(Re)gret??

Well, I officially failed my detox. I was so excited about it...until I realized I was STARVING! I lasted about 12 hours. Not bad. And then this happened....

HOW COULD I SAY NO???!!!

Not only did I fail-I ate my entire day's calories in a sundae. Do i regret it? NOPE! Do I need to find a better detox plan? YES! 

Well, until I do I will continue to try to eat healthy. (By "healthy" I mean, don't eat sundae's for dinner.)

I thought about not blogging this embarrassing moment, and also about deleting the previous post which details the detox I ultimately failed...but it's pretty funny, and hey---

NOBODY'S PERFECT!

(Re)tox

Okay, okay. The title is incorrect. I mean DEtox. 

I had an amazing weekend with my long lost friend Jeremy. We haven't seen each other for 2 1/2 years and we reunited for a weekend of catching up, sangria, and barbecuing. It was a beautiful weekend in Philly, and SO much fun seeing my friend! The only problem with having an amazing weekend filled with friends, food, and drinks?? Feeling like you've been hit by a semi and gaining 5 pounds. 

I've been wanting to do a detox for awhile now for a couple of reasons. #1-I think it's a good idea to refresh your body, clean it of the toxins you put in it. #2-I've been having some new allergy problems and I want to figure out what is going on. 

I found this particular detox plan on a blog I follow,*Suziee. She condenses Ann Louis Gittleman's 11 day detox into a 5 day detox. The idea is to prepare your body for the detox on day 1, detox for 2 days, and recover your body from the detox on days 4 and 5. A five day detox seems a lot more doable for my first time opposed to an 11 day endeavor. So I'm gonna give it a try!! 

Here's the rules:

1.       Prequel  (1 day; Tip- Try to buy all organic)

a.       CHOOSE and CONSUME 1 Liver-Loving Food from each group

                                                               i.      The Crucifiers (1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw)

1.       Cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, broccoli, broccoli sprouts

                                                             ii.      Green Leafy Vegetables and Herbs (1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw)

1.       Parsley, kale, watercress, chard, cilantro, beet greens, collards, escarole, dandelion greens, mustard greens

                                                            iii.      Citrus (1 orange or the juice of ½ a lemon or lime)

1.       Orange, lemon, lime

                                                           iv.      Sulfur-Rich Foods

1.       Garlic (at least one clove minced), onions (1/2 cooked), eggs (2), daikon radish (1/4 cup sliced, either raw or cooked)

                                                             v.      Liver Healers

1.       Artichoke (1 small artichoke or 4 cooked artichoke hearts), asparagus (1/2 cup cooked), beets (/1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw), celery (2 medium stalks), dandelion root tea (1 to 2 cups), whey (1 to 2 scoops), nutritional yeast flakes (1 to 2 teaspoons)

b.      CHOOSE and CONSUME 2 of the following Colon-Caring Foods

                                                               i.      Powdered psyllium husks (1 to 2 teaspoons in 8 oz of water), milled or ground flaxseeds (2 to 3 tablespoons), carrot (1 small raw), apple (1 small raw with skin), pear (1 small raw with skin), berries (1 cup)

c.       Drink half your body weight in ounces of filtered or purified water

                                                               i.      So, if you weight 140lbs, drink 70oz of water.

d.      CHOOSE and CONSUME 2 servings of protein

                                                               i.      Lean beef, veal, lamb, skinless chicken, turkey, fish

                                                             ii.      Vegan/Vegetarian- at least 2 tablespoons of a high-quality blue-green algae or spirulina source.

e.      CHOOSE and CONSUME 1 to 2 tablespoons of healthy oil

                                                               i.      Olive oil, flaxseed oil, or the Woman’s Oil (a flaxseed oil-black currant oil blend

Detox (2 days)

a.       Juice Recipe (1 day serving; Make a fresh batch every day)

                                                               i.      Ingredients

1.       2 quarts Cranberry Water (see below)

2.       ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

3.       ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

4.       ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

5.       ¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (~2 oranges)

6.       ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (~1 lemon)

7.       Stevia to taste

                                                             ii.      Directions

1.       Bring Cranberry Water to a light boil; reduce the heat to low.

2.       Add spices to the liquid.

3.       Simmer 15 to 20 minutes; cool to room temperature.

4.       Stir in the orange and lemon juices. Add stevia at this time.

                                                            iii.      Cranberry Water Recipe (2 quarts)

