week 11? I think that's right!

Yes it's true, I've lost count.  That's how quickly time flies when you're having fun :)
Last time I was super excited about my dinner at Quay restaurant.  Well that has been and gone and it was an amazing experience.  Not so much for the food (sorry to say), but for the look of delight on my boy's face when he dug into that snow egg.  It was worth it just for that.  I've never seen anyone, let alone a not so dessert orientated person, love something so much.  He actually went on to describe each layer.  VERY cute.
Not to say the food was bad, it was not.  The food was beautiful and fresh but I just found it a little bland.  I know it's because it's obviously meant to be eaten with whatever animal protein they put in and taking that away disturbs the fine balance of flavours and textures so I'm not complaining.  I knew what I was getting into........but there was still a little part of me that hoped that they would get a little creative.  A fruit salad for dessert? Not for that price!
But this is not a restaurant review, and my experience (food only) is just my opinion and nothing else.  I still think they make amazing food and everything that came to the table was impeccably presented.  And the last thing I'll say is that we had THE best seat in the place, thanks to my lovely friend Dea for organising it.

Now to what's been happening since then.  As you know, I did the liquid detox, that was good and I highly recommend it.  And then I was meant to do gluten-free October.  I must admit, I have failed that miserably!!
You see, I have this routine at work where I'll take my break, go for a long walk, and on the way back, stop at the organic bread shop, get a soy flat white and a vegan fruit bun (best going around).  Now, I love this little routine of mine and breaking that was worse than going gluten free.
So, for that reason, I have not being able to do gluten-free October.  The smell of their lovely sourdough rolls and those damn gooey, fruity buns are just way too much for this girl to bear!! Damn you organic bread bar, why are you so damn tasty and deliciously yum?  Really, if you are in the neighbourhood, get yourself there and give their bread a go, they also make a great coffee.
So, how do I break this little routine of love?  I do something radical that's what.
I go on a 21 DAY RAW VEGAN ADVENTURE!!
Yes friends, it's true, nothing simple for this crazy girl.  Is it the green smoothies going to my head?  Maybe.
I figure the only way to do something right is to just throw yourself in the deep end.

So today is day 1, and I chose today because it will mean that day 21 will culminate in doing the raw food workshop at Sadhana Kitchen.  A little treat for all my hard work.
I don't think I've really thought this adventure through, otherwise I probably wouldn't have done it.  It dawned on me today that for the next 21 days, well 20 now, I won't eat anything warm or enjoy a hot soup, e.t.c.
ARGH! How will I cope?
Oh well, decision has been made so here I am.
Breakfast and lunch are easy, but what about dinner?  I normally love baking veges, I love eating quinoa with everything, and nothing beats a warm pudding with almond custard when you want some comfort food.
I don't have a dehydrator which is used a bit I imagine, but I do have this cool little tool called a spirooli.  If you are thinking of trying a raw diet, even for just a little while like me, I highly recommend getting one.  And it's not like you won't ever use it again.  For under $40, it's not a bad little gadget to have.  But to that later.

Here's how my day went today.

Breakfast

Green Overnight Oats
Serves 1

Ingredients

1/3 cup wholegrain rolled oats
1 banana
1 cup spinach/kale
200 ml almond milk
200 ml coconut water
1 TBS chia seeds
1 TBS hemp seeds
1 tsp raw mesquite powder
1 tsp spirulina
Handful of berries

Method

Blend all ingredients together except for oats.  Place your oats in a bowl or whatever container you're going to be eating it from tomorrow, and pour in your green smoothie.  Stir to combine and refrigerate overnight.  Top with fresh berries the next day and enjoy.

Morning Tea

I normally have a coffee (and a fruit bun!) but I can't have that now, so instead I made myself a juice.

Purple Haze

Ingredients

1 green apple

1 pear

1/2 lemon

4 spinach stalks

2 cos lettuce leaves

1 cucumber

1 knob of ginger

1 beetroot

2 carrots

3 stalks of celery, tops included

Method

Place it in your juicer and drink that baby ASAP!!

