Green Smoothie

I accordance with the detox I made a green smoothie, surprisingly good. I can't believe I like it this much. Though, in all fairness I'm not a huge fan of the fruit smoothies, they are are too intense for me, unless they are banana based. Like the world wrap smoothies that use orange sherbert as a base. yuck. I made this smoothie yesterday and today.

1 kiwi

1 banana

Chobani Vanilla Greek Yogurt

a handful of parsely

a dozen leaves of mint

liquid base (I used almond milk)

1 Wheat Grass packet

Detox 0.2

Gearing up for another detox! Some general rules: No caffeine, no alcohol, no sugar, no processed foods (think Twinkies), artificial ingredients, unnatural preservatives, no added salt and pretty much everything we purchase is no/low sodium. My only point of contention is wheat/white carbs. Apparently while whole grains and wheat maybe healthier for you it's harder for your body to process and thus a lot of detoxes recommend eating only white rice, white pasta, white bread and therefore giving your liver a rest and able to function properly. I'm not a huge fan of this idea. And this is just my gut (ah-haha) talking (nutritionist I am not) but I feel like a detox is also about eating healthy foods which is important to me. I can eat white bread all I want when in non-detox mode so I make an effort to make sure everything is whole grains when detoxing. And therefore probably missing the point completely. Whatever. This is my fucking diet.

It officially starts on Friday, with a juice fast for one day somewhere in the middle. I've started taking Psyllium caps (zero carbs!), making wheat grass smoothies, massive quantities of water and dandelion tea. If this sounds awful it's actually all very delicious food. Seriously. And it's not such a stretch of what I normally eat. It's cutting the aforementioned Haraam foods that makes the huge difference.

After getting braces and having four teeth removed I ate tons of crap. I haven't had ice cream in my freezer for over a year because I don't even like it that much but in the past month I've gone through three pints of Gelato, and one pint of Ben & Jerry's . There is a jar of Fran's Caramel Sauce and a can of extra creamy whipped cream in my fridge. What the hell? When I found out I could bite into Starbucks' cheese danishes I ate one everyday for a week and than some. That's 420 (230 from fat) calories and 16 g of sugar. So after a month of pitying it's time for a serious detox.

Tonight starred a tamed Tabbouleh. Normally tabbouleh is a little on the strong side for me so this was toned down. No specific measurements needed. A handful or parsley, cherry tomatoes halved, seedless cucumber diced, red onion diced, red pepper diced, cooked quinoa. The recipe called for mint but I was so damn tired of chopping at this point that I didn't bother. A splash of lemon and a good amount of olive oil and you are good to go. Apparently it's better if you let it sit for a few hours for the flavors to marinate. So yummy. This was accompanied with toasted naan and roasted red pepper hummus.

French Night

I've started themed nights. My first night was Moroccan night. And a few weeks ago I had french night. I made Gruyere Gougeres (pictured), essentially french cheese puffs, tomato soup, which you think would be slightly healthy, but the recipe calls for a stick of butter and 4 Cups of heavy cream, holy shit! And for the main course Cassoulet.

After being stuck in the kitchen all day I am so happy that everything turned out delicious! I cut a lot of the fat out of the recipes because I wouldn't have been able to eat as much.

I love to cook but baking freaks me out. These Gougeres are so easy to make. They are the same dough as eclairs.

Taken from Essentials of French Cooking

1/3 c unsalted butter

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 c all purpose flour

5 large eggs

1 1/2 c Gruyere cheese

Preheat oven to 425. Line two sheet with parchment paper. In a saucepan over medium high heat combine butter, salt, white pepper, cayenne, and 1 c water and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring until butter melts 3-4 minutes. Add flour and mix vigorously until a thick paste forms and pulls away from sides of pan, about three minutes. Remove from heat. Break one egg into pan and using spoon or electric mixer beat into batter until combined. Repeat with three more eggs. Whisk in 1 c cheese.

Dip teaspoon into cold water, scoop generous teaspoon of batter, and push onto prepared baking sheet with fingertip. Repeat placing Gougeres 2 inches apart and dipping spoon in cold water each time to prevent batter from sticking (this did not work so well with me). Lightly beat remaining egg. Brush tops of Gougeres with said egg, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake for ten minutes than reduce heat to 350. Bake until golden brown, 15 minutes longer. Turn oven off and leave for ten more minutes.