Wind of change

Apples—check.
Carrots—check.
Oranges—check. No wait, it's kiwi today. Ok, check.
Bran—check.
Green tea—check.
Vegetable juice—check.
Soup—check.
Bread and vegetables—check.

These words have seriously taken over our mornings since my return to the states (after the holiday break). Nope, we did not have or adopted a baby whom we send to daycare with food.

I visited a holistic food counselor back in Hungary and as I heard the many millions of things wrong with my body and organs all related to poor food choices—I began to wonder. Can I really clean out my kitchen of junk food? Could I go without meat for 3 weeks? How about sour cream? Those of you who know me... I heart sour cream. According to my husband I eat sour cream with sour cream. Could he, the most carnivorous husband, jump on board? Is this really going to pay off? Could my body really be in that bad of a shape? I mean I am not overweight. I am not obsessed (too much) about what I look like and I consider myself semi in shape. Ehh, who needs this?

Then it hit me: I was full of excuses, excuses, excuses. I called my hubbie via skype and told him the news. Told him what I was planning on doing and asked him to join me. After his initial shock of the foods we cannot have for 3 weeks he quickly fought back: "but hun, I don't drink tea." "You know that."

And those were his last words of complaints. We are 5 days away from completing the cleansing, we are full of energy and found recipes that are so delicious that I know we will keep for years to come. I write this post as an inspiration to anyone who thinks or believes that a few weeks of well made, nutritious food without meat or sugars is impossible.

Things taste different and better now. Sure I have to plan meals, go shopping, get produce that's fresh, prepare meals daily. We both know that some recipes are less successful, than others. We both know that bran is an evil sibling of cardboard. Nobody said it was going to be easy—but I am proud of the change we made, and I am forever proud and heart my husband of 4 years (as of Monday January 25th) for sticking with me in the windstorm.

Below you will find our top 3 favorite recipes (Sources are tricky, since almost all recipes had to be altered, but Simply Recipes is a fantastic place to start. Please no complaints from other chef's lawyers for intellectual property, ok?)


Cauliflower soup
3 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic
1 medium onion
2 stalks of celery
2 heads of cauliflower
4 cups of water
2 cubes of vegetable broth

Cut up all the onion, garlic, celery and saute them in olive oil. Cut the cauliflower into small florets and put in the pan with water and vegetable broth. Bring the soup to a boil, then cook for 20 minutes on low heat.  With a slotted spoon remove two cups of cauliflower. Blend/ mix the rest into a smooth soup. Put back two cups of cauliflower and serve.

Yellow squash soup
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3-4 cups of yellow squash, shredded
2 cups of water
1 vegetable broth cube

Heat olive oil, and saute garlic, onion, celery. Add squash, broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer for 20 minutes. Blend cooked through vegetables for smooth texture. Can be served hot or cold.

Carrot ginger soup
3/4 lbs of carrots, roughly chopped
1 cup of coconut meat
1 1/2 tbs of shallots, diced
1/2 cup of coconut water
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/2 clove of garlic
1 tbsp of ginger, minced
1 tbsp of miso
pinch of cumin

Cook all ingredients until soft, then combine all in high power blender until completely smooth.

Enjoy!