The Real Food Cleanse, Day Two

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm doing Amber Shea Crawley's three-day Real Food Cleanse to reset my eating habits after letting myself go in Portland. The Real Food Cleanse is an e-book, and you can download it from her Chef Amber Shea website for $14.99. It includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert recipes for three days, plus a shopping list and tips on prepping meals the night before.

I started the cleanse yesterday (Sunday), and I felt great all day! The food is high-raw, so you do get to eat some cooked beans. But there's not supposed to be any sugar, caffeine, alcohol, grains, or processed stuff (but I am having hot raw cacao and tea for caffeine so I don't die). I woke up this morning feeling pretty darn good about myself after eating so well yesterday.

The plan includes "bulk it up" instructions for those needing higher calorie diets. Basically, it involves including sunflower seeds and bananas as snacks. Since I work out, I need more calories. So I started my morning with a pre-workout banana. I did a little cardio workout, and then sat down to breakfast — Chilly Cherry Coconut Porridge.

This was a banana and cherries blended together (like a smoothie!) with coconut and cinnamon on top. It was tasty! But as I suspected, it didn't fill me up. I'm a BIG breakfast eater. I typically have a large meal with grains (like oats, toast, English muffins, or bagels) and protein (usually tofu). I was satisfied for about an hour, and then I was FAMISHED. Luckily, since I'm following the "bulk it up" plan, I had one-fourth cup of raw sunflower seeds and some bell peppers for a snack.

That mostly kept me satisfied until lunch. But I was more than ready to tear into this Mediterranean Mezze Platter with One-Minute Hummus.

Now this is what I'm talking about! The hummus was oil-free but yet still so delicious. And it had nutritional yeast in it, which I've never put in my hummus. I'm not sure why because noochy hummus is amazing. To dip, I had an entire sliced cucumber, a whole sliced red bell pepper, 3 carrots, and 6 olives. This actually kept me full for a long time.

But come 4 p.m., I was ready for my dessert snack. I'm eating all of the desserts on the plan in the afternoon before dinner. That's just when I crave sweets. This Strawberry Avocado Pudding hit the spot.

I'd had chocolate avocado pudding before but never strawberry. It was so creamy and awesome. I loved the slight avocado taste mixed with the tart sweetness of the strawberries.

Dinner was another huge meal — Fiesta Black Beans with Coconut-Buttered Sweet Potato.

Coconut butter and sweet potatoes were meant to be together. Forever and always. The beans (left from the can I opened yesterday) were tossed with the leftover dressing from yesterday's salad and served over the remainder of the salad greens from the bag I opened yesterday.

That is the single most awesome thing about Amber's book, by the way. She has you utilize all of everything you buy for the cleanse in the three days. There's no waste. And each recipe makes a single serving. As a person who cooks for only herself, I can't tell you how much I appreciate a recipe that makes one serving and a cleanse that isn't wasteful. Thanks Amber! One more day to go!

The Real Food Cleanse, Day One

Now that I'm back from Portland and caught up on sleep, I'm realizing that I might have put on a few pounds in Stumptown. My skinny jeans are, um, a little too skinny. So I'm ready to reset my eating habits and get back into doing more long runs. You know how I love a good whole foods-based cleanse to get my ass in line, right?

Well, a few months ago, I downloaded Amber Shea Crawley's e-book The Real Food Cleanse. It's a three-day, high-raw cleanse with no sugar, booze, grains, or processed stuff. I started the plan today, so I'll be posting pictures from all three days of the cleanse this week. Then I plan to spend Wednesday juice fasting until dinner. Juice fasting is not part of Amber's plan, but I have a juicing book that needs reviewing, so I figured I'd tack that on at the end.

Day one of the Real Food Cleanse was filled with delicious, wholesome meals that totally satisfied. I didn't even miss fake meat! Breakfast was this GIGANTIC Strawberry Blonde Bowl — one apple, one banana, 1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries, mixed with a tahini sauce. It made so much that I had to eat it out of a mixing bowl.

I ate this while watching Downton Abbey in my pj's. Then I got dressed and went for a 6.2-mile run. Protein powders aren't on Amber's cleanse plan, but I like to drink Vega after long runs because the high level of protein helps rebuild muscle. I typically drink my Vega in smoothie-form as a meal replacement, but today, I mixed the Vega One Vanilla Chai powder with water and drank it that way. Not as delicious. But not half bad.

