Day seven ends with Chocolate!!!!! (still cleanse worthy)

So today is day seven of my cleanse, the last day! I am just hours away from being able to have coffee :) I am excited for that! So in honor of my last day I made a very boring dinner, stir-fry veggies and brown rice with a green salad.... Boring I know! So in an effort to make something exciting for desert that would still be cleanse worthy I busted out my trusty food processor. This is the single most used item in my kitchen, if you don't have one you are really missing out!!!! Ok now for the exciting part, what I made for dessert.

 Raw Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding

1 cup natural peanut butter (not jiff, use the good stuff the kind you have to stir up)
1/2 cup agave
1 cup water
1/4 cup cacao powder
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil (this comes in a solid form so you will want to let it sit at room temp to melt a little)
2 small avocados

put everything in the food processor except the coconut oil and the avocados, process until smooth. Turn your food processor to on mode and slowly add the coconut oil and once it is incorporated add the avocados. let it rip until smooth. let it chill and then serve with some chopped peanuts on top!

Computer problems are over and I am ready to Blog!!

Ok so first off I am sorry that I have not posted in a few days, I have been having some technical difficulties... But it is all good and I am hear to give you an update on my 7 day cleanse and also some great food pics and recipes.
The cleanse is going really well, I am feeling great and still going strong! I have lost a few pounds and also have a good amount of energy, enough to go to the gym and do a little something.
I have had the pleasure of cooking some great new recipes that are cleanse friendly and sooo fantastic you will not believe it.
The first one is for a Linguine with Edamame Pesto, I had to tweak it a bit to make it totally cleanse worthy but it was so easy and delish. I subbed the Linguine for brown rice spaghetti and left out the nutritional yeast, it was amazing. This one is a great go to meal that is fresh and really creamy and tasty with hardly any fat! The Edamame pesto could be used as a dip or I was thinking it would be great with some sauteed mushrooms over a baked potato :) YUM!
The second recipe I have for you is one I learned from the recent raw "cooking" class at Whole Foods. It is so simple and rich and satisfying its crazy good!

For the edamame pesto:
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup packed basil leaves
Handful (1/4 cup or so) fresh cilantro
14 oz package shelled edamame, thawed
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
optional: 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
For the pasta:
10 oz spinach linguine or other pasta
1 teaspoon olive oil
Small red onion, in thinly sliced half moons
1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
Extra basil for garnish
Cooking spray
Put on a pot of salted water to boil. Then prepare the pesto:
Place garlic and basil in food processor and pulse a few times to get it chopped up. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until relatively smooth, scraping down the sides with a spatula to make sure you get everything. Add a little more vegetable broth if it seems too stiff. Set aside until ready to use.
Preheat a large pan over medium heat. At this point your pasta water should be ready, so add the linguine.
Saute onion in oil for about 5 minutes. Use a little cooking spray as needed, or a splash of water if you prefer. Mix in mushrooms, garlic, thyme and salt. Cover pot and cook 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
The pasta should be ready now, so drain it.
When the mushrooms have cooked down, add pasta to the pan, along with the pesto. Use a pasta spoon to stir and coat the linguine. Get everything good and mixed and the pesto heated through, about 3 minutes. The pesto should be relatively thick, but if it’s too thick (not spreading out and coating the pasta) add a few tablespoons of water. Taste for salt.
Serve immediately, garnished with a little fresh chopped basil

I served it with some really great roasted asparagus, simple and delish!

OK now for dessert!

Raw Vegan Pudding
2 Bananas
1/2 cup cacao powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon agave

Put everything in the food processor and let her rip!
put in swanky glasses and chill for about a 1/2 hour (longer is better) but good luck waiting!
I topped mine with some slivered almonds, do whatever you want, but the crunchy nuts worked great!

Happy Monday to you all!

Day 1 of my 7 Day Cleanse

So as I sit down on my couch with my cup of tea, I am starting to wind down from my first day of my cleanse. I feel great, a little bit of a headache from the no coffee all day but I am feeling really good.
So now for some details on the cleanse, I have had the privilege of doing this cleanse because of my wonderful friend Sharron, she has a wonderful heart and is working to change the way people view food and their health. I love it! (I will be attaching her website in this post) Yes it is too late to start the cleanse at this point, however she will be conducting another one in February! It does not matter where you live or what you think you know about cleansing, YOU MUST TRY IT! Trust me, over the years I have used all kinds of crazy cleanses, the lemonade and cayenne one, the only juice ones, and the pills that do nothing. Every time I was just in pain and feeling like I could not leave my bathroom. This is not so with the 7 Day Detox I am doing right now! Here is a glimpse of what I ate today on the first day of the cleanse.

Breakfast: I made real oatmeal with almonds, raisins, and some tea
Lunch: A really nice salad, a sweat potato, and a really great California veggie burger,and half of an avocado.
Dinner: I roasted some zucchini, mushrooms, taters. and a black bean burger.
Dessert: (yes its OK) Some fresh sliced mango.


As you can see I am not starving myself, and I feel great! I will continue to post and let you know how my cleanse is going. I will try to remember to take more foodie pictures!

