The Cleanse

So I decided this year for Lent (and my general health) that I would complete a cleanse.

Are you making a face?  Because all of my family members have made a face when I announced this.

It's ok.  I promise it won't be weird and in the end I think I will have learned a lot.

My motivation came from two wonderful bloggers Laura of Sprint 2 The Table and Melinda of One Green Generation.

I have read along while Laura has gone through two cleanses and was struck by her ability to stick to it and to find plenty of enjoyable things to eat.

As for Melinda she completed the same 21 day program and blogged about it, starting with day 1 here.  I read all of her posts and have taken her advice in prepping for my own journey.

The program I am following is from Clean by Dr. Alejandro Junger

The book gives you Dr. Junger's background (spoiler alert...he is a cardiologist) and his own journey to a cleaner lifestyle.  There are stories about some of the people he has helped, as well as a wealth of information as to why cleaning your internal system can affect everything about you (in a positive way).

Wednesday February 22nd was Day 1 of what is termed the "Elimination Diet."

To prep for it I had a body wrap on Tuesday to help speed my bodies elimination of toxins and I was sure to drink plenty of water.

The purpose of this diet phase is to pull yourself off of caffeine, sugar, and wheat (main allergy causing ingredients).

You are supposed to eat only from the Elimination Diet foods.

So what did I eat?

For breakfast I had a delicious Cinnamon Roll Smoothie...seriously it was like drinking a roll.  I promise it is WAY more appetizing than it looks.

Lunch was eaten at my favorite grocer, Earth Fare, where I had a plate of greens (spring mix, kale, spinach, broccoli, and sprouts) with a side of spinach hummus as well as regular hummus and a few chunks of pineapple.  To drink, a new love of mine, kombucha (cherry flavor).

Dinner was a serving of brown rice spaghetti topped with artichokes, olive oil, and some nutritional yeast (no picture, but it was really all that pretty).

All through out the day I drank a bunch of water and probably had to pee every hour, which is recommended by Dr. Junger.  I got a little tired of getting up so much...but it is all for a good cause.

As for any potential negative side effects...none.  I wasn't hungry and I didn't get any headaches.

I felt really good and am excited to start day 2 as I have already dropped 1 lbs (155 yesterday morning to 154 this morning).

This isn't about weight loss, although I need to drop some weight, but I am hoping to eliminate many years worth of toxic build up in my system and become a more energetic and youthful 34 year old mom and wife.

I intend to blog about my cleanse partly to keep myself accountable and to share the experience, but I will also have recipes and food (that I am not eating but the family is) so that I can continue to write about what I love...FOOD.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day and just want to know have you ever completed a cleanse?  If so do you have any advice?

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WIAW The Day Before My Cleanse

Happy What I Ate Wednesday to you all.

Just a quick check.  Have you all been ramping up your veggie in-take?

If not Jenn, Peas and Crayons, and I would like you to do so (your body will thank you).

So I titled today's post "The Day Before My Cleanse."

For Lent I decided I would do a cleanse and I will post all of the details tomorrow.

But today I give you my Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) eats before I began limiting the types of food I consume.

Breakfast:


There is no picture for a reason...I didn't eat breakfast. 

Please don't hate on me, it was just one of those days where it just didn't happen.  I was busy with the children and trust me I made up for it at lunch.

Lunch:

Black bean quesadilla which was filled to the brim with: black beans (duh), kale (my favorite), mushrooms, onion, and a little cheese all toasted up in a spinach tortilla shell.

For a little added kick I splashed this all over the insides:

Sriracha!!! 

Holy Smokes Batman this stuff is good.

My husband keeps telling the kids it is rooster blood, I don't think they believe him (but it is hard to tell).

I have read both on Laura's blog, Sprint 2 The Table, and Jenn's that this stuff is the bomb.

It took Jenn telling me to get off my butt and order some for me to actually do it.

I am so very much in love with this that I have something special at the bottom of the post.

Back to the eats.

Dinner:

Broccoli soup made with Chobani plain Greek yogurt (recipe coming on Friday).

So there are my eats.  Be sure to check out my fellow bloggers at Jenn's and see what others were eating.

Now for my surprise.  As I have completely fallen in love with sriracha I would like to give one of my readers a chance to do the same. 

Would you like to have your very own bottle of rooster blood?