Lunch was this Zingy Spring Mix Salad with Black Beans. It had a nutritional yeast-tahini dressing and avocado as well. I loved having the cooked beans in with the otherwise raw salad. It was more filling that way. Sometime totally raw food meals leave me hungry.

Each day on the Real Food Cleanse includes a dessert. But I don't eat dessert after dinner because I'm always too full. I'm a dessert in the mid-afternoon kind of gal. I had these Buttery Stuffed Dates and Blueberries while reading Damien Echols' Life After Death memoir this afternoon. The dates were stuffed with coconut butter, which has long been one of my fave desserts. Few things go better with dates than creamy coconut butter.

Dinner was massive and very filling — Cheese-Smothered Broccoli and Chickpeas. An ENTIRE HEAD of broccoli florets are steamed with a half-cup of chickpeas, and that's topped with a noochy cheese sauce.

One thing I'm loving about this cleanse is all the nutritional yeast and tahini. Raw and steamed veggies are all fine and good, but they're five million times better topped with nooch and tahini!

Now I'm about to start prepping my meals for tomorrow. Amber includes detailed lists of things you should do the night before to make meal prepping a breeze. See y'all then!

Vida Vegan Con, Part 2

Tired of my Vida Vegan Con posts yet? Too bad cause here's another! But it's the last, I promise. Tonight, I'll be sharing some pics from Saturday and Sunday, which were both full conference days filled with workshops and panels. But of course, we had time for crazy fun afterwards!

Saturday began with the VVC Portland Breakfast Showcase in the ballroom. Restaurants from across the city served up bite-sized menu items. Most were breakfasty foods (doughnuts, quiches, etc.). But of course, I had to go straight for the pizza and burgers table. Only in Portland can I eat pizza and burgers for breakfast and not feel a twinge of food guilt.

Sizzle Pie was serving "Eggs" Benedict Pizza with Ranch Dressing. Definitely my fave breakfast item of the weekend.

And I had some BBQ Jackfruit and Beet Burger Sliders from the White Owl Social Club's table. Yes, BBQ for breakfast. I'm a true Southern gal.

Everyone at my table was raving about these gluten-free Tofu Quiches from the Back to Eden Bakery table. Delicious! I couldn't even tell it was gluten-free.

And even though I was stuffed, I found room for this sample-sized Tofu Scramble with Meatloaf and Cheezy Sauce from A.N.D. Cafe.

After all those carbs, I was happy to see the Portland Juice Press folks were offering juice samples for balance.

After breakfast, the panels began. I attended a great panel on Vegan Community Building. Jason Das from Vegan Drinks was on the panel (along with Maeve Conner, Laura Beck of Vegansaurus, and Leigh-Chantelle of Viva La Vegan), and his words inspired me to get a Memphis Vegan Drinks chapter started here. More on that soon! I'm planning the first meet-up for July.

I didn't have any panels to speak on on Saturday, so I just hung out and attended lots of other peoples' very informative discussions.

Lunch was a Build-a-Bowl buffet! There were all sorts of goodies for bowl piling, and I think I managed to fit every one of them in this bowl — brown rice, quinoa, tempeh bacon, Upton's seitan, tofu, black beans, pinto beans, raw walnut meat, Galaxy vegan cheese, hummus, Nacheez, hemp seeds, lettuce, carrots, and garlic sauce. Oh, and Secret Aardvark habanero sauce and sriracha!

After lunch, Kittee Kake of Cake Maker to the Stars, Amey of Vegan Eats & Treats, and Mo of Mo Betta Vegan hosted the Vegan Battle Royale, a vegan trivia game show in which audience members were called to the stage to answer questions like, "What cookbook features Caulipots?" (hint: Appetite for Reduction) or challenges such as naming 15 blogs in a matter of seconds (The badass Ashlee Piper of The Little Foxes won that challenge, and Vegan Crunk was the last one she named!). There was also a blind taste test in which contestants had to guess ingredients in a mystery food. Isa Chandra Moskowitz won that one.

There were more workshops and panels after the Vegan Battle Royale. We had a short break between the conference and the Galarama, a fancy vegan gala to benefit the Chimp Sanctuary NW. It was held in a really rad venue with a model train track that spanned the inside and part of the outside of the building.

