I will share some new websites that I have found and really like too.  One is Kelly’s.  A few weeks ago, I stole a chicken taco recipe from her.  Bonus?  It’s made in the CrockPot, and who doesn’t love that?!  I have to tell you, I will be making chicken like this more often.  It is so easy, and so delish!  I didn’t know that you could cook chicken breasts in a CrockPot and they would flake apart with a fork.  Not only was this taco recipe great, but you could use chicken cooked like this in soups, sandwiches and salads.  The possibilities abound!  Here is the Taco Recipe.  I used the “Simply Organic Southwest Taco Seasoning” and homemade chicken stock (cooked using Sally Fallon’s ”Nourishing Traditions” recipe I have posted on this blog before) in mine.  Make sure you check all package ingredients- packaged spice companies tend to hide things in them like “partially hydrogenated oils” and “MSG”.  These would ruin your cleanse and your meal, and definitely shouldn’t be fed to your family!

A new veggie dish that we really like too is roasted butternut squash and brussel sprouts.  It is really tasty and simple!  Roasting the brussel sprouts really removes the bitter taste.  In a casserole dish, combine cubed butternut squash and brussel sprouts (bottoms trimmed and cut in half).  Toss with sea salt/pepper and coconut oil.  Roast at 375-400F for 30-45minutes until the edges are brown.  Stir occasionally while roasting.  Enjoy!  Harper likes these too.

For our sweet tooth that we developed over the holidays, we will be using this next recipe on the cleanse a lot.  I love it!  My friends, the Browns, treated us to these the other day.  They are wonderful!  Like I shared last time on the cleanse, I would make my “Almond Joy” version by stuffing with almonds and shredded coconut.  I love this new idea though.  Take organic medjool dates, slice them in half and remove seed.  Mix almond butter (or whatever nut butter you prefer) with a dash of organic cinnamon, sea salt and flax seed.  The flax adds great fiber and a wonderful little crunch (we crave texture a lot on the cleanse).  Spoon the nut butter mixture into the middle of the dates, and enjoy.  Yum, yum, yum!

Again, I would love to hear about your favorite healthy recipes!

First off, for the moms, very cool news to report:  My milk supply continues to do great!  Again, this is while strictly following the purification program and living my stressful schedule.  Also, two other nursing moms who are doing the cleanse reported that their babies are spitting up a lot less.  Isn’t that neat?  Every mom knows how frustrating spitting up can be, I am so happy these babies are doing well.  And, I will continue to follow everyone’s progress and keep you posted.  It makes sense though that because this program forces the majority of food allergies out of the diet, you get healthier (and so do your children!). 

I had a ton of energy yesterday, but today I have been extremely tired.  And, the Starbucks cravings are still there in a major way…  Maybe sleep and a change in the weather would help that!  However, when I eat, the cravings subside, which is good.  We have still been drinking smoothies for breakfast.  I am snacking on veggies and hummus (today we bought cilantro jalapeno hummus from Whole Foods- delish!), fruit and veggie chips (kale chips I made and sweet potato chips we bought at WF).

Snack Ideas:  Organic Medjool Dates- cut them open, remove the pits and stuff w/ organic dried coconut shavings.  These taste just like Hershey’s Mounds to me, and can quickly taste like an Almond Joy if you add an almond too (I try to minimize nuts on the cleanse though).  This is a great snack when you are craving something sweet, but if you are trying to loose weight on the cleanse, you may want to avoid these.  And, raw okra, have you tried it?  It is really good! 

For lunch yesterday, we ate at one of our favorite vegan restaurants.  If you haven’t tried it, you have to go.  Spiral Diner rocks, especially on the cleanse!  Plus, I love browsing their menu and trying their food because I have many recipes that have been inspired by this restaurant.  For dinner last night, I was rushing to a birth, and I ate leftover stew.  I also had the stew with brown rice and a spinach salad for lunch today.  On our salads, we typically use olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice and sea salt and pepper.  And for dinner tonight, we ate a very green meal of brown rice pasta (you can buy it at WF) with homemade pesto and a side of fresh steamed asparagus.

Did you know pesto is so easy to make and tastes so good without cheese and milk fats, which are typically in most pestos you buy?  I made my own tonight, and here’s the recipe:

1 cup pine nuts

¾ cup olive oil

½ large bunch fresh basil

½ cup fresh parsley

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp sea salt

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor (you can use a blender if you don’t have a processor) and blend to desired consistency.  Pesto is great to put on salads, over cooked veggies and brown rice.  We use it a lot on the cleanse too.  I add a bit of fresh squeezed lemon to it too.

Mixing in the food processor

Finished product, enough for tonight’s pasta and to enjoy on other dishes this week.

Our wonderful supper!  Who said being healthy can’t taste good?!  I, of course, sprinkled nutritional yeast on mine.

And our side of veggies!

Thanks for hanging with me, we are over a third of the way there!