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....

New Year Cleanse Day 1

I won't go into why I haven't updated this. There are lots of reasons, but none really notable aside from my applying and getting into graduate school last year, not to mention moving like 3 times. However, about 2 weeks ago Chris and I were talking about the holidays, wanting to shed a couple of pounds and the unlikelihood of that happening given my family's near fetishistic attachment to butter and cream.

A couple of days after this discussion I received the January issue of Bon Appetit, and the previewed their Food Lover's Cleanse for 2015. I have always struggled with dieting/cleanses/eating light. I find that recipes that spring from those ideas tend to be tasteless at best and disgusting at worst. So I was intrigued to find a cleanse that made taste a real priority.

After reviewing the Food Lover's Cleanse recipes for 2014 and 2015 recipes I decided to start with 2014, given that 2015 is kind of beet-centric, and Chris really doesn't like beets. I won't reprint the recipes here, rather I'll just give links to the originals and discuss my initial impressions.

So let the games begin.

Italian Sausage and Cannellini Bean Stew

I love one pot meals. They make my life so much easier. Since I work until 7pm I like meals I can make relatively quickly and that are going to have as few dishes as possible. Its a wonderful thing when I can get out of the kitchen with one pan, a cutting board and a knife as my only prep dishes. This is a super easy and tasty meal, it is also pretty healthy all things considered.

You can substitute different sausage if you like, but I would recommend something with a little kick and a lot of flavor like Spicy Italian or Chorizo otherwise I think this dish could come off a little bland.

Sorry no pictures of this one! I was in a time crunch.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb fresh Spicy Italian Sausage/Chorizo
1 larg eonion
4 garlic cloves minced
1 sprig thyme
2 15 oz Cannellini beans (white kidney beans), rinsed
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
Kosher salt, freshly ground peper
5-6oz baby spinach
Paprika (smoked is preferable)

Directions:
Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large skillet ove rmedium heat. Add sausage and cook, till sausage is mostly cooked through and casing is browned (15-20 minutes). Transfer to plate.
In same pan, add onion, garlic, and thyme sprig. Cook until onion is softened (5-8 minutes).**
Add beans and broth, cook and crush a few beans with spoon to thicken sauce (8-10 minutes).
Season with salt and pepper
Add spinach by handfuls and cook till wilted
Add sausage
Sprinkle with additional  olive oi and sprinkle with paprika if desired

Calories 570, Fat 33g, Fiber 11g, (I recalculated with Sparkrecipes and it said 466 calories, it just depends on the sausage I think...)

This recipe was originally featured in February 2013's Bon Appetit

**If you feel comfortable multitasking you can start the onions etc. sauteing as the sausages finish, this will cut down on your cooking time.