Raw Food Thursday!

I typically do my monthly all-day raw food cleanse on the first Tuesday of every month, but I had plans to eat dinner at a delicious vegan-friendly soul food restaurant that day. So I pushed my mini-detox back a few days.

I welcomed my raw day with this most delicious Coconut Almond Butter Smoothie:

Raw almond butter, a frozen banana, shredded coconut, flax seed, and water combined to make a super-creamy, coconut-ty breakfast drink. I love fruity smoothies, but I think I like the nutty, creamy ones even better.

Before lunch, I snacked on a crisp red pear and a few of these Cashew Cinnamon Bun Babies:

The recipe came from the lovely Chocolate-Covered Vegan (a.k.a. CCV). It's one of several in her line of fudge baby balls, a delicious homemade take on the classic Larabar. I used her recipe for Cashew Cookie Larabar Babies and added cinnamon for cinnamon bun-like taste. I only allowed myself three of these all day since each ball was about 100 calories, but I could have eaten the entire batch in one sitting.

Lunch was a Deconstructed Salad with Carrot-Miso Dressing:

The dressing recipe came from Gena's Choosing Raw blog. It's almost oil-free (with just a teensy drop of sesame oil), so I ate a ton of it. Instead of pouring it over my veggies, I used the dressing for dipping romaine leaves, red bell pepper, cucumber, celery, and cauliflower.

My mid-afternoon snack was the highlight of my day — a square of raw chocolate!

And this wasn't just any raw chocolate. I made this stuff using a Nativas Naturals Organic Superfood Chocolate Kit! They sell these kits for $10 at Whole Foods and each contains a block of solid cacao butter, a packet of organic cacao powder, and an add-in (either cacao nibs, goji berries, or golden berries). I purchased the "cacao nib" kit (those little dark spots in the chocolates pictured above are the nibs). It's so easy to make, and the chocolates are melt-in-your-mouth amazing. But it is super-dark chocolate (80% cacao!), so it's not for the faint of heart.

I snacked on an orange and some more cashew cookie babies before hitting the gym. Dinner was a satisfying bowl of Raw "Peanut" Noodles:

Another Gena recipe from Choosing Raw (her stuff is always so amazing!). This dish doesn't actually contain peanuts (since they're not raw), but it tastes just like peanut noodles. Granted, I added a couple tablespoons of raw almond butter to Gena's recipe, even though it wasn't called for in the recipe. That may have added to the nutty taste.

I also cut the oil down from one cup to a 1/4 cup and subbed water for the rest. The sauce was incorporated into "noodles" made from zucchini, carrots, red bell pepper, and cucumber. And I topped it with a little crushed red pepper flakes to add some spice!