Detox Round 2 - Day 5

I started Day 5 off with a big bowl of quinoa with ground flax seed, flax seed oil, a chopped apple and a nice sprinkle of cinnamon. I had a look at the bowl before I dug in, and I said to myself "I'm not hungry enough to eat all this!?" But of course, I ate it anyway. I felt SO full afterwards, but oddly the feeling subsided and I got through the morning feeling fairly light - I even managed to eat my morning snack of a handful of grapes.

Lunch was the bulgar-cannelini-argula salad - still tasting good the third time around, but MAN was I full after eating it! This diet is so water-packed and fibre-dense, I'm starting to get sick of eating. Yes, I just said that. I'm starting to get sick of eating so much! Is this a bit of a breakthrough I'm having? These meals are so simple and pared down, I feel like I have new clarity on portion sizes and how much I actually NEED. I am committed to sticking to the main diet for a week following the cleanse - and maybe even beyond, to really get a handle on what Krista-sized portions are...cuz these ones are killing me!

I had a few things to get done after work, and being that I still wasn't hungry, I vetoed the meal I had planned and popped some corn instead! Popcorn is my food addiction, and though it is not listed as a whole grain in the ReCleanse menu plan, it still is a whole grain!?! Okay, so this should probably be considered a cheat - but it was all I wanted. I sprinkled some flax seed oil and ground flax seed on top, and it was delicious! I ate this around 9, which is also a no-no on the cleanse...but hey, I wasn't hungry till then. I decided I needed to ease up on Day 6.

Detox Round 2 - Day 4

All my meals were repeats on Day 4. Breakfast was wheatberries, blueberries and flax (easily my favorite meal this week, and definitely one that will be going into regular rotation). Lunch was chickpeas with bulgar (instead of brown rice) and a salad. And for dinner I had my whole-bean hummus lettuce rolls with brown rice (instead of quinoa, which I did on day 2 - too mushy).

I decided to forego my one cup of coffee in the morning so I could take part in the Timmie's run at work later in the day. It was a good strategy - made me feel less restricted, yet I was still playing by the rules of the cleanse.

Day 4 was definitely easier than the previous 3 days - cravings for the "forbidden" were pretty much non-existant. And I had planned my menu out well enough that my meals for the day came together in minutes. But I was starting to feel really full....

Detox Round 2 - Day 3

I was a little worried about Day 3, as it was on the third day that I crashed the last time I did this cleanse. Thankfully that didn't happen this time, but unfortunately Day 3 was a letdown foodwise. My own fault too, because I set the menu. For breakfast I tried to mimic the Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stir-Fry I made a few weeks ago. I added some fresh pineapple to a bowl of quinoa, tossed in a couple of tablespoons of roasted cashews and some dried basil. It wasn't gross, but it wasn't very exciting either...and it won't be a meal that I repeat this week!

For lunch on Day 3 I packed some leftover Bulgar-Cannelini-Arugula salad. It was good, but I added too much red onion and ended up with a bit of a stomach-ache that afternoon. Too much of a good thing, I guess.

I had planned on a Japanese inspired dinner. Good idea, and it looked good, but it didn't turn out so well. I made a spinach salad with cucumber, avocado, and sprouts and paired it with some brown rice & edamame that were heated through with a bit of toasted sesame oil. A little soy sauce would have made this dinner quite yummy, but I've been avoiding all condiments for the purposes of the cleanse. The sesame oil wasn't quite enough flavour to make this a satisfying meal.

My dissatisfaction with my meals led to a little evening cheat - if you can call it that? I had a few pieces of pineapple after dinner, then I made myself a pot of decaf coffee that I sipped on while watching a movie that evening. I woke up feeling light and refreshed the next morning, so no harm, no foul as far as I'm concerned!

Detox Round 2 - Day 2

Breakfast on Day 2 was a simple bowl of oatmeal (steel cut though - I can't stand sloppy rolled oats) with ground flax seed, flax seed oil, and a Delicious apple! The portion size for whole grains is 1/2 cup, and for breakfast the diet plan allows for 2 servings. A full cup of oatmeal is substantial amount of food, and kept me comfortably full till midmorning when I was able to enjoy my "snack", a sliced kiwi fruit. The plan allows for a snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

My standby lunch fit the ReCleanse diet plan perfectly! Chick peas, rice and a salad. I was still excited about the cleanse on day 2, and was careful to measure out my portions - 1 portion grains, and 1 portion protein = 1/2 cup each. It was interesting to see that the amount of rice I would usually pack for lunch was certainly more than a half-cup, and the amount of chick peas slightly less. I refuse to measure my portions on a regular basis, but this was certainly a good reality check.

I hatched a plan for a whole-bean hummus dinner - out of laziness really! I didn't want to lug out the blender...who needs another dish to clean? I made enough for 3 half-cup portions. What you see here is tahini, fresh-pressed garlic, freshly ground cumin, parsley, lemon juice, and EVOO. I just loved the way this looked in the bowl before I mixed it all together! I whisked it together and added about 1 1/2 cups of black beans - et voila, Whole-Bean Hummus! How exotique!

