Food Lover's Cleanse Day 1

Ok, last night Chris and I did marathon shopping after a 4 hour car ride. Not the smartest thing we've ever done, but we really wanted to start the cleanse today and were on a bit of a timeline. For the most part we didn't have much trouble with getting the ingredients (aside from the blow to my checking account, which was painful). We did however struggle with finding a couple of ingredients:

• Sunchokes aren't in season, and are often difficult to get even when they are, the sunchokes are used in a recipe with roasted veggies so we substituted cauliflower. Fewer calories and less protein is a bit problematic, but it seemed like the best option.
• Couldn't find mackerel fillets, but did find steaks, I'm sure this will change cooking time etc.
• Couldn't find fresh albacore, it's not in season right now, and hard to find in a place like Reno anyway. Substituted whole Bonita tuna which I'll butcher myself.
• Couldn't find hemp seeds anywhere (very likely at Whole Foods, but we're on the other side of town and our car isn't working. Substituted flax seeds.
• Couldn't find Aleppo pepper, which is a Syrian pepper, looked around and I'm going to be substituting with Hot Paprika, although this is not ideal.

Breakfast this morning was Steel Cut Oats with Blackberries, Flax Seeds and Almond Milk. I added the flax seeds early on, since one of the main advantages of hemp over flax is that you don't have to deal with the husks in order to get to the nutrients. This was very tasty, despite the fact I'm typically not into hot cereal.

In the afternoon I made the Sesame-Miso Vinaigrette and the Spiced Pepita and Cashew Crunch. Both of these turned out awesome, though I realized half way through that I'd forgotten to spray the foil the crunch was baking on. It stuck pretty badly, but since it was only halfway through I was able to salvage it pretty well. 

Both of these were necessary for lunch which was Spinach, Tofu, Shaved Carrot Salad with Sesame Dressing and Spiced Pepita and Cashew Crunch. This is SUCH a good salad. It's really well balanced and flavorful, I'm normally not a huge fan of uncooked tofu, but the extra firm tofu soaked up the dressing, which is really assertive very very well. I would definitely make this even if I weren't on a diet.

The disappointment of the day was the snack, which was supposed to be an Avocado Smoothie, something I was really looking forward to. However, there are a couple of errors on the shopping list... Goat cheese and coconut water are listed as being items for week 2, but they both appear during week one as snacks. So unfortunately I didn't purchase them. So I decided instead to have Hard Boiled Eggs with Aleppo/Paprika and Smoked Sea Salt, which was quite tasty and a nice protein/fat boost after the lean lunch. 

Around snack time I also made the Greenest Tahini Sauce, through some misfortune Chris had grabbed epazote rather than mint, but I'd already sent him out to grab rice-wine vinegar, and that was after a 4 mile walk, so I didn't feel like having him go out again. I had some cilantro, which I thought would be good with the rest of the ingredients. However, either because of the cilantro, or because of the watercress, I found it needed additional lemon and salt, to help with the bitterness. 

Dinner was Quinoa and Roasted beets, Carrots, Cauliflower with Lemon and Greenest Tahini Sauce. I love beets, but Chris hates them. When some people (me) eat beets they taste sweet and delicious. When some other people (Chris) eat beets  "they taste like soil smells." However, aside from the beets Chris loved this. He really likes the green tahini sauce and the quinoa, I am not super keen on walnuts, so I'd maybe like to see a different nut added to the quinoa, like almonds or something. Though I don't really think it needs it, quinoa has a very nutty taste all on it's own. Though I'm sure my body is appreciating the added calories and fats. 

Dessert will be tangerines (though I may save mine for tomorrow). 

Overall I have to say I feel really satiated, and while I'm tired, it's mostly from working in the kitchen and exercise today, not from lack of nutrients. I'd say day 1 is a success despite the few hiccups.The only concern I have right now is that I'm thinking I'll be running out of containers very soon....

Grapefruit, Avocado and Arugula Salad

Originally this recipe is supposed to be made with arugula and Fennel, however I didn't have any fennel so I just mixed 2 bunches of arugula with 1/2 a head of green leaf lettuce (red would have been better). I initially made this recipe to go with some fish I had, but I once the whole thing was ready I took one bite of the fish and decided it wasn't worth a night of puking. I tossed the fish and just ate the salad. I had some left over and had it with boneless/skinless chicken breast, that I heated separately, the next day. It was super tasty.

The dressing was really yummy, a tiny bit Asian tasting (ginger and sesame oil). The only thing I would change is to increase the amount of dry mustard or use actual mustard, good dijon if possible. The components of the salad interacted really nicely: the sweetness of the grapefruit, the spiciness of the arugula and the creaminess of the avocado.

I think the original recipe with the fennel would be amazing and I would SERIOUSLY like to try it next time I have some fennel.

Bottom Line: I give this recipe 4.5 Stars

Dressing Ingredients
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method
Whisk first 10 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Season with salt and pepper.
Using sharp knife, cut between membranes of grapefruits to release segments.
Toss chopped/torn arugula and green leaf lettuce. Arrange grapefruit segments and avocado slices on top. Drizzle dressing over salad.

