Fall cleansing

Happy fall equinox! When the length of day and night are equal we celebrate the coming of autumn and the transition from the warm expansive months of spring and summer to the darker, more inward fall and winter months when night predominates.

The changing of seasons is always a good time to recharge, to take stock of our habits and to reset our intentions. For me, part of this process included a four day juice and smoothie cleanse, book ended with several days of raw foods. 

The purpose of my cleanse was not to starve myself or to loose weight, but to simplify my food intake for maximum digestibility and clarity of mind and body. During my cleanse I stuck to a raw vegan liquid diet of a combination of juices, smoothies, and blended soups. These foods are filling, yet light, gorgeously colored and jam packed with nourishment. Here are a couple of my favorites from the week:

 

 beet + carrot + grapefruit + ginger juice

 

Blended soup of spinach + cucumber + baby bok choi + cilantro + avocado + miso +lime

 

 Purple power juice! Cabbage + carrot + cucumber + burdock + apple

 

 raw vegan tomato + avocado bisque with lotsa good garden herbs

This cleanse taught me to be more adventurous with my juice combinations and exposed me to some delicious raw blended soup recipes. Simple fresh soups like the recipe below are easy on the digestive system, a welcome break from complex food combinations. This one is full of live enzymes and lots of vitamins and minerals plus the healthy fat needed to absorb them. Raw soups are so so easy to make and clean up after. All you really need is a blender!

Raw Tomato + Avocado Bisque

• 11/2 cups tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1/2 an avocado
• 1 small clove garlic
• small handful of fresh herbs (think basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley, thyme)
• 1/2 ts. sea salt
• cracked black pepper
• 1 cup filtered water
• sprinkling of nutritional yeast
• wedge of lemon or lime

Put the first seven ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. As always, taste and adjust the proportions to your liking. Garnish with a sprinkling of nutritional yeast, a wedge of lemon or lime, and herbs. Simple and delicious.

Sweet potato + arugula + avocado

Here's a simple version of one of my favorite combos (I wrote about it before here). This plate made a perfect late brunch on Saturday, my day off yoga and thus day to sleep in and enjoy the morning at home. The recipe is so sweet and easy that you don't even need to think about measurements.

Arugula and bib lettuce with browned sweet potato and avocado

Wash, dry and plate some fresh arugula plus any other greens you have on hand (Here I used arugula from my garden and some local bib lettuce). Lightly drizzle with olive oil (the avocado will be the main source of fat here) and sprinkle with spirulina powder, smoked sea salt (plain sea salt works too) and cracked black pepper. 

Fill a small lidded pot with about 1" of water and heat to boil. Slice some sweet potato into rounds or half moons and add to the pot. Cover and steam until softened but not mushy. Heat 1Tb coconut oil in a cast iron skillet. Transfer the sweet potato to the skillet and cook several minutes on each side until nicely browned. 

Place the browned sweet potato rounds over the greens and top with sliced avocado. Voila!

A fabulous salad

Arugula, radicchio, romaine + coconut quinoa + pan cooked sweet potato + castelvetrano olives + flat leaf parsley + avocado spirulina dressing

Whew! That's a mouthful. And so was this salad. The basic idea came from this magic flavor equation:

 sweet potato + arugula + avocado = soo delicious

There is something spectacular about the sweetness, bitter crunch and creamy finish of this combination. A more basic version that I love is to roast a whole sweet potato, place it while its still hot out of the oven over a bed of arugula, and top with slices of ripe avocado and a bit of salt and pepper. Yum!

For a summer version (when it doesn't make as much sense to heat up house by turning on the oven) I opted to lightly steam the potatoes and then brown them in a skillet with a bit of coconut oil.

I cooked some quinoa, adding unsweetened coconut flakes in the last couple minutes of steaming. And it's all assembly from there: greens, then sweet potatoes and quinoa, topped with sliced olives and parsley. 

For the dressing I mashed an avocado with about a teaspoon of spirulina, a pinch of turmeric, salt, black pepper, and enough water to reach desired consistency. Simple and fabulous.