Choosing Raw, Days 15-17

I made it through my final weekend on the Choosing Raw Challenge!! For 21 days in January, I'm eating a whole foods-based, mostly raw diet using recipes from Gena Hamshaw's Choosing Raw cookbook. It ends this coming Thursday, so this was the last weekend. Weekends are definitely the toughest, but I did have a couple of indulgences this weekend.

Friday morning started off with a new breakfast recipe from Choosing Raw — Cashew Banana Yogurt!

LOVE THIS RECIPE! It's so simple (and you can find it here). Soaked cashews, banana, lemon juice, coconut water, and probiotic powder. That's it! It's thick and creamy like Greek yogurt but totally raw! Of course, I added more blueberries before I sat down to eat this!

My morning snack was more Sweet 'n' Savory Trail Mix (roasted chickpeas, almonds, and raisins). And lunch was a giant Dinner Salad with Radishes, Snow Peas, Carrots, Peppers, Cucumbers, Pom Seeds, Tempeh Bacon, Herbs de Provence Vinaigrette, and Nooch.

My afternoon snack was Cheesy Kale Chips!! These were SUPER cheesy. Kale is massaged with a cashew-pepper-nooch sauce and then dehydrated for a few hours. I really outta make kale chips all the time. They're so cheap and easy to make, but they're so expensive to purchase in a store.

  

Dinner was a nice, warm cooked meal. On these cold winter nights, I appreciate when I get to eat cooked food! This was Red Lentil, Sweet Potato, and Coconut Curry. 

 

On the side, I had some Steamed Beets, which I drizzled with fresh orange juice, salt, and pepper.

OMG, my dessert was the BEST!! Definitely the best dessert I've had on the Choosing Raw Challenge — Cherry Vanilla Tahini Ice Cream! Basically, you make banana soft-serve but with frozen cherries and tahini. So creamy. And loved the sesame seed topping.

On Saturday morning, I woke up early, ate a quick Nii raw fruit and nut bar (review coming soon!), and went on an 8-mile run. When I got done, I had a Cherry Vanilla Protein Smoothie made with French Vanilla Vega One, frozen cherries, bananas, and cashew milk. This is one of my go-to smoothies. Definitely a classic.

I skipped my morning snack since I didn't really have time for it. But my lunch was leftover Red Lentil, Sweet Potato, and Coconut Curry with a Side Salad.

After lunch, I got to do something super-fun! A couple of new vegans — Samantha and Kory — found me online awhile back, and they asked if I'd come over and do a personal cooking class in Kory's kitchen. While I've done plenty of demos at events, I'd never done a lesson at someone's house. But it sounded fun! And it was! Here's Kory and Sam.

We made tofu scramble, tofu eggless olive salad, chipotle chickpea chili, and tempeh & carrot BBQ with creamy poppyseed coleshow — all recipes from Cookin' Crunk, of course! Here I am pressing tofu.

After our class, I headed home to get started on my own dinner — Mesquite Glazed Tempeh, Massaged Kale Salad, and Red Quinoa. I didn't have the mesquite powder called for in Gena's recipe, so I subbed smoked paprika. The baked tempeh was so flavorful, a perfect complement to the cold kale salad.

Dessert was a square of Raw Chocolate Ganache, which I enjoyed with a glass of red wine! I said from the beginning that I would allow red wine on my reset diet, but I actually hadn't had any until then. And damn, that was a great glass of wine!

On Sunday morning, I lounged in my PJs and watched Homeland on Netflix, while munching on this Banana Breakfast Wrap — banana, almond butter and bee-free honee wrapped up in a lettuce leaf. Sounds weird, but as Gena points out in the book, it's basically a deconstructed green smoothie, right?

I skipped morning snack again since I slept in. But I went to brunch at Imagine with Pam and Cassi at 11 a.m. I brought homemade Ginger Almond Nori Rolls for me and Pam (she's doing Choosing Raw too), and we both ordered side salads. I had mine with Imagine's vegan honey mustard dressing. The nori rolls were yummy, but I am so ready for brunch at Imagine next weekend because I'm ordering pizza and pie. No joke.

