The Cleanse

Hello my Fellow Gourmands! (Gourmand=food lover)

          Today I started a cleanse. "Cleanse" to me is a very scary word. I've never done one because I figured I'd be glued to the toilet or would have to at least be within 20 feet of one at all times. Luckily the cleanse I am doing is not that kind of cleanse. It still cleans your intestines but without stripping them of everything in them. It actually says you shouldn't have that run to the bathroom reaction. I am doing the "Advocare 24 day Challenge", the first 10 of which are an herbal cleanse. 

         The other reason I have been afraid of cleanses is, that on most of them you either ONLY eat fruits and veggies or you have to drink some strange mixture of Cayenne pepper, lemon, vinegar and honey. Barf!!! On the Advocare cleanse you still eat a lot of fruits and veggies but you can have and are recommended to have whole grains, leans meats and nuts. So pretty much you cut out fried foods, dairy, processed starches and sugar. I can do that. I had to tell cheese that we needed a break, which is kinda hard but manageable. 

        If you think you may want to try losing a few inches and feel great you can order the 24 day challenge at Advocare. To order check out the hyperlink to the left.  They also have some great supplements like Thermoplus that literally tricks you into thinking you are not hungry most of the day (not full, but just satisfied). It's FAN-TASTIC! Another thing they have, is this amazing energy drink called Spark. It gives you energy like coffee without the crackhead caffeine feeling. I LOVE IT! 

          All that being said, I am taking this as a culinary challenge and, boy, am I embracing it! I've done a bit of research on foods I can make and this week I think I will eat better than I normally do. On the menu is; scallops, pumpkin soup made with coconut milk, salmon and today is a butternut squash, spinach and quinoa salad. IT is SOOOO delish! Seriously I may make it all the time. It is both gluten-free  and vegan. Again BOTH scary words but this recipe is delicious! 

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, SPINACH, AND QUINOA SALAD!

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

1 onion

3 garlic cloves (or 2 tsp minced garlic)

1/2 cup pinenuts

3 large cups spinach

1 bag frozen butternut squash

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp white pepper

salt to taste

In a pot, boil quinoa and water. Add a lid and let it simmer until the water is gone. Remove from the heat and let cool a bit.

In a pan, heat coconut oil until liquid. Add the onion and cook it until its translucent. Add the garlic and pine nuts and cook those up too. Then add the spinach and butternut squash and lid the pan. Let the spinach wilt and the squash become tender, but not mushy. Once that happens add the cinnamon, white pepper and salt. Remove from heat.

Combine the veggies and the quinoa. You can then eat it hot or cold. Quinoa's taste becomes more bold once it is chilled. I like my food warm though, so I prefer it hot. 

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I do. It has great spice and flavor and is just plain yummy. Add it to the fact that you can have it on this cleanse and it is a winner. It would be great with poached salmon or bbq scallops. 

Peace and Blessings!

-Lo-

I'm baaackk! With some spice!

Hey there people of the world! Long time no talk....from me at least. These past few months have been craaazzzaaayyy! Since my last post (about my sweet Papa) he passed, I passed some kidney stones, we moved to North Albany, Kennidy started a new school, and on and on it goes. So my loyal readers I am so sorry that I haven't written in a long long time. 

I've kind of decided to revamp the old blog up a little bit. I'll be focusing more on food and cooking and DIY crafts than on life and it's meaning. But it will probably still be random at times when I write. 

On to bigger and better things;

This week my new friend, and neighbor, April and I strolled on over the bridge to the Albany Farmers Market and Antiques in the Street. Going over the bridge is kind of a big deal. There is a big change in environment and flow on "the other side of the bridge". So it was a bit adventurous of us to take this mile long trek. It was well worth it though because we both came home with a treasure trove of delicious and beautiful things. Among my bounty was fresh nectarines, GIANT apples, apples that have pink flesh, onions, squash, tomatillos, and anaheim peppers. Because I have "mommy brain" I forgot to take a picture of the tomatillos and peppers before I cooked them up. 

The Giant apple next to a normal size nectarine

The apple is as big as my hand

Kennidy and her pink fleshed apple

Firstly; for those of you who don't know Anaheim peppers are in between green peppers and jalepeno peppers. If you leave the seeds in they are pretty spicy. Like Holy Sweet Mother Mary, I can't see or speak and I may have peed my pants because I'm on sensory overload- Spicy! Even though I am a spice weenie I took the challenge and left the seeds in. Living on the edge right? Gotta get my kicks in where I can. (Side note: ALWAYS use gloves, a napkin, paper towel, whatever to block the peppers from your hands when cutting them. Other wise your hands will be on fire for several hours or even days. The oils from the pepper can burn your flesh. Your welcome for that tid bit and no I did not make this rookie mistake.....this time)

Secondly; tomatillos are one of the most under acknowledged fruit-vegetables. I would eat a tomatillo over a tomato or cucumber (other fruit-vegetables) any day. A tomatillo looks like its cousin the tomato only it is green and has a husk around it and generally gets no bigger than a golf ball. There are also purple tomatillos but I have yet to see them. If you happen to see them at a local market PLEASE let me know! I would love to make the elusive "salsa morado".  

I decided to make some salsa verde out of my farmers market finds. I use apples in it to mellow the spicy taste out a little bit. (I'm a weenie remember?) This recipe is sweet and spicy and savory and when you eat it with some tortilla chips, salty too. Forget trifecta this recipe is just a mind blower! I love it especially because it is so fast and so easy. The kids like it, the husband likes and I like it. It's a crowd pleaser in the Mendoza house. I also suggest cooking either some pork or chicken it it (in a crockpot maybe, eh?) for a complete, and flavorful main course. Goes great in tortillas with a little corn and rice. Yummm. 

Here is my recipe:

Salsa Verde

1 Large Anaheim Pepper cut in half

1 Pint of Tomatillos with husks removed and halved

1 Sweet Green Pepper with seeds removed and sliced

1 Walla Walla Onion quartered

1 Whole Head of Garlic separated and skinned

2 Green Apples sliced and seeds removed (skin on is fine)

Throw all of that on to a lightly greased cookie sheet and roast at 350 for 25 min or until garlic and apples are like butter to slice through.

Throw it all in a food processor until you reach your desired consistency. I like mine almost like apple sauce. 

That's it! So easy right? You get about 2 pint size jars of salsa out of this recipe. One for you and one for a friend, neighbor, or somebody else you really like. Hope ya'll enjoy it as much as I do. If not majfica (That's Portuguese for "More for Me").

Peace and Blessings!

-Lo-