Raw - Day 4

The big news.....so far I've lost 6 pounds.  Since Friday!  I'm not sure where I'm losing it from because I don't see much of a body change yet.  Well, my belly is a bit smaller, so is my rear end and my double chin is shrinking.  I'm also noticing that I don't have my afternoon crash - the one where I need to take a nap around 3:00.

I've had headaches off and on (but I have a lot normally) so I'm not sure if I'm detoxing or just being me. I'm surprised at how I'm not feeling hungry.  I sort of expected to starve the whole time and feel like I was never getting enough to eat.  But I've felt full after every meal and rarely feel like snacking.  The thing that's the hardest is the temperature.  I miss warm/hot food!  I'll be eating something and think, "This would taste so much better if it were warm."  I hadn't realized that I equate comfort with food warmth.

I ate a late breakfast and my husband came home early for lunch so I ended up eating Pad Thai for brunch.

Breakfast
Pad Thai with Kelp Noodles - recipe by Ani Phyo

1/2 c. almond butter

1 c. coconut oil

1/4 c. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

1/2 c. lemon juice

2 tbsp. jalapeno

2 tsp. coriander

1 1/2 c. water

Blend.  Toss with:

2 to 4 packages Kelp noodles

½ c. basil

2 c. shredded cabbage

My thoughts...it tastes nothing like pad thai, but was still very good.  Pretty much nothing can taste like pad thai unless it's pad thai from a little restaurant in Seaside, CA called Baan Thai.  They make the absolute best pad thai (and singapore noodles) on the planet.  When we lived in CA we ate there almost every week.  They knew us so well they bought us a Christmas present!  Nothing beats sitting at the beach eating great pad thai.

Um, back to the recipe.  This obviously makes a lot so I halved it.  I soaked the kelp noodles in warm water with some lemon juice.  Within 15 minutes they were nice and soft.  The fresh basil was such an amazing addition.  I now want to grow a basil plant so I can put it on everything.  The sauce was quite lemony so the next time I'd decrease that a bit.  I didn't halve the cabbage though, and I liked having a lot of crunchy veggie with my noodles.

Lunch

1 pomegranate (I'm so loving them right now)

Cream of Zucchini Soup - Jennifer Cornbleet, 'Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People'

½ cup water

1 zucchini, chopped (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

1 teaspoon mellow white miso

½ teaspoon crushed garlic (1 clove)

¼ teaspoon sea salt

dash cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ avocado, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh minced dill, or 1 tsp dried

Place all of the ingredients except the olive oil, avocado and dill in a blender. Blend until smooth.  Add the olive oil and avocado and blend until smooth. Add the dill and blend briefly just to mix.  Serve immediately.  Serves 2

My thoughts...If I hadn't gone a bit crazy with the raw garlic, this would have been a nice, mellow soup. Don't do as I did and add two large cloves of garlic - more is not always better.

I didn't chop anything.  I just cut stuff into two or three pieces and added it to the blender.  I don't think it serves two.  I came away with one and a half bowls...which I ate myself!  Like the last soup I made it was very, very thin.  I like thick soups.  Even chunky ones.

Dinner

Mushroom Tacos with Mango Salsa

Tacos

Portabella mushrooms

zucchini

olive oil

Nama Shoyu

garlic

sea salt or seasoning salt

lemon juice

I cut up 2 large mushroom caps, after chasing the kids around with them.  I cut the zucchini into small strips.  Then I just sort of drizzled or dashed stuff on top and stirred it around.  I made it at breakfast and let it marinade all day (stirring whenever I walked through the kitchen).  By dinner time they were very soft and seemed almost cooked, albeit not warm.  I was surprised at how much the mushrooms reduced.  From filling a small bowl at the beginning to barely covering the bottom!

Mango Salsa

1 mango

a nice medium tomato or a few small ones

some onion

a bit of garlic (unless you're still burping it up from lunch)

salt

cilantro

a lime 

avocado

I cut up the mango, seeded and chopped the tomatoes, tiny diced about 1/4 cup onion and skipped the garlic.  I added a large handful of cilantro and chunked the avocado, sprinkled with salt, then squeezed half a lime all over it and stirred.

To serve, I used romaine lettuce leaves (I ate 4).  Add the mushroom stuff and the salsa, roll and eat.

My thoughts...these didn't taste like tacos.  But I'm a diehard taco fan (they're my favorite food, followed by pad thai).  But they were tasty.  They dripped a lot (I should have drained the marinade better), but I liked the combination of slightly sweet and salty.  Towards the end I just ate the salsa and mushrooms with a fork and yes, I ate the whole thing by myself.