People turn their noses up at the word “cleanse.”
Yet they embrace the McDonald’s…
This cleanse is my favorite because you can eat. Don’t get me wrong, I do miss peanut butter and meat. However, judging from the way my body has responded, I needed the break. I’ll refrain from the TMI, but let’s just say I’m definitely cleaner!
The other awesome thing about this cleanse is the creativity it inspires. Check out of some the fun stuff I’ve made in the past few days!
Creamy Raw Red Pepper Soup with celery and tahini, cucumbers and balsamic, and asparagus with a nutritional yeast and Dijon sauce.
Quick quinoa salad with sautéed leeks and mushrooms, tossed in a sauce of nutritional yeast, Dijon, and balsamic vinegar and topped with celery leaves.
Parsley salad with riced parsnip, asparagus, yellow bell pepper, marinated shiitakes, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes tossed in a mix of coconut oil and lemon juice (← awesome combo!).
Carrot Cake Protein Ice Cream topped with coconut “fluff.” Fluff = coconut flour, cinnamon, and enough coconut milk to reach desired consistency.
BUT… it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. I’ve had some fails. Vegan, gluten-free pancakes are impossible hard.
GF zucchini protein pancake FAIL.
Whatever. I topped those bitches with warm mashed strawberries and a little shredded zucchini then ate them like a champ.
In true fashion, I nursed my wounds with shots.
This is the Grand Slam from Arden’s Garden: wheatgrass, ginger, lemon, and cranberry.
Then a little TLC from the Whole Foods hot bar. It’s a cleanse “cheat.” I think everything was within the parameters, but there was a lot of sodium… and probably excess oil.
I didn’t care. $15 later I was happy and full. I need to buy stock in Whole Paycheck Foods.
One more thing to paper myself – my quarterly manicure and pedicure! Really this is to save everyone from looking at my janky fingernails and chipped polish on my toes.
I asked her to put the glitter on my middle finger. She must have thought I was kidding. Notsomuch.
Then I finally got back into the kitchen to prep for the week. I chopped up a ton of veggies and tossed them in lemon juice, avocado oil, cayenne, and cumin.
On the side I gave my carrot sticks a rub down in coconut oil and cinnamon to have as a “dessert.” I still like to have a little sweet after a meal!
***
Proving that clean eating doesn’t have to be boring is pretty marvelous.
What is your favorite veggie dish to make?
What was your last kitchen fail? Anyone have a GF, vegan pancake recipe?!
ALRIGHT ALREADYYYY I’ll get a pedi and mani this week, my goodness, you just FORCED ME into it! ha!
Oh and while you might think Whole Foods is “whole paycheck” when you think about it, $15 for a HUGE ASS HOT BAR MEAL is a pretty flipping good deal, considering an ENTREE at any restaurant that hardly fills ME UP (might fill you up???) costs $20 + !!!!!! HATE THAT CRAP! This is why when people ask me where I’d like to eat, I always throw Whole Foods into the restaurant roster list, LOL!
So sorry to FORCE you. I’m sure it was difficult. 😉
And WHERE are you eating? You need to come down South. They will stuff you till you need to be ROLLED out of the restaurant.
I just posted my vegan gluten free zucchini pancake recipe last week! I love them and can’t get enough!
I saw those! I can’t have any sort of flour right now… but they looked great!
I think we all fail on vegan pancakes – I tried it too and failed BIG time! The batter was good though.
I love all your meal though! And I’m jealous of Whole Foods. I spent a third of my vacation money ther when I was in NYC last year.
I’m doing my part to keep them in business until you come back! 😉
It all looks tasty to me! And I wish I had a vegan pancakes recipe for you. Mine usually end up looking like yours. Not pretty but still good to eat!
Love love the energy here! I have a great vegan pancake recipe. I’ll try to remember to send it to you this evening after work. A recent kitchen fail was one round with creating a black bean burger. It was BAD LOL
I’d love to have it! It’s really hard on this cleanse because I don’t get nuts or any flour (other than coconut). Or eggs. Flax is great… but nothing like an egg to bind and fluff pancakes!
I have a lot of kitchen fails. That red pepper soup where I used green peppers, for one.
I wondered! You should try my red pepper soup. you can use your Vitamix!!! 🙂
I totally agree- clean eating can be marvelous! I feel the same way about the Reset I do… I can eat, I’m never hungry and the results are always powerful. (PS- I’m sharing your raw red pepper soup with my reset folks!)
Thank you, Laura! <3
ahh my life is one big kitchen fail!
it’s all the more fun now I have a little person there to fail with me 🙂
we just laugh.
you make clean eating so pretty looking –> thank GOD! because i can’t stand those chicken and sweet potato posts with nothing on it but pepper. clean eating is about FLAVOR! i’ll take that quinoa salad now
Amen to THAT brother!!! I don’t know how the plain Janes do it.
Vegan pancakes are the chupacabra of the breakfast food world. For real. I have too many veggie dishes that I love to pick just one. Veggie hashes are fantastic, and even veggie brunswick stew, TVP sloppy joes, eggplant lasagna, veggie noodles. I also just love giant salads. I am a woman of simple, though often off-kilter, tastes.
Hahaha – comment of the day for use of the word “chupacabra.” 😉
YUM! That all looks amazing! Can you just cook extra so I can eat with you for a week? 🙂
Come down any time!!! Except I may make you cook for me… 😉
Good to hear the cleanse is doing good things for you! I always laugh when people cringe at the word cleanse, but eat fast food multiple times per week. I mean, people should just eat the way they want, no judgement because that’s just lame to judge someone else’s choice.
