pea dippin’

Monday morning craving?

A massive bowl of creamy, corny oats. 

Quicksand for the banana!

Topped with about 1T coconut butter, Love Grown Foods cocoa goodness, 1/2 banana, 1/2T chocolate chip cookie dough almond butter.  If you can believe it, I couldn’t quite finish this bowl!  Today was a busy + thoroughly exhausting day.  I didn’t eat lunch until 3pm and dinner wasn’t until 9:30!

I managed to squeeze in a mid-day workout and then ran a slew of errands.  Since I knew I would be out for awhile, I packed Vega Shake n’ Go, which I’m trying to use up.  I have the tropical flavor, and am not a fan, but it’s good in a pinch.

When I finally arrived home, this lunch [not my whole lunch] was put together in snap! 

It started with frozen peas, thawed under cold water.

And was quickly whipped into pea dip!  I saw this recipe on Kath’s blog recently and it sounded fabulous.  She made a lavender salt version with cilantro, but I didn't have either of those on hand.  And you know I’m not a cilantro fan!

This is a 5minute recipe.  You can use a blender, food processor, magic bullet and even a mini food processor.  You can also easily adapt it to suite your taste buds.  Here’s what I was feelin’… 

Pea Dip [I just like saying that] serves 1-2 adapted from Kath’s Lavender Pea Hummus

• 1c frozen, thawed peas
• 1 clove garlic
• 2T salt + pepper cashew butter [or tahini/almond butter/plain cashew butter/etc.]
• 1/4t salt
• black pepper to taste
• sprinkle of cayenne
• 2T apple cider vinegar [or lemon juice]
• 2c loosely packed spinach

1. Thaw peas in a colander.  [I ran cool water over them.]
2. Throw everything in your blenderizing machine of choice + blend away!  Blend until desired consistency is met.

The best thing about this recipe, is that it creates a lot of dip and it’s okay to eat the whole batch!!

I ate 1/4 of it with a spoon, 1/2 of it with lunch and saved the last 1/4 for tomorrow.  It’s a great veggie sandwich topper, or just for dipping veggies. 

Today, I brought back the rainbow chard.  It’s been awhile!

Veggie rollups??  Sure thing!  These were incredibly delicious.  Bread, what bread?  Didn’t miss it at all!  Okay, well sometimes. 

I stuffed 2 large chard leaves with 1/2 of the pea dip, carrots, tomato, ground flax, salt + pepper. 

Even better than I expected!!  Love all that crunch!

Better rest up for a full day of house action.  So many little things to do!!  We’re hoping to get the washer + dryer in the 3rd bedroom in a few days, which means we can finally start unpacking.  Getting closer!!

Ashley

Detox Day s.i.x. – balls save the day

1. I’m obsessed with raw chard leaves.

2. I’m obsessed with wrapping my breakfast with raw chard leaves.

In all seriousness, I love this breakfast.  This was my best green wrapped breakfast yet!  I blame that on the melted coconut butter. :)  Don’t be fooled as this breakfast looks somewhat small.  It packs a mean nutritional punch! 

What’s inside + on top?

Green Wrapped Breakfast

• 1 banana, split between 2 rolls
• 1/4 apple [ate the rest on the side]
• 2T unsalted/unsweetened peanut butter
• 1/2-1T coconut butter drizzled on top
• 1-2T flax sprinkled inside
• ~2T raisins sprinkled inside
• 1-2T coconut flakes on top
• handful of walnuts on top

This will leave you feeling completely satisfied, but not weighed down.  It’s a great way to get your greens in, in the morning.  The raw chard provides a superb c.r.u.n.c.h.

I’ve been having some pretty intense sweets cravings this week.  I haven’t had any added sugar, processed sugar, or syrups of any kind.  The only sweets I’ve had have come from fruit.  The biggest cravings I get are right after lunch + dinner.  I crave a piece of dark chocolate or something minty.  It hasn’t been easy to ignore, but not impossible by any means.  My favorite way to curb the craving is by eating a few dried apricots.  They are super sweet and have great chew.

However, sometimes apricots just don’t cut it.  And for those times, here is what I came up with.

Similar to a Larabar, but better.  This totally curbed my craving for chocolate + sweet, without giving in to my detox plan.

Chocolate Coconut Dough Balls [yields 12, 1” balls]

• 1c ground walnuts + almonds
• 1/2c lightly packed ground medjool dates [~12 dates]
• 1-2T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1T unrefined coconut oil [optional]
• can sub 2T unsweetened shredded coconut as well

1. Process [in food processor, vita-mix, magic bullet, etc] nuts together, until crumbly with some larger pieces.  Be careful not to process to long.
2. Measure out 1c and empty into a bowl.
3. Cut out pits in the dates by lightly slicing down the middle.  Remove pits with fingers.
4. Process dates into small pieces.  They will stick together.
5. Lightly pack into a 1/2c measuring cup.
6. Add nuts + dates back into food processor, along with cocoa powder + coconut oil [if using].
7. Pulse until mixed together.  Do not over process! Scrape bowl once or twice. 
8. When you can form a ball with the dough, it’s done! 
9. Roll into balls or form into bars.  Wrap in saran wrap and store in the fridge.

