I just want some BBQ

Yesterday was friday again.  Of course, I wanted BBQ.  We endured and cooked this veggie bi bim bop instead.  It was super tasty and we decided that it's the closest thing to BBQ that we've eaten on the cleanse.  

Other good recipe to note from this week:  
Chickpea & saffron stew  I really liked this and will definitely make it again.  

Have you wondered what kind of noodles are gluten free?  Here's a good link for you. 

And I'm looking forward to bringing this soup back from last year's week 4!  

Less than one week to go people!  March 1 here I come!    

Best (only) Cleanse Potluck You've Been To

Thanks to all of you friends and family for coming out to our first cleanse potluck!   Lots of amazing food was eaten (the pic above was taken pretty early on.  By the end of the night, you couldn't even see the table!).  Plus it was great to have everyone over!  Last year, I feel like February came and went and we barely socialized, so this was great.  It was also a nice push forward into the last 10 days of this cleanse!  

Below are some of the links to the recipes that Matt and I made:

Tofu spring rolls

Bok Choy

Chickpeas (I'm now addicted to these)

Banana "ice cream" with almond butter

Mango pops

Strawberry "ice cream"

Matt made the romesco sauce for the spaghetti squash so I don't have that one, but any romesco sauce recipe should be usable.  We just cut the squash in half, scoop out the insides, plop a 1/4 cup of water inside, put the two sides back together and then microwave it for 10-15 mins.  

Feel free to comment with your recipes or create your own post!  I know everyone was eager to get and share the recipes!  

V-Day and Still Cleansing

So this year was NOT a repeat of last year's V-day.  I will not even mention the name of the raw food restaurant that we went to and had THE WORST MEAL OF MY LIFE.  Looking back on it, I don't think that statement is an exaggeration.  But that was last year.  It was an experience that we tried once and don't need to try ever again.  Same as hemp seeds.  Gross.  That being said, we're not even trying to go out (especially since Matt had soccer tonight) and we're going to just make some salmon.  Today I also danced and did an fairly intense yoga class.  

Anyway, have I mentioned that this week's energy level is way up (compared to last week)?  I have been drinking a cup of coffee each day.  Plus, last week my allergist suggested I take Vitamin D and Calcium supplements, so I started that.  I'm sure the grains and beans probably helped too.   

This week's recipes: 
We've been eating this garlic bean soup for lunch.  I like it but it could probably use even more garlic.  

Made the baked salmon with coconut broth last night.  It was very good. I'd make that again.  

Matt also made us the broccoli &  chickpea salad.  It's a good lunch option.  

That's really about it!  Hope it's going well for the rest of you!  

Don't forget about the potluck on Sunday at 4pm at my house!  If you need my addy, just call or email me!

March 1

I'm going here.

Weekend is here...ug

So normally I'm a pretty happy camper for Friday's arrival.  While on the cleanse, though, it's just a bit less fun. For some reason on Fridays, I really crave food that is not good for me but tastes oh so good. Like BBQ.   Ok, it's usually always BBQ.  That being said, I'm not really looking forward to whatever slaw or salad I whip up tonight.

Next year I may only cleanse M-F for the month of February.  Just sayin'.

Ok, so how did this week look?  Well, I pretty much stuck with the recipe plan that I posted last weekend.  Lentil stew and butternut squash soups were good and filling lunches.  That stir fry with the cauliflower "rice" was actually great.  I was probably most skeptical about that one, but we said we'd do the cauliflower that way again.  It did feel a little more like couscous than rice, but it was a great substitute.  And then the kale mushroom dish was excellent.  Didn't use portabellos, still great.  Smoothies for breakfast have been fine.  Here's the one pic I took of the stir fry:

I only had one cup of coffee all week on Thursday even though I said I'd allow myself to drink coffee.  I was fully expecting to have headaches, but I didn't.  I've been extremely tired though.  I'm not sure if that'd due to the cleansing, or lack of coffee, or just being plain exhausted from working a lot.  Could be a mix of all of those things.  I did make it to yoga once this week and I plan to play basketball on Sunday morning.  I also spent two hours yesterday learning this dance for a flash mob that I'll be participating in on Valentines Day downtown.

It's definitely been helpful to have others also on the cleanse this week.  I haven't talked to everyone, but have been able to commiserate with Yesenia, my supervisor, who is on the cleanse while at work. Also talked with my mom over the phone and she too was feeling tired.

Ok, here's to hoping I get through this weekend!  

It has begun! Not so bad...

Alright, on day two.  I think my suspicion that this is not going to be so bad is true. I know, I know, it's only day 2, but still, I haven't felt like my stomach is eating itself from hunger.  I may be eating larger portions than one might think on a cleanse.  My smoothies have been hefty & my butternut squash soup has paired with either cherries or mixed nuts.  Last night my dinner was the lentil stew (not even going to take a pic cause I overcooked the lentils.  It still tastes good though.)  Tonight we're going to  make the mushrooms and kale dish.  And I actually haven't had coffee because I haven't had a headache.  I had some tea at yoga.  I have no idea what kind it was but I don't imagine they'd have caffeinated tea at a yoga studio.

