The End of The Cleanse

It is Saturday morning and my cleanse is officially over! While it was a great experience, I am happy for it to be over! I am ready to start chewing again :)
I lost just over 4 lbs, discovered a new appreciation for green juice and am recomitted to my healthy lifestyle. I plan to continue the daily salad and green juice.
Here was the menu for the last couple of days:

Day #3
High Green Juice
Pear Nectar-pear, filtered water, star anise, ginger, raw honey, Himalayan crystal salt
Spinach Salad with Pumpkin seeds
Orange Gingerade- orange, ginger, filtered water, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, Himalayan crystal salt
Beet Ginger Soup-beets, filtered water, almonds, celery, ginger, cumin, coriander, sea salt
Brazil Nut Cacao Milk-Brazil nuts, filtered water, raw cacao, lecithin, raw buckwheat honey, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, sea salt

Day #4
High Green Juice
Strawberry Goji Tonic- strawberries, filtered water, pau darco, goji tea, goji berrie, vanilla, raw honey, sea salt
Spinach Salad
Grapefruit Pomegranate- grapefruit, filtered water, pomegranate seeds, aloe leaf, lime, raw honey, himalayan salt
Vanilla Almond Milk

Day #5
High Green Juice
Papaya Nectar-papaya, filtered water, lime ginger
Spinach Salad
Lemon Goji Gingerade- lemons, goji berries, filtered water, ginger, flax oil, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, himalayan salt
Cashew Milk

Juicing with your Blender

During this cleanse, I've been kicking myself that I sold my champion juicer when I moved....granted it was about 9,000lbs and a real pain to clean but still! The thought of going out now and buying a $5 juice aggravates me!

Fortunately, I found out yesterday that you can make great juice in your blender...a regular blender at that! You don't have to own an expensive high-powered Vita-mix. The woman who is running the cleanse realized at the last minute that her juicer wasn't working properly so was forced to use this method for our juices. She actually said she preferred this method as a bit of fiber from the fruits and vegetables are retained and it imparts a nice texture in the juice.

You need:

Blender

fine mesh strainer/nut bag /paint strainer bag ( available at home depot)

Method:

1. Take your fruits and vegetables and remove all large pits or seeds and chop up. Remove peel if necessary as well.

2. Put all into blender with a small amount of filtered water (just enough to get the fruits and veggies to blend)

3. Turn on the blender and let it whirl!

4. Once fully blended, pour juice through strainer or bag into a container and voila! Fresh juice!

5 day Cleanse

Well I am back after a couple weeks away...was in Mexico for a week then hurt my back and it was too painful to sit at my computer. I am back now and on day 2 of a 5 day cleanse. All is going well so far. The first day I had a bit of fatigue and nausea in the afternoon but felt fine yesterday and woke up feeling good today.

Primarily, I'm doing this cleanse to boost my health and also to reduce my out of control cravings for chocolate. I've also noticed that my taste buds have been craving more salt and sugar so hopefully this cleanse will re-set things a bit and get me back on track.

An added bonus is that I've lost 3 lbs so far :)

This cleanse consists of juices, a salad, a raw soup and a nut milk every day. Everything is made fresh daily, is raw and organic!

MENU: Day 1

#1 High Green Juice: Romaine lettuce, celery, kale, cucumber, apple, lemon, ginger, E3 Live
#2 Strawberry-Goji Tonic:strawberries, filtered water, pan darco, goji tea, goji berries, vanilla, raw honey, Himalayan crystal salt
#3 Spinach Salad with mixed herbs, sunflower sprouts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds
#4 Orange Goji Gingerade: Orange, ginger, filtered water, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, Himalayan crystal salt
#5 Creamy Carrot Soup: carrots, filtered water, cashew, cilantro, cumin, coriander, cardamom, Himalayan crystal salt
#6 Cashew Milk: cashews, filtered water, vanilla, lecithin, cardamom, Himalayan crystal salt

MENU: Day 2

#1 High Green: Romaine lettuce, celery, kale, cucumber, apple, lemon, ginger, E3 Live
#2 Papaya Nectar: Papaya, filtered water, lime, ginger
#3 Spinach Salad with mixed herbs, sunflower greens, mung bean sprouts, pumpkin
and sunflower seeds
#4 Lemon Goji Gingerade:lemon, goji berries, filtered water, flax oil, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, Himalayan crystal salt
#5 Zucchini Bisque: Zucchini, spinach, filtered water, pumpkin seeds, chives, parsley, Himalayan crystal salt
#6 Vanilla Almond Milk: sprouted almond, filtered water, lecithin, vanilla, Himalayan crystal salt

My Dream Kitchen

My dream house is basically Ina Garten's home in East Hampton....however, its her kitchen that I would really love to have one day. It is traditional and functional yet fresh and modern (without being stark) and the green walls are to die for! These are the best pictures I could find...please let me know if you come across better ones!

Ina walls:

The walls in my kitchen are, in fact, not wallpaper, but rather they're painted. There used to be a striped wallpaper that I liked but it was discontinued, so a friend who's a decorative painter offered to paint the same stripes. You might want to look at books of wallpapers from Clarence House or Canovas in New York City to see if they have something similar.

What are the materials in Ina's kitchen?
My kitchen has white painted wood cabinets, the center island has a black honed granite countertop and the back counters are black Formica. The floors are black and white linoleum tile. The refrigerator is Sub Zero, the 2 dishwashers are Bosch, and the 8-burner stove is Viking.

Other Kitchens I love: