Because we have to watch our salt intake, we are making our own concoctions so we can control the salt. My husband created this recipe after much trial and error. He enjoys it as part of his breakfast every day.

Dad's V8 Juice

About 24 medium-to-large tomatoes
1/2 large cucumber
1 green pepper
1 large onion
2 medium-to-large carrots
2 large stalks of celery
1-2 cups of fresh spinach
bunch of fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
6 oz. can tomato paste
Dash (or two) Tabasco
Several dashes of Crystal hot sauce (or Louisiana hot sauce, or Texas Pete)
1 cup water
1 can of beets (optional)

Dice the carrots; put into a small pan and add enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil, and boil for 2-3 minutes.  Set aside.

Blanch and peel the tomatoes.  Put them into a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Chop the green pepper, onion and celery into small pieces; add to the Dutch oven. Add the spinach and parsley, salt, tomato paste, Tabasco, hot sauce and water. If desired, cut up and add the beets, with the liquid. Add the carrots along with the water they were cooked in. Bring the whole thing to a boil, stirring to mix everything up. Boil for 2-3 minutes, then turn the heat off.

Completely puree the drink. (the best and easiest tool for this is an immersion blender) Once you pulverize the tomatoes and larger pieces, run the mixer for several minutes until the drink is thoroughly pureed.  How long you run it depends on your tolerance for chunks in your drink.  Alternatively, you could use a food processor or blender. If you don't like seeds or tiny chunks, but want a completely smooth drink, you can run it through a strainer, but that's messy and time-consuming, and you'll probably wind up throwing out a lot of good fiber and nutrients in the process. You can adjust the recipe to suit your taste in vegetables.

Makes about 4 quarts.

If you want to can the juice, I recommend adding 1 TBLS of lemon juice per pint or 2 TBLS per quart and water bath can them for 35 minutes for pints or 45 minutes for quarts.