So check out Sharron's website and give some thought to doing the February cleanse.
www.sharonhealthcounseling.com

Zucchini Hummus

Today was... Well... Quite the day... but I have been doing some yummy cooking so that always helps, it like therapy for me only cheaper and I get to eat! So last night I went to a Raw Vegan "cooking" class last night at my local Whole Foods. (sidebar here if you have not looked into all the amazing classes that whole foods offers you really must check it out, some are even free) The class was really fun, lots of cool info and the best part... we got to eat!
Today when I came home from work I made one of the recipes, it was for Zucchini Hummus! So easy and soooo yummy! I just tossed all the ingredients in my food processor and let her rip, that was it! It literally took me 5min and done! I recommend chilling for a bit before eating (if you can hold yourself back) as always I cranked up the garlic a bit :)
Tomorrow I am starting a wonderful cleanse with my amazing friend Sharron (more info to come on that) For now I have some shopping to do to prepare for my cleanse and then I may enjoy a bottle of Wine on my last night before the cleanse :)

TGIF = Mac & Cheeze

Friday!!!! So great, I am really ready for a nice relaxing weekend! But first I must share with you the wonderful dinner I made! It is a true comfort food and full of really great ingredients.... Mac & Cheeze :) This recipe is from a book called Vegan Yum Yum by Lauren Ulm. Her food is amazing and full of flavor and quality ingredients. Being vegan I am always trying to "Veganize" the foods that I enjoyed when I was growing up. My mom has been super helpful in my journey to turn some of her wonderful comfort foods into vegan delights! This one I did not make up but it reminds me of home! Iam not doing that great with my pictures but I will get better in time. This one really was yummy, try it! I bet you will not even miss the Cheese :) This calls for bread to make bread crumbs, I had some Panko so I used that insted and of course I put more Broccoli :) ENJOY

VegYum Mac & Cheeze
Serves 3ish
8-10 Oz Whole Wheat Rotini
2 Cups Steamed Broccoli Florets
2 Pieces of Bread, toasted and ground to breadcrumbs
1 Cup Peeled, Finely Chopped Potatoes
1/4 Cup Peeled, Finely Chopped Carrots
1 Cup Water
1/3 Cup Raw Cashews
1 Tbs Miso (any kind, I like red)
1 Tbs Tahini
1 Tbs Lemon Juice (sub: 2 tsp White Wine Vinegar)
1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/3 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
1/3 Cup Nutritional Yeast
1 to 1 1/2 tsp Salt
Black Pepper to taste
Paprika for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350º

Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, steam broccoli and set aside. I use my rice cooker. Simply put the florets in the cooker with 2-3 Tbs of hot water and turn the cooker on. Broccoli will be bright green and tender-crisp when done. Don’t forget about it in there–it’ll finish cooking before the rice cooker clicks off, so if you forget about it, you’ll overcook your broccoli. Mine takes less than 10 minutes to cook.
Make sure the carrots and potatoes are chopped very small; this will reduce the cooking time greatly. Place the chopped potatoes and carrots in small sauce pan that has a lid. Add the 1 cup of water. Boil covered until tender, 10-15 minutes.
While the potatoes and carrots are cooking, add the remaining ingredients to the blender (cashew, miso, lemon juice, mustard, earth balance, nut. yeast, salt and pepper). Once potatoes and carrots are done cooking, add them and their cooking water to the blender as well. Blend until VERY smooth. If needed, add soymilk or water 1 Tbs at a time to thin. Taste for seasoning.
Toast the bread and process into crumbs.
Toss the cooked pasta and broccoli with the sauce. Place in a casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs, black pepper, and paprika.
Bake for 25 minute at 350º F until browned and bubbly. Serve

Birds Nest

Today I wanted to try something I got from Trader Joe's, They are beautiful Veggie Birds Nests! It is a mixture of carrots, onions, kale, and all kinds of Veg. They are woven into cute little nests and dipped in a light tempura batter. I baked mine in the oven, it says you can fry them if you wish too! It comes with a soy based sauce, I made my own dipping sauce of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and siricha for some kick!! The birds nests turned out to be a really nice side for a stir fry night, they were light, crispy, and full of flavor! These are a must try from the frozen section at Trader Joe's.

Monday Night

Came home from a very long day at work and wanted to make something that would be quick and filling! After a quick trip to the gym where I swam mindless laps, and a stop a my local Safeway (I feel they need a shout out of love in lieu of recent events) and this is the dinner I came up with. A very simple pasta dish, Linguine with a basic marinara sauce, topped with loads of veggies. I sauteed garlic, onion and olive oil, to that I added zucchini, yellow squash and mushrooms. It was really simple but with a green salad and crusty bread it was perfect!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

These Cookies are fantastic, so soft and delish!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

This Recipe is from a great Blog called Little House of Veggies

What You Need:
3/4 cups white whole wheat flour1/2 cup unsweetened coca powder
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cornstarch + 2 Tbsp water combined well
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp Earth Balance butter (vegan butter)
1 tsp. vanilla
extra large vegan mint chocolate chips (can be found at Trader Joe's, they are large discs), or regular sized vegan chocolate chips if those can't be found. About 1/2 cup or so folded into the batter.
To Make:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place a sheet of parchment paper or a silpat on a heavy cookie sheet.
In a large bowl, or a Kitchenaid stand mixer, combine all of the dry ingredients. In a very small bowl mix the cornstarch with water and vanilla. Add the cornstarch mixture and Earth Balance butter to the dry ingredients and mix well. Place cookie dough on cookie sheet using a small cookie scooper (or about 1 Tbsp dough per cookie). Bake for 10 minutes, then open the oven and place 1 large chocolate chip in the center of each cookie, pressing down very gently. Place cookies back in the oven for an additional 2 minutes to finish cooking. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then remove from the cookie sheet to finish cooling.
Side Note:
*if using small chocolate chips, fold them into the cookie dough, and just bake the cookies for 12 minutes total*

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