Almost time for the cleanse!

Before we started the cleanse, we made a half hearted attempt at the Elimination Diet. I say half hearted because we were still trying to eat things that we couldn't have on the cleanse, like whole wheat bread and eggs, so we weren't completely true to it. In the spirit of that, please note the above "Kinda Clean Friendly" NYE bubbly! Perrier, (carbonated drinks are a no-no on the Clean Program as they can create acidity in the body) fresh squeezed lemon, and a few frozen raspberries for color. If you like a sweeter "champagne", feel free to add some Stevia. It was pretty refreshing and a nice substitute for the real thing :)



Another dish we made that might not exactly be "Clean friendly" is this avocado sauce with gluten-free pasta. I don't know if you're really supposed to have any processed food and the pasta is certainly processed. It was delicious anyhow, but I don't recommend saving any leftovers! It doesn't reheat well. This dish, as with many others, consisted of me thinking up things we had in the house and ways to combine them that would be pretty good. Then, I searched a few keywords online and found an actual recipe, just to make sure I wasn't combining gross things and not fully thinking ahead about the terrible consequences (I have made many inedible things, I try to avoid it at all costs now). So I searched "avocado, lemon, basil sauce"...I thought it would be a nice combo and I had just bought some gluten-free penne, I think it was made with Quinoa but I can't remember. (Careful with the Quinoa pasta! Some of it is made with corn flour which is fine for the gluten intolerant, but not for the Clean Program). I found a recipe that was similar to what I had in mind, realized it was a perfectly normal combo and forged ahead! I also added olive oil, walnuts, garlic (of course) and food processed the bunch (I used the juice of the lemon as well as the lemon zest). After the pasta had cooked, I mixed it with the sauce and topped with sauteed asparagus. It was pretty good but got a little boring/redundant as you neared the end of your plate, that's just me though! Ryan loved it.

Now, we just have to make it through the next 3 weeks eating similar items and avoiding pizza, doughnuts, candy bars, etc! Wish us luck :)