1.       Add 8 ounces unsweetened cranberry juice to 56 ounces filtered water.

3.       Sequel (2 days)

a.       Consume the same foods as Iisted in the Prequel.

b.      Additionally, CHOOSE and CONSUME 1 probiotic food sources

                                                               i.      Yogurt  that contains active and live cultures (1 cup), sauerkraut (1/2 cup

(This is all from Suziee's website! ---

http://www.suziee.com/2011/05/my-5-day-detox-plan-care-to-join.html)

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My Day 1

Breakfast: 

1 Orange

Lunch:

 1 c. raw kale, 1 Tbs flax oil, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 poached egg

Snack:

Pear

Dinner:

1/2 c steamed broccoli, 1/2 c steamed asparagus, baked tilapia

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I'll let you know how it's going and post the next 4 days!

Feel free to try it with me!!

 

 

(Re)ality Check!!!

It's official-I'm moving in 2 weeks and I have nothing packed. My apartment that I love so dearly looks just as lived in as it did last week. This is not good. I have SO much stuff! How does that happen in only 2 years?? Oh yeah, because I'm a borderline hoarder. No, I don't have any awesome tips on organizing and "getting it together"...I just have a new cookie recipe that distracted me this afternoon when I should have been "getting it together." The cookie itself is pretty basic-sugar, flour, butter, vanilla...but I cleaned out my cupboards a bit (see, I tried to clean!) and added chopped prunes and walnuts. The frosting was last minute when I found chocolate chips and powdered sugar after I had put the cookies in the oven. I'm glad I found them because the frosting really make the cookies look fancy!! Enjoy, and send me good vibes for packing...maybe I'll "get it together" tomorrow?

Fancy Prune Walnut Cookies

1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 c butter, softened

1/2 c dark brown sugar

1/2 c white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 c chopped walnuts

1/2 cup pitted and chopped prunes

1/4 cup milk

Frosting:

1 c powdered sugar

2-4 Tbs milk (add slowly)

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 c finely chopped dark chocolate chips

*Mix the butter, sugars, vanilla, egg, and milk in bowl.

*Mix the remaining ingredients and add to butter mixture.

*Drop cookies onto baking pan (about 2 1/2 tsp a cookie, they spread quite a bit) 

*Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes

*While in the oven, mix ingredients for frosting. 

*Let the cookies cool completely before frosting

*ENJOY!!!! 

(Re)interpret

It's rhubarb season and I can't stop baking with it! I've made some pretty scrumptious baked goods with it, but so far my favorite has been a cake that I have adapted from YMC's website. It's sweet, tart, and dense. Perfect served as breakfast or desert! Enjoy!!

Strawberry Rhubarb Cake

2/3 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

1 1/4 c white sugar

1 1/4 c brown sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup whole milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Strawberry Rhubarb Topping

2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped

1 1/2 cup rhubarb, chopped

2 Tbs Honey

2 Tbs water

*For cake, Mix dry and wet ingredients separately then combine.

*Pour into a greased loaf pan

*For strawberry rhubarb topping, combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook until the mixture thickens. (You can add some cornstarch if it isn't getting thick, but if you cook it long enough it should thicken up)

*Once a jam-like consistency, pour the topping over the cake batter and swirl it into the batter.

*Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Cover with tinfoil the last 15-20 minutes to keep the topping from burning.

*Let cook 20 minutes before taking it out of the pan.

Enjoy!!!

**adapted from:  http://youngmarriedchic.com/2011/05/easy-weekend-vanilla-rhubarb-cake/

(Re)al Simple

For some awful reason, people pay 5+ dollars for a bag of granola when it is real simple to make at home. I was so tired after work today and needed to take a nap. I felt I still needed to be productive in some way today, so I mixed up a batch of this granola and baked it while I was sleeping! You can really put anything you want in there, but I just used what I had in my cupboards. Enjoy!

Spencer the fish eyeing my granola!!

Chocolate Nut Granola

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup agave nectar (or honey)

1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/8 cup chopped almonds

1/8 cup craisins

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 c dark chocolate chips

*Mix ingredients(except chocolate chips), add more water to make mix stick together if needed.

*press into a pie pan and bake at 200 degrees for 2-2 1/2 hours-or until crisp

*Let the granola cool enough to handle. Crumble it onto a plate and drizzle chocolate. (I used a plastic baggie and cut a tiny hole in the corner. 

