Fresh Orange Juice

Have you ever bought a bag of oranges and they just didn't meet your expectations?  I have been on a HUGE orange/clementine kick since I got my heartburn meds back.  :)  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cuties (those tiny super sweet clementines), but there are times when I just want an orange.

I bought a large bag of oranges recently and they just were not good.  They weren't as sweet as I like and they were not very juicy.  I put them on the counter and forgot about them.  When I was cleaning the kitchen this past weekend I thought I better use them up.  I hate seeing money being thrown away and that was what was going to happen with these oranges.  

What does one do when they have a large quantity of oranges?  You make orange juice!  We drink a lot of OJ in this house and the organic OJ is $5.99 a half gallon at my regional grocery store.  It is EXPENSIVE.  

Eating organic is really important to us, but it is hard.  I do not live near a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.  I have to rely on my local grocery stores to provide organic foods.  With that there is a large price tag.  This means I do make a lot of our foods from scratch.  I'm not saying I will be making our OJ every week, but this was a great way to use up oranges that just weren't up to my standards for eating.

I do not have an actual juicer, but I do have a Vitamix.  It is super powerful and juices things just fine.  I would not recommend doing this in a  normal blender though.  You could squeeze them by hand (this is the one I have), or you could use an actual juicer. 

I peeled all my oranges.  I was not worried about getting all the white bitter stuff off because this is where all the nutrients are.  Plus the Vitamix will pulverize it. 

I added half my oranges, a splash of water, and a few ice cubes.  Then I turned it on high and let it work for about 45 seconds.  

The end result....fresh OJ!  I then repeated this process to use up the other half of the oranges.  

It is so simple, tastes delicious, and didn't take long.  This OJ is full of pulp (which we like), but if you don't like pulp then I suggest straining it through a cheese cloth.

Do you make your own OJ?  I got just under half a gallon of OJ and only spent $3.50 (the cost of the oranges).  That is way cheaper than the $5.99 I usually pay for organic OJ.