*They should hold together very easily and firm up in the fridge. 

*I made mine with 2T cocoa powder for a very dark chocolate taste.  Reduce to 1T if you want the chocolate flavor a bit lighter.

*The coconut oil is not crucial for this to work.  If you don’t want a coconut flavor, leave it out.  Do not sub in other oil.  It’s not needed.

These tasted like dessert but were an extremely healthy snack!  Perfect anytime.

These will be great to have on-the-go, as it’s harder to find detox-friendly snacks while out and about.  The possibilities are endless with recipes like these.  It’s so fun to experiment.  I would love to create a lemon-ginger bar next! 

Anticipation.

Excitement!

Can you believe I was able to eat out twice in 1 day, sticking to the detox?  Chris and I grabbed a delicious, simple lunch at Tasty Harmony, in Ft. Collins.  It’s a veg-friendly restaurant, featuring an almost all vegan menu.  They do offer some local cheeses on a few items.  They also have a great selection of tea, green juice, and raw items.  I got a 3 part tasting plate, so I could be sure to avoid gluten/dairy/soy.  Here’s what I had:

• quinoa/millet mix [unseasoned]
• steamed seasonal veggies – butternut squash + root veggies lightly steamed
• side salad with house dressing

They brought me an extra dish of the house dressing, which is probably the.best.dressing. I’ve ever had.  Ever.  I’m sure there was some salt in it, but it didn’t taste overly salty, which I was happy about as I’m trying to reduce my sodium intake.

Dining out meal #2 was eaten along with lovely Pat + Natalie [BIL + SIL] and Kurtz + Ann.  We headed to Watercourse, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, in Denver.  Denver is a little over 1 hour drive from where we live.  Our main reason for going to Denver was to see comedian, Daniel Tosh [you may have seen his show, Tosh.O]. 

[Kurtz + Pat]

Their menu was perfect for my current plan.  All items were marked if they contained dairy, gluten, or soy.  They had a huge “build your own salad” option too.  There was definitely not a shortage of things to choose from, but it was funny being at a vegetarian restaurant and not being able to pick from anything I wanted on the menu.

I decided on the corn tortilla, sweet potato + black bean soft tacos with peppers + onions.  It came with guac + salsa on the side.  It was delicious and hit the spot.  Although, it left me juuuust satisfied.  I thought there would be more potatoes.  It wasn’t a problem though, because I packed balls in my bag.  [that sounds so wrong]

[Chris + Ann]

Comedy shows are so much fun to see.  It’s a great ab + cheek muscle workout too. ;)

Daniel Tosh was HIL-freaking-arious.  Totally worth the money + drive to and from Denver.  Although, since I’m not drinking right now, I was DD.  This meant driving home at 1am back to Ft. Collins.  It was tough, but we made it!

Detox Day 5 – overview

• Day 5 was actually pretty rough in the morning + afternoon.  During day 4 I felt sluggish and it continued to day 5.  Although, I was also in a terrible mood, for no reason.  I really have almost never felt like this.  I was angry for no reason, felt tired, cranky, and off.  I wanted to just sit on the couch all day, but knew I needed to get my body moving.  It took a good 2 hours + ball baking experiment to finally convince myself to hop on the bike trainer.  The best way to flush out toxins is to sweat.  I knew that a rest day was not what I needed.  When I hopped on the bike I felt mad.  The biking was going slowly, I felt like I was suffocating, my feet were claustrophobic in my shoes, our Christmas cards were staring at me from the mantle, the TV was on with football but muted, everything annoyed me.  There was no reason for me to be mad, but I finally blurted out to Chris how I was feeling.  Then, I demanded he remove all the Christmas cards from the mantle.  This is sounding hilarious to me now, but at the time they were only 2’ away from me and stressing me out.  It was horrible, but I continued on for 45min, sweating more than usual.  I got off the bike, did some dishes, chugged some almond milk + amazing grass, put away some clutter [that was making me feel claustrophobic], and then did an arm + ab workout, with some lunges thrown in.  I also mixed in some yoga stretching and began to feel completely fabulous.  I was crossing my fingers that that would happen and it was such a relief when it did.  I felt 100% better.  I dry brushed, to get rid of all the crap I released, took a hot shower, then drank some detox tea.  Maybe Day 4 + half of day 5 was my detox release.  Who knows!  All I know is it has passed and I hope it doesn’t happen again!
• The rest of the night was great and my stomach has been feeling so so so much better!!  I typically get the “food baby” [bloated to the point you look pregnant] at least every other day.  By the end of the night, I’m always at least somewhat bloated.  I haven’t felt like this at all in the past few days.  I’ve had a few periods of feeling bloated, but they seem to pass [haha] much more quickly than normal.  I’m so excited about this!