In the afternoon, I snacked on the last of my Sweet 'n' Savory Trail Mix. And then for dinner, I got to try something I've had my eye on since I first received Gena's book months ago — Raw Cobb Salad. This has avocado, cashew cheese (so good!), tomato, and eggplant bacon. Eggplant bacon, y'all!

Now I had intended on having more raw banana soft serve for dessert tonight, but Cassi and I had to go to our friends Vaughan and Nicole's house to dig through their costume closet. We're going to see Rocky Horror (the play, not the movie) on Thursday, and we needed costumes! Anyway, Cassi surprised me with a mini cupcake, and even though I'm trying to avoid refined sugar on the cleanse, I can't resist a mini cupcake. I mean, it's so tiny! She was testing out her new Snickerdoodle Cupcake recipe and needed feedback. So you know, it was like work or something.

That's it for this weekend! I'm about to have one more glass of red wine, since I'm off for MLK Day tomorrow. Only four more cleansing days left!!

Choosing Raw, Day 14 — Dining Out!

Quick post tonight. I basically had leftovers or repeats of meals on the Choosing Raw Challenge for almost every meal and snack today. It just worked out that way, and it was a good thing because today was a busy, busy day!

It started with an easy run and a Vega One whole beet smoothie, which I shared a pic of on Monday. And then for my morning snack, I had some raw cauliflower with lemon-turmeric dressing for dippin'.

I had my physical therapy session for my hip bursitis at 11 a.m., and it was WAY out east. Lucky for me, the physical therapy place was right down the road from Cosmic Coconut, an all-vegan juice/smoothie bar. And I was done with my session just in time for lunch. Since I'd already had a smoothie for breakfast,  I was craving something solid. I don't get to visit Cosmic Coconut often because it's so far from work and home, and it'd been ages since I'd had their Black Bean & Quinoa Burger.

Since I'm allowing sprouted grain bread on the challenge, and the burger is homemade with whole foods (quinoa! black beans! avocado!), the burger part was totally challenge-friendly! But I'd forgotten their sandwiches come with tortilla chips. And man, I have been CRAVING chips.

While I wouldn't typically allow chips on my diet, who am I to turn down chips when they're on my plate? It's like the universe was telling me I needed to eat those chips. So I did! Definitely hit the spot. And they serve this awesome nut pate for dipping. It tastes like raw queso or something. YUM!

The rest of the day was more of the same, stuff y'all have already seen — sweet 'n' savory trail mix, pumpkin quinoa risotto, salad, and dark chocolate ganache. But I'll be back after the weekend with a whole new set of meals! This will be my last weekend on the challenge, so wish me luck!

Choosing Raw, Day 13

Another fabulous day on the Choosing Raw Challenge! For 21 days, I'm eating a mostly raw/partially cooked diet from Gena Hamshaw's Choosing Raw cookbook.

This morning started off with a short, indoor cross-training workout at home — 10 minutes on the squat machine, 10 minutes of resistance band and free weight arm stuff, five minutes of abs, and skosh of yoga. Then I had Avocado Toast!! This time, I spread a thin layer of Marmite under the avocado and topped with hot sauce and black pepper. Marmite and avocado were made for each other!

My morning snack was more Sweet 'n' Savory Trail Mix (roasted chickpeas, raw almonds, and raisins). I made a ton of this stuff, so I've been eating it a lot lately.

Lunch was last night's Raw Ratatouille served on a bed of romaine, which was tossed with herbs de provence dressing. And the whole salad is sprinkled with nooch because nooch. I really loved this ratatouille. It was so flavorful, and I thought it was equally good served cold on a salad today as it was served warm over quinoa last night.

