Crazy Sexy Cheats

I survived another weekend on my 21-day Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse. Wrapping up day 14 now, and that means I've only got one week to go! It's gone by both amazingly fast and tragically slow at the same time if that's even possible.

Friday was more of the same —Gardener Juice, Green "Paint" Almond Butter Dip with Fruit, Hummus Pinwheels, and Chickpea Root Veggie Tagine. I'd planned to grab a raw dinner at Two Vegan Sistas, a high-raw diner in Bartlett. But I'd forgotten that they close at noon on Fridays! Ugh.

But that was okay. I had a dining-out treat planned for Saturday anyway. Our monthly Food Awareness (Memphis' vegetarian/vegan social club) meeting was set for 2 p.m. on Saturday at Imagine Vegan Cafe. Imagine has LOADS of stuff I can't have right now, but I was able to resist the siren song of the vegan Big Mac or their creamy, dreamy vegan mac & cheese in favor of their Spinach Salad (baby spinach, strawberries, pecans, and a balsamic vinaigrette).

Dinner was more Chickpea Root Veggie Tagine on Saturday night. And though I managed to stay strong in the face of temptation earlier in the day at Imagine, I slipped up a tad on Saturday night. Paul had gotten us some free tickets to a Mississippi RiverKings hockey game (Memphis is just 15 minutes from the MS state line). I thought, "Well, that will be a nice way to spend a Saturday night that doesn't involve a bar." How wrong I was!

Paul failed to tell me that we were sharing a suite with about eight of his co-workers, most of whom were young, very drunk guys. They were wild! And I was annoyed. Drunk people are so obnoxious when you're off the sauce. The only way I could handle their silly antics (dancing, spilling beer, etc.) was to take the edge off with a glass of red wine. Thankfully, the hockey arena had some for sale. When in Rome ...

But it was just a glass. And it helped. After the game, I went home, had some air-popped popcorn with nooch and watched Saved by the Bell reruns before retiring for the evening. I had a big fasting day planned for the next day!

This morning was my second half-day juice fast of my cleanse. Kris Carr recommends doing these every Sunday of the cleanse. I technically have three Sundays on the cleanse, but I'm only doing two fasts since next Sunday will be a busy day. I awoke to this big bowl of fruits and veggies, waiting to be juiced.

I had lots of green juice.

And some red (because of beets!).

Although a whole-day fast would probably be optimal, I just can't do that. I have a very high metabolism, and while on these fasts, I stay hungry the entire time. Tummy growling and all. Plus, my favorite art class/club Five In One Social Club was having a potluck tonight. First, before the potluck, I eased out of my fast with a big bowl of Kristin Suzanne's Harvest Soup from Crazy Sexy Diet.

This is a bunch of raw veggies blended in the blender rather than juiced, so it retains the fiber and is more filling. This had zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, celery, garlic, sea salt, and onion power. I'm not always the biggest fan of raw soups, but I LOVE this one. I made it on this same cleanse two years ago, and I just loved it. The soup's creator Kristin Suzanne is no longer vegan though. She's paleo now. It's always makes me sad when we lose our soldiers in the fight for animals. But she can make a damn mean raw soup.

At 5 p.m., I headed to Five in One for the potluck. It wasn't a vegan potluck, so I knew I'd only be able to eat what I brought and what Cassi brought. But that was okay because I needed to eat light after fasting all day.

I made the Farmer's Salad from Crazy Sexy Kitchen — baby red potatoes, spinach (subbed for the nasty arugala in the recipe), red bell pepper, capers, cashew aioli, Dijon vinaigrette, lemon zest). This was amazing and hearty! Loved the homemade cashew mayo.

Cassi made Sriracha Hummus and Avocado Hummus! She brought pita bread for everyone else, but since I'm gluten-free on this cleanse, I packed a bag of baby carrots for dippin.

Now, Cassi knows I'm cleansing and off the sugar. But she made a Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake for this potluck, and without telling me, she made me two tiny cheesecake bites. She said I should probably cheat and eat them.

So I did! Wouldn't you? And they were delicious! Eating these bite-sized cheesecakes made me a little sad that I couldn't have more, but I should just be thankful that I had a great excuse to cheat with sugar!

A few hours after the potluck, I got hungry again! So I just finished a late-night snack of miso soup and a brown rice cake with hummus. I don't typically eat this late, but I was famished. Juice fasts make me feel clean for sure, but they also play tricks on my appetite. I'm glad I'm done with juice fasting for the rest of this cleanse.