Friday, January 15, 2010

Third week!

Well over halfway!
Last night I cooked brownies to take to work today for Sarah's goodbye morning tea - they look stunning and I didn't get a photo! Cut into teeny squares, sprinkled with icing sugar arranged on a white plate with blueberries and purple/white pansies... I am pretty gutted i didn't get a photo.

Was no problem to make them, I did get a twinge when i grated the mars bar and was stirring it into the rich, dark sweet smelling mix - goes to show just what an addiction the sugary justtakeasmidge thing is - although not a real big problem surprisingly. Commitment. DONE.

Got to work and had to ask Beth to taste one to make sure they were ok LOL - that was funny.
They were well loved.
I am still gutted about no photo of them! I will have to recreate them at some point soon while those pansies are still flowering!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Protein

Many people believe that vegetarian diets do not give you the protein you need.
Just not true btw.
A plant based diet supplies all the protein you need (as long as you do it properly!), furthermore plant based protein contains fibre and complex carbohydrates which animal proteins don't, and they don't contain chlesterol or high amounts of saturated fat which meat, eggs and dairy do.
In fact, eating plant based proteins eliminates those other problems that eating too much animal protein can give you - heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Bean, nuts, seeds, lentils and whole grains contain lots of protein - vegetables also contain protein. Beans have not always been (no pun intended!) my friend but I am open to enjoying them more now. Still not comfortable creating and contructing recipes with them now but I do find bean things palatable now where once I did not. Prediet cleanse nuts, seeds, lentils and whole grains were a common part of my diet so no big adjustment there.

Dinner is left over spinach and mushroom pilaf with some eggplant, zucchini and orange bell pepper, YUM!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Spinach and Mushroom Pilaf

Something new tonight!
I have been trying to remember a thing I used to make in Timaru that I loved - have not been successful in remembering what it is but I know it had flat leaf parsley in it.
Today while talking food with Beth in the office I found a pilaf recipe and maybe the thing was pilaf... anyway... pilaf for tonight! (recipe link and photo below). It was MEGA YUM. I am really enjoying cooking with spices.
Most of the food I was eating (and I think that a majority of people eat) relies on sugar salt and fat for flavour. Spices are so much more flavourful, healthy, ancient and fun!
it didn't take long to make and I used some things from my garden!

Lunch was corn thins, avocado (one dud) and tomato.. and no humus because for some reason I didn't see it when I opened the fridge at work and thougth I must have taken it home the day before, then when I put the one good avocado half back in, there was the humus, right at the front, where I left it and thought I looked for it (?!) so I just was not meant to have humus today.
















I did add a little of my special smoked garlic salt from the Saturday market man and I only used half a cinnamon stick, (which I almost ate!) he smells so good!! And I have lots of left overs... might take some to work tomorrow. YUM!
Spinach and Mushroom pilaf <--- that is the link to the recipe I used

Day 12

Sick of the disappointment of bad avocadoes!
Makes lunch a bad surprise.

Forgot to have morning snacks today and when I went for "brisk walk" at lunch I had hunger rumbles. (Forgot morning snacks due to problems with work computer which has again put me behind schedule!).

Evening was interesting - I think I had less trouble with after dinner snack pangs.

Dinner was chickpea curry left overs with some courgettes and orange pepper and salad and some berries and cherries.















Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Chickpea curry

Was wretched cross about somethign when I got home and coudln't relax and was worried I would snack on all sorts of rubbish so I made a chick pea curry from scratch and it turned out GREAT! It didn't take very long to make and smells so good...

Chickpea curry
2 tins of chickpeas (I used one tin)
3 tablespoons of oil (ghee would be better but it's dairy)
2 medium onions chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger (I keep ginger root in freezer then grate as needed)
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
1-2 chillies (seeded and finely chopped - depends how hot you like it!)
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 large well ripe tomatoes chopped
1 tablespoon ground corriander (I ground my own from seeds)
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons fresh chopped corriander

1. Drain chickpeas and reserve liquid (I didn't)
2. heat old in large pan; add onion, ginger, garlic and turmeric and cook over low/medium heat until onion is SOFT and GOLDEN (not thin and dry and brown lol)
3.Add the tomato and cook until soft. Add corriander and chickpeas and cook for five mins. Add a cup of liquid (whatever you decide to use, I used water with a bit of stock) and cook for another ten mins.
4. Add garam masala, lemon juice and corriander and cook GENTLY for only another 2-3 mins (add more liquid if you want more sauciness).

Yum!!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Weekend food

I made sure I went to the market on Saturday morning - got some amazing raspberries, cherries and blueberries - also some special yumy crackers free from everything and some asorted vegetables and the smoked garlic salt YUM!

Made pumpkin soup for dinner tonight but for some reason it was YUK and more like a soup-in-a-cup, not like my usual yummy pumpkin soup at all.. but wiht the same ingredients so, weird.
Also experiemented with two ways to make potato rosti - one with raw potato and one with boiled. Raw is more to my liking.















I made some hummus - need to work on that mixture and also try to make my own falafel.
Hoping to do some lentils this week too.
Have had another run of dud avocadoes. Blech.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Worry eating

The trickest times for me are those snacking times after dinner where I will find myself wandering out to the kitchen cruising around for something... so I have been working on becoming conscious of what I was thinking just before this happens.

On Monday night I managed to conenct to some worry about going back to work the next day. Partly because the work I had hoped to have done before I finsihed at xmas was not quite done and partly (maybe mostly) because I need to secure a new job for when my contract with NMIT finishes at the end of may (I think.. I need to check the actual date).

So.. worry eating. Plan for next time - replace the wander to the kitchen with a bit of journaling or blogging (!).



Dinner day 7 - guacamole and corn chips.
Today at work was first day I struggling abit with quantity - I wanted to eat and eat some more. Lucky I only had a small amount of pistachios and cashews left so I wasn't able to eat to many. Also enforcing rule of drinking at least half a glass of water before eating anything (even a snack) and then waiting a few mins.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Books

I had opporuntity today to have a better read over the books as I wanted to lend the main Quantum Wellness one (not the cleanse one) to my chiropractor (who is awesome!) who is starting to expand into conscious eating concepts.


I had fun highlighting parts and writing my own comments in the margins (as the cleanse progresses I will dredge some up for blogging - well, when i get it back from John!).
I enjoyed it because some of the things she says in the books I agree with and some I don't which is perfect as it gives me a chance to clarify what I think to myself: to actually think about it and put into a physical form (writing and then action) what I think.

The cleanse, remember, is part of Kathy Freston's Quantum Wellness idea which includes 8 "pillars" of wellness - the cleanse is one of these (not sure I mentioned that before).
It is Kathy that I picked up the term "leaning in" from.
I like this leaning in thing - you take bits of her ideas, or parts and do what you can, move forward with some of it - no need to do it all strictly at once or even ever do it all. For instance I certainly don't believe there is a need for me to be a strict vegan or even vegetarian. But, like her, I am open to the fact my beliefs on this may shift more towards the strict side at some point (we will delve into these ideas in later entries I am sure).
The leaning in thing is a sustainable approach of creating change.

No picture of dinner tonight - it was falafel, hummus, kumara and a pompadum.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Cleansing @ Work















Dinner tonight is left over and added to lastnightfood.
Lunch was at work - which I over prepared for as I was wanting to make sure it worked and was nto a bad experience. I had corn thins, hummmus, tomato and avocado.
Two comments:
1. I didn't need anything but the corn thins and the hummus YUM!
2. It totally sucks when your avocado is bad and you don't notice until it is already in your mouth.


Had an interesting food memory today. When I was younger, about 11, I would do the 40 hour famine. I remember one time when mum brought me a plate of lettuce and telling me no one would know if I ate it.
I didn't eat it, on the grounds that 'I would know'.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Drink more water

I am not doing a great job drinking enough water.
Tomorrow I go back to work and it will be easier as water bottle sits on my desk and I drink often.

Dinner tonight is Thai green curry which, i have to say, feels liek a cheat - but no, it's all cleanse legal! Although fish sauce is omitted due to it containing 1% sugar!
















Am probably eating to much fruit, speaking of sugar...

Have noticed I often can smell a cigarette type smell and am wondering if it is cleanse related. Although i did recently get a fabric gift from a friend who smokes and although it doesn't smell like smoke when I smell it, maybe that is where the smell comes from.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Day three

So.. the eating thing.. so not a problem - although perhaps it will be when I have to go back to work...organization is something I continue to work on!

What I have had some isues with are my bad snacking nibbling habits. A little bit of something here, a handful of something there, back for more... snacking. With the cleanse requirements is has really shone a light on what an issue that is.

Today Rain, Dawn and Perry came over for lunch, this was good.. they finished off the last of the ham and took the eggs away (to go to the bach with them tomorrow). I feel good those things didn't go to waste.
Lunch was same as last few days.

For dinner I actually made a proper dinner - fried rice with tamari soy sauce. Was yum!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Mayo

One of the things I was planning to do which was gonna be a saving grace was to use potatoes from my garden to make potato salad. YUM... (potatoes are not something I eat outside of cleanse because they are white starchy nightshade family things.. and plus I am addicted to potato chips *giggles*)

I already thought I was a good label reader because I was already looking at labels and being discerning and making choices that were better for me and the environment...I already had a number of products I avoided and ones I looked for for this reason.

So, I went to a few stores and spent a bunch of time scouring labels of different mayos that I could use but tremendous trouble because they all have sugar. So I start lookign at the ones I woudl normally not look at and low and behold... the word sugar not there YAH!
The word corn syrup instead... corn syrup that I avoided precleanse. That being said, yes, corn syrup is a sugar... so a dilemma ensued.

For a whole day, until I realised I had been totally ignoring the part on the label that said EGGS *sigh*.
i think it was because it said "free range egg" which is awesome and I woudl usually be very happy about and write to the company and tell them so..

No potato salad.

Friday, January 1, 2010

And so it begins....

21 days of
gluten free
caffeine free
sugar free
dairy free
animal product free
living...

So far I have found out that the trickiest one is sugar because it is hidden in almost everything...
Also have discovered that the 6pm to 930 pm part of the day is the hardest part.

Need to drink more water.

Am feeling stuffed up in the nose like when I wake up in the morning after having dairy (which I don't do often)... except its ten to 11 pm and of course have had no dairy today.
Also feel this way when I have a cold...hmmmmm














Lunch was yum and at dinner I was not so hungry so had some rice and the last of the broad beans... (and last broad beans are not so good btw).