If so leave me a comment below (any comment will do)

If you would like to have more than one entry you can additionally to the following (just be sure to leave a separate comment):

1) follow me on Twitter
2) like me on Facebook

I will have the giveaway open until Friday the 24th and the winner will be announced on Monday's post.

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WIAW Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WIAW...you are officially 1 year old.  What an exciting day and thank you Jenn for bringing us into this wonderful mix so that we can peep at what each other eats (even if it is just one days worth).

We will have to virtually share this delicious cake

Now onto the eats!

Well this is Monday for me.

The day started off with my kids begging me to take them to Panera (no school and no work on account of the Martin Luther King, Jr holiday). 

I am not a hard sell as I absolutely love that place and they know it...so they manipulate me easily.

For breakfast I had the new Mediterranean egg white sandwich

This was incredibly filling which meant I needed no morning snack and I barely had lunch when I ate half of this peanut butter and strawberry preserve sandwich.

Dinner rocked!

I am just going to say it because I am super proud of the creation I put on the table.  Spinach and artichoke stuffed phyllo with a side of ravoili.

It was delicious, healthy, vegan, and easy to make.  Who knew phyllo could be easy to work with.

I posted the recipe yesterday (here) so if you too would like to enjoy this please help yourself.

All in all I was very pleased with my eats and I hope you will visit Jenn over at her blog Peas and Crayons to see what other fine bloggers have eaten.

Did you eat anything this week that knocked your socks off?  For me it was stuffed phyllo.

Be sure to come back tomorrow as I have a rockin' new dessert for you all...and I promise it is pure deliciousness.

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Vegan Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Phyllo

Happy Tuesday to one and all.

I am happy to report that I am back on the blogging track and intend to put up posts everyday.

It is amazing how much the holidays mess you up and can get you off track.

Well now that I am back in the kitchen I decided today I wanted to share with you all what I made for dinner last night.

Vegan Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Phyllo

This was my first time working with phyllo and I have to say I loved it.

I have avoided it in the past because I thought it was too fragile or hard to work with.

Suprisingly it is very forgiving, but yes it is still fragile.

To make this yummy side item you will need the following ingredients:

1 can artichoke hearts (drained and rinsed)
5 mushrooms (I used button and baby portabello)
5 cloves of garlic minced
3 C spinach
1 can garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
juice from 1/2 of lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4-1/3 olive oil for smoothness
phyllo dough

I put all of the ingredients, except the phyllo dough, into my Vita-Mix and blended until smooth (which leaves you with a pretty tasty hummus on its own).

Take 1 sheet of phyllo brush it lightly with olive oil then repeat.

Place a 3rd sheet of phyllo on top but do not brush with oil instead smear with spinach spread.

Fold one length towards the center:

Then fold opposite side:

Roll up and place on a cookie sheet with a parchment paper liner:

Brush tops and sides with olive oil and bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees.

You are left with a yummy, veggie filled, treat.

I hope you all have a very happy Tuesday and I will be back tomorrow to celebrate 1 year of What I Ate Wednesday with Jenn.

What have you cooked lately that was outside of the box for you?
Have you ever used phyllo?

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What I (tried to) Eat Wednesday

Hello to everyone and Happy What I (tried to) Eat Wednesday.  Thank you, as always, to Jenn from Peas and Crayons for hosting our party.  Please be sure to head over to her blog and check out the other talented bloggers and the foods that they have prepared.

With the Christmas season quickly approaching (18 days and counting) my husband and I have decided to re-dedicate ourselves to working out a little bit more.

Now we go to the Y 2-3 times a week but decided to ramp it up with Jillian Michael's Shred.

Holy Cow!  I was thinking a 20 minute workout couldn't be too bad, but man of man does she kick your butt for that short period of time.

I do have to admit that sometimes my helpers made the workout a little cumbersome.

When I'm not trying to work out I've been busy blending smoothies in our new Vitamix.  We have been rocking smoothies everyday and most days I get a couple of sips before relinquishing them to my kids.

There must be something to the smoothness of the smoothies that makes them enjoy them so much because this was never a problem issue when we used our magic bullet.

So without further ado please allow me to share with you what I tried to eat this week.

Breakfast was a triple berry smoothie with a tablespoon of Vega vanilla chai protein powder.

I didn't get too much of that breakfast, but you know I can't be upset because I love that she wants to eat such delicious whole foods.