Lunch

Sushi and Salad with Tahini & Tamari Dressing

serves 1

Raw vegetable sushi

                                         

1 nori sheet                    

alfalfa sprouts                  

red capsicum strips              

yellow capsicum strips           

cucumber strips

avocado slices

Salad

mushrooms

broccoli

red capsicum

Dressing

2 TBS unhulled tahini

1 TBS tamari

2 TBS water

1 TBS lemon juice

sesame seeds to sprinkle on top

Pickled ginger

Method

You will need a bamboo mat for rolling.

Place the nori sheet on top of bamboo mat, spread the top with sprouts, making sure you leave about 1 cm at the edge so that it can stick and make a perfect roll.

Arrange your vegetables close to one edge, and with the bamboo, roll towards the other edge, holding tight as you roll in order to make a neat roll.

Add a little bit of water to the exposed edge so that the roll seals and you don't get any explosions.

Chop up the vegetables for your salad and arrange on the plate.

For the dressing, mix all ingredients together until you get a runny but thick consistency.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.  You will have enough dressing left over to use on another salad if you don't eat it all as you go :)

Obviously you can use any vegetables you desire and try different types of sauces for dipping.  This is just what I had at hand.

It was yummy, fresh, and surprisingly filling.  I just love the crunchiness of the vegetables, especially the raw broccoli.

Now to the Spirooli.  For something that is advertised as a meat grinder, it definitely gets a lot of work moonlighting as a raw food kitchen MUST.

Dinner

Zucchini Pasta with Basil and Spinach Pesto

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 zucchini

2 cups basil leaves

2 cups spinach chopped 

1/3 cup avocado

1/4 cup raw pine nuts + a few for garnish

1 clove of garlic

2 TBS nutritional yeast

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp sea salt 

2 TBS lemon juice

zest of above lemon

6 sun dried tomatoes, cut into strips

10 kalamata olives, sliced

Method

Use the spirooli to create your zucchini pasta, put aside.

Alternatively if you don't have one, just julienne your zucchini.

In a food processor or blender, place all your ingredients except tomatoes and olives.

Blend until you get a creamy consistency.

Mix with your pasta, tomatoes and olives.

Serve and sprinkle with some whole pine nuts.

I had to finish it all off with something sweet, so I whipped up a tropical fruit smoothie.

Tropical Smoothie

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 banana frozen

1 mango cheek

1 cup papaya chopped

1/2 cup pineapple chopped

1 cup coconut water

2/3 cup full fat coconut milk

Shredded coconut for garnish

Method

Just blend it already!

Throughout the day I also munched on fruit and had a few of dates and raw nuts (i know, i know, my sweet tooth)!!

Surprisingly, I didn't miss my coffee, though I will miss my barista and the whole routine of it :(

But it won't be forever, coffee and fruit buns, we have not broken up, we're just having a little break from each other, and think of the make-up munch? Ooh, I'm swooning as I type.

So, here I go again, into the unknown, attempting to gather as much information as possible about this way of eating.  I have to say, so far so good, but then again, it's always easy to be enthusiastic at the beginning.  

With a little bit of luck, a lot of positivity and hopefully some help from my friends, I'm sure this will be another adventure/challenge I can get through.  

Gluten-free October, you have not completely defeated me, I've just found a new way to get through you.  Wish me luck!

Love,peas and mung beans

xxb

liquid detox

Apart from being the 10th week into the challenge, it's also the beginning of gluten-free October.  As you are all well aware of my baking addiction, gluten-free October means that I get to try different things in the baking department.  Or maybe I'll lay off the baked goods for a while, I mean, the single reason for doing a gluten-free month is so that I can survive No-sugar-vember!!
Yes, I think laying of the baking is a good idea.  But before I go into a baking hiatus, here's a little healthy treat I baked for my girls.  I got the thumbs up from both.
I will say that this cake is better eaten the next day.  For some unknown reason, it's more moist if left overnight.

