Monday, 01 April 2013
I have a love hate relationship with cleanses and diets. We don’t really have cleanses in England, it is more of an American thing, but as for diets, like a cleanse one would never work for me. I’m always cooking, baking and eating out; in a way because of my blog it is my job to do so so dieting or cleansing would never be practical for me. Also, while there are some great of both out there, there are also some that are simply stupid and leaves me thinking that it both can’t be healthy, and why would you deprive yourself? That is the hate half. However, my love relationship with diets and cleanses are therecipes; yes, some are down right archaic, but some are actually pretty awesome. Some of myfavouriteand most flavourful recipes in my everydayrepertoirealongside the Salted Caramel Double Chocolate Rolo Cookies and the fried Smoked Salmon Latkesactually had their origins in diet cookbooks. I do eat healthy sometimes, you know!
A few weeks ago when the girls from The ConsciousCleanse got in touch with me asking if I wanted to try and review their cleanse I was sceptical. At first glance, I’m always sceptical about things like this. However, when I read a bit more about the philosophy of the cleanse and had a glance over some of their recipes quite a bit of that scepticism fell away. While, as I have already explained it would not be practical for me to join in with the next cleanse I did ask the girls if I could share one or two of their recipes with you all as a bit of a taster alongside letting you all know a bit more about the cleanse.
TheConsciousCleanse is a two week cleanse focused on making gradual changes in your diet to get you eating healthier overall; it is nothing to do withlosingX amount of weight. The basics of the cleanse are to eat as many ‘whole foods’ as possible, aka anything that has not been doctored around with my man (something I try and check for every ingredient I buy when I am grocery shopping), and to eat ‘clean foods’; going package free as much as possible by making your own salad dressings and dipping sauces as possible too, which is something I also try to do whenever possible. (On that note, keep an eye out for an upcoming post I’m putting together where I’m going to share some of myfavouritehomemade saladdressingrecipes!) They also have sample meal plans for meat lovers, for grain lovers and for veggie lovers, so you don’t have to change your personal preferences to take part. While it does have the hallmarks of a cleanse, having days where what you eat helps flush out your system, this is important as the cleanse helps give you information on once flushed out, how to test different food stuffs but gradually reintroducing them forallergens Lots of us are not great with certain foods without even realising it; they may not give us a rash or close our airways, but they make you feel bloated, or more lethargic than need be. I’m not saying cut these out of your diet; too much dairy makes me feel ill and I still eat a hell of a lot of it, but the fact I know I’m not great with it means I can still enjoy all my favourites but I know when to stop without making myself feel unwell. You can read more about theConsciousCleanse over on their website.
While theConsciousCleanse manual has lots of different recipes for every meal of the day, what really caught my eye were the breakfast smoothies. My roommate Mekaleya makes and drinks lots of different smoothies in out blender (which I usually reserve for soup use) and they always look and smell delicious, right up until she addsproteinpowder; I hate that stuff! Anyway, she makes me wish all the time that I made myself more smoothies, so some of the delicious looking recipes from the cleanse seemed like the perfect thing to test. I tried quite a few, but I decided to share my absolute favourite Green Mango smoothie with you, and the Pink ‘N’ Green smoothie which I enjoyed, but I know will be more to the taste of people who like a crisper veg taste, rather than a hot of parsley which the Green Mango gives. Both recipe make a quart of smoothie, and I suggest serving them over ice. Mason jars and fun stripy straws optional, butrecommended.
Green Mango Smoothie
- 2 Large Ripe Mangos (or 2 cups frozen)
- 1 1/2 cup (360g) Parsley
- 1 cup (240g) Chopped Romaine Lettuce
- 2 cups (480ml) Water
Pink ‘N’ Green Smoothie
- 2 Small Bananas
- 3 Large Celery Stalks
- 1 cup (240g) Fresh Raspberries
- 2 cups (480ml) Water
While these are the recipes given, the manual makes it clear that you are free to mix them up a bit with the ingredient proportions to suit your own tastes. While I like the Green Mango smoothie as is, I feel I would add probably half a cup more of raspberries to the Pink ‘N’ Green; I likestrong berry flavours in my smoothies.
If you are interested in taking part in the next cleanse that begins on April 14th (even if you fall off the wagon while you’re doing it, you’ll get all the delicious recipes from the cleanse anyway; I’m looking forward to making their Spicy Lemon Elixir to sip on over the Summer, their Simple Basil Pesto Zucchini Pasta and their Turkey Spinach Burgers) The Conscious Cleanse are offering Rachel Phipps readers 20% off with the code RFCC912. If any of you decide to take part, Id love to hear what you think of it, and if not, what you think of these smoothies. While I enjoyed the Pink ‘N’ Green Smoothie I don’t think I’ll be making it again, but I feel the Green Mango Breakfast smoothie will become a regular breakfast for me, especially when I know I will be taking part in some heavy eatingrestaurantreviewing or recipe testing later in the day!
