Whirlwind week

almond butter (~1 T.) and rice cake.
Other half of sweet potato + 1/2 c. black beans, over steamed broccoli and kale with Asian dressing. YUM!
Massaged kale salad + 1 c. steamed kabocha. The kabocha tossed in with the kale made it *just* tasty enough... I think my kale-to-avo ratio in that salad was off (too much kale) - it was a bit bland.
New discovery: the "energy drink" of cleanses! Really tides you over.
~ 3/4 c. steamed kabocha over cauliflower salad.... I like the cauliflower "rice" - nice and light, you can throw all sorts of stuff in with it - a good basic to have on hand! This particular recipe - the dressing (orange) - was so-so.
With three collard wraps filled with my much-anticipated cashew cheese w/ lemon and dried cherries. Must admit - a little goes a LONG way with this stuff. Very filling, and such a distinct flavor it verged on "too much" after a certain point. One thing that helped to cut its intensity: I layered some of the cauliflower in the wrap with it. Much better!

Big raw salad w/ 1/2 avo, Asian dressing.

This was great: steamed cauliflower, cabbage, parsley, carrots, chickpeas, with watered-down tahini sauce. The tahini recipe is pretty amazing - I have become a HUGE fan of tahini in general - it's definitely a good one to make a huge batch of on Sundays for the week. Perfect for raw OR cooked meals.
Sadly this was probably the most underwhelming meals on the cleanse.... the lemon-avocado broccoli was way too lemon-y (and over-steamed), possibly because I used bottled lemon juice instead of fresh?? In any case, for future reference: avo + broccoli + *splash* of lemon.
And then there was the savory oats....... I was pretty excited to try this recipe, but alas it was just kinda funky. I guess just not my taste. Again, too lemon-y (coupled w/ the broccoli this meal was like a lemon festival... and not in a good way), plus the nooch added a not great flavor. If I were to try savory oats again, I think I'd go with flavors I know I like: Indian spices, tahini, chickpeas, etc. etc.


By this point, my leftovers are getting a little tired.... this was the rest of the over-steamed lemon-avo broccoli (must note to be CAREFUL when steaming! I like it crunchy!! I think the cold water bath post-steam helps a lot), plus whatever else I still had: cabbage, carrots, chickpeas, parsley, 1/2 sweet potato... and Asian dressing. As good as that dressing is, by this point I was getting a little tired of it. At least this lunch was filling.

Brings to mind one of my favorite discoveries from this cleanse: PARSLEY! I nevvvver thought I'd be one to buy fresh parsley regularly. I never even thought I liked it that much! Turns out it's a great addition to a lot of raw dishes. It never failed to brighten up anything I threw it into - including this tired pile of leftovers. I even used it in my green smoothie that I used frozen spinach in (having run out of the fresh), and it was great!
Extra thick smoothie. I'm becoming quite fond of these smoothies.... less bulky than oatmeal, love that I get all the added nutrients from the spinach, and they keep me pretty full and energized for the whole morning!