In the afternoon, I snacked on a Pink Lady Apple (my fave!) with Love Bean's Sea Salt Caramel sauce. I'll be doing a full review of Love Bean after the cleanse, but man, this stuff!! I forgot how great apples and caramel were together. It's been so long!! And this caramel is made with really clean stuff like coconut milk, pureed coconut, and coconut sugar.

Dinner was a quick and easy new dish from Gena's book — Pumpkin Quinoa Risotto with Pomegranate Seeds.

Risotto can be such a pain to make, all that stirring. Ugh. But this quickie version is made with healthy quinoa and doesn't require any standing over the stove time. The pom seeds add a lovely twangy bite. Who knew that pumpkin and pomegranate would complement one another so well?

On the side, I had a bowl of Steamed Collards, which I tossed with Bragg's, Liquid Smoke, and hot sauce for a quick and healthy spin on slow-cooked Southern-style collards.

I had a small square of the Raw Girls Dark Chocolate & Almond Butter Ganache for dessert!

Choosing Raw, Days 11 & 12

I'm halfway there! On January 2nd, I embarked on a 21-day high-raw meal plan using Gena Hamshaw's Choosing Raw cookbook (and supplementing with my regular Vega One morning smoothies). Plus, I'm limiting refined sugar, booze, and gluten. Unlike in "cleanses" past though, I'm not putting any restrictions on caffeine this time. And man, that has saved my ass. Going on a healthy diet with coffee is so much easier than trying to eat healthy sans caffeine. I highly recommend never giving up coffee.

Anyway, here's what I ate on Monday (Day 11). The day began with a 5K tempo run followed by a Whole Beet Smoothie! This is a recipe I found on the Vega One website, and it literally calls for a whole beet, greens and all. It's a good thing I have a Vitamix now because my old blender would have just died if I'd tried to stick a beet in there. Besides the beet, this has blueberries, chocolate Vega One protein powder (the new formula, full review post coming soon!), coconut water, coconut butter, and lemon juice. Odd combo, but it works!

My morning snack was my favorite one on the challenge thus far — Zucchini Ranch Chips! These are from Gena's book, and THEY ARE SO GOOD! Very thinly sliced zucchini is coated in olive oil and ranch seasonings and then dehydrated.

Lunch was Collard Wraps with Sweet Pea Hummus, Tempeh Bacon, and Yellow Bell Pepper. Gena's recipe called for the hemp hummus from the book, but I still had some sweet pea hummus leftover from last week. It also called for tempeh, but rather than add plain tempeh, I made the tempeh bacon from my own cookbook, Cookin' Crunk. Also, when I make collard wraps, I blanch the leaves for five seconds to zap out the bitterness and make them easier to roll.

On the side, I had a Salad with Romaine, Yellow Bell Pepper, Brown Rice, Carrot, Avocado & Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette. Salad dressing is from the book. Very tangy and sweet. Good stuff.

My afternoon snack was more of the Superfood Trail Mix I've shown here before. And dinner was leftovers, which I ate while reading the Memphis Flyer (the newspaper I work for). Apricot Quinoa Salad with Mint & Pine Nuts and Kale & White Bean Caesar Salad. 

Oh, and for dessert, I had more Coconutty for Chocolate Chip Cookies! These raw walnut-date cookies are flecked with crunchy cacao nibs.

This morning — Day 12 — began with another cold outdoor run! And then I had this Vanilla Latte Smoothie — French Vanilla Vega One protein powder, instant coffee (the concentrated liquid kind), cashew milk, and a frozen banana. Yum!! So glad I'm allowing caffeine!

My morning snack was another liquid treat — Green Lemonade Juice from Choosing Raw. Apple, lemon, cucumber, celery, ginger, kale, and parsley.

Lunch was a new dish from the book — Sweet Potato Salad with Miso Dressing. I'd never think to combine miso and sweet potatoes, but it works. It lends them a fun Asian flair. The recipe also called for chives, but I didn't have any, so I added parsley instead. On the side was a salad with black beans, brown rice, romaine, and apple cider vinaigrette.