Lunch I got most of was a bowl of vegetable soup (I will be guest posting the recipe on Savour the Senses this Friday).

Andrew REALLY likes this soup and proceeded to come sit in my lap to "help" me with the mushrooms (as well as the carrots, spaghetti, and celery).

Oh well the veggies are good for you!

For dinner I didn't photograph it because it was the ugliest pancakes I have ever made.

I had a lot of trouble with flipping them in the pan (consequently I will be buying a new pan today as I think the non-stick surface is shot on the old one).

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday and will come back later today to see my post for Mom's Crazy Cooking challenge....we did fudge today :)

So what yummy food do you lose to your kids/spouse/boyfriend/dog?

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Spinach and Artichoke Dip veganized

Happy Monday to one and all.

Only two more weeks till Christmas, and the excitement is very real here at my house.

This past weekend in fact we went and had a visit with Santa and some breakfast.

Caroline was SOOOOO excited that she skipped right past the food and headed straight for the jolly man.

However when she got close enough she realized she was a little intimidated.

Her brother Andrew however knew the deal and jumped right up.

In fact he realized after breakfast that there was a few things he forgot to put on his list (namely a new REAL live puppy...don't tell but they may be getting that AFTER the new year).

Owen said he was too big to participate so he just enjoyed the breakfast and the company.

It was a great trip and to top it off the donations for breakfast went to my mom's Relay For Life Team.

Now that I have shared the little bit of kid fun (as I do so enjoy sharing my kids, and I hope you all don't mind) here is a spread/dip that I whipped up this weekend to put on a delicious sandwich:

Vegan Spinach and Artichoke Dip/Spread
recipe adapted from a friend's mother


1/2 C vegan mayo
1/2 C silken tofu
5 oz spinach (if you use frozen make sure you thaw and drain it)
5 oz kale
1 slice of lemon
1 clove of garlic
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 C parmesan "cheese"
1/2 C artichoke hearts

*you can use 10 oz of spinach if you prefer

I put all of the ingredients in the blender and then baked it at 350 degrees for 15.

You can bake it up to 20 (or when it gets bubbly) if you are serving it as a dip.

I added 3 slices of this on French bread and toasted it for 5 minutes. 

One of the most satisfying sub sandwiches I've had (after it came out of the over I loaded up with some tomato as well).

What are some of your favorite subs?

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I had to brave the long lines at the post office to mail out my Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap cookies today and sent Sharon her book that she won here. 

Man my advice for the post office is try to get there when it opens because the lines get long VERY quickly.

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WIAW Just Before Thanksgiving

Hello to one and all, Happy Wednesday!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I know we are all eagerly awaiting that delicious meal and a joyous time with our families.

A quick shout out to our host Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for having us all over to her place (if only she would make us a make and serve up some kombucha...we can all dream).  Hope you and Paul have a great holiday.

Now on to my eats.

This week I am excited to feature my first green smoothie for breakfast.

That puppy is chock full of kale...YUM!

For lunch I had my favorite Field Roast hot dog along with some broccoli and sweet potatoes
.

For dinner I wasn't too terribly hungry so I had some chips and homemade red pepper hummus (so much better then store bought)

I did have room just a little later for the last slice of my pumpkin spice cake that I made here, it was good to the last bite.

My day was completely delicious and full of foods that I love.

What did you eat this week that was delectable?

Again have a Happy Thanksgiving and a safe trip to those who are traveling.

Also a quick preview of what is to come.  Monday I will be posting my 100th post (yeah me) and I have a very Pealightful gift to give one of my readers...so stay tuned.

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WIAW The Cool Edition

Happy What I Ate Wednesday everyone.

Thanks, as always, to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for hosting this shindig.

Well I must confess I was bad this week and never remembered to photograph a fulls days worth of eats.

So I wanted instead to share with you the cool finds and yummy eats that I enjoyed and thought were note worthy.

A fermented soda:

So delicious, not sickening sweet like other sodas, and only 60 calories.

Field Roast Frankfurters....oh my these are just delicious.  My mouth is actually watering thinking about this (plus it me think of baseball my FAVORITE sport).

You know what this is?

I know what I thought it looked like :)

However it is spaghetti squash and now I feel like one of the cool kids.

I finally can say that I've had it and that no one in my house knew the difference. 

The kids did ask, and I think that is because they don't trust me (you never know what I am going to cook up), but they ate it all the same.