Also, the Cleanse Potluck is going to happen on Sunday, February 17 at 4pm at my house.  Everyone is welcome, even if not on any part or version of the cleanse, but all of the dishes must cleanse qualify.

Again, if you want to blog, just let me know and I'll add you!

Do this

I believe the cleanse got me pregnant last year when I did it. Got my body rid of all toxins and finally was able to conceive. Or whatever. This year I'm hoping it helps me lose the ten lbs of baby weight I'm carrying around, and as a result clear up my back pains. 

I made a Pinterest board too. Some recipes call for one or two ingredients not on cleanse, but I'd just omit them as they don't seem like major players for taste.

Last night I made my veggie soup for lunch that should last me through the week. I've been using julienne veggies and they kind of remind me of having noodles in the soup, I bought packages of this for under $2 at the store. 

Some recipes I'm excited to try out this time around:

Chickpea Fries (bake instead of fry)

Indian Spiced Cauliflower & Potatoes

Quick & Easy Flavored Water (because I struggle with drinking enough of water during the day)

Cherry Chocolate Shake & Fudge Balls (omit chocolate if yr gonna be type a and follow strictly)

Homemade Lara Bars (cause they damn expen$ive at the store)

I also loved this blog last year! I really enjoyed getting ideas from others and hearing hoe your week  was going so hope everyone can post again !

I'm looking forward to a potluck as it definitely seems like we all have different palettes when it comes to approaching these guidelines.

Gearing UP!

ok, I just made my recipe and grocery list for WEEK 1!  Here's what I'm planning. We're going shopping tomorrow.  I think I took all of these recipes from the 2012 or the 2013 Whole Living Action Plans.  

Breakfasts:  Smoothies.  We don't have to do much prep here.  We make smoothies a lot year round.  I will either do a fruit smoothie (frozen banana, frozen berries or frozen mangos, and OJ) or this winner.  

Lunches and Dinners (guessing we'll make the soup tomorrow and have it for lunch on Monday, then for the rest of the week have dinner leftovers for lunch the next day):

Red Lentil & Sweet Potato Stew

Cauliflower "Rice" Stir-fry

Roasted Portabellos with Kale

Kale Slaw with Red Cabbage & Carrots

Spiced Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Beet, Avocado, & Arugula Salad with Sunflower Seeds

Snacks:  We do a lot of nuts, maybe we'll make kale chips.  Popping an almond inside of a date is a nice little sweet snack.  Oh! We just started eating guacamole with sliced radishes!  I know, you'd think you might miss the tortilla chips, but we don't.  There's still a crunch!  Why hadn't we thought of this sooner in life??

**Also, just a note for those of us remembering back to last year's Week 1.  I know. It was a cranky, kind of brutal week.  I'm not feeling bad about this year's Week 1 at all though.  I think having the lentils will be HUGE and now I feel like I've got a wider array of recipes to choose from.  They'll be healthy but more filling.  No one is putting any restrictions on portion sizes.  That's not what this cleanse is about.  So I'm feeling good about this.  Still, this past week and this weekend we've been eating like we're going to die next week.  Whatevs.  

2nd Annual Feb Cleanse!

Well it's actually been a whole year since we did that crazy month of eating well.  I must say it really transformed how we eat, cook, and shop.  In the past year, although I feel like i've become a bit more dependent on coffee, we have barely bought any cheese or bread to have in our house.  We may still eat out a lot, and thoroughly enjoy doing so, but I'd say we now think twice about what we choose on menus; maybe not the healthiest thing, but not usually the most unhealthy either.  I think we eat a lot more different kinds of grains now too.  

I've needed a boost every now and then.  I actually did some form of the cleanse once per quarter for one week at a time.  That seems like a good method for me.  

So now we're back on for a whole month of cleansing again.  Whole Living does have new recipes for this year, with more big batch recipes, so that's nice.  Their guidelines for 2013 are pretty much exactly the same as 2012.  This year, though, they're allowing for caffein but still not coffee and allowing lentils right from the start.  I didn't really notice many other differences.  

Now that I have tried this cleanse out, and I feel like I have a good sense of what works and doesn't work for me, I'll probably make a few tweaks to the rules.  I'm going to allow myself to have one cup of black coffee per day if necessary so that I don't get a headache.  We want to start on a Monday, so we'll be starting this year on February 4th (bonus that we don't have to cleanse at Superbowl parties). 

In addition to the new recipes from Whole Living, I feel like we've got a plethora of recipes to choose from.  Many of the meals we've made in the past years would fit into the cleanse guidelines.  So I've started a Pinterest Board here to collect the recipes.  Hopefully this is helpful for others.  

Speaking of others, I'm hoping a lot of people join in doing the cleanse with me again this year.  It was great to have others to support and talk with last year.  Although we talked about it last year but never got around to it, I'm actually going to throw a potluck at my house on the weekend of Feb 16/17.  More details to come.  Last year eating out at restaurants really just didn't happen (except for that horrid raw meal on V-day, ug).  I'm hoping we can think up some restaurants that have cleanse-friendly dishes on the menu.  I also hope to have folks over more and cook for them.  

I'll try to keep this blog updated throughout the month, but please feel free to let me know if you want to write and I can give you permission or post it for you.  

OK, back to savoring all of my non-cleanse food this week!