September Cleanse!

So, September is when I like to celebrate the new year ... It feels like a new start. So, this year I'm cleaning out my closets and my insides!

I read CLEAN by Alejandro Junger and his thoughts about healthy eating seem to, for the most part, gel with mine. Part of the cleanse is to do a shake for breakfast, whole foods for lunch, and a shake for dinner. I'm eating whole foods for lunch and dinner, but I'm following the cleanse otherwise; that is, no caffeine, no diary, no processed foods, no alcohol, no soy, no sugar, no corn, no nightshade veggies (potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, etc.), no wheat ... did I forget anything? LOL And, I'm drinking 2 litres of purified water a day.

The withdrawal symptoms following giving up caffeine were rough! I had my last coffee on Thursday, August 27th, and I had a dull headache from that Friday until Wednesday 9/2! I was achy and lethargic ... ugh. I'd been wanting to give up caffeine for a while, so this was a welcome detox in any event.

Now that the caffeine detox is over, I feel great! I've been doing lots of cooking and cleaning. I filled 4 giant bags with clothes to donate to the thrift store and my closets and drawers are still stuffed. haha! Fashionista issues ... I also bought the CLEAN EATS cookbook. It's got some great recipes for super healthy smoothies, salad and dressings, and dips - just ignore the non-vegan recipes.

Here are my favorite things I made this week:

Raw Berry Cream Brownies! These are really, really good and super easy to make! The hardest part is shopping for all the ingredients. The recipe is from Kris Carr's website and you can click HERE to find it. :) My advice is to double the recipe as the original recipe seems to make a teensie tiny bit.

 

Thanks to this week's CSA bounty, I cooked up some delicata squash and beet and collard greens with some pesto noodles for dinner last night. 

And ... OMG! These brown rice wakame noodles are SO FRIGGIN' GOOD! Gluten free, vegan, and delicious. I used Isa Chandra's Bestest Pesto recipe from p.140 of Isa Does It and mixed it with the noodles and some cannellini beans. Delightful.

Yum.

 

 

 

 

 

I made my matter tofu for dinner. This is my husband's favorite thing I make. Mmm Garnished with fresh cilantro leaves and vegan sour kream.

 

 

Also, OMG ... I'm pretty excited to go to Chef Chloe's new vegan restaurant here in NYC! This avocado toast looks amazing ... and it's only avo toast! Her Instagram: @bychefchloe

Napa, CA and yummy things ...

I just got back from a lovely trip to Napa, CA. Pictured above is Chimney Rock Vineyard; I loved all their wines! A shout out to Lava Vine is also essential (pictured below). They run a very fun tasting room in Calistoga, CA and also have amazing wines. They let some chickens roam around too.

I was up late last night since I was on California time, so I caught up on my Housewives episodes. This morning, I had to drive out to Long Island to pick up my sweet Chewie from his doggie hotel.

If you need help training your dog, or have a little dog that needs a very posh in-home daycare or boarding, check out Little Paws of Hope in Levittown, NY. Hope has converted her dining room into a play room for the doggies! She has leopard print chaise lounges for the pooches! Only the best for Chewie. ;)

Reunited and it feels so good ... xoxo

 

Today, I made some no-crabby salad as I like to call it (it's from the Crazy Sexy Kitchen cookbook - it's the crab cakes mix minus molding them into crab cakes and frying them). It's just hearts of palm (which shockingly taste much like crab meat when pulsed in the food processor and tossed with Old Bay Seasoning) ... diced red bell pepper ... some nooch ... vegenaise ... and pepper. Yum!

 

I also made my Sweet Potato Curry with Spinach and Chickpeas and basmati rice for dinner. Mmmm.

I like to put a smidge of tofu sour cream on top.

 

 

Yummy things of the week ...

I went to see BLONDIE and MORRISSEY at Madison Square Garden on Saturday! I had general admission floor and I got all the way up front! I was THIS CLOSE! AHHHHHH! *swoon*

In other good news ... Figs are in season! Yes! (strawberries also)

Also, Vegan Chao is everything. I made the best breakfast sandwich ever with it this week: 1 slice tomato cayenne vegan chao cheese, 1/4 avocado, and roasted garlic hummus on toast. Mmmm

She's crafty ...

Since I have so much free time, I also made a little cactus terrarium with a bowl I found at the thrift store the other day! Boom!

School's out for summer!

Classes for this academic year are finally over and so I finally figured out how to get photos off my phone and saved onto my computer. What will I do with all this free time?! Well, I cooked the tamarind lentils from Veganomicon tonight for dinner (pictured above) with Near East curry couscous (I like to squeeze lime on the couscous! It's divine!) and roasted Brussels sprouts. Mmmm

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And ... I finally have time to write about some things I've been enjoying over the past couple months.

 

One of my favorite raw breakfasts (pictured above): 1/2 cup buckwheat groats and a couple tablespoons goji berries (both soaked overnight, then drained) blended in my VitaMix with a whole apple, a whole orange (peel removed), 1/4 whole vanilla bean, and some cardamom (only about 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon). Garnish with raw almonds (or other fab nut) and some fresh fruit.   

 

The Polish Summer Salad from Salad Samurai is tha BOMB!

Make it, eat it, love it! I could eat this everyday.

My favorite healthy smoothie of the moment:
1 tablespoon maca powder
2 tablespoons hemp protein powder
(about 1 cup or so) unsweetened almond mylk
1 teaspoon spirulina (more if you can tolerate the taste; I can't but I find the peanut butter masks it.)
1 banana
1 tablespoon organic peanut butter

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Superbowl Tacos!

I had a cute pic of Chewie, but when I updated my iPhone OS, it put all my pictures in a ton of folders and I can't find anything now. argh

Anyway, I made some homemade taco seasoning and tacos tonight for our Superbowl party of three. I think this recipe is a mix of some I found somewhere online. It was pretty delicious.

 

Taco Seasoning

 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

 

Mix together in a small jar.

I had some Gardein Beefless tips which I sautéed with some of my taco seasoning. I also sautéed a couple poblano peppers and an onion. Tacos were the Gardein Beefless tips, peppers and onions, fresh cilantro leaves, vegan sour cream, salsa, and fresh organic tomatoes with flour tortillas. I served them with roasted carrots and mashed sweet potatoes with a pureed chipotle pepper in adobo mashed into them. Mmmm.