Playin’ The Edge

When it’s tough to manage the food requirements on a detox, sometimes you feel like you have to live like a monk – in silence, at home eating tiny bowls of plain brown rice.  But it just ain’t true.   One of the things that you can do quite enjoyably while detoxing is make Sunday dinner.  Of course it doesn’t have to wait til Sunday, Saturday is good too.  It just means making a pile of good food so that you have leftovers or invite some friends over so that your lifestyle feels less monkish.

Roast chicken with double-baked potatoes is the perfect kind of menu for this.  It’s hearty food that you wouldn’t make on a weeknight and the baked potatoes make it feel a little special.  Double baked potatoes are the perfect thing to do on a weekend day when you’re puttering around.  They need time, you want to start early, but they’re not a lot of work.

The other cool thing about a dinner like this is that it helps you save a bit of money.  Detoxing can feel expensive but you get a lot of meals from a roast chicken.  After you’re finished de-meating it, throw the chicken bones in the freezer until you have time to cook them up to make a stock.  Divide the stock up and use some for adding flavour to rice and stir fries.  Or make a veggie soup.  Add some brown rice to your veggie soup and it’s a stick-to-your-ribs detox lunch.

Baking potatoes are easy on the budget too.  They aren’t expensive and you can make a bunch of them, freeze or refridgerate them and then bake them when you’re ready to eat.  Or even microwave one for a quick detox lunch.

I’m not providing a recipe for roast chicken because you can find a million of them online and i don’t have a particular favourite.  But here’s how to do the:

Double Baked Potatoes

Start early in the day so that you can let the potatoes cool before you scoop out the guts, it’s not worth burning yourself.  You’ll need 4 evenly sized baking potatoes.  Turn the oven on to 400 and scrub the potatoes.  I love potato skins, it’s where all the vitamins are, so scrub ‘em good because you’re inviting me over too right?  Prick them each a couple times with a fork and then put them in the oven.  Don’t worry if the oven isn’t up to 400, the potatoes can use the extra time.  Set your timer for 60 minutes.

At the 60 minute mark, prick them again with the fork.  The skin will be firm, but the potato inside should be soft.  If not, give them another 10 and check again.

Once the potatoes are done, set them on the stove and let them cool.  When you’re ready for the next phase, cut each potato in half and scoop the guts out with a spoon into a good sized bowl.  Try not to destroy the skins.  Put all the skins on a large pie plate or plate.

Mash the potato guts and add 1 TB of butter and a bit of chicken stock at a time until you get a nice mashed potato consistency.  I put in about 1/4 cup of stock.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkled in some dill if you like it.

If you like a simple smooth mashed potato, you can stop here and fill the potato skins.  If you like “stuff”, consider adding a chopped green onion.  Also a handful of parsley is good.  You could also put in some lightly steamed tiny broccoli bits to add color.  Be creative.  If you have a lot of guts, the potatoes will be nicely mounded and that’s ok, they’ll just need a bit more time to warm.

If you know your guests will have *no* interest in eating like you are, sprinkle a little cheddar on their potatoes, you know, the stuff that’s getting hard in the back of your refridgerator because you’re detoxing.

Cover the potato plate with plastic until your chicken is 15 or 20  minutes from finishing and put them in the oven.   If the potatoes start getting browned they’re done, but as long as they’re warmed through you’re good (i stick a finger in one to see what the inside temp is and then memorize which potato it is to ensure it ends up on my plate).  If your chicken needs to sit for a bit, you can put the potatoes back into the warmed oven.

Make another veg or salad for this meal and your friends will so impressed.  You may  get another detox convert to join you next time.  Happy detoxing.

Wow Happy New Year.  And what a time of imbibing and noshing I’ve had!  Although I’m not a big resolution person (I seem to attempt improvements all the time) I do have some plans for bettering my eating, getting my exercise and rest.

I know for many, the new year involves starting a detox and good on you!  Sometimes when I start a detox I am totally keen and can’t wait to kickstart it. When I feel that way I make this soup.  It’s super good for you and also tastes really good.  There’s something about green and white veggies that pack a double whammy of cleansing with high octane nutrients.

