Sorry I didn't manage to get a post out yesterday. I worked until 11:00 and was just too tired to contemplate another 10 minutes on the computer.
Day 11 was challenging. I hadn't really eaten enough on Wednesday and we ravenous Thursday morning and indeed most of the day, although I ate a solid breakfast of scrambled tofu and kale. After teaching my daughter's school class and a Flow yoga class, I nibbled on almond butter to get me through the rest of the morning. After my lunch class, I ravenously consumed left-over lentil spread, rice crackers and left-over Winter Vegetable Soup with Buckwheat. I was feeling pretty tired of my limited diet, I can tell you. I sort of cracked and bought a bag of kettle potato chips cooked in avacado oil. While potato chips are not contra-indicated on this diet, it is plain to see that they are not healthy food and should be avoided. But I have to say, I savoured every chip!
And I had another social event to deal with yesterday evening: a neighbour's baby shower. In preparation, I made a fruit salad of mixed berries, and quacamole with a few tortilla chips to take to the party. And I'm glad I did because, as suspected, there was nothing there I could eat. I had a nice quacamole pigout :-)
This brings us to today - the last day of the cleanse! Yesterday, a neighbour called to ask to borrow a space heater or two because their furnace had died and they were going to be without central heat until the furnace could be replaced new week. I lent them 3 heaters and spontaneously invited them to dinner tonight to get out of the cold.
My husband graciously offered to cook and then asked me if I was going to eat with them, or make my own food. This is when I cracked. I was so sick of making my lonely meal and often having to ready 20 minute after the "regular" meal and so never fully enjoying the family circle at the the table. So I made the decision to end my cleanse 1 meal early. It was a great relief!
I ate a delicious dinner of Persion Rice, broccoli & cauliflower with lemon tahini sauce, and for dessert made crepes with berries and lemon cream sauce (made with yogurt).
I'm not sorry for my early exit. I have reaped the benefits of the cleanse. I feel greatly purified, and strong, nd I weigh a full 5 lb less than I did 2 weeks ago - WoW! That's 1/2 of the poulds I've gained in the last 6 years.
Instead of a recipe tonight, i'll offer a list of my favourite snack foods for the cleanse:
Almonds (I like roasted / unsalted)
Almond butter on rice cakes
Popcorn
Prepared hummous or lentil spread
Fruit (pear, appled, peach)
As I'm falling asleep at the computer, I'll say good night now and publish more tomorrow.
Good night!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Cleanse Day 10
The snow started early this morning and has only just stopped now. About 15 cm of beautiful white snow graces our streets and yards. School buses were canceled so I worked from home today instead of going down-town to my contract so I'd be able to pick my daughter up from school and take her to my mother's house where she generally goes on Wednesday afternoons. Thank goodness for my Subaru's all-wheel drive!
As soon as it was light out (the snow had just started), I headed outside, hoping to get my canoe into its winter home which had just been created yesterday by the handyman. We have a long front porch and now one end of it has doors. After digging some dirt out to lower the floor (I'm amazed it wan't frozen solid), I was just able to squeeze the canoe into the space on its canoe cart. Whew! glad to have that done and my new (to me!) canoe safely stored.
After driving husband and daughter to work & school respectively, I went home to eat breakfast (millet with blueberries) and then enjoyed a decaf espresso while working. Lunch was left-over pea soup with rice crackers. My afternoon snack was popcorn and dinner almost didn't happen at all. After picking my daughter up from my Mom's, I shoveled snow... and shoveled... and shoveled... until I had to stop in order to get us dinner. I ended up with no time to eat anything myself before teaching my 7:20 class so after the class, I had a bowl of oatmeal with cardamom and soy milk and a delicious bartlett pear for dinner. (A bit of a cheat as I'm only supposed to eat 1 fruit a day on this diet).
Today, the cleanse felt hard. I was craving sugar and chocolate for the first time in over a week. Only 2 days left...
Although I made it yesterday, not today, here is my recipe for lentil spread as an alternative to hummous.
Lentil Spread
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked green lentils (cooked until mushy)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini
1 carrot (grated)
1 tsp ground cumin
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
Method:
Put everything into a food processor and blend on "High" until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
As soon as it was light out (the snow had just started), I headed outside, hoping to get my canoe into its winter home which had just been created yesterday by the handyman. We have a long front porch and now one end of it has doors. After digging some dirt out to lower the floor (I'm amazed it wan't frozen solid), I was just able to squeeze the canoe into the space on its canoe cart. Whew! glad to have that done and my new (to me!) canoe safely stored.
After driving husband and daughter to work & school respectively, I went home to eat breakfast (millet with blueberries) and then enjoyed a decaf espresso while working. Lunch was left-over pea soup with rice crackers. My afternoon snack was popcorn and dinner almost didn't happen at all. After picking my daughter up from my Mom's, I shoveled snow... and shoveled... and shoveled... until I had to stop in order to get us dinner. I ended up with no time to eat anything myself before teaching my 7:20 class so after the class, I had a bowl of oatmeal with cardamom and soy milk and a delicious bartlett pear for dinner. (A bit of a cheat as I'm only supposed to eat 1 fruit a day on this diet).
Today, the cleanse felt hard. I was craving sugar and chocolate for the first time in over a week. Only 2 days left...
Although I made it yesterday, not today, here is my recipe for lentil spread as an alternative to hummous.
Lentil Spread
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked green lentils (cooked until mushy)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini
1 carrot (grated)
1 tsp ground cumin
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
Method:
Put everything into a food processor and blend on "High" until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Cleanse Day 9
Another busy day. I had hoped to spend most of the day working on "studio stuff" while the handyman we'd hired did the jobs we'd contracted him to do. Instead, I seemed to spend too much time running errands and preparing food.
Between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m., my husband and I prepared our room to have the ceiling repaired from a roof leak years ago: moved and covered all the furniture, took down all wall hangings and curtains, moved the rugs ...
Then it was time for the first trip of the day to drop husband and daughter off for work and school respectively. Then home to meet the handyman. Then off to Home Depot to get the kitchen faucet the handyman was to install (it has a built in water filter for drinking water - woo hoo!). Then this afternoon, I discovered I didn't have any ceiling paint or outside paint left (although I have a dozen other varieties in the basement) so I went to Home Hardware for paint. On returning home, the handyman said we needed a new "faucet riser", gave me the specs and back to Home Hardware I went (good thing it's a scant 5 min drive from home). I returned promptly with the right piece but he said "we need TWO". So back to Home Hardware I went, returning in time to see daughter walking home from the bus stop and give her a lift. Whew! The final car trip was to take our two cats to the vet for their annual appointment.