I turned this hummus into lettuce rolls, which held together surprisingly well! People at work are forever eating sandwiches, subs, and wraps at lunch - giving me the desire to have a handheld, sink-your-teeth-into kind of meal! This met the need. By the end of day 2 I was starting to feel like I was on a diet, which is absolutely NOT what I wanted. Aside from that I felt fine - maybe a little tired, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Spring Cleaning! Detox Round 2 - Day 1

It's Spring cleaning time for my insides! With all the cooking, and subsequent eating I've been doing it lately, I realised that it was high time to clear out, reassess the diet, and hopefully reset the appetite. Plus it's Spring, and my mind is set on eating fresh! I decided to do the 7-day ReCleanse again as my previous experience was for the most part enjoyable. The gist is to avoid all processed foods for the week - so I'm eating tonnes of fresh veggies and fruit, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds and healthy oils. Breakfast on day 1 was wheat berries (if you've never tried them, you must!) with blueberries, ground flax seed and flax seed oil. Delicious!

For lunch I modified the Bulgar-Cannelini-Arugula recipe from Veganomicon to fit the meal plan. It was so easy to throw together:
1/2 cup steamed bulgar
1/2 cup cannelini beans (or bean of your choice)
1 cup arugula
handful cherry tomatoes
handful chopped red onion
1 tbsp EVOO
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp dried or fresh oregano
This was seriously tastey, and a large enough portion to more than fill me up!

Unfortunately I got ahead of myself on day 1 and took my supper-time ReCleanse capsules with lunch. By supper-time I was exhausted, and still full from lunch, so I decided to take a short nap. I woke up 11 hours later! Oops. I don't know if I should blame this on the cleanse or not? Either way, I felt great the following morning!

Arugula = Rocket!

Have you ever wondered, "what's the deal with arugula anyway"? I often have - it sounds so fancy! My grocery store carries organic arugula, washed and ready to go - they also sell organic baby romaine, baby spinach, and field greens. I usually buy the baby romaine, but a couple of weeks ago all they had was arugula. Seeing it as an opportunity to have a new culinary experience, I bought some, and then delved into Veganomicon once again to figure out what to do with it! What I came up with was this delicious Bulgar, Arugula, and Cannelini Salad (cannelini's are white kidney beans if you don't know - I didn't!). The other prominent ingredients in this salad are red onions and cremini mushrooms. Everything pulled together nicely with a red wine vinegar-based dressing, and it had nice punch too with fresh minced garlic, paprika and oregano. What was really cool was that the arugula stayed fresh in this salad - even for the 5 days it took me to get through it all. I think any other green would have wilted. Arugula, also known as Rocket has a strong, peppery flavour - so that, along with it's non-wilting properties make it the perfect green to stand up to the other intense flavours in this salad.

Peanut-Broccoli Noodle Bowl# 6

I used the peanut dipping sauce from the cabbage roll recipe to spice up some plain noodles and broccoli. If you have the sauce ready to go, this meal can go from fridge to plate in about 10 minutes. I steamed the broccoli over a couple of inches of water, then used the remaining water to cook the rice noodles - I love one dish meals! It's a toss-up between laziness and efficiency! If I had wanted to spend more time on this one, I might have sauteed some cubed tofu with mushrooms and garlic and added them to the bowl. But on this particular night, it was simplicity that I craved!

Veganomicon Caesar

I'm getting over a cold, so I decided that it was time for more garlicky caesar salad. I like my caesars, as you might have noticed in a previous post, so this time I thought I'd try the Veganomicon version. Sorry if you're getting sick of me talking about this book...but it is SO GOOD! This version of caesar dressing is much like the others, but it has 2 ingredients unique from the other recipes I've tried - sugar, and ground almonds. I wasn't sure about the sugar, and after eating the dressing I'm still not sure about it as I couldn't even taste it...but that might be the point? The almonds were great - as the authors explain, they are added to mimic the texture of parmesan cheese (I have a serious Parm addiction that I'm trying to kick, so any help is appreciated). This was a nice touch, and I took it a step further too by sprinkling some on top of the salad as well. This dressing was a little heavier on garlic than the others, and that was VERY evident when I woke up this morning! Good thing I live alone!

In the book a recipe for Roasted Garlic Croutons goes along with the dressing, but I chose to do my standby 10 minute croutons as I didn't have any roasted garlic at the ready. Here's how I make them:

Herby Croutons
2 pieces bread (I freeze mine, but stale or fresh would be fine too)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut the bread into small, croutony cubes, and toss into a large freezer bag.
Add the oil and herbs, seal the bag, then dance to your favourite song while holding the bag and using a lot of upper-body action (or just toss it to coat).
Spread the now seasoned bread cubes onto a cookie sheet (I use a foil pie plate) and bake for 5-10 minutes, tossing at halfway to evenly bake. Keep your eye on them - they can burn quickly!
Cool, and store. Or add to salad NOW for instant gratification.

There was something about this dressing, something different from the others - something good! I didn't give it adequate chill-time last night, so I'm going for round 2 tonight. I should be able to declare a winner later - but why bother?! It's all good! :)