Recipe: Homemade V8 --- yummola!

Posted: February 26, 2012

A reader of my blog recently asked me: "How'd you lose that first 40 pounds?"  For me the keys were: smaller portions and the addition of veggie juice(s) to my diet.  Yes, some exercise here and there too, but those two changes helped me immensely.  I haven't juiced in awhile, so I thought I'd make some this weekend and post up the recipe.  My two favorites are: Mean Green (full of kale, spinach, parsley, lemon, & apple) and Homemade V8 (recipe to follow). Just LOOK at how pretty and colorful that bowl full of veggies is!!

The thing about juicing is that it takes time.  Time to shop and make sure you have all the necessary ingredients.  Time to gather them all.  Time to chop them up (the better juicer you have the less you have to chop b/c it can handle bigger pieces).  Time to juice it.  And my least favorite, time to clean up afterwards.

I timed myself today and it took exactly 24 minutes from start to finish. 

Because of that, I try to make double (or triple) batches, so that at least I feel my efforts are worth it!

Here is the Homemade V8 recipe:

  • 4 Plum Tomatoes
  • 1 Large Cucumber
  • 1 Red or Orange Bell Pepper
  • 1/4 small Red Onion
  • 1 cup Parsley - leaves & stems
  • 1 Lime
  • *Note - there is NO SALT in this recipe!!  Normal store bought v8 is LOADED with salt.  How much salt???? Twice as much as McDonald's french fries to be exact!!  WOW!! But this homemade version has none and yet still tastes amazing!  Fresh, natural, loaded with vitamins, and sooooooooo good for you... yes, please!
  • **Also Note - this tastes better chilled (imho)

Here's my juice halfway through juicing (look at those rainbow colors!)

And the finished product.  This double batch made 50 ounces!  More than enough for 2 large servings... I drank half with lunch; the other half I'll take to work tomorrow. (As I've said before: It tastes better than it looks!)

So for lunch today, I had a serving of this Homemade V8, plus 2 ham/hummus roll-ups, that were DELICIOUS!  I discovered this really amazing Edamame Hummus at a local market, and it is a-mazing.  My ham/hummus roll-ups were only 170 calories total and packed in a whopping 16 grams of protein!

Do you think you could try veggie juice?  

You might also like...

Comments

Submitted by Mom - February 26, 2012 - 3:43pm

Lunch looks great! I'll have to watch for edamame hummus at the store! The drink in the background is shiny like a beer. Did you do a last minute substitution? JK! I'll try the V8 version next time we're visiting. LY!

Submitted by kelly - February 26, 2012 - 3:55pm

Evidently I thought the edamame hummus was really really good because I called it amazing twice in one sentence!
Submitted by Danny - February 26, 2012 - 10:24pm

That's just nasty.

Submitted by Carol - March 17, 2012 - 9:52am

I was looking at your V8 recipe & Danny's comment made me laugh. Ha! An onion would be nasty eaten by itself, too, but mix it with other things, and yum! :)

Submitted by K - March 19, 2012 - 3:33pm

I'm impressed! I'm so close to starting to juice... just feeling a little intimated of it all! I love that you show a picture of how much is actually used!! What do you use to store the juice that you are saving for later?

Submitted by kelly - March 19, 2012 - 3:37pm

I store the leftover juice (usually 20ish ounces) in a Blender Bottle to take to work the next day. I bought mine at a local Sprouts' market, but they are available everywhere. Here's their website: http://blenderbottle.com/classic

I think the thing to remember about juicing is... the more veggies the better. It's easy to want to put all those fruits in there... but the really good nutrients and health benefits are in the veggies! (They also have less sugars than the fruits).

Submitted by Alicia - March 27, 2012 - 8:11pm

Could I also make this using a blender?

-Thanks (:

Submitted by kelly - March 29, 2012 - 10:15am

Most of the recipes I use are just for the juicer, as I want to extract all the essential vitamins out without the bulk/quantity of the pulp. For this particular one, since it's for V8 "might" be good blended though. I'd probably use less onion. You'd have to try it and let me know!

Submitted by Deb - March 28, 2012 - 2:21am

Been researching for days about whether or not to get a juicer or use my Vitamix ( which I LOVE and already own!) Probably will purchase one of those nut cloths to strain it so I don't have the pulp all the time... Thoughts about juicers, pulp, your system working harder, etc?

Submitted by kelly - March 29, 2012 - 10:18am

There's benefits to both juicing and "smoothie-ing"/blending. I would do whatever works best for you. I started with a cheap juicer to see what I thought of the whole process, and then later upgraded. Dear hubby got my good Breville one on sale on Amazon I think for only $99 - a great b'day present for me last year! On another note, I generally like the smoothness of juice from the juicer rather than creamy "thick" smoothie blends. But that's personal preference. Let me know what you decide!

Submitted by Missie - April 4, 2012 - 1:18pm

My husband and I are going to start jucing, he saw Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and decided it was for us. I am game. Do you use all organic? We have thought about going to Sams and purchasing bulk since we thought we would use more. Please advise.

Submitted by Missie - April 4, 2012 - 1:19pm

Oh and thanks for the blog, it is going to be very helpful to me and my husband.

Submitted by kelly - April 4, 2012 - 11:07pm

I try to avoid the "Dirty Dozen" (http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/dirty-dozen-foods#f...), so I buy organic apples, kale, spinach, and strawberries when available. But items with rinds (melon, limes, lemons, etc) I don't buy organic. Coscto/Sams is probably a great place to get carrots and other items that you need a LOT of for juicing.

Submitted by shannon - April 17, 2012 - 8:06pm

yes! I am going to try this! thanks for the recipe and soo happy that I stumbled across you while on Pinterest!
:)

Submitted by kelly - April 17, 2012 - 11:26pm

I'm glad you found me too :) Let me know if you like the v8!

Submitted by Inna - April 18, 2012 - 7:00pm

Thank you for you blog. It's really interesting and helpful!!!
I am going on my first reboot next week.

I like you recipe so much! When I made this juice I added couple carrots. Was yammi

Submitted by Sonali Pradhan - June 2, 2012 - 12:45pm

I was looking for a v8 recipe.....glad to find your space :-)n thanks for sharing the recipe!!!

Submitted by Carla - June 16, 2012 - 10:16pm

Your blog is inspiring and I most certainly need a reboot. But, I hate juice, shakes smoothies. Any advice?

Submitted by Susie - July 8, 2012 - 6:41pm

Just wondering about the onions in the juicer. Is it best to juice them first or in the middle? My husband hates onions & I don't want our green juice to taste like onions ;) we still have a cheap $50 juicer from Lowes that we have used for almost a year almost every other day (except when we take small breaks from juicing).
Also, for others who have commented here we have used lrg glass canning jars to store our batches in the fridge :)

Submitted by Kim - October 26, 2012 - 7:13pm

I've loved your other juice recipes - thank you sooo much for sharing! But after this one I could not get the onion taste to go away. The finished juice was drinkable, but the onion flavor would not leave my taste buds even after brushing :( Ick! Maybe my 1/4 onion was particularly big (you do say small red onion) but I'm skipping it next time to be safe :) Mean green and Carbeeple are delicious though! Can't wait to try more.

Submitted by kathy - November 15, 2012 - 4:16pm

I added 1 clove garlic and 4 radishes and some celery. when it was done, I put a few dashes of Tabasco sauce, it was like a spicy V-8

Add new comment