Somewhere in there, I ate breakfast: Chia with chopped apple and soy milk and lunch: lentil spread (recipe tomorrow!) with rice crackers and salad with oil and lemon dressing. My afternoon snack was the ubiquitous almond butter on rice cakes. For dinner, I ate Winter Vegetable Soup with Buckwheat from the Wild Rose cookbook. It was ok once I added a few more herbs but really wanted something exciting like mustard or red wine vinegar which I can't eat on the cleanse - ah well :-) Recipe below.
This afternoon I taught my hot flow class, and as my husband's store is open later in December, we all arrived home close to 7:30 and ate a late dinner together. I put daughter to bed and then husband and I dusted and reset the furniture in the bedroom. I'm looking forward to being in my bed!
Winter Vegetable Soup with Buckwheat
(adapted from Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox cookbook)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup buckwheat
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1 small onion, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup turnip or parsnip, diced (I used parsnip)
1 medium potato, diced
6 cups vegetable stock* or water
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
2 tbsp parsley
dash Bragg's liquid aminos
Method:
1. Saute the buckwheat and caraway seeds in the oil over medium-high heat until the seeds begin to pop, approx. 3 minutes
2. Add onions, carrots, celery, parsnip / turnip and saute for 5 minutes or until the vegetables start to brown.
3. Add potato, stock, , rosemary, thyme and salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 20-25 minutes until vegetables are cooked.
4. Garnish with parsley and liquid aminos.
Between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m., my husband and I prepared our room to have the ceiling repaired from a roof leak years ago: moved and covered all the furniture, took down all wall hangings and curtains, moved the rugs ...
Then it was time for the first trip of the day to drop husband and daughter off for work and school respectively. Then home to meet the handyman. Then off to Home Depot to get the kitchen faucet the handyman was to install (it has a built in water filter for drinking water - woo hoo!). Then this afternoon, I discovered I didn't have any ceiling paint or outside paint left (although I have a dozen other varieties in the basement) so I went to Home Hardware for paint. On returning home, the handyman said we needed a new "faucet riser", gave me the specs and back to Home Hardware I went (good thing it's a scant 5 min drive from home). I returned promptly with the right piece but he said "we need TWO". So back to Home Hardware I went, returning in time to see daughter walking home from the bus stop and give her a lift. Whew! The final car trip was to take our two cats to the vet for their annual appointment.
Somewhere in there, I ate breakfast: Chia with chopped apple and soy milk and lunch: lentil spread (recipe tomorrow!) with rice crackers and salad with oil and lemon dressing. My afternoon snack was the ubiquitous almond butter on rice cakes. For dinner, I ate Winter Vegetable Soup with Buckwheat from the Wild Rose cookbook. It was ok once I added a few more herbs but really wanted something exciting like mustard or red wine vinegar which I can't eat on the cleanse - ah well :-) Recipe below.
This afternoon I taught my hot flow class, and as my husband's store is open later in December, we all arrived home close to 7:30 and ate a late dinner together. I put daughter to bed and then husband and I dusted and reset the furniture in the bedroom. I'm looking forward to being in my bed!
Winter Vegetable Soup with Buckwheat
(adapted from Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox cookbook)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup buckwheat
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1 small onion, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup turnip or parsnip, diced (I used parsnip)
1 medium potato, diced
6 cups vegetable stock* or water
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
2 tbsp parsley
dash Bragg's liquid aminos
Method:
1. Saute the buckwheat and caraway seeds in the oil over medium-high heat until the seeds begin to pop, approx. 3 minutes
2. Add onions, carrots, celery, parsnip / turnip and saute for 5 minutes or until the vegetables start to brown.
3. Add potato, stock, , rosemary, thyme and salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 20-25 minutes until vegetables are cooked.
4. Garnish with parsley and liquid aminos.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Cleanse Day 8
Well into the home stretch now and thank goodness! My days are so busy I'm finding it challenging to prepare food. This morning I made millet and blueberries for breakfast which I ate at work but unfortunately I forgot to bring soy milk. It was still pretty good. Lunch was left over split pea soup from yesterday. I also made salsa (recipe below) which I ate with corn chips. My afternoon snack was popcorn.
The yoga studio appears to have been hit by a pestilence today with 2 teachers calling in sick - one of whom is my manager who also works in the boutique on Monday. Since I wasn't available, we had to close the boutique today. We had to cancel the first class and I taught the other one - a 5:45 - 7:15 pm Flow class. I'm just home now glad to have left-over kitcheri to eat (with snow peas) as I am way too tired and hungry to have contemplated making anything.
Looking forward to my bed tonight!
Salsa (from the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox Cookbook)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups tomatoes, finely diced
3/4 cup red onions, finely diced
3/4 cup bell peppers, finely diced
1 jalepeno pepper, seeds removed, minced
1/4 cup cilantro
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt & pepper to taste
Method:
In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.
The yoga studio appears to have been hit by a pestilence today with 2 teachers calling in sick - one of whom is my manager who also works in the boutique on Monday. Since I wasn't available, we had to close the boutique today. We had to cancel the first class and I taught the other one - a 5:45 - 7:15 pm Flow class. I'm just home now glad to have left-over kitcheri to eat (with snow peas) as I am way too tired and hungry to have contemplated making anything.
Looking forward to my bed tonight!
Salsa (from the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox Cookbook)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups tomatoes, finely diced
3/4 cup red onions, finely diced
3/4 cup bell peppers, finely diced
1 jalepeno pepper, seeds removed, minced
1/4 cup cilantro
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt & pepper to taste
Method:
In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Cleanse Day 7
For a weekend that was supposed to be without social engagements, it's turned out to be pretty busy. Last night when we got home from my brother's house, we had a message from my best friend's family inviting us to go to Cedar Hill Berry Farm with them to cut a Christmas tree on Sunday (today). This is an event we share with them most years and it generally ends with home-made pizza at their house. So of course we said "yes" although there wasn't going to be any pizza for me.
When I arose this morning, I enjoyed a short yoga and meditation session then planned some food for the day. Breakfast was scrambled tofu with kale, seasoned with mustard seeds, cumin and turmeric. Yum! I was the designated timer for meditation at Shambhala this morning. Before I left home for this, I cooked some split peas in preparation for making Split Pea Soup to have either for lunch or dinner. When I arrived home from meditation, I confirmed plans with my friend, and we were indeed invited back to their place after tree cutting for home made pizza. So, I hastily ate a lunch of hummous, rice crackers, veggies and lemon tahini dip while making the soup. Then packed dinner fixings and we set off for our Christmas tree expedition.
With the tree selected, cut and strapped to our car, we headed to Almonte to our friends' for the evening. My friend was in full cookie production mode (sadly as I got to see them and smell them but not eat them) while her husband was in pizza dough production mode. I knitted (legwarmers for me) while my husband and daughter and my friend's teenagers played with the x-box. While the others snacked on cookies, I snacked on guacamole (I'd brought the fixings) and tortilla chips (which interestingly don't appear to be contra-indicated on the Wild Rose cleanse despite not being exactly "health food"). When dinner was imminent, I warmed up the split pea soup and brown rice. It was great! See the recipe for the soup below.
It was snowing as we drove home this evening. My daughter is delighted! We're supposed to get 5 cm tomorrow. It may finally be starting to look seasonal around here.
Split Pea Soup (from "Quick Vegetarian Pleasures" by Jeanne Lemlin)
Ingredients:
2 cups dried green split peas
10 cups water
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp olive oil (divided)
3 medium onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
2 celery ribs, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos* (instead of soy sauce)
ground pepper to taste
salt to taste
2 tbsp unsalted butter (or ghee)
Method:
1. In a large stockpot, combine the split peas, water, bay leaves and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a lively simmer. Cook 1 hr, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the onions and garlic and saute 10 minutes or until tender. Stir in the cumin and cook, stirring frequently, 2 additional minutes.
3. After the peas have cooked 1 hr, stir in the onion mixture and all of the remaining ingredients except the butter. Cook, uncovered an additional 30-35 minutes, or until the soup has a somewhat smooth consistency and the vegetables are tender. Be aware that the soup will thicken in each serving bowl as it cools so don't let it get too thick. Remove the bay leaves. Just before serving, add the butter.
When I arose this morning, I enjoyed a short yoga and meditation session then planned some food for the day. Breakfast was scrambled tofu with kale, seasoned with mustard seeds, cumin and turmeric. Yum! I was the designated timer for meditation at Shambhala this morning. Before I left home for this, I cooked some split peas in preparation for making Split Pea Soup to have either for lunch or dinner. When I arrived home from meditation, I confirmed plans with my friend, and we were indeed invited back to their place after tree cutting for home made pizza. So, I hastily ate a lunch of hummous, rice crackers, veggies and lemon tahini dip while making the soup. Then packed dinner fixings and we set off for our Christmas tree expedition.
With the tree selected, cut and strapped to our car, we headed to Almonte to our friends' for the evening. My friend was in full cookie production mode (sadly as I got to see them and smell them but not eat them) while her husband was in pizza dough production mode. I knitted (legwarmers for me) while my husband and daughter and my friend's teenagers played with the x-box. While the others snacked on cookies, I snacked on guacamole (I'd brought the fixings) and tortilla chips (which interestingly don't appear to be contra-indicated on the Wild Rose cleanse despite not being exactly "health food"). When dinner was imminent, I warmed up the split pea soup and brown rice. It was great! See the recipe for the soup below.
It was snowing as we drove home this evening. My daughter is delighted! We're supposed to get 5 cm tomorrow. It may finally be starting to look seasonal around here.
Split Pea Soup (from "Quick Vegetarian Pleasures" by Jeanne Lemlin)
Ingredients:
2 cups dried green split peas
10 cups water
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp olive oil (divided)
3 medium onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
2 celery ribs, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos* (instead of soy sauce)
ground pepper to taste
salt to taste
2 tbsp unsalted butter (or ghee)
Method:
1. In a large stockpot, combine the split peas, water, bay leaves and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a lively simmer. Cook 1 hr, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the onions and garlic and saute 10 minutes or until tender. Stir in the cumin and cook, stirring frequently, 2 additional minutes.
3. After the peas have cooked 1 hr, stir in the onion mixture and all of the remaining ingredients except the butter. Cook, uncovered an additional 30-35 minutes, or until the soup has a somewhat smooth consistency and the vegetables are tender. Be aware that the soup will thicken in each serving bowl as it cools so don't let it get too thick. Remove the bay leaves. Just before serving, add the butter.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Cleanse Day 6
Half way there! Today was busy and switched gears midway through the day meaning I wasn't able to prepare the foods I had planned today.
I woke up way to early again this morning (is this an effect of the cleanse?) and got up at 4:30 to begin my morning practice. At least getting up early meant I was able to have a lovely long one!
I normally don't eat anything before teaching a morning class, but I'm hungry in the mornings on this cleanse so this morning (especially after a 2 hour yoga practice) so I ate a couple of rice cakes with almond butter before heading to the studio.
After my class, I zipped home to make some guacamole to enhance what was otherwise going to be a pretty boring lunch - and a very late lunch (what else is new!). Leaving the guac in the fridge, I then drove my daughter to my brother's house to play with her cousins, and picked up my sister in law for our pedicure appointment.
My SIL introduced me to the delight of pedicures three years ago. Since my feet are very evident in my line of work, I figure the occasional pedicure is a business necessity :-) After our pedicure, we usually go out for lunch, but as that wasn't an option for me, she picked up a bagelsub at the Bagelshop and we ate at my place. My lunch was a scrounged assortment of brown rice, chopped veggies, hummous and guacamole. Not the most brilliant meal but it's what I could assemble given my lack of time and since it was 2:30 by the time we ate, I wasn't complaining. I was glad to have the guacamole for something new. See my guac recipe below.
My brother and SIL had invited us to dinner. Obviously this wasn't the best week for a dinner engagement for me but since this is the FIRST dinner invitation we've had from them in the six years they've been together, I wasn't going to say no. They've recently moved from a "fixer upper" that never really got fixed to a brand new house in the suburbs and finally felt comfortable enough with their home to invite people over. We were their first invited dinner guests! So we went. I deferred my planned dinner until tomorrow and threw together a Basic Oil and Lemon Dressing from the Wild Rose cookbook, a salad and the ingredients to make kitcheri with broccoli, which I cooked at their house. While the others ate pasta and salad with ranch dressing, I enjoyed my kitcheri and salad with oil and lemon dressing.