Valentine's Day Menu:Sides

I am going to do things a little bit differently this week. I'm going to post the recipes I'm using for Valentine's Day Dinner today, that way if anybody wants to use them they can get their shopping and possibly some of the prep work done ahead, then I'll either post or just update the post with pictures (as long as I don't forget!) Friday. There will be a separate post for most items otherwise it would be stupid long, although I'm going to combine the two side dishes in this post, then just so that if people want to find them later on I'll do a master post with links to the individual items.

Salad with Pink Peppercorns, Lemon and Thyme Vinaigrette:
Can be made 1 day ahead
1/2-1 Tsp pink peppercorn Lightly crushed (you can do this with a fork, bottle, rolling pin etc.)
1/2-3/4 Tsp Lemon Zest
1/2-1 Lemon Juiced
1/2 tsp minced thyme
1/2 tsp minced shallots
1/2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/8-1/4 tsp anchovy paste
1/3-1/2 cup good olive oil
Sea Salt and pepper to taste (I'm going to use gray fleur de sel for extra oomph, but any will do)

1. Whisk everything but salt and pepper together and then season to taste. You may not need the additional pepper.

You can obviously customize this based on whatever you want to put in the salad, croutons, cucumber, tomato etc. We're a little light on salad fixings this week, so for me it's probably just going to be red leaf lettuce, which is fine since it's not even the sub-sub-focal point of this meal.

Mashed Potatoes and Cauliflower with Caramelized Shallots
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter**, divided
2 cups sliced shallots
3/4 cup whole milk
1 pounds large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, quartered

1 medium-large cauliflower*

1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy medium skillet over medium heat.

2. Add sliced shallots and cook until tender and brown, stirring often (20 minutes). 

3. Transfer shallots to small bowl. Add milk to skillet. Set aside.
4. lace quartered potatoes in large saucepan. Add enough cold water to pan to cover potatoes by 1 1/2 inches. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until potatoes are tender (15 minutes). Drain. 

5. Return potatoes to pan and stir over medium heat until dry, about 1 minute. 

6. Add remaining 4 tablespoons butter**. 

7. Bring milk in skillet to simmer, scraping up any browned bits. 

8. Blend cauliflower and hot milk till smooth.

7. Add cauliflower puree to potatoes. Mash potatoes. 

8. Stir in caramelized shallots and season to taste with salt and pepper.

* Instead of using cauliflower you can just double the potatoes.
**Instead of using 4 Tbsp of butter I used the remaining Pink Peppercorn Butter from the steak recipe + 1 tbsp regular butter.


Post-Dinner Update:
Both of these items turned out really nicely. The vinaigrette was really bright and light as a nice counterpoint to the richness of the other dishes. Next time I make it I might add a little more honey than I did, the lemon and shallots made it really acidic and I think a little honey might ease that bite. Overall though it was really nice. As for the potatoes, I didn't have as much shallots as the recipe called for, but that wasn't really a problem since I was also using the pink peppercorn butter which added a lot of good flavor. If you are making this without the butter I would definitely make sure you have the full amount of shallots. I have a ton left over, which is going to be a pain, since Chris is on a diet that only allows simple carbs once a week...

Master Post

Main Course
Dessert

Lunch! Blood Orange, red onion and cucumber salad

Lunch today was pretty simple. Tuna and egg salad open face on a whole grain english muffin and a green salad. I packed the tuna and egg on because it was going to be a long day with no snacks, so no judgement please!

The salad was made with stuff from my box: I used red and green leaf lettuce, cucumber red onion and segments from 2 small blood oranges. I used a modified version of the dressing from the Grapefruit, Avocado and Arugula salad. The only modifications I made were that I used just lemon juice, more dry mustard and white wine vinegar. I substituted garlic for shallots. It turned out pretty well and didn't overpower the blood oranges which I segmented and added to the salad.

Grapefruit, Arugula and Avocado Salad with Citrus Dressing

Originally this recipe is supposed to be made with arugula and Fennel, however I didn't have any fennel so I just mixed 2 bunches of arugula with 1/2 a head of green leaf lettuce (red would have been better). I initially made this recipe to go with some fish I had, but I once the whole thing was ready I took one bite of the fish and decided it wasn't worth a night of puking. I tossed the fish and just ate the salad. I had some left over and had it with boneless/skinless chicken breast, that I heated separately, the next day. It was super tasty.

The dressing was really yummy, a tiny bit Asian tasting (ginger and sesame oil). The only thing I would change is to increase the amount of dry mustard or use actual mustard, good dijon if possible. The components of the salad interacted really nicely: the sweetness of the grapefruit, the spiciness of the arugula and the creaminess of the avocado.

I think the original recipe with the fennel would be amazing and I would SERIOUSLY like to try it next time I have some fennel.

Bottom Line: I give this recipe 4.5 Stars