The Last Supper!

Happy New Year!! This is my last post before I embark on a 28-day detox diet, so I wanted to share some meals I enjoyed over the weekend. My last suppers (and brunches!), if you will. Beginning Monday, I'll be following Somer McCowan's Abundance Diet from her cookbook of the same name.

It's a clean-eating plan with green smoothies for breakfast, salads and soups for lunch, healthy snacks, and wholesome dinners. There's no gluten, no white sugar, and no processed food. I have nothing against those things of course, but every year in January, I like to adopt a temporary super-clean diet to get my eating habits back on track after the holiday indulgences. But here are a few last indulgences enjoyed over my last weekend before the cleanse.

For New Years Eve, we went to my friend Andy's house party. I had LOTS of vegan pigs in blankets, vegan cream cheese & chili dip with Scoops, and plenty of booze. Here I am with my friends Nicole, Pam, and Sheila. There was champagne in that red solo cup because I'm a classy lady.

Four years ago, my friend Greg and I decided to start a new New Years Day tradition of having Banh Xeo for lunch. They make amazing tofu-stuffed Vietnamese omelets (banh xeo) at Pho Saigon, so that's where we go every year. A couple years ago, we asked Cassi to join us for our tradition. Well, Greg moved to Indiana last year, so Cassi and I kept the tradition going without him on Friday at lunch. These crunchy, greasy omelets are made with rice flour and stuffed with deep-fried tofu and bean sprouts. So good. Perfect for New Years Day hangovers.

Like a good Southern girl, I simply cannot let a New Years Day go by without my good luck foods — black-eyed peas and greens. Eating these on New Years Day is believed to bring luck and good fortune throughout the new year. This year, for New Years dinner, I tweaked the Hoppin' John recipe in Cookin' Crunk to use Tofurky Italian Sausages instead of my usual sauteed Gimme Lean. This also has brown rice, cabbage, and black-eyed peas. Also, lots of hot sauce.

Finally, this morning, I had my very last indulgent meal for the next 28 days. I wanted to make it extra special, so I went to brunch at Imagine Vegan Cafe with my friends and ordered the Vegan Philly Cheesesteak with Mushrooms & Onions. On the side are French Fries with Garlic Aioli. This was the PERFECT last pre-cleanse meal since I can't have any of this on the cleanse. It was all carbs and fried stuff and processed foods. And I loved every bite.

All of that food and booze this weekend was great! But I purposefully over-did it a bit just so I'd be good and ready for my cleanse to start. And to be honest, I cannot wait to eat clean for 28 days!! Looking forward to tomorrow's breakfast green smoothie. I'll be back tomorrow night with a recap from day one on the Abundance Diet.