After a fun evening playing Cranium, family vs family, we arrived home and, feeling a tiny bit hungry, I ate a delicious ripe bartlett pear.
Tomorrow I hope to have a bit more leisure for cooking but I may not as we've just been invited to join my best friend's family for the annual visit to a Christmas tree farm. This may turn into a dinner outing as well. Guess I'd better be prepared for the possibility!
Guacamole
Ingredients:
1 avocado
1/4 cup tomato, diced (I used tinned tomatoes)
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp cumin (ground)
1/2 tsp lime or lemon juice
1 tsp cilantro
pinch salt
pinch petter
Method:
I woke up way to early again this morning (is this an effect of the cleanse?) and got up at 4:30 to begin my morning practice. At least getting up early meant I was able to have a lovely long one!
I normally don't eat anything before teaching a morning class, but I'm hungry in the mornings on this cleanse so this morning (especially after a 2 hour yoga practice) so I ate a couple of rice cakes with almond butter before heading to the studio.
After my class, I zipped home to make some guacamole to enhance what was otherwise going to be a pretty boring lunch - and a very late lunch (what else is new!). Leaving the guac in the fridge, I then drove my daughter to my brother's house to play with her cousins, and picked up my sister in law for our pedicure appointment.
My SIL introduced me to the delight of pedicures three years ago. Since my feet are very evident in my line of work, I figure the occasional pedicure is a business necessity :-) After our pedicure, we usually go out for lunch, but as that wasn't an option for me, she picked up a bagelsub at the Bagelshop and we ate at my place. My lunch was a scrounged assortment of brown rice, chopped veggies, hummous and guacamole. Not the most brilliant meal but it's what I could assemble given my lack of time and since it was 2:30 by the time we ate, I wasn't complaining. I was glad to have the guacamole for something new. See my guac recipe below.
My brother and SIL had invited us to dinner. Obviously this wasn't the best week for a dinner engagement for me but since this is the FIRST dinner invitation we've had from them in the six years they've been together, I wasn't going to say no. They've recently moved from a "fixer upper" that never really got fixed to a brand new house in the suburbs and finally felt comfortable enough with their home to invite people over. We were their first invited dinner guests! So we went. I deferred my planned dinner until tomorrow and threw together a Basic Oil and Lemon Dressing from the Wild Rose cookbook, a salad and the ingredients to make kitcheri with broccoli, which I cooked at their house. While the others ate pasta and salad with ranch dressing, I enjoyed my kitcheri and salad with oil and lemon dressing.
After a fun evening playing Cranium, family vs family, we arrived home and, feeling a tiny bit hungry, I ate a delicious ripe bartlett pear.
Tomorrow I hope to have a bit more leisure for cooking but I may not as we've just been invited to join my best friend's family for the annual visit to a Christmas tree farm. This may turn into a dinner outing as well. Guess I'd better be prepared for the possibility!
Guacamole
Ingredients:
1 avocado
1/4 cup tomato, diced (I used tinned tomatoes)
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp cumin (ground)
1/2 tsp lime or lemon juice
1 tsp cilantro
pinch salt
pinch petter
Method:
- Mash avocado pulp in medium-sized bowl.
- Add reminaing ingredients and mix with fork until smooth.
- Season to taste.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Cleanse Day 5
Today was a whirlwind. It started with some serenity as I awoke before 5:00 (and 30 minutes before my alarm was to go off) and therefore had plenty of time for a yoga practice and meditation before the day really got going. Breakfast at 8:00 was oatmeal with blueberries, almonds and soy milk. I'm glad I ate a fairly large meal because it turned out to be the last food to pass my lips until 4:00.
My day was consumed by teaching two yoga classes and conducting three job interviews for a position at the studio. At 4:00, I got home, ate a quick "lunch" of rice crackers, hommous and baby carrots, then got changed and ready to take my daughter Christmas shopping. My stomach decided I hadn't fed it enough so I scarfed a rice cake with almond butter, my usual standby snack, before we set off (the only thing worse than being at a mall at Christmas time is being at a mall at Christmas time when you are faint with hunger and can't eat anything there!). We got home too late for me to cook, but fortunately I had enough kitcheree left to make a meal with asparagus and ghee. Being Friday night, I decided to treat myself to dessert tonight: a baked stuffed apple. Quite yummy - recipe below.
My energy continues to stay high and my intestines calmed down considerably today. I'm beginning to think that this cleanse is going to be pretty easy. I remember how achy, tired and grumpy I was through a few days of my first cleanse. There sure is a difference between clearing out 40 years worth of toxins and clearing out 6 months worth.
Baked Stuffed Apple
(from the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox Cookbook for Cleansing)
Ingredients:
1 apple
1/8 cup tahini
1 tbsp roasted nuts, chopped (I used cashews)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon rind, grated (I left this out, not having a lemon and it was still nice)
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch cardamom
Method:
1. Pre-heat oven t 325 F.
2. Cut a cone-shaped top off the apple and set aside.
3. Remove the core from the apple being careful not to pierce the bottom.
4. In a small bowl, stir togther tahini, nuts, lemon juice, lemon rind, vanilla, cinnomon and cardamom.
5. Fill the apple cavity almost to the top with tahini mixture. Replace apple top.
6. Set apple on baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until apple is soft when pierced with toothpick.
My day was consumed by teaching two yoga classes and conducting three job interviews for a position at the studio. At 4:00, I got home, ate a quick "lunch" of rice crackers, hommous and baby carrots, then got changed and ready to take my daughter Christmas shopping. My stomach decided I hadn't fed it enough so I scarfed a rice cake with almond butter, my usual standby snack, before we set off (the only thing worse than being at a mall at Christmas time is being at a mall at Christmas time when you are faint with hunger and can't eat anything there!). We got home too late for me to cook, but fortunately I had enough kitcheree left to make a meal with asparagus and ghee. Being Friday night, I decided to treat myself to dessert tonight: a baked stuffed apple. Quite yummy - recipe below.