This recipe is from my second detox cookbook and when I was recipe testing I gave it to some friends for lunch (who weren’t detoxing) and it was so good they asked for seconds.  It’s also really flexible, I swap in spinach, peas and broccoli for the green, if that’s what I have in the house.  I also add a handful of leftover brown rice to my bowl when I want a more substantial meal.

Green Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
3 leeks
1 leaf of kale
1 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic
2 slices of fresh ginger
½ cup chopped parsley
chicken or veggie stock*

Chop the leeks and sauté them in olive oil.  Add coarsely chopped kale, celery, garlic, ginger and parsley.  Add enough stock to just cover the contents and simmer for 30 minutes.  Allow the soup to cool a little and then puree it.

*always check the ingredients to make sure it doesn’t include ingredients like msg and yeast that should be avoided during the detox.  I find organic brands are the most reliable.

I came clean with my yoga class the other day.  I confessed.  Even though I preach the good word about listening to one’s body and taking care of oneself, I hadn’t been.

I have had a sore shoulder for a year and finally went to a health practitioner about it.  How’s that for taking care of myself?

It was my baby carrying side and when my baby was a year and a bouncy 20 pounds we celebrated my other son’s birthday by going on Theodore Tugboat.  It was a great trip around the harbour and i learned a lot about Halifax but I also carried Leo on that side for the whole time.  By the end of the day i thought my arm was going to fall off and did my shoulder ever hurt.

And it really hasn’t stopped hurting.  Sometimes its more cranky than others and then I’d baby it for a while, but it was always low level sore.

I called an osteopath once and when his office didn’t return my call in 4 days i got cheesed off and didn’t make an appointment when they finally called (i must have been more cranky than my shoulder was that day).

Finally, the other morning in the shower, i pulled myself up by my imaginary bootstraps and thought, Fox, for gods sake, get someone to look at your shoulder.

My chiropractor does that bioflex laser thing and I’ve been going for a few sessions and it’s fixing up quite nicely.  She also gave me exercises to do and so after confessing to my yoga class i asked them to do my exercises with me.

My BFF and i have been talking about this ache ‘n pain thing.  She has a sore heel that’s getting in the way of her running, which makes her unhappy because she can’t run and running makes her happy.  And we talked about how our aches and pains make us so darn cranky, when really, that’s life right?

There’s nowhere that says our bodies will be healthy and painfree for the time we meander this earth.  In fact its the opposite, we will, guaranteed, spend time sick, injured and in pain.  That’s just reality.

And i think that’s where i got to with my shoulder, i would feel the pinch and i would feel all unhappy about it and wish it were different but then not actually do anything about it.

I finally just got over myself.  Deal with it and just move on.

Our bodies can be such good teachers.  And our window for experiencing the world.  Scott Bea, a psychologist says that all fun comes through the physical, “No one ever says, ‘I had a fun time thinking last night.’”

It reminds me of something i read from Pema Chodron’s book, “The Wisdom of No Escape”

It is helpful to realize tht being here, sitting in meditation, doing simple everyday things like working, walking outisde, talking with people, eating, using the toilet, is actually all that we need to be fully awake, fully alive, fully human.  It’s also helpful to realize that this body that we have, this very body that’s sitting here right now in this room, this very body that perhaps aches, and this mind that we have at this very moment, are exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, and fully alive.  Furthermore, the emotions that we have right now, the negativity and the positivity, are what we actually need. It is just as if we looked around to find out what would be the greatest wealth that we could possibly possess in order to lead a decent, good, completely fulfilling, energetic, inspired life, and found it all right here.

I’ve been thinking about Squash Soup because it’s easy to make and it’s great during a detox.  It’s filling and delicious.  I tripped over this recipe and really liked the spices in it.  I don’t know what a Red Kuri is, i’d just make it with my ol’ fave Butternut.

It makes a barrel of soup, which is handy.  It feels like you’re always cooking on a detox.  It’s perfect when you feel like having some friends over.  You can convince them that detoxing doesn’t mean subsisting on brown rice.  And you get leftovers too.  Thanks goodness it freezes well.  So make it during week one of your detox and take some out to defrost for week two.

If you’re someone who loves crunchy bread with your soup,  try brown rice cakes with hummous, mushed up avocado or butter.

Here’s the recipe with a few adjustments to make it detox-friendly:

Red Kuri Squash Soup
Serves eight to twelve, with leftovers

Ingredients
2 lb. red kuri squash
1½ c. onion, diced
2 tsp. garlic, minced
2 tbsp. butter
½ tsp. ground cardamom
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 c. water
21 c. vegetable stock
Salt

1. Roast the squash in a 350º oven 60-90 minutes, or until soft. When cool, scoop out the flesh.

2. Sweat onion and garlic in butter in a large pot on medium heat until soft.

3. Add the spices (cardamom, cumin, coriander, cinnamon) and white wine. Cook on medium heat until liquid is reduced by half.

4. Add squash flesh and vegetable stock.

5. Simmer on medium-low heat 30 minutes.

6. Puree the ingredients in the pot with an immersion blender (if you don’t have one, transfer in batches to a blender).

It’s tough to keep my 7 year old Angus’ belly full.  He’s a pretty active kid and carries no extra meat on his bones.  When he goes to school it’s especially hard.  He doesn’t eat dairy because he’s sensitive to it and the school is nut-free.  I’m also really careful with sugar because it makes him nutty.

So it’s tough to come up with recess snacks that will give him enough ooomph to power his play and help him get to lunch.  He needs some protein and it’s got to be a bit more convenient than sending along a chicken leg.  Although that might be worth trying sometime.

So i did some research on what protein-rich snacks i could make, that Angus would eat.  I found this awesome recipe for Protein Brownies.

Some weight conscious person i knew a while back told me about black bean brownies and i thought she was nuts.  She said, no really you can’t taste the beans!  But i never tried it, beans in brownies just didn’t seem right to me.  Like cats and dogs living together.

When i saw them in this recipe I thought, hey, for my kid, i will try it.  The key is that the beans sit in the blender for while, they totally liquify.  And even tasting the batter, I found it tasted just like regular brownies batter.

I reduced the sugar and used half fructose because it doesn’t bother Angus as much.

The brownies turned out amazing.  They were actually light and fluffy, i just assumed anything with that much protein would be dense and heavy.

I made the mistake of telling Honeybunny what was in the brownies, but he still had a couple they were so good.  Angus has had them for snack every day.

I can’t wait to try the next recipe i found, unbaked chocolate macaroons with TVP in them.  TVP is Textured Vegetable Protein and looks like itty bitty dog food.  Chickie who wrote the recipe said TVP is a nice crunchy addition, she eats it straight out of the bag.  This time i won’t tell Honeybunny what’s in them.

I used to be a vegetarian and it was mainly an excuse to eat all the pasta and bread i could possibly consume.  This is not a good way for me to eat.  Even though that’s what i love to eat, my blood sugar rises and crashes, i get wicked cravings, i never feel satisfied and it makes my ass look like a tortellini.

I’ve discovered that I’m happier eating low glycemic foods like whole grains and making sure I get some protein in every meal.   When i was a veggie I ate tofu regularly but I realized I’d gotten out of the habit.  I don’t want to be a big-time meal eater.  I love the idea of meatless mondays and that other one about not eating meat until 6 pm.

The challenge is that the kids are huge meat eaters.  They have not met a domesticated mammalian food source that they didn’t like.  But you gotta try right?

So at the grocery store i got a couple of packs of tofu (the stuff lasts so long!) and hoped that I could figure out a way to make it so the kids wouldn’t turn up their noses at it.

I cut it into chunks and threw it in a plastic container with a huge dump of teriyaki sauce, some squished garlic, some soy sauce and a bit of mirin sauce to add sweetness.

I shook the container once in a while to make sure the chunks were all coated.  Then at dinnertime i tossed them in a hot frying pan with sesame oil and got them toasty on two sides.  I took them out of the pan and then sauted veggies and did a stir fry thing with peanut sauce (the kids looooove peanut sauce) and noodles.

