Ever since my juice cleanse I’ve been tossing around the idea of making healthy juices and shakes at home. I started out by making one inspired by my favorite drink from One Lucky Duck, a vegan juice bar in Union Square and Chelsea Market. I thought it turned out pretty well. The cashew milk and frozen bananas lend it a nutty flavor and creamy texture that’s exactly like a milkshake without the milk. Here’s the recipe:

1 banana, sliced and frozen
3/4 cup cashew milk (This is, admittedly, the trickiest ingredient to track down. I found some at Whole Foods, but I might try it with almond milk in a pinch.)
1/2 tablespoon agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (but I like a LOT of cinnamon. Use less if you’re not a cinnamon fanatic.)
Vanilla bean (I added about 1/2 to 1 inch of a bean. Here’s a helpful site about how to use vanilla beans.)
Blend in a blender until creamy. This makes about 10 oz but it is pretty rich. You could use two bananas and double it for a bigger drink.

I wish the ending of this story was that I bought a juicer, made some amazing homemade juice on the cheap, and kept right on cleansing but that’s not what happened.

The situation on the morning of day four was I had decided to extend my juice cleanse, I had no BluePrint Cleanse juice left, and I needed to be at work early for a meeting. So I cheated by having some fresh pineapple and a Vitamin Water. I also hit up One Lucky Duck in Chelsea Market (did I mention Chelsea Market is Snackish heaven??) for a fresh-pressed juice. The Thai green juice with greens, pineapple, cilantro and lime was amazingly delicious but it was—hold onto your seat—$10. I realized I couldn’t sustain this cleanse for much longer, not for hunger reasons, but for financial ones. Read more…

Days two and three were where I reached a turning point on my BluePrint juice cleanse. On day two I woke up thinking about a cappuccino and bagel again, and feeling crushed that I would not have them. It was twenty degrees outside and the last thing I wanted was more cold juice. I planned to stay home and work the full day, and I was able to get some writing and other work done despite being anxious and fixated on timing my next juice. Drinking lots of hot green tea with a little agave nectar really helped, and I could see just how much of my life revolved around food and drink. I have a lot of time freed up when I’m not looking for, photographing, preparing, or consuming food. But oh, I missed it. Even seeing a photo of a cheeseburger in my Tumblr feed felt like a punch in the heart.

On the morning of day three I felt… different. Read more…

A cappuccino and a bagel are usually the two things I’m thinking of when my eyes pop open on a weekend morning, and this morning was no exception. But with $200 worth of juice slowly spoiling in my fridge there was no question about what needed to happen. I poured myself a glass of BluePrint green juice. This was the juice whose taste I most feared, since it contains six pounds worth of romaine, celery, cucumber, apple, spinach, kale, parsley, and lemon. I could really taste the parsley and celery, both of which I’m not a huge fan of, but after sipping a while it mellowed out to more of a leafy green apple juice flavor. By the time I finished it, I was enjoying the fact that it’s not too sweet and is actually good for me. This drink, more than the others, made me want to buy a juicer and recreate the recipe. Read more…

I didn’t think I’d be the type of person to buy into pricey juice cleanse. It sounded like the thrill of instant, temporary weight loss packaged with woo woo wording—particularly, that juice cleansing could normalize weight, boost immune systems, reduce signs of aging, increase energy, elevate mood, and sort out a plethora of health issues from allergies to PMS. If you ask me there hasn’t been a drink that could cure that many problems since they stopped making Coca-Cola with actual cocaine.

But December and early January really knocked me off course. The keys to eating all kinds of tasty food and not feeling gross are having good habits about portion control, variety in diet, and exercise; I dropped all of that. Read more…