I have had such a great excuse to eat so much good food over the past couple of weeks, what with our trip to Los Angeles and our friends visiting over the weekend. After indulging in so much goodness, though, I’m ready to lighten up my meals a bit, and the perfect addition to any clean eating diet is green juice. I do enjoy salads and grilled vegetables but I must admit that I tire of them quickly, so drinking green juice not only fills me up but it also ensures that I get my daily serving of veggies. This juice is a variation of the Green Glow drink that I love from our local juice bar, The Gem, and I’ve started making it nearly every day – it is so tasty and nutritious. There’s a sweetness to it because of the apples and lemon, and there’s an added spicy kick from the combination of the ginger and jalapeños. James, a notorious meat-and-poatotes sort of dude, even requests this juice on the regular – he’ll drink it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Impressive, right?

James and I bought this juicer from Costco when it was majorly on sale, so tweak this recipe depending on what you’re using to blend up your fruit and vegetables – I’m sure this would be easy to make in all kinds of juicers/blenders/Vitamixes.

Spicy Green Juice

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch kale (about 3 – 4 large leaves), stems removed
• 1 apple
• 1 cucumber
• 1 lemon, peel removed
• 1/2 jalapeño, seeds removed
• 1-inch piece ginger

Directions:

• Cut and prepare the produce. My juicer does best when I remove the kale stems, slice the apple into quarters, cut the cucumber in half, and remove the lemon peel, but do what works for you and your machinery.
• Shove all of your produce through your juicer and watch the magic happen!
• Stir the drink thoroughly before enjoying – otherwise you might get a gulp that’s just a pinch too spicy.

Image via Lean it Up