My friend Joel (whom I stayed with while I was in Portland) didn't attend the conference, but he did join me at the gala. Joel ordered beer, and I made a b-line for the samples of Miyoko's vegan cheeses. Miyoko Skinner wrote Artsian Vegan Cheese, and she's pretty much the world's greatest expert on vegan cheese. And she made these herself!! OMG! These were amazing! I wanted to eat this entire tray, but I had to be nice and share.

We had the local Bridgeport Summer Squeeze. Don't you love the tracks?!

And there were Vegan Jello Shots! They didn't set properly, but that didn't stop us.

Outside the gala, a couple of food carts were selling dinner. There was a taco cart and a hot dog cart. Joel and I both chose the Tandem Treats hot dog cart because their logo was a two-headed rainbow unicorn.

I got a Tofurky Hot Dog with Grilled Onions, Black Olives, Tomatoes, Spinach, and Jalapenos. Joel had the same but with a Tofurky Brat.

There was a silent auction at the gala to benefit the chimp rescue. And when I spotted these Viana Sunflower Spreads that I'd sampled (and fell in love with) at NOLA Veggie Fest a couple of weeks ago, I had to bid! And guess what? I won! $32 for 8 jars.

After the gala, a group of us decided to walk to the legendary Casa Diablo, Portland's vegan strip club. Yes, folks, a VEGAN STRIP CLUB!

All of the food served there and all the booze is vegan. One person in our group had a White Russian! I had Taquitos! There's actually a far more interesting shot of these taquitos with a stripper's boobs in view, but it's probably not appropriate for my food blog. Use your imagination.

Whew! Saturday was crazy! But Sunday morning came quickly. We awoke to another breakfast buffet at the conference. This one was all about cold and hot cereals. I'm not a huge sweets-for-breakfast person, so I was afraid I wouldn't find much I was excited about eating here. But thankfully, there was nooch (should I have ever doubted that there wouldn't be?) and Secret Aardvark habanero sauce to make Savory Oats. And there were Breakfast Potatoes. I added some Chia Pudding for good measure. And some fruit cause why not?

Lunch was another buffet, but this time it was all about building sandwiches! I made an Everything Sandwich with tofu, Upton's bacon, Tofurky slices, roasted veggies, hummus, greens, Nayo Whipped spread, and basically a little of everything on the buffet.

I also built a sort of Raw Taco using raw walnut meat, a romaine leaf, and some carrots. But then I made it un-raw by covering it in Nacheez spread.

There were more panels after lunch, including one on Inter-dietary Cohabitation with me, Dawn of Vegan Moxie, and Joni Marie Newman of Just the Food. My partner Paul, whom I share space with, is an omnivore, so I talked about how we handle sticky situations, like dinner, fridge space, and separate pots and pans. I also had some great news to report during the panel — Paul has decided to go vegetarian until dinnertime every day. Not vegan, because he wants to eat Morningstar Farms black bean burgers for lunch. But still. Progress. Baby steps. It only took 8 1/2 years.

And then the conference was over. Sadness! We said our goodbyes and snapped the last pics (I'll be posting many of those on Facebook soon). Until next time, my friends.

But wait, that's not all! After the conference, my friend Joel and his friend Scott and his girlfriend took me to Multnomah Falls, just about 30 minutes outside of Portland.

Wow! I've never seen a waterfall this amazing! It was lovely seeing some Northwest nature for a change instead of just stuffing my face (though I do really love stuffing my face).

After our waterfall journey, I met up with a few vegan blogger friends for one last meal at the appropriately named Bye and Bye (the same vegan bar where we ended out the conference in 2011). I had the Samurai Bowl (brown rice, nooch-covered tofu, slaw, miso-chili sauce, and avocado).

And of course, I couldn't end a trip to Portland without one more Vegan Bloody Mary! Sadly, I only had time for a couple of these because my flight left Monday morning at 6:55 a.m.!

Cheers to my vegan blogger buds! I'll see y'all again next Vida Vegan Con (or hopefully sooner!).

Vida Vegan Con, Part 1

I spent last week hanging out with some of my favorite vegan food bloggers and speaking on panels at Vida Vegan Con II in Portland. I took about 600 pictures, so I've combed through and selected my faves to share in two posts today and tomorrow. I mean, I'm sure you'd love to see every single one of my 600 photos, but .... jk! I know you don't care about all that! Here are my highlights from Thursday night and Friday.

