Asian Veggie Night

I made these two dishes from the newest Vegetarian Times for dinner last week, when we had a big group of friends over for games.

(hey, look, I found them online! I don't have to type them up! the internet is magic!) Vegetarian Times Bok Choy Recipes

Both dishes were great, but the Emerald Veggies with Honey Sesame dressing was the one people were especially excited about. I doubled both recipes easily, and it made enough for dinner for 8 plus leftovers for lunch... but the Honey Sesame dressing was good enough that I wish I'd quadrupled it so I could drench everything in it all week.

To keep kosher with the cleanse, I minimized the amount of honey, so it was juuuuuust a bit sweet, and added some miso to make it a bit more sweet-salty.

Sweet Potato & Tofu Mole

Theresa's post about lunch at Verde Cocina inspired my recipe for dinner.

Menu:
Sweet potatoes roasted in coconut oil, dusted with cinnamon
Stir fried firm tofu topped with mole sauce
Refried beans with lime, roasted garlic, and roasted pasilla chiles
Garnish with cilantro and scallions

It was delish. Even Charles wanted a bite:

Kelp Noodles

I made an amazing Asian salad last week with Kelp noodles and miso-peanut dressing.

Kelp Noodles are soft, water-based "noodles" made from sea kelp. They contain only three ingredients: Water, Kelp and Sodium Alginate (made from brown seaweed). You can generally find them in any supermarket next to tofu or near packaged salad products.

I know we're not calorie counting here, but a whole package has 12 calories. That's right, 12.

You can use kelp noodles to make spaghetti, stir fry, salads, soups and more. I personally like them best prepared with Asian flavors (they remind me of glass noodles).

They're water based and not starchy or gummy like wheat noodles, which apparently means you can boil them in soup and they stay crunchy.

I have yet to try heating them. I think I'll try stir fry next!

Week 3!

I'd like to post some of the recipes we've cooked this week -- until I do that, here's a tasty cleanse-friendly meal we had for lunch at Verde Cocina... tofu mole (my first time eating something that wasn't a fruit or veg in two weeks!) and a surprisingly beautiful salad with artfully sliced apples, strawberries and quinoa 'pearls' in the dressing.

In addition to this delicious food, and all the other healthful and exciting meals we've had this week, I've gone running three times!  Today, 3 10-minute miles in a row on the treadmill at the gym.  I registered for a 5K with my friend Kelly in March - the Shamrock Run.  Looking forward.

Feeling Cleaner Every Day

I'm noticing the effects of my cleanse. Especially after I reversed them this weekend (I allowed myself alcohol, but stuck to the food plan). I was actually really happy to go back off the booze on Monday.

Last night I made the Kale and Potato curry recipe I posted last week. It was delicious! For extra flavor I added a few tablespoons of Gillian's tomato chutney left in my fridge.

Where can I get more of that chutney?!

Day 5

So far, so good.

I'm feeling great, sleeping well, and not feeling as constantly hungry as I did the first few days of the cleanse.  Tomorrow morning I'm going to a three-hour yoga retreat, which will kick-start my fitness goals for 2013 -- I'm planning to start running again, register for a 5-K sometime this spring and then start setting my sights towards training for a 10-K sometime this summer.  I think it's totally doable.

Delicious meals I've eaten in the last few days:

This morning's smoothie.  Like Anna, no recipe really, but I started with orange-tangerine juice, then added a couple frozen bananas. Blended those, then added frozen peaches.  Blended those, decided it was too sweet, added frozen cranberries and a garnish of Shannon's fresh pomegranate seeds.

Gillian got a 'spiralizer' machine that looks like this:

Thursday night, in addition to Shannon's delicious sauteed green beans with caramelized onions and squash-apple-pear-potato mash (or something like that...?), we had a beet and carrot 'pasta salad' with olives, almonds and a delicious dressing.  The new spiralizer is a lot of fun.

Tomorrow for dinner I think I want to make some sort of Indian food.  Not sure what yet, but I think it will have a side of almond-milk mango lassi.  

Dinner Tonight

Spaghetti Squash with Chanterelles Sauce

Roast Spaghetti Squash, top with Chanterelles sauteed in olive oil with shallots, herbs, nutmeg, veggie broth, and maybe some almond milk. I don't know, I make it up as I go along.

Bought a beautiful head of red kale today and tomorrow I want to make this with it: Kale & Potato Curry

Except I will prepare it as a soup. It looks like these people put it atop noodles, which seems weird.