After spending a week on a "diet" that had me consuming almost 1500 calories a day, I decided it was time to repeat the Blueprint Cleanse. I am going to Sanibel in 41 days and I refuse to look like this when I go! So bring on the big guns - it's time to get down to business. And business = cleanse!
I pondered taking the easy route out and just ordering the juices again but at $70/day - I just couldn't stomach the cost. So I did a little research and found a juicer/blender that I thought could do the trick! Instead of the very pricey Vitamix that is so highly recommended, I chose a less expensive Ninja.
I made my list and hit the grocery store yesterday on our way home from rugby. I'm going to have the grocery list and cost breakdown for you in a future post - don't worry. I'm curious myself to see how much it actually costs to make these juices for one day. My guess is it's about $12!
I began with the Green Juice since that is the first one you drink during the day. I also knew, by the ingredient list, that it would be the most time consuming. And it was to the tune of about an hour of prep and juice time. But now I'm ready for the next three days.
Once I had all of my ingredients out and ready - it was time to get blending:
Green Juice:
5 celery stalks
1 cucumber
5 stalks parsley
2 Granny Smith apples
3 Romaine leaves
3 Kale leaves
1Tbs Lemon juice
Water
I have to say the Ninja was AWESOME! No matter what I put in it or in what order, it just made it a smoothy! Keep in mind you have to strain the mix so it's not going to be a pure liquid!
The recipe I was using said to use a paint strainer. I'm not sure what that is (but I'm going to Google it for next time). I used a fine strainer I had. It worked okay but I do think I left behind a lot of juice by not being able to press the juice out.
End result - nine 16-ounce bottles of Green Juice. I know the picture is not showing 9 full bottles but trust me - there are nine and they are full! Not to worry, I am drinking the full 16 ounces of green juice.
Tips: I added a little more lemon juice to make them a little more tolerable than the BPC version. I also realized, while ingesting my first Green Juice this morning, that they are much easier to get down when served over ice!
Up next, the P.A.M juice! I promise it is yellow and not green like it appears in this picture.
Pineapple Apple Mint (P.A.M.) juice:
1/3 pineapple
2 Granny Smith Apples
4-5 Tbs Mint leaves
1 oz lime juice (I used lemon)
P.A.M. is one of the easiest drinks in the Foundation Cleanse. It tastes just like it sounds - pineappley and minty! Yum! I will say this drink probably does not have the same nutritional value as if you ordered from BPC. There was a lot of "pulp" and not much juice so I added a bit of water to the second batch to make it easier to juice. But that probably detracts from the juice content too.
I'm now onto juice #3 of the day - another Green Juice. I am actually FULL! I don't want to drink anything else! But alas, in about an hour I will have a spicy lemonade!
Spicy Lemonade
14 oz of filtered water
3 oz Lemon juice
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tbs Agave nectar
I put this concoction into the Ninja too just to get it all mixed together. I believe that is why it turned out orange, rather than a nice yellow lemonade color. Or it could have been that I added DOUBLE the cayenne pepper than necessary! Yes - DOUBLE the cayenne. Needless to say, my lemonade has a KICK! Whew! I drank what you see in the glass but couldn't finish any more. My throat was on fire!
On to Green Juice #3 of the day! Thank goodness for the ice cubes! It makes it so much easier to swallow.
Cashew Nut Milk - the dessert of the cleanse
Cashew Nut Milk - the dessert of the cleanse
16 oz filtered water
4-5 oz of raw cashews
1 Tbs of Agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
This was surprisingly easy. I've never made a "milk" before but this turned out just like the BPC version. I had to strain it to get the gritty parts out but the end result was OH SO delicious!
End result....
Three days worth of Blueprint Cleanse-like juices! All ready for the week to begin. I have to say, the process time was LONG. It took me about an hour to do the green juices and then maybe 20 minutes each on the others so total of about two hours prep time. Had I planned better, I would have had everything here for the full 5 days so I could have kicked it out all at once. I also would have had more cheese cloth. The strainer took forever!
Next post will be the cost breakdown and grocery list.....
I hope you enjoyed the long blog post today! Please leave me a comment if you have done any cleanses or plan on doing the BPC either purchased or homemade. I would love to hear what you think!
Happy Juicing!
I pondered taking the easy route out and just ordering the juices again but at $70/day - I just couldn't stomach the cost. So I did a little research and found a juicer/blender that I thought could do the trick! Instead of the very pricey Vitamix that is so highly recommended, I chose a less expensive Ninja.
I made my list and hit the grocery store yesterday on our way home from rugby. I'm going to have the grocery list and cost breakdown for you in a future post - don't worry. I'm curious myself to see how much it actually costs to make these juices for one day. My guess is it's about $12!
I began with the Green Juice since that is the first one you drink during the day. I also knew, by the ingredient list, that it would be the most time consuming. And it was to the tune of about an hour of prep and juice time. But now I'm ready for the next three days.