*Put in freezer until chocolate settles. Put in jar and store in fridge so the chocolate doesn't melt!!

ENJOY!!!  

(Re)Start

I'M MELLLLLLTINGGGGG!!!! This lake girl is NOT happy about it being 95 degrees in this concrete city! I need water! A pond, a creek, a swamp, a PUDDLE! ANYTHING! Instead, I've resorted to blasting the air conditioning. I'm having an identity crisis and counting down the days until I'm at the lake. 32. 

Ok,Drama queen...get a grip. Talk about food.

I've been getting very behind in my posts. I'm sorry! I've been waking up at 5 every day and baking my buns off, taking naps, having guests, oh and graduating from college!! I'm a real person now!! Here's some of the grownup food I've been making for my grownup guests for the past couple of weeks! Enjoy the long post. It's my way of apologizing for not giving you anything for the past couple weeks  :)

Lemon Spinach Baked Pasta

I made this dish when Jessica and Ambrose were visiting. It was super easy, filling, and simple.

EVOO-extra virgin olive oil

3/4 lb shell pasta (or whatever you have)

salt (to taste) I used about 1/2 tsp

1 chopped yellow onion

4 cups chopped fresh spinach

1 1/2 cups slivered almonds, toasted

*zest of 2 lemons

8 oz fresh mozzarella, in chunks

*Boil the pasta with a little olive oil

*Saute onions in olive oil and salt until tender 

*Add in garlic and spinach-when spinach wilts-it's done.

*Turn off heat, stir in 1 cup of almonds and half the lemon zest

*Add in pasta and stir until coated.

*Grease a 9x13" pan with olive oil and layer pasta-cheese-pasta-end with cheese.

*Bake for 30-40 minutes in a 375 degree oven. 

*Serve with the remaining almonds and a yummy salad!

(recipe adapted from: 101 cookbooks http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/baked-pasta-casserole-recipe.html)

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Ok, I did not make this-but I had to share it's amazingness with you!! Robbie and I went to the Italian Market Festival a couple of weeks ago and FINALLY ate at Sabrina's. The wait to eat brunch there on the weekend is always between 30 minutes and an hour and 30 minutes so we've never gone...BIG MISTAKE! It was quirky, quick, and so good I ate the "leftovers" in the car on the way home. I had some sort of spicy egg sandwich with hot peppers, pepper jack cheese, and salsa. Robbie had the eggs benedict which also looked amazing. I can't wait to go back! 

Chalkboard art! (Mom, you need to try this one!)

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A wise woman once told me...hahaha

Well my mom has told me many wise things, and now I can be reminded every day by this little owl she gave me for graduation! The first wise choice as a college grad? No, not learning to manage my finances or drive a stick shift without crying. Having a healthy snack that's almost as good as a cocktail? YES!! 

Banana Pro-tini

1 banana

1 scoop chocolate protein powder

2 Tbs soy milk

Blend it all together and that's it!! 

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I hope this extra long post makes up for my lack of posting! I promise to try and be more interesting and make some more yummy things!

Enjoy! 

(Re)st

Now that I've started baking every morning at Pure Fare, I usually get home at 10:30 or 11:00...in the morning. That means I leave my house at 5:30...in the morning. I really like it though! I take a little cat nap when I get home and then I have the rest of the day to do whatever I want. 

Robbie and I bought a bag of arepa flour awhile back. He had a flashback in the grocery store of being in Colombia and NEEDED to get it...we haven't even opened the bag. SO today after my nap, I decided to figure out what these arepas are. I mixed up a couple for lunch to make sure I knew what I was doing for dinner and they were AWESOME!! Here's my first batch of arepas EVER, and I'm going to jazz'm up tonight for dinner with black beans, roasted corn, and more cheese! Here's round one!!

Arepas

1 cup Arepa flour

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1 Tbs butter

1/4 cup grated pepper jack cheese

1 Tbs olive oil

*Slowly mix milk and water to arepa flour.

*Once mixed together, knead in butter and cheese.

*Form the dough into small disks

*Cover frying pan with olive oil and cook on each side until lightly browned (about 5 minutes)

*Top with anything you want! I used pico, cheese, and sour cream. Black beans or any kind of meat would be great too!