The frugal side of my couldn't waste the seeds. 

So I washed them, dried them, splashed with olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt.

I had more then this but the boys (husband included) ate them up.

These had a great flavor, almost like popcorn.

Well these are my yummy eats.

I can't wait to hop over to Jenn's and see what everyone else has to share.




What is something you ate this week that you really enjoyed?

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Veganized Butternut Squash Soup and Cornbread

Yesterday I posted pics of my dinner, butternut squash soup and cornbread.

As promised I am providing to you the recipes I used.

Vegan Cornbread

1 C cornmeal
1 C all purpose unbleached flour
2/3 C sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 C vegetable oil
1/2 C non-dairy milk (preferably vanilla flavored for sweeter taste)
1/2 C water

Combine all of these ingredients together and pour into an 8x8 greased dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (or until the edges are brown).

This cornbread is delicious, sweet, and moist.  It tastes particularly good crumbled up on the butternut squash soup.

Butternut Squash Soup

6 Tbsp chopped onion
4 Tbsp Earth Balance
6 C peeled and cubed butternut squash
3 C water
1 Tbsp Better then Boullion vegetable base
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp black pepper
16 oz vegan cream cheese

In a large skillet with high sides (or a large pot) saute your onions in Earth Balance until they are tender. 

Add squash, water, vegetable base, marjoram,  and pepper.  Bring this to a boil and allow to cook for 20 minutes (until squash is tender).

Take your squash mixture and your cream cheese (in small batches) and cream in food processor till smooth.

Return the soup to your pan and heat through...do not allow the soup to return to a boil.

This was a wonderful soup.  I was quite timid to try it but thanks to my husband I gave it a whirl and was pleasantly surprised. 

I will say that it was very rich and a small portion is really in order but the flavor is just phenomenal.

Do you have any meals/recipes that you pleasantly surprised with?

One final thing.  I know Halloween isn't here yet, but have you thought about joining the 2011 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap?  If you haven't head over to Love and Olive Oil and take a look.  I LOVE cookies and would love for fellow bloggers to be included so we can all score some sweet treats.

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WIAW #12 With a Cup of Water

So last week I was too lazy unsure of how many What I Ate Wednesday's I have participated in.  I am happy to say that this week I am a lot less lazy motivated enough to find out that the number is 12 (counting this week).

A quick shout out to our host Jenn over at Peas and Crayons who has been hooking up this party for 40 weeks...talk about stamina. 




Lately my breakfast has been a little unconventional.  Typically (at least in the blogosphere) you will find that people consume high amounts of oats and smoothies for breakfast.

I like oatmeal most days, but the days have to be cold.  Here in North Carolina it just hasn't gotten cold enough for me to remotely crave oats (and I am not down with oats in a jar).

So for me I like to have several sticks of celery with a small schmear of peanut butter followed by a glass cup of water.

For snack I have been enjoying the, now in season, pear which are so soft and sweet...followed by another cup of water.

Lunch really depends on the mood.  It might be leftovers or it might be that my wonderful husband has taken me out to lunch...YEAH!  We went to Moe's and I got a burrito with tofu, seriously how exciting is it to see tofu at a semi-fast food restaurant?  Well if you are me super exciting.

I forgot to take my camera so this pic which I snagged from Google Images, is going to have to do.  I had the Joey Bag of Donuts with tofu, black beans, rice, lettuce, corn, and jalapenos (the spice was kickin). 

Accompanying my burrito was a cup of water (you will notice a theme throughout).

For dinner we had butternut squash soup. 

I was very timid when it came to trying this out as I generally do not like creamy soups, but since my wonderful husband wanted it I made it with some cornbread on the side and a cup of water to drink.

As I don't want to bog down this voyeuristic show into my eats with recipes I will provide the soup and cornbread recipe tomorrow so to keep with the true spirit of WIAW.

I hope you enjoyed my eats, I want you will come back tomorrow for my recipes, and I hope you will head over to Peas and Crayons and see what everyone else had to eat.  Inspiration is everywhere.

So what did you eat that you would like to share?

Social Awareness Update:
I’m helping to raise awareness about the importance of Fair Trade practices! Please take a moment to learn more at http://fairtradeusa.org/ and http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/2011/10/gift-bag-giveaway-for-fair-trade-month/”

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