Choosing Raw, Day 18

I'm in the home stretch! My 21 days of eating a high-raw, whole foods diet using Gena Hamshaw's Choosing Raw cookbook ends on Thursday. But unlike with "cleanses" I've done in the past, I'm actually still loving this diet! Sure, I'm looking forward to splurging on bread, fried food, beer, and sugar. But I'm also still looking forward to these delicious raw, healthy meals every day.

I was off work today for the MLK holiday, so I slept in. When I woke up, I ran a quick tempo run and followed that with a Mint Chocolate Milkshake from Chocolate Covered Katie's new cookbook (I'll be reviewing this book soon!). This hit the spot — French Vanilla Vega One, banana, spinach, mint extract, and carob chips. I'll have to remember this one for St. Patty's Day.

I didn't have a morning snack since I slept later, and thus, had my breakfast later. Lunch was leftover Raw Cobb Salad from Choosing Raw, but this time, I added black beans. Also in the salad: eggplant bacon, tomato, cashew cheese, and avocado.

My afternoon snack was leftover Ginger Almond Carrot Pate with crudites. I originally made this pate for Sunday's nori rolls, but the recipe made a lot. It's really awesome as a dip for raw veggies.

Dinner was a new recipe from Choosing Raw — Raw Mushroom and Spinach Burgers. These are made with processed mushrooms, spinach, pumpkin seeds, and some other veggies. And then they're dehydrated for several hours. The book suggested serving this over a meal-sized salad, but I really wanted to try it with bread. So I had the burger over a slice of Ezekiel bread with ketchup, mustard, and diced pickle. On the side, I had leftover Massaged Kale Salad. Raw burgers are so much fun to eat!

Finally dessert! Tonight was another Banana Soft-serve night. Nothing beats homemade banana soft-serve. You just put a frozen banana in the food processor and let it go until it magically transforms into ice cream. This time, I topped the cream with Love Bean's Essentially Raw Superfood Fudge. It's made from coconut, so it hardens like magic shell! I'll be doing a full review of Love Bean's line of delicious vegan spreads soon! I'm so behind on reviews because I've been cleansing, but I'll get caught up next week.