, sliced or juiced, peel and all. Watch out, this wonderful root vegetable will leave stains!

I'll admit, the name "October Martini" is a bit misleading and an utter letdown for anyone on the hunt for a real cocktail. But as with all of my creations, this one can be tweaked. Just add an ounce or two of your favorite spirits. 

For those newer to the world of juicing, I like to keep the ingredient list short. Turmeric, earthy in flavor, is best added in small amounts to sweet, slightly acidic fruit. Honey tangerines fit the bill perfectly. Nothing else needed. However, with everyone on the hunt for all things pumpkin, I decided to spice things up. If you choose to add this optional ingredient, be prepared, prepping a fresh pumpkin requires a fair amount of elbow grease. Canned pumpkin will not taste the same and leaves the juicer little to work with in the way of, well...juice!

Usually when I decide to make a juice, I choose one ingredient for specific health benefits and build from there. In this case, I was most interested in curcumin, an anti-inflammatory property within turmeric. My husband suffers greatly from Crohn's Disease, a form of IBD, and arthritis associated with Crohn's Disease. Studies show that free radicals causing inflammation related to this condition, as well as other forms of arthritis, can be controlled to some degree by ingesting curcumin. This antioxidant is also showing promise as an anti-carcinogen.
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The next step to a good juice is choosing a complimentary flavor. Honey tangerines produce a high quantity of juice and are sweet enough to offset the powerful flavor of turmeric. They also contain beta carotene, Vitamin C, calcium, chlorine, folic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, sulphur, and to a lesser degree - B Vitamins, copper, iron and zinc.

Pumpkin, the optional addition, has it's own wide variety of healthy components. It provides a huge amount of B-complex vitamins, beta carotene which converts to Vitamin A, and Vitamin C. It also contains calcium, copper, Vitamin E, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. 
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This is my go-to juice for autumn as we transition into the sneezy, sniffly winter season. And it's so festive, most health-nut adverse people will drink it before inquiring what's in it.

Ingredients:
Optional: 1 small pie pumpkin, peeled, seeded and diced
1 inch of fresh turmeric root
4 honey tangerines, peeled

Directions:
​Peel the rind from the pumpkin with a knife or sturdy peeler. Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds. Dice the pumpkin small enough to fit through the juicer. In small batches, separately press the pumpkin pieces, turmeric and tangerines through a juicer of your choice. Stir to combine and pour into martini glasses. Garnish with any leftover pieces of turmeric and serve immediately.

Yield: 2-3 martinis or 1 large glass of juice

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Shown Above: Purple Power Juice (left), Sunrise Juice (center), Blended Watermelon Juice (right).

If you enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, homemade juice is a fun way to get your fruit and vegetable servings. The variety of juice blends you can make are only limited by your imagination. It does involve a little bit of work and clean-up time, but no more than if you were to dirty a few pots and pans.

To get started, you need to choose an appliance that works for your lifestyle:

Smoothie Blenders: these are great for people who want the least amount of work and clean-up time. The pulp is not extracted, so the texture will be thicker and less smooth than a juice, but the fiber benefits will not be lost either. Brands to consider: NutriBullet - Average Price $89.99, Vitamix $349 and up.

Centrifugal Juicer: these are high speed juicers that use a spinning metal blade to extract the juice and throw the pulp into a separate container. These juicers are great for juicing just about everything except wheatgrass. There is some debate about the nutrient value of the juice being reduced by the heat that this juicer produces. Requires disassembly and cleaning of various parts after use. Brands to consider: Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer Express - Average Price $99.99, Breville Juice Fountain - Average Price $149.99

Masticating or Slow Juicer: this juicer is considered superior for it's cold-press, nutrient dense juicing capabilities. It extracts more juice than a centrifugal juicer, but tends to be more expensive. It is great for juicing greens, herbs, wheatgrass and soft fruits, though stringy fruits such as pineapple can cause it to become clogged. Requires disassembly and cleaning of various parts after use. Brands to consider: Omega Nutrition Center Masticating Juicer - Average Price $180+

Beginner's Recipes
These recipes are mild, combining just a few ingredients. You could also start with just one ingredient, such as watermelon, which can be used in either your blender or juicer. 

Sunrise Juice

Ingredients:
1 orange, peeled and halved
1/4 cup papaya, diced
3 large carrots, diced
4 romaine lettuce leaves

Directions:
One-by-one, run each ingredient through the juicer. Serve immediately.

Purple Power Juice 

Ingredients:
1 cup seedless purple grapes
1 cup strawberries
1 lime, peeled

Directions:
Add each ingredient to the juicer. Serve immediately.

Workday Green Smoothie 

Ingredients:
1 cup spinach
1/2 banana
1 cup frozen mango or pineapple
3/4 cup almond milk

Directions:
Using a blender, combine all ingredients until smooth. Pour into a thermos and take it to go.