My energy continues to stay high and my intestines calmed down considerably today. I'm beginning to think that this cleanse is going to be pretty easy. I remember how achy, tired and grumpy I was through a few days of my first cleanse. There sure is a difference between clearing out 40 years worth of toxins and clearing out 6 months worth.
Baked Stuffed Apple
(from the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox Cookbook for Cleansing)
Ingredients:
1 apple
1/8 cup tahini
1 tbsp roasted nuts, chopped (I used cashews)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon rind, grated (I left this out, not having a lemon and it was still nice)
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch cardamom
Method:
1. Pre-heat oven t 325 F.
2. Cut a cone-shaped top off the apple and set aside.
3. Remove the core from the apple being careful not to pierce the bottom.
4. In a small bowl, stir togther tahini, nuts, lemon juice, lemon rind, vanilla, cinnomon and cardamom.
5. Fill the apple cavity almost to the top with tahini mixture. Replace apple top.
6. Set apple on baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until apple is soft when pierced with toothpick.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Cleanse Day 4
My husband woke up with a start at about 2:30 a.m. saying something (probably a spider) had bitten his heel. He tends to sleep with his feet sticking out of the covers, but still! After that kafuffle sleep eluded me and I finally got out of bed at 5:30 and trundled to the basement for my morning routine. After some pranayama (alternate nostril breathing for balance) I practiced lunar salutations, a shoulderstand and then meditated for 20 minutes. Then it was 7:00 - time to wake up the family and get everyone moving.
Breakfast was kamut puffs with blackberries and soy milk. The kamut puffs were a bit soggy so I "freshened" them by roasting them in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes until they were crispy.
On Thursday mornings, I teach yoga to my daughter's school class. Today's focus was anatomical joints, which I demonstrated with a couple pieces of zoob (building toy) representing a ball-and-socket joint, a hinged reading light representing a hinge joint and a cylindrical spice jar inserted into the hole in a bagel representing a pivot joint (my daughter then asked for the bagel for lunch!). The big hit of the class was playing "yoga benders": alone, and then in groups of 3, the kids had to make a body sculpture with my instructions of "2 feet, 3 hands and 1 head" meaning those were the only body parts that could connect with the floor. Great fun!
I also taught a flow class for grown-ups back at the studio, then had a studio meeting at Bridgehead (where I had a decaf esspresso and munched on almonds to keep myself going), raced home to get changed into business attire to attend a meeting and event with a consulting client. I had brought lunch with me and after the meeting (it was now 3:00) I ate the last of the Red Lentil Soup, the ubiquitous rice crackers and some home-made hommus.
In between the meeting and after-work event, which was at the Chateau Laurier, I managed to squeeze in some Christmas shopping at the Rideau Centre - I think I covered every kid on my list - whew! The work function was a bit of a challenge because, of course, I couldn't eat any of the tasty hors d'oeuvres offered or have the wine. I nibbled on raw veggies plus some almonds I had brought for myself and drank perrier.
Once home, I whipped up a quick dinner of Skillet Black-Eyed Peas and Spinach with Brown Rice. It was a bit bland but I was very hungry and ate it up! As it wasn't a great success, I'll offer a recipe for hummous tonight.
I'm feeling pretty tired this evening although I was relatively energetic most of the day. I'm not sure if it's because of the cleanse per se, or more my lack of sleep last night - or maybe my poor sleep last night is cleanse-related. Hmmm... My bowels are still occasionally topsy turvy but apart from that, I'm not experiencing side-effects from the cleanse. What a difference from my first two cleanses where by this point in the cleanse, I was indeed "cranky" with headache, exhaustion, riling intestines and serious acne. I guess the regular cleanses are working and I'm not as toxic as I used to be.
Oh: when I stepped on the scale this morning, it read "126.8" which is a full FOUR pounds less than the day before I started this cleanse. Woo Hoo!
Hommus
Ingredients:
1 can cooked chickpeas
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1/2 c fresh lemon juice
1/4 c tahini
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
Method:
Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
Enjoy with rice crackers or fresh veggies.
Breakfast was kamut puffs with blackberries and soy milk. The kamut puffs were a bit soggy so I "freshened" them by roasting them in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes until they were crispy.
On Thursday mornings, I teach yoga to my daughter's school class. Today's focus was anatomical joints, which I demonstrated with a couple pieces of zoob (building toy) representing a ball-and-socket joint, a hinged reading light representing a hinge joint and a cylindrical spice jar inserted into the hole in a bagel representing a pivot joint (my daughter then asked for the bagel for lunch!). The big hit of the class was playing "yoga benders": alone, and then in groups of 3, the kids had to make a body sculpture with my instructions of "2 feet, 3 hands and 1 head" meaning those were the only body parts that could connect with the floor. Great fun!
I also taught a flow class for grown-ups back at the studio, then had a studio meeting at Bridgehead (where I had a decaf esspresso and munched on almonds to keep myself going), raced home to get changed into business attire to attend a meeting and event with a consulting client. I had brought lunch with me and after the meeting (it was now 3:00) I ate the last of the Red Lentil Soup, the ubiquitous rice crackers and some home-made hommus.
In between the meeting and after-work event, which was at the Chateau Laurier, I managed to squeeze in some Christmas shopping at the Rideau Centre - I think I covered every kid on my list - whew! The work function was a bit of a challenge because, of course, I couldn't eat any of the tasty hors d'oeuvres offered or have the wine. I nibbled on raw veggies plus some almonds I had brought for myself and drank perrier.
Once home, I whipped up a quick dinner of Skillet Black-Eyed Peas and Spinach with Brown Rice. It was a bit bland but I was very hungry and ate it up! As it wasn't a great success, I'll offer a recipe for hummous tonight.
I'm feeling pretty tired this evening although I was relatively energetic most of the day. I'm not sure if it's because of the cleanse per se, or more my lack of sleep last night - or maybe my poor sleep last night is cleanse-related. Hmmm... My bowels are still occasionally topsy turvy but apart from that, I'm not experiencing side-effects from the cleanse. What a difference from my first two cleanses where by this point in the cleanse, I was indeed "cranky" with headache, exhaustion, riling intestines and serious acne. I guess the regular cleanses are working and I'm not as toxic as I used to be.
Oh: when I stepped on the scale this morning, it read "126.8" which is a full FOUR pounds less than the day before I started this cleanse. Woo Hoo!
