21DSD while preggos

On this round of the detox, I recruited 3 other people at work. I think I've started a trend, people want to get healthy and feel better working a 12 hour shift. I'm kinda here for moral support and to answer any questions about the program. 

I started the detox when I was 11 weeks pregnant! Everyone kept asking me if it was safe and if my doctor approved. I've never done the detox while pregnant so I'm not sure if it's safe but I would never do anything that I thought would harm the baby. I eat real food on the detox so it shouldn't really be a problem. Oh and I never asked my doctor if this was ok...nurses are the worse patients :)

Days 9 and 10 were really tough. Day 9 was better than day 10. I fell off the detox wagon on day 10 but jumped right back on day 11- which I officially entered the 2nd trimester and felt good running for the 1st time in awhile. 

I'll attempt another round of the detox once the baby is born. 

For now, I'll try to eat paleo...

Coffe and cocoa rubbed ribs and Spicy Slaw

So I finally had time to explore the 21 Day Sugar Detox cookbook. I'm on my 2nd round of the detox and it definitely helps that there are more recipes available. 

I made the banana chia seed oatmeal, kombucha gelatin, sweet potato flatbread, crust less quiche, the ribs and the spicy slaw. 

The ribs were pretty good. I bought the meat from Costco and they were Costco proportions. I didn't get a chance to marianade the ribs overnight so I the rub was marinating for 3.5 hours. I cooked them in the oven for 2.5 hours and it was so juicy (and I was so hungry) that I didn't even grill or broil them. 

I also wanted a side dish to accompany my ribs and decided to try for the spicy slaw. I decided to try the wet chopping on my vitamix since I've never done it before. The 1st attempt was a fail- I had a cabbage mush. The 2nd attempt was much better! I like spicy things so I decided to put 2 tbsp of the chili garlic paste and boy did it have a kick to it! I decided not to add the jalepeños and I don't like onions so I didn't include those items. I used tahini for my nut butter. I probably couldn've used a little more tahini but the slaw was still good. 

On another note, the sweet potato flatbread was good except for the fact I forgot to add the gelatin! And my kombucha gelatin looked like my SCOBY. I let the gelatin cool down too much before pouring the rest of the liquid in so it was a mess. Next time around, I think these will turn out better. 

21-Day Sugar Detox cookbook!

I was so excited to receive an advance copy of the 21DSD cookbook. Than the holidays came and everything got so busy that I haven't had a chance to write anything about it. 

The first thing I made from the cookbook was actually the first recipe!

I used coconut milk that I bought on amazon...

This "oatmeal" is such a treat to have for breakfast. I've made it twice already and have t had a chance to make anything else. I plan to sample more recipes when another round of the detox starts on Jan. 6th!

Indian spiced pork tenderloin

I cooked a variety of dishes before but I've never really tried to cook Indian. I had to buy different spices like garam masala and turmeric. I used the recipe from "Against All Grain" cookbook. This is my second time making it and is probably the best pork tenderloin recipe I've made. The cookbook called for 3 lbs but I had 4.5 lbs so I just added extra spices. 

This recipe is so simple! Rub the pork w/salt and garam masala, sear for 5 minutes and than roast in oven until internal temperature is 150 degrees F.   The 4.5 lbs ended up taking 50 minutes. 

The pork is so juicy and tender. 

I paired it w/cumin- curry asparagus (instead of carrots) and parsnip purée. 

This dish was a hit w/everyone in my household!

Parsnip purée

The parsnip purée is so easy to make. You peel the parsnip, boil until soft, throw it in the vitamix w/some salt and pepper, roasted garlic olive oil, ghee and a little bit of almond milk. Then you just blend in a vitamix and the parsnip purée comes out smooth and creamy.

Buffalo Chicken Egg Muffins

I've been wanting to try a different egg muffin recipe since I always eat my bacon, egg muffin for breakfast when I'm at work. I decided to try the Buffalo chicken egg muffin recipe from the 21-Day Sugar Detox Book. Here's a link to the recipe. 

http://balancedbites.com/2013/02/easy-recipe-buffalo-chicken-egg-muffins.html

I didn't quite follow the recipe. I roasted a whole chicken a few days ago so I shredded it and used that. I also didn't have parchment lined muffin cups so I decided to use my silicone muffin pan. I think these cups are smaller than a regular muffin pan so my eggs were over flowing. Next time I would use 10 eggs instead of 12. I didn't add the green onions because I don't like onions. 

The muffins came out of the silicone pan so easy. I'm glad I used it instead of muffin liners. Here's what they look like...

These muffins were pretty good and I might try to freeze some so I'll always have some on hand. 

Roasted Cauliflower Soup and Shrimp Pad Thai

I finally had a chance to try out some recipes from The 21 Day Sugar Detox book that will be released at the end of the month. After crossfit, Lowes, Ikea and a trip to Whole Foods, I was starving and wanted to make something easy and quick and with ingredients that I had in my fridge. I was in a soup mode so I decided to make the Roasted Cauliflower Soup. I made a few modifications since I didn't have any carrots. Luckily I had some bone broth stored in the freezer. 

I marinated the cauliflower in a rosted garlic olive oil. I also didn't want to wait 30-40 minutes at 375 so I did 20-25 mins at 425. 

Overall, the soup was delicious and it was fast and easy to make. 

Shrimp Pad Thai satisfied my Thai craving. Instead of steaming the zucchini noodles, I "sweated" them out in the oven for 25 mins at 200 degrees (I did this earlier in the day so I didn't have to worry about it come dinner time. 

I ran out of almond butter so I whipped up a batch in the vitamix to use in the sauce. The sauce was good but it probably didn't need the whole 1/2 cup of coconut aminos. I ended up using less than 1/2 c and it tastes great. 

My non-paleo dinner guests enjoyed the meal greatly!

I'm excited for this new book and can't wait to do another round of the sugar detox using the recipes from the book.