Tuesday, August 4, 2009

She's been decaffeinated...Quantum Wellness Cleanse day 8


As Sgt. Murtaugh says in Lethal Weapon 2... she's "been decaffeinated." Don't let Starbucks fool ya. Caffeine is an addictive drug. I know it's not crack or anything, but that was pretty rough. The first day without it was like a super hangover without the party. Ugh. I think I'm sticking with decaf even after the cleanse.

Anyway on to some food. Here's a mostly from the farm dinner. It's also gluten free!
At the CSA* this week I got some squash blossoms and prepared them simply by frying them in some olive oil and garlic. Then I made some kale chips, since the only thing growing like gangbusters this rainy summer seems to be kale. Cut out the stems and cut into chip size pieces, then spray with olive oil and bake 375 for about 10 minutes or until crispy. Check them often because you don't want them to burn.
S & G potatoes, yup, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt, and garlic. Roast in the oven with olive oil, 375 about an hour.
I got romaine lettuce, from the CSA which was way greener than the usual translucent romaine you find in the grocery stores, so I tried to make a Cesar dressing. I used the one from the uncheese cookbook, but it was not very Cesar like (nooch, tahini, mustard.) I added some almonds from the vcon recipe which helped. Then I dumped in a bunch of seaweed flakes. In the end it was just OK. I threw some squash blossoms in the salad, too just because they're so pretty. Corn from the CSA. The tempeh was a last minute add on. I sprayed it with braggs liquid aminos, then fried it in the olive oil from the blossoms. Not much on flavor, but if you take a bit of tempeh with a bite of potato, it is a nice balance.

I'm on day 8 of the cleanse. Other than the lack of artificial stimulants, I'm feeling pretty normal. Skipping the morning bagel, but that's OK, I got 20 peaches from the CSA, so I'm having them with oatmeal. I'll try to get to the new agey part of Quantum Wellness by meditating and stretching and stuff, but my meditation time has lately been taken up by reading all the Harry Potter books again. What?...they're really good.


*CSA is Community Supported Agriculture- you pay the farmer before planting, then throughout the summer get a box of freshly picked veggies and fruit for your share.

8 comments:

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

When I gave up caffeine I had a headache for a couple of days too. I didn't think I even had that much!!

Jen said...

caffeine is very hard to give up. but again, you'll be sleeping so much better at night now. trust me.

Bianca said...

Good for you! You made it through the hard part, it sounds like. That plate looks lovely, especially the taters.

Anonymous said...

I don't normally drink THAT much caffeine, but when I do I feel crazy. Luckily I drink minimally enough that I don't get the withdrawal headaches I used to. Glad you're over them! Have you tried anything with ginger as a pick-me-up? I've found that is really lovely in smoothies, juice, or (non-caffeinated) tea, and if you don't eat it, you won't have withdrawal.

Tracy said...

Congrats! It is hard to give up, no sense in reversing all the goodness you've done yourself by going back on it. Some day I will follow your example or at least decrease my ridiculous tea intake.

I love the kale chip idea.. I might have to try that with my abundance of collards out in our garden! Thanks. :c)

For the Love of Guava said...

damn... just 'eh' huh??

looks delicious!

Binx said...

I "quit" caffeine about 2x a year, and it's always rough. what makes it worse, though, is that I'm a coffee drinker, and coffee also increases dopamine production, i.e. it makes you happy. So what always gets me re-hooked is that first cup after quitting, because it feels sooo good. But I can never shake the feeling that it's a drug.

In other words-- if you never want to quit again, don't give into that first cup!

Jen Treehugger said...

I've never had Squash Flowers but would definitely love to give them a go. So cool you got them in your CSA!