Hommus
Ingredients:
1 can cooked chickpeas
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1/2 c fresh lemon juice
1/4 c tahini
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
Method:
Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
Enjoy with rice crackers or fresh veggies.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Cleanse Day 3
Today I started feeling the effects of the cleanse - both positive and negative. On the negative side, the laxative herbs are starting to work and my insides felt somewhat churned up at certain times today. On the positive side, I feel better and lighter already. The scale showed I'm a pound lighter than 3 days ago. When I walked in to the yoga studio today to teach a class, my studio manager comment on how svelte and radiant I looked. I'm glad my appearance mirrored my sense of wellbeing!
When I first did this cleanse 2 years ago, I followed the instructions to a "t" and took 2 of each of the 3 herbal caplets plus the drops twice a day. A week and a half into the cleanse, my bowels were still convulsing so I dropped the dosage to 1 laxative caplet twice a day and my body calmed down. In subsequent cleanses, I've kept with 2 a day. For this cleanse, I'm experimenting with 3 a day (1 in the morning and 2 at night). We'll see how long this lasts!
For breakfast today, I ate puffed millet cereal with almonds, apple chunks and soymilk. It's amazing how sweet apples can taste when you're deprived of sugar for a few days!
Lunch was kitcheree and carrot sticks dipped in lemon tahini dressing. Lemon Tahini Dressing is THE most delicious food in the Wild Rose cookbook. You can put this versitile dressing on just about anything: veggies, meat, rice... it is wonderful!
So wonderful, I ate it again for dinner, which was: Brown rice, TVP (textured vegetable protein), snow peas and lemon tahini dressing. If you are an omnivore, you could use chicken instead of TVP. See below for the Lemon Tahini Dressing recipe.
In a few minutes I'm off to teach my 7:15 Flow & Yin yoga class. More tomorrow!
Lemon Tahini Dressing
Ingredients:
2/3 cup unsweetened soy milk
5 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Method:
Place all ingredients in a blender (or hand blend) and puree for 1 minute at high speed.
When I first did this cleanse 2 years ago, I followed the instructions to a "t" and took 2 of each of the 3 herbal caplets plus the drops twice a day. A week and a half into the cleanse, my bowels were still convulsing so I dropped the dosage to 1 laxative caplet twice a day and my body calmed down. In subsequent cleanses, I've kept with 2 a day. For this cleanse, I'm experimenting with 3 a day (1 in the morning and 2 at night). We'll see how long this lasts!
For breakfast today, I ate puffed millet cereal with almonds, apple chunks and soymilk. It's amazing how sweet apples can taste when you're deprived of sugar for a few days!
Lunch was kitcheree and carrot sticks dipped in lemon tahini dressing. Lemon Tahini Dressing is THE most delicious food in the Wild Rose cookbook. You can put this versitile dressing on just about anything: veggies, meat, rice... it is wonderful!
So wonderful, I ate it again for dinner, which was: Brown rice, TVP (textured vegetable protein), snow peas and lemon tahini dressing. If you are an omnivore, you could use chicken instead of TVP. See below for the Lemon Tahini Dressing recipe.
In a few minutes I'm off to teach my 7:15 Flow & Yin yoga class. More tomorrow!
Lemon Tahini Dressing
Ingredients:
2/3 cup unsweetened soy milk
5 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Method:
Place all ingredients in a blender (or hand blend) and puree for 1 minute at high speed.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Cleanse Day 2
I had a delicious night sleep last night and felt ready for a good yoga and meditation practice this morning. I was a bit stiff from my yoga class of Monday night, but some hip opening namaskars soon loosened me up. My daughter was home again today from school so I worked from home except for the 2 yoga classes I taught.
I took the time to make millet porridge for my breakfast. Until my first Wild Rose cleanse two years ago, I had never experienced millet before. Millet is one of the most recommended foods in the Wild Rose diet. It, brown rice and buckwheat should form the majority of the diet.
It's a shame that millet is not a better known grain. It has a great flavour and consistency. I would love to find more recipes for it. It's only downside is that it takes 25-30 minutes to cook. I usually cook enough to last a couple of meals but this morning, I just cooked a single portion. I topped the millet porridge with cashews, cardomom and soy milk.
Lunch was a revisit of yesterday's red lentil soup onto which I sprinkled cilantro and a few more cashews. I ate it with rice crackers again. I'll have to open a new box of rice crackers tomorrow!
For an afternoon snack, to fortify myself for the hot flow class I would teach at 5:45, I had popcorn and lemon ginger tea. My daughter had recovered enough to enjoy some too.
Dinner was late because I taught until 7:15. My daughter had the kitcheree I made yesterday (great convalescent food) while I made a quick dish of Lentils and Quinoa for myself (see recipe below).
One challenge I have on this diet is the recommendation to eat only two to three servings of legumes a week, as legumes are difficult to digest. Since I'm vegetarian and don't eat eggs, that would pretty much mean I'd have to live on nuts or not have a complete protein 4 days out of 7. However, since much of the world exists primarily on legumes, I can't see that it's a bad thing to eat them every day. Mung dahl (the key ingredient in kitcheree) is the easiest to digest of all legumes and therefore a common staple in ayurvedic cooking. I'll be eating a lot of it over the next week and a half. I just googled "easy to digest legumes" and found a claim from http://www.living-foods.com/ that adzuki beans are nearly as digestible as mung. So there's my first "lapse": I will be eating more than the recommended amount of legumes during this cleanse.
Lentils and Quinoa with Snow Peas
Serves: 3-4 people
Prep time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
5 cups water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil or ghee
2 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp turmeric
2 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp coriander
1 can lentils (with its liquid)
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup snow peas
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
Method:
I took the time to make millet porridge for my breakfast. Until my first Wild Rose cleanse two years ago, I had never experienced millet before. Millet is one of the most recommended foods in the Wild Rose diet. It, brown rice and buckwheat should form the majority of the diet.
It's a shame that millet is not a better known grain. It has a great flavour and consistency. I would love to find more recipes for it. It's only downside is that it takes 25-30 minutes to cook. I usually cook enough to last a couple of meals but this morning, I just cooked a single portion. I topped the millet porridge with cashews, cardomom and soy milk.
Lunch was a revisit of yesterday's red lentil soup onto which I sprinkled cilantro and a few more cashews. I ate it with rice crackers again. I'll have to open a new box of rice crackers tomorrow!
