Post-cleanse update OR Time to get dirty all over again

We are done! We are eating! We are chewing our food!

I have to admit I was pretty bummed when I heard that dairy was out for a while. Anyone who knows me knows that besides “I’m going to kill myself” (sometimes in the plural, as in, “let’s kill ourselves”) “I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t like” is one of my most commonly uttered statements.

On Day 9, I was feeling particularly close to both of those statements, i.e. Brian was making grilled cheese in my kitchen and if I didn’t get a bite of it in the next ten minutes, I would kill myself. Since the first day of the cleanse, I was having nightmares that I was eating things by accident, thereby ruining the cleanse, and later on, endangering my system. The dreams were not helping any.

So Rachel and I did the next best thing to suicide and we went entirely insane. We both were in our studios at our computers, emailing recipes back and forth rapid fire. I ran in with my vegetarian cookbook and flagged all the vegan/ non-bready recipes I could find. We scoured the web. We drooled over foods that were still forbidden, but would not be soon. It was fast-paced, it was excessive, it was literally insane.

Two to three hours later, we had our entire menu for the next week or so plotted out, a soup and a salad for each day and even (gasp!) brunch on Sunday morning (vegetable hash, smoothie with coconut milk and fruit).

We went food shopping on Day 10, almost all produce (unfortunately, no fava beans or jicama anywhere in Spartanburg). And we’ve been cookin’! I have to say that since we’ve begun this experiment in healthier diets, I have not been craving dairy. Well, that’s not entirely true. I dreamt last night of a bagel and cream cheese. I still miss those. But the idea of eating one makes me kind of sick.

Here is the recipe for a salad we made Saturday night that ruled (especially compared to time expended and preparation difficulty, of which there is little):

New Spring Vegetable Salad

(serves 4)

1 1/2 lbs small new potatoes, halved

14-ounce can fava beans, drained

4 ounces cherry tomatoes

1/2 cup walnut halves

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard

1/4 cup olive oil

pinch of sugar

8 ounces young asparagus spears, trimmed

6 scallions, trimmed

salt and freshly ground black pepper

baby spinach leaves, to serve

1. Put the potatoes in a saucepan. Cover with cold water and bring to boil. Cook for 10-12 minutes, until tender. Meanwhile, put the fava beans in a bowl. Cut the tomatoes in half and add them to the bowl with the walnuts.

2. Put the white wine vinegar, mustard, olive oil and sugar in a screw-top jar. Season with salt and pepper. Close the jar tightly and shake well.

3. Add the asparagus to the potatoes and cook for 3 minutes more. Drain the cooked vegetables well. Cool under cold running water and drain again. Thickly slice the potatoes and cut the scallions in half.

4. Add the asparagus, potatoes and scallions to the bowl containing the fava bean mixture. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well. Serve on a bed of baby spinach leaves.

NOTE: We doubled the dressing recipe and that was awesome. We also felt the amount of walnuts could be bumped up a little with positive effects.

Enjoy!