Quinoa (or Kale),Black Bean and Mango Salad

I had a bit of a mango infatuation this spring. They were on sale for several weeks at the grocery store, and I stocked up for smoothies and salads. A couple weeks later, I'd had enough, and froze whatever I had left. The Orange Sesame dressing developed for this dish, has become a staple in my fridge, it's perfect with all of the greens I'm getting from my CSA!

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Quinoa*
1 cup water
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 mango diced, about 1 cup chopped
2 scallions thinly sliced

for the dressing;
1/4 cup Orange Juice
2 T Rice vinegar
2 teaspoons Sesame oil
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1 pinch cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, dry toast the quinoa over a medium heat until it starts to pop, about 5 minutes, stirring often (pay attention here, so it doesn't burn). Then rinse the quinoa in a mesh sieve, to wash away it's bitter, protective coating. Return to saucepan, add water and simmer for 15-20 minutes until water has been absorbed, stirring occasionally.

While quinoa is cooking, prepare dressing. Place all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place cooked quinoa in a large bowl, and add the beans. Stir in dressing. Carefully fold in the mango and scallions. Serve warm, room temp or cold. Stores for several days.

* This also makes a great Kale salad. Substitute 1 bunch of raw chopped Kale for the quinoa. Or, simply add it to cooled quinoa as part of this dish.

Kale and Black Bean Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing

Detox/Cleanse Week 1 & Tri-Training Week 2 in Review

I last updated you just one full day into my cleanse. As I sat down to write on day 3 or 4, I realized, it would be horribly boring for you to read, so I decided, less is more.

Mango Smoothie

It's Sunday night, and week one is nearly complete. I managed to stick through it the whole time! Pretty amazing considering the temptations I had to face. On Day 2, we had a birthday lunch scheduled at work, I contemplated skipping, but I knew I didn't want to. So instead I looked at the menu and found a salad that would "mostly" work. This is a good tip in general, that I learned from a friend. When you want to stick to a plan, checkout the online menu first, and pick what you are going to eat. Then, when you are at the restaurant, you will be less tempted to go off your plan. As it turned out- it snowed like crazy on Monday night and the two birthday guests could not make it in. Crisis averted! Thankfully, I had brought the broccoli soup, for just this reason!

Beet and Spinach Salad

The next big temptation was Thursday... bowling night. I managed to make it through the night without drinking. At first it was pretty easy... but it's amazing how pushy your friends get once they start drinking. It actually wasn't that hard to say no, it's just that there was constant pressure... more annoying than frustrating.

I was nervous about the weekend, but I kept pretty busy and that helped. I know I'm a snacker when I'm home! I was not good about drinking water though-- I never am at home! It's probably good that I work 5 days a week!

Since this week was really low on the protein scale, I was a little nervous about how it would affect my training. If you've scanned the cleanse info, it says to stick to stretching this week, and don't be too active. This was not a problem for me. I completed all of my workouts as planned, with the exception of waking up Saturday morning with a headache that limited my interest in pushing myself. (when I got home from the gym, I used Peppermint oil, and it was gone before I got out of the shower- hindsight). Perhaps less healthy eaters would struggle more with energy levels, but I had no problems.

Sweet potato and Red Lentil Soup

I'm really looking forward to adding grains to the program! One of the things I've struggled the most with is not feeling full. I miss the satisfaction that only comes with grains!

Be sure to check the Whole Living website for these awesome recipes!

Whole Living Detox Cleanse Day One

Lately, I've been struggling with a lot of headaches, and some knee and SI joint pain that has been creeping back. It's only the first week of my tri training and I'm already struggling. I knew I needed to take a look at what was different. I started tracking my food, and really, to no surprise, it became pretty clear. Too many grains, too much meat, too much sugar, NOT enough veggies. I tried to get myself back on track, but there were just too many distractions. And then, last Friday, in an issue of Whole Living that I'd picked up weeks ago and hadn't looked at yet, I saw this cleanse.

The Whole Living 2013 Action Plan

After reading through the menu and recipes, I decided this was actually a healthy detox. There's no protein shakes or supplements, you eat real food, and you pretty much eat as much of the prescribed food as you feel like.  And so, I set out to the grocery store with a plan.

Today was day one...  I started out the morning (6 AM) with this Blueberry Smoothie! YUM! You can bet that this smoothie will be on the menu all summer! I added a half of a grapefruit to my breakfast (Not the smoothie) because I know that I'm a "Food" person- I like to chew- not sip- my meals. I think this helped a lot. I didn't get hungry again until about 9:45-- that's pretty good for just having a smoothie! I'd packed a baked sweet potato (with sliced almonds) as a snack. Perfect! (Sorry no picture)

Lunch (11:30 AM) was this fabulous Mango-Pine Nut salad! Now, I've had this recipe for EVER, and stumbled across it the other day, and with mangos on sale this week, it was a no brainer... the fact that it fit into the program was perfect!

Around 2:30 I broke into this Coconut trail mix. While I wasn't that hungry, I knew I was going to work out after work, and thought I should put something in my system.

Dinner was Broccoli Soup. Honestly, I REALLY wasn't sure about this one. I like broccoli enough, but I've found these pureed vegetable soups to be less than satisfying, if even edible. I made this with store bought veggie stock, and I waited to add in the avocado. I LOVE avocado and I thought i didn't want to waste one on a soup that wouldn't make it past one bowl.  I tested the soup, and it was really good! So, I pureed in the avocado-- it made it SO MUCH BETTER! Creamy and delicious! I added some pumpkin seeds, for crunch!

It's the end of the day, and I'm feeling really good! Tomorrow I face my first challenge... of course it had to happen, someone planned a birthday lunch! I don't want to miss time out of the office with my friends, so I scoped the menu and found a salad that will work pretty close with the plan. It's not perfect, but I'm ok with that! I'll make it up somewhere else, I'm pretty proud of sticking to day one!