Clean Program: Day Two

I'm on day 2 of the Clean Program and so far so good. I went to the gym this morning and had my green smoothie when I got home. Yesterday, my lunch at school looked something like the picture below minus the plates and silverware.

brown rice with mixed beans and purple wild rice, broiled chicken, salad, and sauteed mushrooms and mustard greens

Vegan Dessert

ingredients

I made raw vegan brownies. The first time I made them, they were DELICIOUS. The second time I made them, I used 2 Tablespoons of cacao nibs and it turned out too bitter. I got the recipe from these two sites: http://mygoddesslife.wordpress.com/ and www.juliemorris.net

Recipe:

• 1 C Raw Walnuts
• 1/2 C Raw Cacao Powder
• 1 T Raw Cacao Nibs
• 10 Medjool dates (take seed out)
• 1/4 C Water
• pinch of salt

Directions: 
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix all ingredients until it becomes kind of like dough consistency. Dump them into an 8x8 pan and press down, then cut into little squares.Enjoy!

Homemade Pho Bo

I made pho bo (Vietnamese beef noodle soup) for the first time several weeks ago. It took a total of 12 hours because I messed up on the first batch of broth. I didn't realize that my fish sauce was old and when I poured it in the broth to season, it ruined all the hard work I had put in so I had to go out and buy new fish sauce and remake the broth. After eating homemade pho, I don't know if I could eat Koreatown pho again. At the Koreantown pho places they use powder to make the broth instead of beef knuckles, oxtail and bone marrow. They also use a lot of msg to give it that savory flavor. At home you can use the best ingredients, omit msg, and make it healthier.

I used these two recipes for the pho:

• http://steamykitchen.com/271-vietnamese-beef-noodle-soup-pho.html
• http://eatdrinknbmerry.blogspot.com/2007/03/pho-bo-vietnamese-beef-noodle-soup.html

I went to 4 markets to get all the ingredients:

• Galleria Market (Olympic and Western)
• Bangkok Market (Melrose and Kingsley)
• Whole Foods (Fairfax and 3rd)
• 99 Ranch Market (Arcadia)

beef brisket and beef knuckles (I also added oxtail shortly after taking the pic)

Some of the spices and ingredients

The broth that got ruined by the old fish sauce

Second attempt at beef broth

Blood, fat and gunk you need to skim off the surface of the broth

Forgot to take a picture before I started eating

Brother-in-law enjoying the noodles

Last Supper

The title is a bit dramatic, but given that I'm going on a 21 day detox cleanse I thought it was appropriate. Knowing that I would be depriving myself buttery, sugary, fat filled food for 21 days, Tim and I went all out last week. First, we hit up The Bazaar, and then on Saturday, we went to Gjelina in Venice. Although The Bazaar was amazing, both Tim and I fell in love with Gjelina. Their pizza was so delicious! The pizza dough was light, thin, chewy and crispy on the edges. I also loved the warm pumpkin, chocolate bread pudding. We're planning on going back there for our first meal post detox.

Beet salad with arugula and burrata

Radicchio, bacon pizza

Braised beef sandwich

Pumpkin chocolate bread pudding