Choosing Raw, Days 8, 9, & 10

I made it through another weekend on the Choosing Raw challenge, my commitment to eat a high-raw, whole foods diet for 21 days using recipes from Gena Hamshaw's Choosing Raw cookbook. I'm also abstaining from booze (except for red wine) and sugar (except for one special cheat day ... more on that in a few), and I'm limiting gluten.

Friday morning started off with one of my all-time favorite breakfasts and common morning go-to — Avocado Toast!!! Avocado smashed with lemon juice and sriracha sea salt on sprouted grain toast. I added hot sauce after this pic was taken.

My morning snack was more Sweet 'n' Savory Trail Mix, which I shared of picture of in my last post, so I didn't take another. It's made with roasted chickpeas, raw almonds, and raisins.

For lunch, I was supposed to have a Brown Rice Wrap with Kale Slaw. I had one Ezekiel brown rice wrap in the freezer, and I thawed it out to use. But sadly, it had been in the freezer too long, and it had that nasty freezer taste. So I dug around in my pantry and found some spring roll wrappers, and I used that to wrap my kale. The white rice wrappers probably weren't the best cleanse choice, but hey, you do what you gotta. And they were super tasty and fun to eat! The kale slaw was made with raisins, bell peppers, pecans, and sunflower seeds.

My afternoon snack was a super-hearty one! And that was perfect since I had to run a couple errands after work. This half of a Baked Sweet Potato with Vanilla Almond Butter and Goji Berries kept me full until my later-than-normal dinner.

That dinner was pretty damn delicious — Zucchini & Carrot Pappardelle with Kale-Pistachio Pesto, Black Beans, and a Salad with Bell Pepper, Cauliflower, & Lemon-Turmeric Vinaigrette. The pappardelle was supposed to have green peas too, but I forgot them!

Dessert was the rest of my Raw Vanilla Macaroons, which I enjoyed with some kombucha while watching Boyhood.

Saturday morning started off with an 7.3-mile run! Had part of a fruit & nut bar before the run and another Mocha-Carob Chip Vega One Smoothie afterward. I'll share that recipe in a Vega One review post very soon.

I didn't have a morning snack on Saturday since I had my breakfast smoothie around noon. I just had a late lunch of Jicama Fiesta Rice Salad around 2-ish, on a break from cleaning my house. This is a raw "rice" dish made from jicama, and it's tossed with a cilantro-lime vinaigrette, cucumbers, bell peppers, and tofu. The tofu is an add-in that Gena suggests in the recipe. I used tofu that had been previously frozen, and I lightly sauteed it with Bragg's before adding to the dish. LOVED this dish. Maybe one of my faves so far.

Around 5-ish, I snacked on these Hummus Kale Chips! God, I love kale chips. And these were a new-to-me flavor. To make them, you basically just rub your kale with hummus and dehydrate for a few hours.

Dinner was leftover Zucchini & Carrot Pappardelle with Pesto, but I remembered the peas this time!! On the side, I had the leftover Kale Slaw from Friday's wraps. I ate a LOT of kale on Saturday!

On Saturday night, we watched movies on Netflix, and for dessert, I had a little square of Raw Chocolate & Almond Butter Ganache from the Raw Girls.

On Sunday morning, I watched an episode of Homeland and had Avocado Toast in my PJs! And then later, around 11:30, I headed to Imagine Vegan Cafe, where I was meeting Stephanie and Pam for brunch. We brunch there almost every week, but Pam and I are both doing this high-raw diet thing. So I brought us some food to eat while Stephanie had Imagine's tofu quiche and hash browns. Pam and I had Quinoa Apricot Salad with Mint & Pine Nuts. And we also both ordered Imagine's Side Salad. We're so lucky that we can bring our own cleanse food in there. Imagine's staff are basically family to us, so they don't mind. I will admit that I had a REALLY hard time not ordering a slice of the Banoffe (banana-toffee) Pie that Stephanie delivered to Imagine this morning. It took all of my willpower to resist. All of it!

But I resisted that pie because I knew I had a special cheat coming up in a few hours. My friend Leslie had a lovely tea party, and there were lots of sweet treats. And yes, I allowed myself to have one of everything! But I'm saving the tea party for a separate post tomorrow because I have a ton of pics.

After my sugar splurge, I came home and had a proper healthy dinner of Kale & White Bean Caesar Salad. The dressing on this salad was insanely good!! It was made from cashews, hemp seeds, celery, and nooch. Man, I'll definitely be making more of it to enjoy on salads all year long!