Once I had all of my ingredients out and ready - it was time to get blending:
Green Juice:
5 celery stalks
1 cucumber
5 stalks parsley
2 Granny Smith apples
3 Romaine leaves
3 Kale leaves
1Tbs Lemon juice
Water
I have to say the Ninja was AWESOME! No matter what I put in it or in what order, it just made it a smoothy! Keep in mind you have to strain the mix so it's not going to be a pure liquid!
The recipe I was using said to use a paint strainer. I'm not sure what that is (but I'm going to Google it for next time). I used a fine strainer I had. It worked okay but I do think I left behind a lot of juice by not being able to press the juice out.
Tips: I added a little more lemon juice to make them a little more tolerable than the BPC version. I also realized, while ingesting my first Green Juice this morning, that they are much easier to get down when served over ice!
Up next, the P.A.M juice! I promise it is yellow and not green like it appears in this picture.
Pineapple Apple Mint (P.A.M.) juice:
1/3 pineapple
2 Granny Smith Apples
4-5 Tbs Mint leaves
1 oz lime juice (I used lemon)
P.A.M. is one of the easiest drinks in the Foundation Cleanse. It tastes just like it sounds - pineappley and minty! Yum! I will say this drink probably does not have the same nutritional value as if you ordered from BPC. There was a lot of "pulp" and not much juice so I added a bit of water to the second batch to make it easier to juice. But that probably detracts from the juice content too.
I'm now onto juice #3 of the day - another Green Juice. I am actually FULL! I don't want to drink anything else! But alas, in about an hour I will have a spicy lemonade!
14 oz of filtered water
3 oz Lemon juice
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tbs Agave nectar
I put this concoction into the Ninja too just to get it all mixed together. I believe that is why it turned out orange, rather than a nice yellow lemonade color. Or it could have been that I added DOUBLE the cayenne pepper than necessary! Yes - DOUBLE the cayenne. Needless to say, my lemonade has a KICK! Whew! I drank what you see in the glass but couldn't finish any more. My throat was on fire!
On to Green Juice #3 of the day! Thank goodness for the ice cubes! It makes it so much easier to swallow.
Cashew Nut Milk - the dessert of the cleanse
16 oz filtered water
4-5 oz of raw cashews
1 Tbs of Agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
This was surprisingly easy. I've never made a "milk" before but this turned out just like the BPC version. I had to strain it to get the gritty parts out but the end result was OH SO delicious!
Three days worth of Blueprint Cleanse-like juices! All ready for the week to begin. I have to say, the process time was LONG. It took me about an hour to do the green juices and then maybe 20 minutes each on the others so total of about two hours prep time. Had I planned better, I would have had everything here for the full 5 days so I could have kicked it out all at once. I also would have had more cheese cloth. The strainer took forever!
Next post will be the cost breakdown and grocery list.....
I hope you enjoyed the long blog post today! Please leave me a comment if you have done any cleanses or plan on doing the BPC either purchased or homemade. I would love to hear what you think!
Happy Juicing!
How long do the juices last? I have thought about buying a juicer but have read that juices that have apples and other veggies in it do not last more than 1-2 days in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteBlueprint Cleanse will ship you 3 days worth at a time so I figured I am safe with just making the 3 days. Since I drank the first today - as I made them - they really will only be in the fridge 2 days. Hope that helps!
ReplyDeleteare this recipes for just one juice each..what i mean by that is will i have to double the recipe to make 2 drinks or will this give me more than 1?
ReplyDeleteYes - these recipes are for 1 juice each. The grocery list (post above this one) is for 3 days worth of juices or the full 18 juices.
ReplyDeleteHi! Thanks for this awesome cleanse but how much and what juice does the spinach go in?
ReplyDeleteGood catch Bridget -
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry. You put 5Tbs or in my expert measurement - two handfuls - of spinach in the green juice. Hope that helps!
hi casey, I'm new to this and want to do a cleanse seeing i'm going on 2 vacations in 2 weeks.. so where do i start what do i drink on each of the days and when, do i eat any regular food??? please if you get a chance email me and give me details please like i said i'm new to this..thank you sam...
ReplyDeletesam3140509@gmail.com
Hi Casey!
ReplyDeleteI've just purchased all the produce for the recipes, but was wondering if using a juicer would be yield the same results or if doing to blender/straining is the way to go? I have a vitamix, so either way would work, just wondering which way would be the most time effective and give juice with more "shelf" life (even though it won't be sitting long, I was planning to do 5 days worth).
Thanks in advance for your help, and great posting!:)
Christina
Hi Christina,
DeleteI would think you would still want to strain a bit with the Vitamix. I used a Ninja so a step above a normal blender. If you have a juicer that presses out the vitamins in the veggies I think that is the best route but a typical juicer only extracts the actual juice (from what I understand).
Either way, best of luck on your 5 day journey. Feel free to email me at casey.kio@gmail.com along the way and let me know how you are doing. I'm thinking of re-doing the cleanse in a couple weeks!
Thanks for the post!
Thank you so much Casey! We have a centrifugal type juicer, so the vitamix + straining will probably be the way I'll be going.
DeleteI'll let you know how it goes!:)
Christina
The green juice just says water. How much water?
ReplyDelete