For an afternoon snack, to fortify myself for the hot flow class I would teach at 5:45, I had popcorn and lemon ginger tea. My daughter had recovered enough to enjoy some too.
Dinner was late because I taught until 7:15. My daughter had the kitcheree I made yesterday (great convalescent food) while I made a quick dish of Lentils and Quinoa for myself (see recipe below).
One challenge I have on this diet is the recommendation to eat only two to three servings of legumes a week, as legumes are difficult to digest. Since I'm vegetarian and don't eat eggs, that would pretty much mean I'd have to live on nuts or not have a complete protein 4 days out of 7. However, since much of the world exists primarily on legumes, I can't see that it's a bad thing to eat them every day. Mung dahl (the key ingredient in kitcheree) is the easiest to digest of all legumes and therefore a common staple in ayurvedic cooking. I'll be eating a lot of it over the next week and a half. I just googled "easy to digest legumes" and found a claim from http://www.living-foods.com/ that adzuki beans are nearly as digestible as mung. So there's my first "lapse": I will be eating more than the recommended amount of legumes during this cleanse.
Lentils and Quinoa with Snow Peas
Serves: 3-4 people
Prep time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
5 cups water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil or ghee
2 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp turmeric
2 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp coriander
1 can lentils (with its liquid)
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup snow peas
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
Method:
- Place the quinoa, water and salt into a pot, bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 20 minutes.
- While the quinoa cooks, heat the oil or ghee in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and stir until the mustard seeds start to pop. Then add the coriander, ginger and turmeric and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and lentils (including its liquid) to the spices. Lower the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the snow peas to the lentils mixture and simmer for another 4-5 minutes. Add the salt and pepper.
- When the quinoa is cooked, spoon it onto a plate and add the lentil mixture on top. Enjoy!
Note: this dish can be prepared with onions & garlic instead of the Indian spices - I just prefer the Indian spices.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Cleanse Day 1
After awakening way too early this morning (due, no doubt, to the wine I drank last night!) I began the day with my daily yogic cleansing routine, 20 minutes of meditation and 10 minutes of restorative savasana (yogic resting). I cracked open the package of cleansing herbs and had the first dose before breakfast.
Cleansing agents are an essential aspect of undergoing a cleanse. If you were to fast, or to follow a clean diet like that contained in the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox program, without taking detoxification agents, you would certainly be giving your digestive system a rest, you would avoid taking in new toxins while on the diet, and you might develop better eating habits. However you would not actually be eliminating toxins already stored in your organs. That is what the cleansing herbs are for! These herbal formulas are designed to flush toxins from the digestive tract and liver so our organs can function at full capacity and we remain healthy (or regain health).
Breakfast today was oatmeal with flax seed power, blueberries and cardamom. The spice cardamom has a lovely mellow flavour that adds a lot to the comforting but bland flavour of oatmeal. I also enjoyed a decaf espresso while meeting with a colleague at a coffee shop. Up to two cups of coffee per day are permitted on this cleanse. I'm not sure if it makes a difference whether or not the coffee is caffeinated. One of the many questions I'd love some day to ask Dr Willard (who formulated this cleanse).
For lunch, I ate the red lentil soup I made yesterday (see yesterday's blog for the recipe) with brown rice crackers , hommous (also made yesterday, without vinegar) and cucumber sticks. Brown rice crackers are one of my saviours on this diet, practically the only prepared food I'll eat. They give you something to put spreads on and have a satisfying crunch you just can't get with eating bowls of rice, millet or barley.
My afternoon snack was almond butter on rice cakes and holy basil herbal tea. Then it was off to enjoy a vigorous flow yoga class - a rare moment - I don't usually manage to work in a yoga class into my life. It happened because my daughter was home sick from school (no fever, so hopefully not with the dreaded pig flu) and so I didn't take her to her tennis lesson this afternoon.
After an abundance of sun salutes, abs, glorious backbending, and a full 5 minutes in the restorative bliss of legs-up-the-walls pose, I headed home to have the dinner I had prepared in the afternoon: kitcheree - the ultimate ayurvedic healing and detox food. I tend to eat it once a week normally, but on this cleanse, I'll be eating it just about every day for one meal or another. I ate this evening's kitcheree with broccoli and a spoonful of ghee. My kitcheree recipe is below. Oh - I also had my evening portion of the cleansing herbs.
Now I'm off to bed to make up for the lack of sleep last night (I hope!)
Comforting Kitcheree
Feeds: 4-6 people
Prep & cooking time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
2 tbsp canola oil or ghee (Indian clarified butter)
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp ginger (chopped)
1/8 to 1/2 tsp asafoetida
1/4 to 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
1 cup basmati rice, rinsed
3/4 to 1 cup mung dahl, rinsed (dried split mung beans)
5 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tbsp ghee (optional)
Steamed vegetable of your choice (e.g. asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, etc.)
Method:
Cleansing agents are an essential aspect of undergoing a cleanse. If you were to fast, or to follow a clean diet like that contained in the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox program, without taking detoxification agents, you would certainly be giving your digestive system a rest, you would avoid taking in new toxins while on the diet, and you might develop better eating habits. However you would not actually be eliminating toxins already stored in your organs. That is what the cleansing herbs are for! These herbal formulas are designed to flush toxins from the digestive tract and liver so our organs can function at full capacity and we remain healthy (or regain health).
Breakfast today was oatmeal with flax seed power, blueberries and cardamom. The spice cardamom has a lovely mellow flavour that adds a lot to the comforting but bland flavour of oatmeal. I also enjoyed a decaf espresso while meeting with a colleague at a coffee shop. Up to two cups of coffee per day are permitted on this cleanse. I'm not sure if it makes a difference whether or not the coffee is caffeinated. One of the many questions I'd love some day to ask Dr Willard (who formulated this cleanse).
For lunch, I ate the red lentil soup I made yesterday (see yesterday's blog for the recipe) with brown rice crackers , hommous (also made yesterday, without vinegar) and cucumber sticks. Brown rice crackers are one of my saviours on this diet, practically the only prepared food I'll eat. They give you something to put spreads on and have a satisfying crunch you just can't get with eating bowls of rice, millet or barley.
My afternoon snack was almond butter on rice cakes and holy basil herbal tea. Then it was off to enjoy a vigorous flow yoga class - a rare moment - I don't usually manage to work in a yoga class into my life. It happened because my daughter was home sick from school (no fever, so hopefully not with the dreaded pig flu) and so I didn't take her to her tennis lesson this afternoon.
