Winter Detox Recipe Line Up
At least once a year I like to detox my body, usually after the holidays with all the sweets and rich food. I have done many cleanses and this time I was recommended zencleanz.com. I chose to try the Rainbow which I combined the gut cleanse for a day followed by a 6 day liver cleanse. In discussion people often tell why they would try a cleanse but don’t know what to eat. For most cleanses, one lays off of gluten, sugar, dairy and all other animal products, including fish, eggs, poultry and meat. Now remember this is only for a finite amount of time, this method is meant to give the digestive system a break and help the supplements of the cleanse work more efficiently. Here is a list of helpful recipes for your next cleanse. I am almost done with the liver cleanse and will actually move on to the flow cleanse for the lymph and blood systems. Happy cleansing.
Nettle Soup
For centuries stinging nettles have been used medicinally across cultures, in medieval Europe nettles were used for joint pain and arthritis as well as a diuretic. Native American tribes used nettles for dysentery, skin issues and stomach problems. Nettles are super rich in nutrients, including calcium, iron, magnesium, Vitamins A and B and magnesium. The rich green color of their leaves are welcome to the kitchen. They are great as a tea, freshly juiced into a green juice, sautéed with oil and garlic and made into this delicious soup.
Carrot Ginger Dressing
Sometimes in the middle of the winter season I need something fresh, something bright, something healthy. I find myself craving a fresh salad or a crisp pear or this super easy and super refreshing carrot ginger dressing. It’s a “goes-with-everything” kind of dressing. Great on quinoa bowls, farmer’s market greens, steamed veggies or as dip with crudités.
Creamy Miso Tahini Sauce
What can I say about this sauce? This sauce is the sauce of all sauces. Full of flavor and creamy goodness, it is simple, quick and easy as it gets. Toss 7 ingredients into the blender or food process and puree till smooth. It stores in the fridge for up to seven days. It is perfect poured over quinoa, steamed Japanese sweet potatoes and avocado (a personal favorite), roasted vegetables or any number of salads (it tastes great over the Kitchen Sink Quinoa Salad (recipe here).
Cozy, Nourishing Jujube Tea
As the weather begins to shift and we move into cooler days, our bodies ask us for a different wheelhouse of nutritional support. Jujubes also known as Chinese Red Dates lend just the right amount of sweetness in this delicious blood-nourishing tea.
Roasted Vegetable Stock
Homemade vegetable stock/broth should be an essential item in the plant-based kitchen, really in any kitchen, focused on health and wellness. It’s filled with minerals including potassium and magnesium as well as trace minerals. I use it in soups, sauces, Sweet Potato Noodle Pho and cook my kids rice in it as well as my millet, instead of water.
Cozy Baked Apples
These warming, comforting, and health-giving baked apples have been my go-to breakfast and snack for these last days of winter. They are so simple to make and have no added sugar.
Quinoa Tabbouleh
This is not your classic tabbouleh, which I love by the way, just can’t do the gluten so I developed a gluten-free version. Traditional tabbouleh is made with bulgar (cracked whole grain wheat, containing gluten), tomatoes, onions, garlic, fresh parsley and mint with olive oil, salt pepper and sweet chili powder.
Citrus Salad
This salad highlights the season’s citrus, and we are lucky in California as we do get some citrus year-round. But now is the time. The bitter chicory complements the sweet, and the toasted hazelnuts add crunch. The sumac and the fennel pollen always make people ask me, “oh my gosh, what is IN that dressing?" The dressing is just some squeezes of lemon, olive oil and salt and pepper. But the sumac and fennel pollen add such unique flavors. Use micro-greens, sprouts, herbs, and edible flowers to make your dish stunning. Be creative and experiment if you can’t get these ingredients.
Easy Immune Ginger Turmeric Lemon Tea
This tea has long been my cold and flu season go-to. I try to make this tea as gingery and lemony as I possibly can, so it almost tastes like medicine, that way it makes me feel like it’s doing something. But for taste and flavor I have made this recipe a bit milder. Brew an initial batch, drink it all day and then using what is in the pot, brew another batch. You can brew the initial ingredients up to three times. The black peppercorns help the body assimilate the turmeric more easily. This tea is warming and soothing.
Hearty Miso Soup
Soup season has just begun. As we head into the fall and winter months, hearty and nourishing and healthy soups become the mainstay in my home. A hearty miso soup can be an entire meal if done correctly, filled to the brim with copious amounts of noodles and veggies. Miso Soup is soup is common in Japan, in fact so common, it is enjoyed at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Mostly served as a side dish, in a small bowl often with small cubes of tofu, delicate pieces of seaweed, like Wakame and garnished with sliced scallions.