Nothing else major to report! 

Off to enjoy Sunday!  We’re headed to the mountains on Monday for a powder day at Vail, so we’re just relaxing today.  Chris has Monday off and there is supposed to be a lot of snow, so we’ll be heading out at 4:30am! eeek!

~Ashley

Just catching up?

pre-toxing

detox day 1 – part 1, part 2

detox day 2 – part 1, part 2

detox day 3 – part 1, part 2 [dry brushing + swimming]

detox day 4 – getting creative

detox day 5 – juiced!

detox day 1 – overview + recipes

Grab a blanket + a glass of warm lemon water + prepare yourself, this could get lengthy.

Other Detox Motivators

After reading books like, The Omnivores Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and Slow Food Nation, you can’t help but take a closer look at the foods you buy + consume.  They were life changers for me, along with the documentary, Food Inc. After completing The Omnivores Dilemma, my diet and how I looked at food started to change.  For me, it was exciting, and I felt the urge to learn more + more everyday.  I read books, online articles, cut out a lot of processed junk food, read ingredient lists, stopped buying fat free products, and started buying higher quality meat.  I made it a point to look carefully for processed soy + corn ingredients, and stay away from them, because of what I learned.  I tried to stay away from soy in general, as much as possible.  We were able to pull away from processed foods more and more and could definitely feel the positive effects.

*Just as a quick note, in case you’re new or have been wondering.  I stopped eating meat last year at Easter and hadn’t eaten it for about 2 months before that.  I also do not eat fish anymore, except for trying 1 scallop at the Foodbuzz festival, because there is a first time for everything.*

I started shopping at farmer’s markets, and even started my own granola bar business where I sold at a local farmer’s market [in Charlotte, NC].  Chris + I lowered our meat consumption by over half.  We moved to Colorado, and were astounded at what a healthy place this was.  The veg-friendly restaurant options and outdoorsy lifestyle were fabulous.

However, somewhere along the way, my “rules” loosened a bit.  I started letting processed soy slip back into our diet [mostly soy lecithin, because it is so hard to avoid].  My cereal/cracker/chip purchases increased.  Even though they were organic and sometimes quite healthy, they were still very processed.  We started eating tofu, which I really enjoy, but used to make a point to stay away from.  When out at restaurants, I would order eggs + cheese, having no idea what the source was.  These were all things that happened because it was just easier.  I wasn’t constantly reading books + articles, informing me of the negative affects these things have on my body + the environment, which made it easy look the other way.

However, I don’t stand for easy. In the past month or so, I’ve been trying to read more and stay up to date on current food issues and revisit the books above that changed my life so much.  Chris and I recently watched the documentary, The Future of Food [you can watch it on hulu], which was a film about GMO foods that line our shelves today.  It of course discussed the agriculture company, Monsanto, throughout the entire documentary.  I had already heard + read everything that was in that film before, but being refreshed with the information, was nauseating. It was time to throw “the easy way” out the window, and get a little more hardcore about what I believe in.

I figured, the best way to do this, was through a clean food detox.

Can I just say how hard it was to consolidate that information into the above paragraphs?  I could have gone on for days and will maybe elaborate on a few topics soon, especially about soy.

Okay, back to the the food.

Monday Lunch

Filled with all kinds of delicious texture, this meal was free of salt, sugar, wheat, dairy + soy.



Detox Day 1 – Millet Wrapped Lunch

• 1 huge chard leaf, stem cut off


• 1/4c uncooked millet


• 1T safflower/olive/coconut oil


• 1/2c water


• ~1/2c sweet mini peppers or bell peppers, diced


• 2T pepitas


• 1 egg


• 1 portabella mushroom, chopped


• 1/2t garlic powder


• 1t smoked paprika


• black pepper


• sea salt [optional – I lef this out]


• 1 small sweet tater


• 1/2T coconut butter

1. In a small pot, heat 1/2T oil over med. heat.


2. Rinse millet and add to pot.


3. Stir to brown for 1-3min.  This brings out an awesome nutty flavor.


4. Add in water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer + cover.


5. After the water has absorbed, 15-20min, fluff with a fork.


6. In a saute pan, heat 1/2T oil over med. heat.


7. Add in portabella, peppers, garlic, paprika, and pepper.


8. Stir and cook for about 5min until the bella has softened up a bit.


9. Add in pepitas.  Cook another 2min, stirring frequently.


10. Scrape ingredients to one side of the pan, drizzle a very small amount of oil on the other side + pour 1 whisked egg into the pan.


