Best Raw Food Day Ever!

I do a raw food detox on the first Monday of every month, but since that was Labor Day, I pushed the cleanse off until Tuesday. Usually when I do the detox, I'm super hungry all day and I tend to crash around 3 p.m. I've got low energy (from the lack of caffeine, I'm sure), and by the time raw dinner rolls around, I'm craving cooked food like a mofo.

But today was different. I think I did something right this time. For breakfast, I whipped up some Raw Cinnamon Apple Cereal with Raw Almond Milk:

The recipe came from Alive in 5: Raw Gourmet Meals in Five Minutes by Angela Elliot. First, I had to make the almond milk using soaked almonds, water, vanilla, and agave in the blender. Then I strained out the almond pulp with a cheesecloth. The pulp made the base of this cereal, along with fresh farmer's market apples, raisins, cinnamon, and agave. I poured a little almond milk over the mix to give it a cereal mouthfeel (don't you hate that word?).

Around 10 a.m., the monthly shot nurse visited our office for $15 B-12 shots. I got one and had an immediate energy burst, so I think that helped with the caffeine withdrawal. Around 11 a.m., I snacked on these AMAZING Eternal Bliss Balls:

Based on a recipe from Vegan Fusion, these coconut date balls saved me from hunger throughout the day. I used dates, cocoa powder, soaked almonds, raisins, tahini, and flax seeds to create the ball base, and then I rolled each one in coconut. It was like dessert, only super healthy!

For lunch, I dined on this Corn Symphony Soup from Alive in 5:

To make it, I tossed thawed frozen corn, almond milk, red bell pepper, jalapeno, and cilantro in the blender. It was thick and creamy, and pretty darn tasty. I also had a side salad with the soup. Later in the afternoon, I snacked on a fresh farmer's market pear and some leftover corn soup ... and of course, more date balls.

Before hitting up the gym after work, I made some Fresh V6 Juice in my Jack Lalanne Juicer:

This stuff contains 1 tomato, 1 bell pepper, 4 carrots, 3 stalks of celery, a handful of parsley, and a handful of cilantro. Yum! It kept me satisfied at the gym until I was able to come home and make Raw "Spaghetti" with Puttanesca Sauce and Not Meat Balls:

Based on a recipe from Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet, this dish was hands down my favorite raw food cleanse dish that I've made so far. I've only been detoxing once a month since March, but this one takes the cake (or, um, I mean takes the raw flax cracker).

The "pasta" is made from squash peeled with a vegetable peeler, and the sauce contains all kinds of yumminess like fresh tomato, fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, cayenne pepper, and black olives. The Not Meat Balls, made from a Pecan Paté of soaked pecans, onion, parsley, tamari, and lemon juice, really made the dish shine. Thank god I have leftovers!

I'm going to attribute my success this time to more frequent snacking. Anytime thoughout the day that I felt the slightest bit hungry, I ate ... and that means I was eating almost every hour. But at least I didn't feel like crap this time.