Growing up, we had a family friend in our community who would invite all the kids in the neighborhood to her front yard every evening to paint, cook, play games, make crafts, and listen to stories. She was warm, multi-passionate, spiritual, and had the biggest heart. Every Sunday and Friday evening she set up a booth in front of her house to sell two types of homemade vegetable juices. The whole neighborhood used to come there not only to buy the vegetable juice but also to enjoy the community, laughter, and conversation she created around the booth.
It has been 10 years since we lived in the same community as the family friend, but my family still makes these juices using her recipes. These vegetable juices boost your immunity immensely, which is especially important right now because of the pandemic. They are best to drink once a day, 30-45 minutes before a large meal such as dinner or lunch. This is because the ingredients in the juices trigger your stomach to secrete digestive juices so that your body can get the most nutrition out of the food you will soon be eating. Here are the recipes:
Red juice
4-5 carrots
1 medium beetroot
6 medium to large tomatoes
3 sprigs of mint
Juice of 1 lemonÂ
1 green mango (optional)
Green juice
4-5 large cucumbers
A handful of spinach
3-4 sprigs of mint
Juice of 1 lemon (or to taste)
1 green mango (optional)
If you would like to be an extra resourceful culinary queen, here are some ideas for fun things you can do with the strained out pulp, as it contains so much nutrition and fiber: