Retox Weekend!!

After 21 days of eating nothing but wholesome, unprocessed food (much of which was raw) on the Choosing Raw Challenge, I was ready for some bread, pizza, sugar, vegan meat, and beer! Of course, I didn't want to undo all the good I did eating healthily in January. But I knew that a couple days of splurging wouldn't hurt me. Here's what I ate on my retox weekend!

Friday morning actually started off really healthily! I made this Green Juice with kale, apple, celery, ginger, and cucumber before my morning workout. Maynard wished he had green juice too!

After my workout, I had bread and fake meat! This is an Ozery Bakery Muesli Morning Round with Go Veggie Strawberry Cream Cheese Alternative, a Simple Truth Organic Meatless Breakfast Patty, and Orange Slices.

My morning snack was Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Crackers! God, how I missed vegan cheez-its!

Lunch was a Grilled Chao Cheese with Spinach on sprouted grain and leftover Vegan Pumpkin Soup from Choosing Raw. I'd really been missing Field Roast Chao cheese too. I have a few packages in the fridge that I couldn't touch on my raw diet.

For Christmas, Stephanie brought me back a bag of vegan candy and treats from the U.K., where she spent her holiday. One of those treats were Vegan Starbursts!! For some reason, Starbursts are vegan in the U.K. even though they're not here. And they have different flavors, like Lemon & Lime and Blackcurrant. Had some on Friday afternoon.

I had a meeting at Muddy's Grind House, a newish cupcake & coffee shop, in the afternoon, so I ordered this Soy Hazelnut Latte, and omg, omg, omg. I swear this was the best latte I've ever had in my life. The coffee was just perfect, and that hazelnut syrup gave it a creamy, nutty, toasty flavor.

Muddy's sometimes has vegan cupcakes, and they always have their awesome vegan peanut butter bars. But I knew there was cake in my future, so I resisted. You see, Cassi baked me a Vanilla Pumpkin Mini Cake! Vanilla cake, pumpkin buttercream. Isn't it cute?

Cassi has morphed her Vegan Pink Noodle restaurant concept into a cupcake bakery concept, mostly because she found herself getting a lot of cupcake orders after she started baking cupcakes for Imagine Vegan Cafe. The new name is Pink Diva Cupcakery. She mostly does cupcakes, but she's working on her mini-cake decorating skills, and I'm a willing tester!! Also, just FYI for Memphis friends, Cassi is taking orders now for Valentine's Day cakes!

Friday was my friend Greg's birthday, so we went to Imagine Vegan Cafe for dinner. And guess what I ordered? A whole Vegan Cheese Pizza with pepperoni, black olives, and mushrooms! Yum! Hit the spot.

And if that wasn't enough cheese, I also ordered some Vegan Cheese Sticks for Greg and I to share.

Of course, I washed it all down with a delicious beer — Schlafly Coffee Stout. Mmmmmm.

After dinner, we went to our favorite lesbian karaoke bar, Dru's Place. Cassi showed up with birthday cake for Greg. She baked him Vanilla Whiskey Cupcakes! And she also made a mini cake with the same flavor. The little squirter thing is filled with whiskey, and you just squeeze into the cake before eating.

Whew. That was a lot of food, y'all. Needless to say, I was way over my daily calorie limit on Friday. Oh well! It was all worth it. Besides, I ran nine miles on Saturday morning, so I think that balances out.

On Saturday, I mostly had leftovers — pizza, cheesesticks, cake. And I had a big ole bowl of popcorn Saturday night while watching Hachi. You know, the movie about the sweet pup who met his human companion at the train station every day? Awwwww.

Sunday morning started out with a bowl of Koyo Ramen and an episode of Homeland. And then I headed to Imagine for brunch with Stephanie, Cassi, and Pam. One brunch day a few weeks ago, while on my cleanse, Stephanie made Banoffe Pie (banana-toffee), and I was so sad that I couldn't have it. So she made it again this week! I started my brunch with a slice of pie and a coffee. This was so creamy and delicious. I'm such a fan of vegan whipped cream-based desserts.

After my first dessert course, I ordered a savory Bloody Mary.

And a slice of Vegan Sausage & Cheese Quiche and Salad with Vegan Ranch. Stephanie also bakes the quiche for Imagine, by the way.

Later on Sunday, I drove to my parents house in Jonesboro because my mom went on a bit of vegan snack shopping spree for me. Just because she loves me. She scored all these snacks at T.J. Maxx (and yes, that's Vega One powder — at T.J. Maxx for just $20!!!), and I needed to pick them up.

And since I was in town, I asked if my mom would cook something yummy for dinner. She came up with a Taco Salad Bar, and we loaded our bowls with lettuce, black beans, vegan taco meat, vegan cheese, vegan sour cream, corn, black olives, tomatoes, green onions, jalapenos, salsa, Fritos, and catalina dressing. Perfect ending to a retox weekend. Hey, it's salad, right?