Taming the Sugar Craving

Well, it's back to work. I've had a glorious two weeks off: lots of coffee, lots of chocolate, lots of sleep, lots of runs and hikes and workouts, lots of brunches and giggles and coffee talks and catching up and even an awesome waffle party (!!), lots of Christmas cookies and baking, lots of time to clear my mind. It's back to the routine tomorrow, back to waking up at 4:50am, back to the blur of the classroom and exhaustion that follows. Except I won't have that stack of Christmas cookies to give me a sugar rush around 3pm, right when I need it. But it's January, the month of detoxes and juice diets and so forth.

Do you go for that? I've tried cleansing a couple times, and while I honestly felt detoxed after, I was generally lacking energy, something that can't happen in January, not with report cards due in just three short weeks. I don't know about you, but I still need that sugar fix. Is that wrong? Yeah, well, maybe a little, but I made a solution today: a beautiful, healthy, cleansing solution that doesn't involve juice diets or anything like that. I made this beautiful, fruity salad. I couldn't resist the insanely good deal on pineapple and strawberries at the supermarket, but I think this salad would work just as well with more seasonal fruit -- like blood oranges, crisp apples, grapefruit, and pomegranate. The base of this salad is red quinoa, a nice gluten-free super food to amp you up, grated carrots and parsley. Don't skip the parsley! Aside from it's detoxing qualities, just a little adds a beautiful green, almost citrusy freshness.

Because of all the beautiful fresh fruit in this salad, there's no need for a dressing, besides a nice big squeeze of lemon. If you're not feeling the quinoa love just yet, you might want to try brown rice or millet in your base. If you want some crunch and extra protein, a sprinkling of nuts or pumpkin seeds would be lovely as well. And, if you serve this over some baby spinach or massaged kale, you've got a salad that's definitely a detox and a sugar kick.

Don't sweat it if you're not psyched for a January juice cleanse. Eat your cleanse instead. Happy salad!

Sugar Kick Cleanse Salad
inspired by the Tropical Fruit Salad in Quinoa: the everyday superfood, by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming

For the Salad Base:
1/2 cup of red quinoa, rinsed well
1 cup of water
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
juice of half a lemon

In my salad, I added:
half a small pineapple, chopped into small chunks
2 tangerine oranges, peeled and segmented
1 cup of chopped strawberries
1 small mango, chopped into small chunks

1. Put the quinoa and water in a small pot and bring it up to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender and has absorbed all the water. Cool and set aside.

2. Place the cooled quinoa, grated carrots, fruit add-ins and parsley in a large bowl. Add the lemon juice and mix well.

3. Enjoy! I plan on eating my salad for lunch over baby spinach. It would also be lovely in the morning with an added dollop of yogurt.

Spiced Quinoa Pilaf with Chickpeas and Spinach

The last time I cleansed, I made quinoa porridge with soy milk, mashed banana and frozen fruits. It was satisfying and comforting and I would make it again in an instant. This time around, I used quinoa for dinner instead of breakfast, and made this tasty, hearty pilaf full of yummy goodness like chickpeas, spinach and a big dose of spice.


Last time around, I used lemon and vinegar to flavour my savoury meals, and while they were tasty, I wanted something more comforting and mellow. Our cleanse dictated that no salt was to be added to our food. To make up for that, I made this pilaf lots of delicious spices and herbs: cumin, coriander, ginger, garam masala, curry leaves, dried oregano, lots of black pepper and even more chopped fresh parsley. It turned out wonderful and I almost didn't miss the salt at all. And it was really easy -- basically dumping everything in a pot to cook, and stirring in the chickpeas and fresh herbs and vegetables in at the last second. I made a big batch the night before my cleanse, and ate it both nights along with some fresh steamed broccoli.

Almost makes me want to cleanse more often ... almost... I said almost...

Spiced Quinoa Pilaf with Chickpeas and Spinach
makes 4 hearty servings

1/2 cup of quinoa
a handful each of dried yellow and green split peas
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon each of coriander and garam masala
4 curry leaves (use one bay leaf or lime leaf if you don't have curry leaves)
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
a few good grinds of black pepper
half an onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1.5 cups of water

a big handful of parsley, chopped, stems separated from leaves
a small bunch of baby spinach, rinsed and chopped
1 can of salt-free chickpeas, drained (you could be really virtuous and used dried)

1. Rinse the quinoa and split peas well. Put them in a large pot with all the spices, onion, garlic, curry leaves, water and chopped parsley stems. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to simmer. Cover and let cook for about 15 minutes, or until most of the water is gone.

2. Add the parsley leaves, spinach and chickpeas and stir well. Cook for another 5 or so minutes, until the chickpeas have warmed through and the spinach and parsley are just cooked and still bright green.

3. Enjoy a beautiful, cleansing dinner.

A Brand New Grain

During my cleanse I discovered many different things. First, quinoa is more versatile and tasty than I thought. Second, bananas are a good replacement for sugar. Third, all you need is a blender and frozen fruit to make ice cream. Fourth, giving up gluten is not that easy. And last of all, millet is delicious. I had never tried it before, though I've seen many delicious-looking recipes, including a recent one that I'm aching to try now that I've jumped on the millet band wagon.