Even with the recipe fails it all still looks delicious to me! Vegan and gluten free baking is the death of me. At least I can occasionally eat gluten, but the egg thing gets to me sometimes.
Oh, I made your red pepper soup over the weekend, it was amazing!
I told someone that very same thing this week! So true… and sad.
Thank you for trying the soup. I am SO glad you enjoyed it!!!
It’s been a while since I’ve had a major kitchen fail. I’m probably due for one soon. The warm strawberries sound yummy!
This is a kind of cleanse that I could work with. All your meals look delicious!! I have a lot of kitchen fails lately mostly because I’m out of the habit of cooking as much as I used to. Means it’s time to get back in the kitchen and play!
I prefer to call them “growth opportunities.” 😀
I have been loving roasted carrots with cinnamon as a “dessert,” too. I used to turn my nose at cooked carrots, but something about cooking them in fry shape makes it all better :). Glad you’re feeling cleaner overall! I’m definitely all about the “cleanses” that incorporate lots of real, clean food!!
At least they only came back as a “yellow” food. *sigh*
Thank GOD you took care of those toes woman! Just kidding. 🙂
I have kitchen fails pretty regularly. The bug muffins were by far one of the worst though. They were awful!
What did you make those pancakes with? Hard to say how to fix them. Can you have chia or flax now? What happened? Could you just not turn them?
Also, I’m dying to play with jicama now since you posted the hash browns!
It was pretty desperate… even I was starting to get embarrassed. LOL!
I did it with flax “egg,” coconut flour, pea protein, and zucchini. Totally fell apart. The taste wasn’t bad though! Pancake scrambles are a thing, right? 🙂
I definitely said I was going to cleanse with you but life got in the way and well, I stress ate a bit. I did have 2 really good days before that though! haha. I’m glad you’re doing so well with your cleanse. Everything looks delish!
I hear you on the stress eating. I have been sooooo tempted all day. 11 days to go and I get meat tomorrow. I’m clinging on! 😉
YUM! A successful cleanse is all about attitude and it looks like you’ve got a great one! I am currently obsessed with the versatility of cauliflower…rice, crust, mashed potatoes, that veggie can become anything!
Totoally agree! I made “oatmeal” with it this week!
Lately I cannot get enough of asparagus…I keep it super simple and bland. Microwave for 3 minutes and sprinkle with fresh lemon, some garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. I LOVE it. Surprisingly I haven’t had any fails lately, but now of course I just jinxed myself. DOH!
Quick – knock on wood!
I’m starting to treat myself to pedicures more often… like maybe twice a year. I need to take care of my leathery feet! haha manicures are a complete waste as they chip in less than 12 hours usually. Damn tire flipping.
I feel that same – I ruin my nails after than they can paint them!
So I’m not a cleanse person ever, but I’d make an exception if my Food Spouse was cooking.
Your sacrifice is appreciated. Rather, the offer of such a sacrifice.
A superb cleanse would definitely include that carrot cake ice cream – lovely 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Contrary to popular belief, I’m all about clean eating. It doesn’t hurt that I love my veggies. Hard. TWSS.
That IS what she said. Or at least that’s what I said at the hot bar tonight.
Loved this Laura, you are so honest, and upfront, I love it!
I had a pedicure a few weeks ago, for the first time in a long time, and LOVED it! My feet were so grateful, although i feel bad for the person doing it hahaha
My favorite veggie dish right now is actually on my blog 🙂 Perfect summery vegetarian dish….I saw you already commented 🙂
Most recent kitchen fail, was definitely tahini cookies I tried to make last week, tasted the dough as it chilled…NOT GOOOD. I think my proportions were off haha!
Thanks, Tina!
Soooo… with all that running you still have toenails?!
Always love your creativity!
Aside from the lack of fish, it doesn’t look like your cleansing. Everything really does sound good!
That’s why I love this cleanse! The only other thing missing is nut butter. 😉
I live kitchen fails by looks all the time but as long as it tastes good, I don’t care! 🙂 That food looks amazing! I might even think about doing this cleanse – THINK about it, 😉 if you were making all the food for me! 🙂
The fact that you’d think of it impresses me!!! You’d definitely deserve a couple cookies. 😉
Talkin about organic! I think I need to do some major revamp since my husband and I are often in a fastfood mania these days (I put the blame on him, since he always call me 2 hours before his shift ends telling me not to prepare anything, only to find out that he already brought some deep fried from a drive in; but I still love him <3 LOL). Hope you could give me some recipes and give some valuable tips on what spices makes a perfect match for all the veggies and fruits. Thanks in advance. =)
Food prep will go a loooong way in avoiding the fast food moments! I have a ton of tips all over the blog. Check out the Recipage for specific recipes. There are also tips under the Fitness tab (at the top) under the “Related Topics” heading. Good luck!!!
So yeah, I think I have like the slowest digestive tract EVER because I’m uhhh, not feeling as “clean”. I was ready to give up on last Friday when I went to bed looking like I was 6 months pregnant, but then woke up on Saturday feeling great. Since then, it’s been a slow and steady climb back to the pot belly…if I’m not better tomorrow, I’m throwing
away the veggiesin the towel! 😉I envy your eggs. Not gonna lie.
I think it’s pretty cool that you can be so creative while doing a cleanse! I like that you embrace all kinds of challenges and get inspired. I also like your nails 🙂
I have been doing my own version of a cleanse – really I got the pills that you can take (easy cleanse) to get things flushed out. And I start a new probiotic this weekend to build up some missing enzymes. My vacation cheat really messed up my tummy. 🙂