11. Cook egg, moving around with spatula, for about 2min, until done.


12. Add in millet.  Stir to combine for 1 more minute.


13. Wrap in chard leaf + cut small segments.  It’s very messy!

For the sweet taters, follow these directions.  Top with melted coconut butter.

On to the new flour I tried out.  I’ve been wanting to try this garbanzo flour for some time now, but finally decided to take the plunge.  I think this was because my mom bought me a chickpea cookbook called, Hummus.  Every recipe is based on using garbanzo beans!



It has an extremely soft texture.  I’m sure this can be made at home if you have a grain grinder.  Has anyone ever made their own garbanzo flour?



A recipe that spurred my interest in the book was for a Chickpea Bake.  It basically looked like a savory chickpea cake, from the looks of the photo.  It also had me interested because the ingredient list was short and didn’t call for sugar.



This recipe did however call for 1 whole teaspoon of salt, which I left out.  A lovely reader + friend, Kristin [Cook, Bake, Nibble – I designed her header!], recently completed a similar detox.  I read all about it on her blog and learned so much.  She just [thankfully!] brought to my attention, that it’s actually not good to eliminate salt completely.  Our bodies need it to function properly and I would feel much worse without at least a little bit of salt each day.  Good to know!!  I’m definitely going to look into this more as well.

Next time I make this, I’ll probably include 1/2t salt, instead of the full 1t, that is recommended.

Since I left the salt out this time, I got creative with other things to add in.

The original recipe called for:

• chickpea flour


• cold water


• salt


• olive oil

Here is how I ended up changing it:

Chickpea Bake [adapted from the cookbook, Hummus, by Avner Laskin] vegan + gluten free

• 1 1/4c chickpea flour


• 1c unsweetened almond milk


• 1T unsweetened applesauce


• 1T safflower oil


• 1t cinnamon


• 1t curry


• 1/2t garlic


• 1/4t ginger


• few shakes of garam masala

1. Preheat oven to 375*


2. Grease a 8-9” round cake pan, or pie dish.


3. Mix all ingredients together, until just combined.


4. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 40min.  It will be very cracked with browned edges.

I loved this savory cake/bread, especially since I’m not eating any wheat products right now.  It had a great flavor from the spices and the texture was soft + dough-like.  It definitely would have been tastier with 1/2t of salt, but topped with a little Earth Balance or raw almond butter would be great too.

These were drizzled with a little [soy free] Earth Balance for Chris.  It still has a bit of salt in it, so I’m going to try and stay away from it for the most part.  Since learning I still need some salt in my diet during this detox, I’ll be liiiightly sprinkling it on here and there, but trying to stay under 1/4t per day [575mg or less].



I also have an idea to make another version of this using coconut oil, coconut milk, cinnamon + cocoa or carob powder.  Yum!!

Are you still with me???  Time to talk about how I’m feeling after Day 1.

Overview – Day 1

• Through late afternoon my stomach was feeling better than normal.


• Awhile after dinner, I felt bloated.  I don’t think this was due to what I ate for dinner, although I can’t be certain, but obviously foods are still working their way out of my system.


• I craved sweet + salty all day long.  You could tell from my almost all-fruit snack choices, I wanted sweet!


• I realized how many times throughout the day I will take a bite of something sweet or bready throughout the day.  Little break of this, little handful of that.  Even though I feel like I already eat extremely healthy, it was an eye opener to realize that I have quite the nibble habit.


• I never felt tempted to cheat, but it wasn’t easy to curb the cravings.  I ate whenever hungry.


• Dinner held me over the whole night!  This is highly unusual.  I typically need some sort of nighttime snack, but did not feel hungry at all last night.  I’m sure it had to do with the loads of healthy fats and huge helping of brown rice.


• I was really thirsty + drank a lot of water!


• I pee’d a lot.


• I’m loving dry brushing and already feel some of the effects, which I will talk more about soon, or you can read more on it here.  I’ve been doing this for almond 1 full week now.


• I really wanted a bite of the tempeh I made for Chris last night!!


• Although gross, the detox tea made me feel good.


• Getting out for a brisk walk with the dogs, in the sun boosted my mood + energy.


• Yoga felt great!

I think that’s about all for now.  I’ve been absolutely loving the response from this and am trying to answer your questions/comments the best I can.  If you can’t tell, I’m definitely having fun with this!!  So far today, I’ve had another good day of eats and can’t wait to share them with you soon!

Ashley