Vida Vegan Con didn't officially start until Friday around noon, but there was an unofficial meet 'n' greet at the White Owl Social Club on Thursday afternoon. I arrived early because I was on foot and got there sooner than I'd planned. Lucky for me, they had Vegan Bloody Marys!!! Jesus, Portland is a magical place. This Bloody Mary was the best I've ever had because it was super spicy and made with beet juice!

Also arriving early were Lydia and Mauro from From A to Vegan! I'd never met them before, and they were so fun!

We chatted for a bit, and then my old pals from Vida Vegan Con I arrived — Brit of Vegans Don't Bite, Dawn of Vegan Moxie, and Katie of Vegan Noms. We spent so much time together at the 2011 conference, and this year was no different. I was so excited to see my girls again!

I spotted Jojo from Vegan In Brighton right away! How can anybody miss this adorableness?

And I was thrilled to meet Dan of The Gay Vegans (and Dan was thrilled with this Cock and Bull beer!). He was such a sweetheart. We'd been Twitter friends for some time, but now we are real life friends.

On the way to the ladies' room, I ran into Sayward of Bonzai Aphrodite and Gena of Choosing Raw.

Of course, Erika of Sews Before Bros and Amey of Vegan Eats & Treats were up for some silly fun.

After all that socializing, I'd worked up quite an appetite. And it was happy hour at the White Owl, which meant the Fried Mac & Cheese Burgers were half-off. This burger was RIDICULOUS! Mac & cheese all pattied up and deep-fried. Glorious.

I mean, look at this. Come on.

The meet 'n' greet ended at 6:30 p.m., but Dawn, Brit, Helen, and I found a few minutes for a fun photobooth shot.

The next stop was the People's Co-op, a natural grocery, where we watched The Intrepid Herivores vegan travel show pilot. It was all about eating and ordering vegan food in Thailand. Then we were off to the Sweet Hereafter — a totally vegan bar — for more vegan drinks. I had a Vegan White Russian!

On Friday morning, I awoke to a couple of Voodoo Doughnuts, and then I left Joel's apartment to register for the conference at the Portland Art Museum. After registration, I had a few minutes to seek out lunch at a nearby food cart pod. I stumbled on this vegan-friendly cart called Savor.

They were offering Vegan Grilled Cheese and Vegan Split Pea Soup with Croutons. You can add all kinds of stuff to your grilled cheese, so I picked Marmite and tomatoes. Wow! I will always add Marmite to my grilled cheeses from here on out.

After lunch, it was time for the VVC panels and workshops to begin. I spoke on a panel about spirituality and veganism (with freelance blogger Gabrielle Pope and Nicole from Upton's Naturals), followed by a panel called "Path to Cookbook Author" with author goddesses Joni Marie Newman and Julie Hasson. So honored to be on panels with such amazing women!

After the panels were over on Friday, there was a VVC Veggie Grill reception in the conference ballroom. There was Watermelon Juice (delicious, but it would have been better with vodka).

And Vegan Chicken Wraps and Buffalo Wings.

And just to make sure we got some veggies in, they also served up a Kale Salad with Mango Dressing. Mind you, this was the most greens I got all weekend!

Just after the reception, I tagged along with Dan (from New York), Amber Shea Crawley, and her husband Matt for a ride to the Vegan Mini Mall, where a gorditas and s'mores pop-up shop was underway. Upton's Naturals was serving Gorditas inside Food Fight Grocery. Remember gorditas from Taco Bell? With the hard and soft shell combined? That was the business.

 

And for dessert, Herbivore Clothing Company and the folks from Dandies were roasting s'mores near the register.

The best part about these s'mores? They were made with Biscoff cookies instead of graham crackers! Glorious.

Here's a shot of vegans loitering outside the mini-mall with their gorditas and s'mores.

After the pop-up, a group of us went for local craft beers at Hungry Tiger Too. And then we headed to Lovecraft, a goth bar. Look at the ceiling!

And here's a group shot (of course, the lovely Miss Amber Shea "Goth Girl" Crawley was there!).

Well, that was all for Thursday and Friday. I'll be back tomorrow with pictures from the rest of the conference.