After an abundance of sun salutes, abs, glorious backbending, and a full 5 minutes in the restorative bliss of legs-up-the-walls pose, I headed home to have the dinner I had prepared in the afternoon: kitcheree - the ultimate ayurvedic healing and detox food. I tend to eat it once a week normally, but on this cleanse, I'll be eating it just about every day for one meal or another. I ate this evening's kitcheree with broccoli and a spoonful of ghee. My kitcheree recipe is below. Oh - I also had my evening portion of the cleansing herbs.
Now I'm off to bed to make up for the lack of sleep last night (I hope!)
Comforting Kitcheree
Feeds: 4-6 people
Prep & cooking time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
2 tbsp canola oil or ghee (Indian clarified butter)
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp ginger (chopped)
1/8 to 1/2 tsp asafoetida
1/4 to 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
1 cup basmati rice, rinsed
3/4 to 1 cup mung dahl, rinsed (dried split mung beans)
5 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tbsp ghee (optional)
Steamed vegetable of your choice (e.g. asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, etc.)
Method:
- Heat the oil in a large pot on medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds start to pop (3-4 minutes) add the coriander, asafoetida, turmeric, ginger and red pepper flakes. Stir for a couple of minutes to release the fragrance of the spices.
- Add the water, rice and mung dahl to the pot. Stir, bring to a boil, then simmer on medium-low heat for 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the vegetable of your choice and steam it.
- When the kitcheree is cooked, stir in the salt and pepper. Serve on plates and adorn with the steamed veggies. Optionally, top with the ghee. Enjoy!
Unused portions can be refrigerated for 2-3 days.
Notes:
- Dried mung dahl is available in health food stores and Indian groceries.
- You can learn about ghee (another ayurvedic standard) here.
- Asafoetida is a very pungent spice when raw but mellow when cooked. Use a very small amount if you aren't sure you like it. It is a digestive aid, and therefore beneficial for a cleanse, but if you don't like it, you can leave it out!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Preparation Day
My day began with a beautiful solitary lunar flow yoga practice and 30 minutes of meditation. I then attended a very special three hour workshop entitled "The Four Turnings of the Mind" with Tibetan lama Anyen Rinpoche from Denver, Colorado. I've previously learned this teaching as "Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to the Dharma". It was my first encounter with Anyen Rinpoche but I hope not my last. His talk spoke very directly to me. I was fortunate to be able to attend lunch with him and his wife who is also his interpretor (although he speaks excellent English). Very inspiring! On my way home, I stopped at Bridgehead coffee shop for my last latte and brownie for a couple of weeks.
I warned my daughter today that I was starting a cleanse tomorrow. "Oh No," she moaned, "a week of grumpy Mama." A bit of an exaggeration - I'm usually only grumpy for a few days. I'll try to be kind to my family while I go through the peak of the cleanse, which for me, has previously been about days 3-6.
In the afternoon, I shopped for a few detox essentials: veggies, 3 boxes of brown rice crackers, almond butter and tins of chickpeas and lentils, plus food for dinner tonight to which I'd invited my mother. After dinner, I got to work on lunch food for the first day of my cleanse. While snatching a few minutes here and there to watch the Grey Cup with my husband, I prepared hummous and Red Lentil Soup. Unfortunately, Saskatchewan lost to Montreal in the last seconds of the game. Oh well.
Here's the recipe for the soup which seems to have been more successful than the Roughriders. Now to enjoy my last glass of wine for 2 weeks ...
Red Lentil Soup
(from the "Moosewood Cooks at Home" cookbook)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups red lentils
6 cups water
3 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 slices fresh ginger root, each about the size of the quarter
2 medium carrots (1 cup grated)
1 cup canned tomatoes
1 small red or green bell pepper (1/2 cup finely chopped)
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
pinch cayenne
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
salt & ground pepper to taste
Method:
- Sort and rinse the lentils. Put them in a soup pot with the water, bay leaves, garlic, and ginger. Cover and place on high heat.
- Prepare the carrots, tomatoes and bell peppers, and add them to the pot. Bring to a boil, stir and reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes until the lentils are tender.
- While the vegetables simmer, saute the onions on medium heat in the olive oil in a heavy skillet for about 10 minutes or until browned. Add the cumin, coriander and cayenne, and saute for another minute, stirring to prevent sticking.
- When the lentils are tender, remove the bay leaves and ginger root from the soup. Stir in the sauteed onions and the lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Getting Ready for a 12-day cleanse
On Monday (Nov 30), I'll be starting my 4th cleanse with Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox. In this blog, I'll be offering some of my food suggestions and favourite recipes, as well as tracking my personal experience of going through the cleanse.
I like this cleanse because it is not a brutal "eat nothing but spinach for two weeks" regime. It serves two purposes: first, with the herbal cleansing agents and food regime, to flush the body of toxins that your body has stored through consumption of unhealthy food and chemicals used in food production, and second, to train you to develop better eating habits. The diet is sustainable in the long-term, from a health perspective, although I'd find it too challenging for social, convenience and food-prep time reasons.
I was planning to start this cleanse in late October but I was so busy for 5 weeks, I didn't have time to even THINK about planning my menu. Because of the food restrictions, you really do need to do some advance preparation. I'm an lacto-vegetarian (plus I'll eat eggs occasionally when they are in baked foods). On this cleanse, I become vegan. Before I begin, I ensure I have my staples for the diet on hand: millet, almonds, almond butter, rice crackers and rice cakes, plus the foods I'll make: hummous, lentil spread, salsa and salad dressing, all without vinegar. This weekend, I'm using up foods I won't be eating on the diet, like cheese, tropical fruit and wheat products.
Today I started working on a menu for the next two weeks. Between running Windhorse yoga studio, teaching classes, working on a management consulting contract two days a week, and being a parent, my cooking time is limited. I need to ensure I prepare food ahead of time on evenings when I'm teaching a class or taking my daughter to her evening activities. I need to ensure I have portable lunch items prepared for the two days a week when I work downtown. I'm also determining how to manage the two social events that are on my calendar in this 12 day period.
I know the first few days of the cleanse will be challenging, but I'm looking forward to getting on with this cleanse and reaping the benefits of feeling better and regaining a healthier diet.
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