Part 2: Recipes for the New Year

by Erin Owen | Jan 29, 2014 | Ezine

If you haven’t read Part I about the cleanse I’ve been doing or the format of the anti-inflammatory and detoxing program, head on over to that post here to get the background.

I can tell you that this way of eating is amazingly energizing!

I’ve been busy putting an offer on a new house, decluttering my entire house (top to bottom), staging my house for sale… and all while maintaining my business and being a mom of two growing boys.

My energy has been strong and consistent day-in and day-out, I’ve had little to zero physical soreness (despite hauling boxes and furniture up into the attic and hauling donations to thrift stores and “weird recycle” items to the city lot), and my immune system has been strong enough to resist the myriad bugs that travel into our house from the preschool and grade school my boys attend.

If you want to Access Your Higher Gear to get more done, eating and drinking “cleanly” is the way to go!

In this Part 2 post, I’m sharing more recipes to inspire you at home…

Recipe #4: Simple, Satisfying Pasta Dinner w/ Side Salad (Vegan & Gluten Free!)

Ingredients:

• Brown rice spaghetti
• Jars of Roasted Red Peppers and Deli-Sliced Mild Pepper Rings (green ones) – we used the Mezzetta brand
• Fresh cloves of garlic
• Salad greens
• Avocado
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Cold-pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Seasoning for dressing to taste (for years we have used the Country French Vinaigrette blend by Penzeys Spice every time)

Directions:
Follow package directions to make the brown rice spaghetti. While the water is boiling, finely chop by hand (or using a food processor and a wise eye to know when to stop so it does not become a paste), combine approximately 1 cup each of the roasted red peppers, mild pepper rings, and 4 cloves garlic. (Note: You can add less or more garlic, depending on personal preference.)

Add approximately 2 tablespoons olive oil to a sauté pan, warm up over medium heat, and then add the finely chopped pepper and garlic mixture. Sautee until warmed through and fragrant. Add more olive oil to make more “saucy”, if you like, but be sure to warm it up before adding to the cooked pasta.

While mixture is sautéing and pasta is cooking, wash and chop salad greens and add to a salad bowl. Halve the avocado, remove the seed, and peel once half. Remove the skin and chop avocado into bite size pieces. Set aside for a few moments while you ix up the salad dressing.

Mix 2 parts olive oil with 1 part balsamic vinegar (or another ratio to your preferred taste), then add a few dashes of seasoning. Use a small wisk or small fork to quickly blend until visibly creamy and blended.

Then – and here’s the secret to a super yummy salad – add the chopped avocado directly into the salad dressing to “soak” for a few minutes before scooping it one spoon at a time over the chopped salad greens. Feel free to add other ingredients to the salad to make it heartier: raw chopped veggies, nuts, even cheese if you’re not doing the vegan version.

Spoon the pepper-garlic sauce over a portion of spaghetti on your plate, then add a large helping of salad.

Note: My husband, who is not doing the cleanse, also add a few slices of baguette with butter on the side. I found the meal fully satisfying without the bread. You choose what works for you, but bread puts me to sleep and clogs up my digestion.

Enjoy!

Recipe #5: Savory, Delicious “White Chili” (Vegan & Gluten Free!)

The biggest challenge of this way of eating for me has been to cut out tomatoes. Yup, tomatoes. More difficult to cut out those round red things than sugar, alcohol, wheat, or soy. Why? In the winter especially, we made red sauces for pasta, use tomatoes in soups and stews and chili. Life with no tomatoes? I thought it would be impossible.

Until I found an awesome recipe for White Chili that was so completely satisfying it has now become one of our regular rotating recipes that fits into weekly and monthly meal planning. Try it and you too will discover how delicious it is!

I can’t take credit for the recipe, though, so I’m sending you over to another blog.

Before you go, though, please note the minor changes I made to stay the course with the eating plan I’m following this month:

• I left out the corn (but offered it on the side for my boys to add-in if they wanted)
• I seeded and deveined the jalapeno, and put it in “whole” into the pot, then removed it half way – but it was still a bit too spicy for my young ones. If you’re sensitive to this type of heat, or are trying to reduce internal inflammation, you can skip the jalapeno and it will still be plenty flavorful. In fact, anyone at your table who likes spicy food can put dashes of other hot sauces on their individual bowls.

Here’s the link to Girl Makes Food’s Vegan White Chili Recipe. 

Otherwise, follow her recipe closely as the texture was AMAZING!

Enjoy!

NOTE: To get the first 3 recipes, check out the first post here.

Recently, I’ve been really inspired to teach more about how you can Access Your Higher Gear. If you too would like to know more about this topic, contact me to talk further.

Here’s to Boosting Your Performance with Delicious, Healthy Eating and learning how to Access Your Higher Gear!

Erin