Banana Coconut Ice Cream

When we're fasting we always seem to crave sweets, so we tried this recipe from Pinterest. You have to kinda time it right, because if it stays in the freezer it will turn to ice. Ours turned out pretty well (and Matt was asking for it the next night).

Raw Blueberry Pie

I found this recipe on Pinterest. It's from The Raw Buzz blog, and it may be the best dessert I have ever had! Seriously, I could have just scooped the filling out of the bowl and eaten it all. I've never been a big fan of blueberry pie, but raw desserts are always so good. This one is really easy to put together. Just raw almonds and dates for the crush (I actually added a banana because I didn't have enough dates). You can add in coconut if you want (I did - because coconut in raw dessert crust makes it even better). The filling is just dates and blueberries processed together (with some whole blueberries mixed in). Top with blueberries for a pretty presentation, and voila! A killer dessert that beats chocolate cake and is way healthier! I can totally see making this with blueberries and strawberries, too. We'll definitely be making this one again!

Aloo Matar

I don't know how I lived before Pinterest. I found this recipe from a cute blog called Honey, What's Cooking. It was super easy and super tasty. I served it with some brown rice on the side.

Panang Curry

This was my first time ever making panang curry, and now I'm wondering why it took so long! It's just soooo good! The next time I make it I think I'll leave out the tofu. It's packed with veggies, and they were my favorite part. This is another Pinterest recipe, found on a blog called Recipris. (http://www.recipris.com/2012/05/01/panang/)

Polenta with Garlic Mushrooms

This one really won Matt over! I've always had a hard time getting him to eat polenta. He likes it okay, but he has never been wowed by it. After this dish, he is asking when we can have it again! This is derived from a recipe on the blog Maple & Spice. It's supposed to be pretty and grilled, but I couldn't wait any longer so I skipped the grilling part. But oh my goodness, these mushrooms were to die for!! All that buttery goodness dripping onto the polenta was just crazy good! Can't wait to eat this one again!

Thai Tofu Lettuce Wraps

We love lettuce wraps, and this recipe from PETA completely rocks! I wanted a little crunch in my lettuce wraps, so I added some cucumber and bean sprouts to the tofu. The only thing I didn't do right was buy iceberg lettuce instead of Boston lettuce. I thought I'd save some money, but Boston lettuce always makes for the best wraps!

Southwest Chili

Yesterday, the hubs said "It's cold. We should make chili!" Every time I make chili, I forget how I made it. But every time it also comes out awesome, so I'm convinced that chili is a fool proof thing to make! This pot of chili included some squash, zucchini, onions, corn, beans (1 can of kidney beans and 2 cans of tri colored beans), 1 large can of stewed tomato slices, and a ton of chili powder and cumin. When I say a ton, I mean put an obscene amount of both into the pot and just when you think you've put too much, double it! I feel like you can't add too much spice when it comes to chili! I also put some sea salt in as I was cooking. We like to also use ground soy in our chili, so if you like a meaty chili you can always use that (check the ingredients though - a lot of meat alternatives include yeast extract and egg whites, which aren't fast-friendly). I bought the packet before checking the label, so I went ahead and used it, but next time it will be strictly veggie. If you're fasting, also check the label for the beans. Some may have corn syrup. The cans I bought were organic and only had sea salt and water. This is a pic before it all cooked together. It was soooo good that I forgot to take a pic of the finished product. We each had two helpings and we're having leftovers for dinner (we may put the chili on top of some baked potatoes). Can't wait for dinner!

Avo Banana Smoothie

I had a couple avocados that I needed to use up, so I decided to try out making an avocado smoothie. I've read recipes for berry avocado (or mango avocado) smoothies, but I didn't have either of those. I opted to add a banana and some lime juice, along with some soy milk, and I am super happy with the result! It's a creamy and very tasty smoothie. Since I only have a food processor, I was very happy that it was creamy. May need to hint to the hubs that I need a nice blender for my birthday! : ) I really only tasted the banana. I think some cinnamon would be nice, but I was worried that it would discolor the pretty avocado color. But next time I think I'll give it a try! This may be my new favorite smoothie!

Orange Pineapple Juice

I know that orange and pineapple go well together, but I never thought to make orange pineapple juice at home before. That may be because I never buy pineapples (they are such a nightmare to chop up). But when our local market had pineapples on sale 2 for $3, we decided to pick up a couple. I chopped them up and put them into a container for easy access. esterday With our juicer I don't have to cut them perfectly, because it will extract the juice and separate out the pulp and any skin. So yesterday I decided to make some orange pineapple juice, and it was happiness in a glass! I made some this morning for breakfast, and the hubs sent me a text saying he loved it! Looks like we may have to buy them regularly! Chunks of grilled pineapple with cinnamon also make a very nice dessert!

Warm Chickpea Salad with Kale

This is another recipe adapted from one I found on Pinterest. It changes every time I make it, but this time I sauteed some onions, peppers, squash, and zucchini (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, and some fresh lemon juice) plus the chickpeas and chopped sundried tomatoes. At the same time, I steamed some kale, then tossed it with olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I put the chickpea salad on top, and we devoured it! I made a lot, and we both could have eaten more. It was so flavorful (especially the kale - yum!).

Potato Chips

Another football watching snack during our fast is potato chips - made in the oven! I call it fake frying. I put the oven on broil, slice a potato (as thin as possible). Lay the slices on a cookie sheet, spritz with olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt and some rosemary, then put in the oven. When they start to get crisp, flip them over and spritz again with olive oil (I only season them once). You have to keep an eye on them, because they will burn quickly once they start to brown. We really love these, even when we're not fasting!