Honeybunny said excitedly – “look kids!  Mom made Delicious Flavour Chunks!”  Just in case “tofu” sounded weird.  The kids got really excited.

And no, i don’t feel bad about “positively positioning” things with my children in the hopes that they’ll do what i want.  There’s plenty of other times they don’t do a thing i want, i feel like we’re merely trying to address the balance.

It worked, the kids loved the Delicious Flavour Chunks.

In fact, the next day we asked Angus what he wanted for lunch and he said, “can i have some more Delicious Flavour Chunks?  I want all the chunks you can fit on my plate!”

Lucky i had that second package.  But don’t get too excited that I have a veggie in training.  He may hate them next time he sees them.  And thanks to the Parental Zen skills I’ve learned, I’m OK with that.

Back when i started detoxing i couldn’t wait to get the thing over with so i could go back to cheese, milk, pasta and lots of cream in my coffee.  But now I try to eat more detox healthy all the time.  It came about slowly.  I didn’t force myself, i just kept working at finding things I liked among the healthy foods and let them take over for things i’d prefer not eat as often.  Now I can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten a french fry.  And I’m good with that.

I also had a realization.  While I try to stuff as many veggies as possible into family dinnertime, we still have food that appeal to the masses, like my kids.  The place where I really have control over what i consume is the meals I have at work:  breakfast, lunch and snacks 5 days a week.

Before, in the a.m.’s I would bring too little to work.  I’d think “oh yeah that’s enough food” and then I’d be at work and the hungries would hit and I would end up at a store or vending machine.  Now I bring lots of food but try not to spend a lot of time prepping.

On Sunday I make a big salad of grains (like brown rice or quinoa), veggies and some protein like feta cheese, beans or canned salmon.  Or I’ll make something like Greek Chickpea Salad.

I’ll fill 3 containers and put them in the fridge.  In the a.m., I just have to add salad dressing (the real stuff like Paul Newman’s, not the diet crap with all the scary ingredients).   Then i don’t have to think about lunches again until Thursday.

Sometimes I make a vat of carrot soup with lots of tasty spices.  I refridgerate enough in containers for 2-3 days and freeze the rest for another week.

I’ve found that if I bring two smallish lunch meals like soup and a salad, I’ll eat one at 11:00 and then the other at 2:00 or so.  Then I don’t spend my time snacking and I consume way more veggies.

I’ll also bring extras like fruit, greek yogurt and homemade oatcakes (whole wheat flour, 1/2 the sugar) on Monday and then the food is there to eat at some point in the week.

I even stock back-up.  I have drawer snacks like almonds and peanut butter for putting on bananas if I feel like i could use more protein.  I think i was always afraid that if I had a lot of food around me at work that all I’d do is eat.  But really, i eat the same amount, just better because i have plenty of healthy options.

My hero (he doesn’t know it) is this guy in my office who’s mid to late 40s and obviously lifts a lot of weights.  He clearly takes good care of himself.  He brings an armload of various sized plastic containers in to work and puts them all carefully in the fridge.  Big containers with salad and chicken, little ones with dips, dressings and yogurt. He brings in 2-3 days worth of food each time.  Now that’s organized.

He also washes the containers out at work and I’ve started doing that too.  There’s usually some point in the afternoon when you can use a 3 minute break and then it’s one less thing to do at home when you could be organizing the next day’s food.  Hope some of that helps –  happy detox-eating all the time.

I read about good benefits of coconut oil in a few places and so I did some research on it.  Internet research on something like this is so much fun.  You get the short general fairly useless articles.  And then you also get the in-depth so-scientific-most-of-it-goes-over-your-head articles.  But I pieced together that it’s pretty healthy, it also might increase your metabolism and help you lose weight.  So I decided to give it a try.

I worked up to adding a tablespoon per day to my diet.  I melted it in the microwave and drizzled it over a flat bagel with a slice of low fat cheese or egg for breakfast.  I put some in my hot cereal, soup, pasta and stew. I also dribbled some in coffee.  I know it sounds weird, but keep in mind that coconut oil is lighter than melted butter.  And i found an organic brand that tastes light and coconuty, it’s really good.  A friend of mine scrapes coconut oil on her crackers.

After two weeks of eating it I found I was a little less juicy around my middle which i was pretty happy about.  I know I lost a couple pounds but can’t give exact numbers because my scale died.  I was happy with the results.

After four weeks of eating I had fewer cravings and less hunger in general.  I would get to 4:00 in the afternoon and go, hey wait a second where was my 3:00 search for snacks?  And that’s weird, I never forget to eat.  I also find that I can do some baking and then not eat it like I used.  Like, actually walk by it, which just isn’t like me.  I was even happier with those results!

I also notice that if I skip I day I see a bit of a return of my cravings and hunger.

I noticed that Dr. Mercola did an article on coconut oil.   Dr. Mercola is a funny guy.  I subscribe to his newsletter because he has good info on staying healthy and supplements and stuff.  I read him because i often hear of things that I don’t hear in other ways.  The downside is that he often takes a fear mongering approach (the food additive that will KILLL YOU!), but then also offers videos of cute animals.  So he keeps you entertained while you wait for your impending death from over-consumption of aspertame.

But the bottomline is that I find what he says fairly trustworthy.  He does his research and what he says jives with things I research elsewhere.  So he’s a good resource for learning more.  If you want to learn more about coconut oil, he did an article on how coconut oil helps avoid heart disease and then reviewed a study that compares coconut oil to soybean oil.  So you can learn more yourself.  If you decide to try it share your results here!

Wow, I finally finished the cookbook and got it up on the site.  I’m really excited about it.  I figured how to make a detox granola.  I know, another breakfast option – woohoo!

I also really got thinking this time about the best ways to keep the whole 80/20% food thing straight.  It’s one of the challenges of doing the Wild Rose D-Tox.  I heard someone say once that eating on the detox is no big deal, they just make a big pot of chili and then eat it constantly.  And I thought, um, aren’t beans and meat 20% foods?  So shouldn’t chili maybe make up one meal?  Or at least put it on brown rice which you can eat in unlimited quantities?

My point is that it’s hard and I included some advice on how to figure it out in the cookbook.  I also included 6 recipes that you can make with all 80% or foods from the unlimited list.  In other words, eat up.  No math required.  Things like Lemon Rice and Almond Crusted Salmon.  Those dishes are so yummy I eat them when I’m not detoxing.

So check it out if you’re thinking about your next detox.  For a mere $4.95 e-book, it costs less than your next bag of organic brown rice.  Happy Detoxing!

I recently paged through Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights, which as much fun to read as it was to drool over the recipes.  She’s a good writer (happens to be grand daughter to Roald Dahl of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory fame) and her words make you taste the food she describes.

She’s also a foodie and a transformed one.  She went from eating anything to enjoy herself to eating more carefully to take care of herself.

I was reading her recipes and then realized they were healthier than i thought.  Voluptuous health food?  She clearly loves food but she’s smart about it.  Sure she’ll use creme fraiche in a recipe but often only a tablespoon to add that creamy punch.  Also, a bunch of them are detox friendly.  Like the Scrambled Tofu breakfast.

Only she uses mushrooms which aren’t on the list but I thought you could handily substitute pretty much any veg.  Greens would be tasty, so would lightly fried grape tomatoes.  Maybe peppers and onions.  See I’m drooling again. Here’s the recipe:

Scrambled Tofu with Cumin and A Detox Friendly Veg to Take the Place of Shiitake Mushrooms

1 T of sesame oil

1 c of substituted veggies

salt and pepper

1/2 a block of firm tofu

1 heaping t of cumin

1 T of chopped fresh thyme plus extra to serve

Heat the oil in a pan and saute your veggies.  Season and set aside.  Add a little more oil to the pan and crumble the tofu in with your fingers and cook until it looks like scrambled eggs.  Stir in the cumin and thyme with a wooden spoon.  Make sure the tofu is coated evenly.

Spoon onto two plates and pour the veggies on top adding some more thyme if you please.