Zucchini and Carrot Cake
Serves 12 squares

Ingredients

2 cups wholemeal plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup water
1 cup dates chopped
1 cup sultanas
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup grated zucchini
1/3 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed if possible)
1/3 cup almond milk


Method

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined.
In a small sauce pan, add water, dates, sultanas and spices.  Heat over medium heat until boiling, cook stirring for another 3 minutes and remove from heat.
In a large bowl, place grated carrots and grated zucchini, make sure you squeeze the liquid out of the zucchini.  Pour date mixture over the vegetables, stir until mixed through and leave until it has cooled down.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.  Line a square cake tin and set aside.
Once your mixture is cooled, mix in the orange juice.  
Add your flour mixture to the liquid mixture and mix until well combined.  Add your almond milk and stir through.
Pour into your lined container and bake for about 40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

This is a good way to sneak in some vegetables into your snacks and though sweet, it doesn't contain any refined sugar.  Double bonus.

I've also made this in a loaf tin and served it toasted with almond butter.  OMG, DELISH!!

Now to my juice cleanse.  Well, it's not exactly a juice cleanse, more of a 72 hour liquid detox.
I'm currently on the last day and I know I'm jumping the gun by posting before it's over but I have noticed a few things already.

1.  It's not that hard to do.  
2.  I didn't get as hungry as I thought I would.
3.  It's a mind thing.
4.  Less digestion means better sleep.

I'll start with the first point, a liquid detox means different things to different people.  If you look through cyberspace, you'll find numerous liquid detox guides, the important thing is to choose one that suits you.
I decided to do a gentle detox as I've never done one before and I wasn't sure how I'd go having no solid food.
So here's what I did:

On awaking:

Morning liver tonic
500 mls of water

Breakfast:

Green Smoothie

Green smoothie 

300 ml coconut water
1 Tbs chia seeds
1 banana
1 english spinach handful
3 stalks of kale
1/2 avocado
1 tsp spirulina
1 tsp hempseeds

The rest of the day consisted of 6 juices.  I chopped and changed to keep it interesting but these are the ones I had.  I got the idea from urban remedy.
The juices I made were the green apple alkalizer, supercharged greens, metabolism booster and the calming smoothie.

Green Apple Alkalizer

The calming smoothie was so delicious, and you can get the ingredients from the above site or check out my previous post.

Although I wasn't hungry as in my stomach-is-hurting-from-hunger, I did have a desire to chew!!  Especially when everyone was eating around me and I could smell the aromas.  But I could distract myself and be ok.
The first day was the hardest and I did give in to the chew and had a couple of corn thins :( 
But what can I say, you can only try and do the best you can, no point beating yourself up over it :)
And as you know, I can't not have dessert so I made a little chia seed pudding on day two to replace the calming smoothie.

Chocolate chia pudding
Serves 1

Ingredients

2 TBS chia seeds
1 TBS raw cacao powder
1 tsp mesquite powder
1 cup coconut water
1/2 banana

Method

Blend all ingredients together and leave to thicken, about 30 minutes.  YUM!

I also made sure I drank water throughout the day, and had a couple of cups of herbal tea.

Although I didn't feel tired, I did make sure my exercise routine was gentle.  I did a 30 minute circuit on day 1 and 2 and I'm planning on doing a long walk tonight.
I have noticed that I've been able to get to sleep with no issues for the past two nights, and I've stayed asleep the whole night.  I think the stars have also aligned as my girls have both slept without issues for the past two night.  YAY!
I can only imagine that because the body is not working hard to digest a full meal, that it actually is able to rest and hence, great shuteye for moi.
Because of the restful sleep, I've been waking up at around 5 in the morning!  This has given me the chance to get my exercise out of the way, and even squeeze in some meditation.  
I can't say I'll be doing this on a regular basis but I do think it's a good way to kick start your digestion if you have digestion issues.
I expected to get headaches, but I didn't experience any which is  good.  I take this to mean that my body is not toxic and I have my new way of eating to thank for that.  If I wasn't a believer in the benefits of a plant based diet, I am now.
If anything, doing the cleanse has strengthen my desire to keep to a vegan way of eating.

Which leads me to my dinner at Quay tomorrow, I am so excited! I'm sure I've already told you that but just in case I didn't, there it is.
I will post photos of the food they prepare for me at the end of the week, as well as some gluten-free recipes.
If you are doing gluten-free October, or you have any gluten-free recipes, please send me details or post in comments.  I would LOVE to see the amazing food everyone else is making.
Sharing is caring!!

Love, peas and mungbeans

xxb