Protein Smoothie

I adapted this recipe from a smoothie I found on Pinterest. It includes peanut butter, cooked oatmeal, banana, unsweetened soy milk, honey, and cinnamon. I made the peanut butter myself using a little oil, water, salt, and honey. The oatmeal I cooked in advance and soaked in soy milk so it would be soft. I have decided to use honey during my fast, so if you don't want to use honey just make sure that the bananas are very ripe and it should be plenty sweet! Doing liquids only during the day has been a challenge, but manageable. This smoothie is definitely filling, so I made it my lunch drink. I start the day with juice, have this for lunch, and I was planning on doing a green smoothie in the afternoon, but I haven't been hungry enough for one!

Kale Chips

If you can believe it, I've never made kale chips before! I don't know what took me so long, but I decided to make some as a snack before dinner while Matt watched football. A fast-friendly and super healthy snack food - score!!

Vegan Insalata Caprese

One of my FAVORITE things ever in this whole entire world to eat is this vegan take on inslata caprese! I love the original with fresh mozzarella, so I wondered what I could put in its place that was vegan and would have the same buttery, soft texture and taste. Avocado!! Honestly, I think this version is even better! Avocado, tomato, and basil, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and pepper is the meaning of happiness! Sometimes I layer the salad, and sometimes I do it chopped. This time I had grape tomatoes, so I just did a quick little chop and mixed it all together. But it is very pretty layered nice and neat!

Stuffed Heirloom Tomatoes

I got the idea for this recipe from an Italian cookbook one of our friends sent us. This time, I chose some plump heirloom tomatoes and stuffed them with some sauteed spinach and cooked brown rice. They are super easy to make. Cut out the stem, and flip the tomato over so that the bottom is the top. Slice off a piece to be the "cap." Scoop out the inside of the tomato, and put in a bowl. Add your other ingredients to the bowl of tomato pieces and season to taste. If we weren't fasting, I'd use risotto and some cheese, but the brown rice and spinach worked out nicely! Place the cap back on the tomato, and put in the oven. I placed some leaves of spinach (drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder) underneath the tomatoes. Cook in the oven for about 25 minutes on 375. The tomatoes were delicious, but the spinach I put underneath was my favorite part! Next time I'll have to pile them up even higher!

Filling up our cart

We stocked up on lots of goodies for the week! Oranges were 5 lbs for $1, so we bought 10 pounds! Going to be doing a lot of juicing!

Veggie Kabobs

This is one of our favorite veggie grilling recipes! We use the Gardein beefless tips instead of meat. I cook the tips in a skillet with some salt, pepper, curry and garlic powder and a little soy sauce. Put them on a kabob with some peppers, onions, and tomatoes (also seasoned, but not pre-cooked) and put them on the grill until the veggies look done. So so yummy, especially if you have some grilled corn on the side! Easy to make fast-friendly by leaving out the beefless tips (which contain yeast extract and cane sugar).

Falafel Pita Sandwich

I remembered today that I had some falafel in the freezer, so I heated them up and tossed them into a half pita with some hummus, cucumbers, bean sprouts, and avocado. I thought about putting some tomatoes in, but it looked so good I couldn't wait that long! LOL! When I start fasting next week I'm going to try a homemade baked falafel recipe out for Matt's lunch. Maybe I'll make him a Mediterranean salad to go til our fast begins!!!

A happy and healthy 2013!

It's the beginning of a new year, which means that Matt and I are doing our detox! We always look forward to this part of the year! Since I lost most of my recipes due to a virus on my other blog (boo!!) I'm back to posting on here. Last year I had some really great recipes, but I'm looking forward to trying some new ones! Living in California makes eating healthy much easier. The produce is plentiful, better, and insanely cheap! I just checked the ad for one of our local markets, and oranges are 5lbs for $1! Yes, not 5 oranges for $1, but FIVE POUNDS!!! Pineapples were 2 for $3 and avocados were 3 for $1 last week. Plus the spa we go to is by an amazing farmer's market. If you are willing to drive (and know where to go) there are independent sellers with even better produce deals! So not only are we cleansing our bodies, we're also saving lots of money!

This week, we have cut all meat out of our diet to prepare ourselves for 3 weeks of fasting! Last night we had a huge stir fry with the yummy stuff below!

I also added some fresh green beans and minced garlic after I took the pic. Totally forgot to take a pic of it all cooked because I devoured it! For lunch today I made half pita sandwiches filled with romaine, alfalfa sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes, and black olives. I added a few more plump black olives and some giant chunks of honeydew on the side.

Random thing about me... I LOVE black olives, but hate green ones. Honeydew is my favorite fruit, but I can't stand the taste of cantaloupe. I also like broccoli but think that cauliflower is disgusting. Am I weird, or what?! Next week begins the real challenge! Since I work at home and don't find the parameters of the Daniel Fast all that restricting, I am going to do liquids only during daylight hours. I usually start the day with juice (I like using oranges, apples, and carrots, but today I used some pear and pineapple). For lunch I will probably do a green smoothie. In between meals I will have a glass of water flavored with cucumber and lemon (beats soda any day!). I am debating about drinking seltzer because carbonated beverages are on the no-no list, but I think that should only be things like soda that are packed with sugars. Seltzer just has a tiny bit of sodium, but otherwise it's water. So I am debating about that. In my opinion, fasting is not so much about a strict set of rules set by someone else but about making personal sacrifices during a time of reflection and prayer. I have a few days to think about it! Meanwhile, I am also already thinking of all the amazing recipes that I want to try out! Ever since we decided to move from Florida to California our lives have been crazy and we've been putting absolute garbage into our bodies! We are both excited about our commitment to cleanse our bodies and minds this month! : )