I did a little research online and found that it was easy enough to prepare, and fit within the boundaries of my cleanse (ie. gluten free). I also read that you should toast millet before cooking it up -- it gives it a deeper, richer, nuttier flavour. This I definitely needed, since added salt and fat were out of the question. I also toasted up some spices along with the millet before dumping it into a pot of water and letting it do it's magic thing. It cooks up fairly quickly -- about 20 minutes, so not much longer than rice or pasta -- and tastes magical. It's filling, hearty and a perfect, healthy cleansing supper. I ate it topped with some dressed up green veggies and smiled at every bite. I didn't even want to taste the spinach-infused noodles tossed with broccoli, barbecue pork and soy sauce that was being slurped up and savoured beside me.



Would I make it again, now that I'm not cleansing? Yes, definitely. Although I'd probably add a soft-boiled egg on top to bump up the protein factor, or even a little sprinkling of chopped walnuts or pecans. Next time we cleanse though, I'll get my act together a little bit better and experiment with dried legumes, and fat-free, gluten-free baking ...

Spicy Lime-Scented Millet with Dressed Veggies
serves 2

1/2 cup of millet
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon of Mexican chili powder (or curry powder)
1 cup of water
1 bay leaf
1/2 a tomato, diced
juice and zest of half a lime

1 cup of broccoli florets
1 large handful of green beans, trimmed
juice of half a lime
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
a big grind of pepper

1. Blanch your veggies in boiling water until tender. Drain and toss in the lime juice, balsamic vinegar and pepper. Set aside while you make your millet -- the veggies will soak up all the yummy dressing goodness.

2. In the meantime, make your millet by first toasting it along with the cumin and chili powder in a dry pan until it becomes fragrant - about 2-3 minutes. Add it to a pot with the water and bay leaf. Bring it up to a boil, then reduce the heat and let the mixture cook, covered until most of the liquid is absorbed - about 15 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes, lime juice and zest and give it a good stir. Cook uncovered for another 5 minutes or until the tomatoes break down and all the liquid is absorbed.

4. Serve topped with the dressed veggies.

Coffee Update!

The Rooster - cappucino, regular coffee and double chocolate rooibos latte, enjoyed at home because it sooooooooooooo crowded!

Linux Cafe - maple soy latte, mochaccino and soy ginseng (!!) latte: kept me up all night!

The Tampered Press - cappuccinos and latte with homemade oreo, apple loaf slice and shortbread

Cleansing

Ever been on a "cleanse?" Any type of cleanse? You know, where you try to clear your body of all the toxic bad stuff that we put into it everyday; kind of like a little holiday for your liver. During my first and second year of teaching, I heard the word "cleanse" every single day. Everyone at my school was obsessed with losing weight and "cleansing." Two teachers in particular, raved about this cleanse program where you have a smoothie made from this super expensive powder for breakfast and lunch, and then eat a prescribed dinner. I have to admit that I was tempted to try. But the idea of the powdered smoothie that had ingredients that I couldn't pronounced really freaked me out, so I passed.

I'm all about putting foods that feel good into my body, so that in turn, my body will feel good. I often am obligated to do so or my body will ultimately reject whatever I put into it. Go figure. Recently, during one of our three-coffee days, my best friend suggested that we try this weekend detox. You didn't have to by an expensive powder, most of the advice was common sense, and you don't do it every day. It looked doable. For 2 days (or however long), you drink lemon water before breakfast and abstain from alcohol, caffeine and sugar while drinking lots of water and exercising. They also suggest giving up red meat, gluten, wheat and dairy. We're taking it a little further by also eliminating all meat, potatoes, excessive sugar (including juice and dried fruit), salt, nuts and fat. We decided that the weekend would be difficult, so we're detoxing this Wednesday and Thursday.


As well giving my liver a break and cleansing my body for two days, I thought it would be a cool way to experiment with different foods and different ways to prepare foods. I've done a little test run by making a breakfast quinoa. I first saw a picture (scroll down till you hit January 26th) of this warm, comforting and satisfying meal over at simply breakfast awhile ago. There was also a link to a Martha Steward recipe that seemed simple enough to follow and adjust to fit the confines of the cleanse. I've had quinoa before, but never cooked into a porridge-like breakfast (or lunch in my case!) dish, so I gave it a shot. You know what? I didn't miss the diary, sugar or gluten one bit. It was still warm and satisfying and creamy but the quinoa held its unique, bubbly chewy texture. I definitely recommend it, even if you're not cleansing!

Next up .. millet ...

Breakfast Quinoa
adapted from Martha Stewart
My recipe makes only one portion -- Martha's, probably at least 2 if not 3.

1/4 cup of quinoa, rinsed
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of soy or almond milk
a splash of vanilla extract (or almond extract or dash of cinnamon)
1/4 of a banana, mashed (chop up the rest and freeze it!)
a handful of fresh or frozen berries (I used strawberries, blueberries and sour cherries)

1. Bring the water and soy/almond milk up to a boil. Add the quinoa and vanilla extract. Cook, covered on low heat for about 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed.

2. Add bananas and berries. Cook for another 3-5 minutes, stirring, until the porridge thickens.

3. Sit back, snack and let your liver relax.

Oh yeah! More on the coffee tour:


















Crema on Dundas: We had cappucinno, soy latte, americano and chocolate biscotti and blueberry almond cookie, all enjoyed on the patio. One more thing ...


Beautiful, old buildings on Dundas St. West ... I wonder what all those books are about ..