smashing apples in favour of flavour

every year for christmas marko and i decide on one large-ish gift for the house to buy for ourselves and then skip the personal gift exchange. it is not unlike our tradition of selecting our own birthday present and then buying it for ourselves each year. i suppose it isn't the best if you love the surprise or revel in the knowing that your partner knew just what to get you, but i am never disappointed and i don't need to stress about what to buy him every year. for us it is a win win. this year i ended up picking our christmas gift and it was a juicer.

for a few years we have had a juicer that worked well enough but wasn't great. it was a pain to clean and as far as efficiency goes it was mediocre. i always coveted the juicer my brother aaron and his wife laisha received as a wedding gift but could never justify the expense, at least i couldn't until cohen came along. now i look at juicing a little different.

cohen, for the most part, is a really good eater. often he eats so much that i have to stop and wonder where he is putting it all, usually this happens at lunch. he is a fantastic mid day eater. come dinner though, he sometimes wanders into the fickle, for no good reason. a casserole he normally loves gets snubbed or his favourite pasta shooshed away in favour of a slice of bread or a handful of grapes. it was during one of these nutrition strikes that i first offered him some carrot beet apple juice, and much to my delight he devoured the whole thing with glee. a new world had opened.

since then we have made a regular practice of fresh juice in the morning on the weekends and still the odd weeknight when he just isn't interested in anything else. occasionally i slip in another vegetable or fruit, once (with disastrous results) i did an all veggie juice that came out a dark green and when offered to cohen was politely declined (the sippy cup handed back to me with a sour look on his face), but for the most part we stick with the abc (apple beet carrot). i think it might be time to shake it up.

do any of you juice, or buy fresh juice on a regular basis? if so, what is your favourite combo? i go to the grocery store and stare at the produce, once even buying some fennel, but i just haven't landed on the right combo yet. i would love for some suggestions...