My afternoon snack was leftover Tempeh Bacon. I just ate it cold at my desk. Love cold tempeh!

Dinner was so coloful! Raw Ratatouille Over Red Quinoa! Gena is such a genius. This recipe was just so full of flavor. Basically, you toss veggies (zucchini, tomato, carrots, bell pepper) with olive oil, herbs, garlic, and some other seasonings and you dehydrate them for about an hour to warm them and remove some of the liquid. Chickpeas are tossed in after dehydration. Then it's served over warm cooked quinoa, which I seasoned with veggie broth. I'm so glad I have leftovers for tomorrow!

Finally, I had more Coconutty Cookies for dessert! Still have a ton left!

A Winter Night's Tea Party

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Choosing Raw Challenge post for a CHEAT DAY!

If you've been following along, you know that for 21 days, I'm doing a mostly raw (but with some cooked food) diet exclusively making recipes from Gena Hamshaw's Choosing Raw cookbook. Every January, I do some sort of 3- to 4-week reset diet, and this is one I've chosen for this year. I've also added a rule for no refined sugar (raw sweeteners, fruit, coconut sugar, and maple are fine), no beer or liquor (red wine is cool but in limited quantities), and very little gluten (only the gluten found in sprouted grain breads).

But every year when I do these diets, I always work in cheat days! Because three weeks is a long time! And when social events arise, I'm not gonna be that girl who passes up the cookies because she's on a cleanse. Ugh. Eyeroll. Anyway, when my friend Leslie said she was hosting a tea party on Sunday and making vegan cookies, I said "Count me in!"

We gathered around 4 p.m. on Saturday at Leslie's place way out in the 'burbs. She had this spread waiting for us! Not everything on this table is vegan, but most of it is. Leslie is vegetarian, but she used to be vegan, so she's sensitive to our needs.

For the teas, there was Earl Grey, a Winter Night Tisane that Leslie blended herself, and Leslie's homemade Vegan Chai. Leslie makes the BEST chai!

I tried all the teas several times!

Leslie made it so that, if I wanted to be good, I could have. She had herbal tea and homemade coconut date balls, so it wasn't necessary for me to cheat. But um, there were Vegan Scones with blueberry preserves, so ...

Here were Leslie's homemade Date Balls and her Indian Tea Biscuits. The biscuits were light and flaky and perfect for dunking. Definitely my favorite cookie of the night.

I also brought along some raw cookies. I made Gena's Coconutty for Chocolate Chip Cookies from Choosing Raw. These are walnut-date cookies flecked with little cacao nibs. Here's the recipe. Loved these and I had a ton leftover for snacking on all week.

There was Turkish Delight, and my, was it delicious! This was the pistachio kind, which I like better than the rose flavor.

No tea party is complete without Biscoff Cookies! On the scale of accidentally vegan cookies, Biscoff is tops (yes, better than Oreos in my opinion)!

These were one of the few savory snacks — Indian-Spiced Spring Roll Bites. They provided a nice relief when the sugar seemed like too much.

The party was lovely, and I couldn't think of a better excuse to cheat. And surprisingly, I felt just fine after eating all that sugar. Or so I thought ...

About three hours after the party, after I'd had my kale caesar salad dinner and was preparing for bed, I started feeling weak and shaky and just uncomfortable. It was totally weird, like I was having a sugar crash. And I had problems sleeping, which never happens. I'm wondering if my body, after eating such a clean diet for almost two weeks, just didn't know what to do with all that sugar. I've certainly gorged on sweets at potlucks before, but I'd never noticed that feeling. Then again, at potlucks, I'm usually also having wine, and that might offset any weird sugar crash feelings.

Anyway, I don't regret my tea party cheat. Totally worth a few hours of sugar crash discomfort! But I'm back on the wagon today, and I feel great. I'll be back tomorrow with a regular recap post of what I ate today (and what I will eat tomorrow).

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!