21-Day Detox Day 8: Vegan Veggie Spaghetti & Pesto

It's day 8 and I'm fantasizing about the yummy chicken I'm going to cook for dinner. As part of the detox, I can have one 4 oz serving of protein a day. I can either have it all in one sitting or split it up. Today I'm saving it for dinner. The protein has to be organic or pastured-raised (chicken), grass-fed (beef, veal), wild (fish), cage-free/pastured-raised (eggs). The point is to continue detoxing without adding any additional toxins. Every vegetable that I've been eating in the last week has been organic to ensure that I am not taking in any pesticides or other harmful chemicals.

For breakfast, I made a yummy juice.

Red Bunny Lemon

3 carrots
5 celery stalks
1 small beet
1 lemon
6 beet green stalks
5 mint springs
1/2 apple
2in ginger knob
cup of spinach

For lunch, I made spaghetti! Spaghetti squash that is! Spaghetti squash is a really fun winter squash that yields stringy, noodle-like threads when cooked. Squashes reduce inflammation, improve qi circulation and help alleviate pain. This squash is super easy to cook and is delicious.

Vegan Veggie Spaghetti & Pesto

Ingredients:
1/2 cooked Spaghetti Squash
2 tbsp Gina's Pesto Sauce (clean sauce made with olive oil and lemon juice) [Available at Rainbow]
2 tbsp olive oil
Celtic salt to taste

Process:
1. Set oven Bake at 350
2. Cut squash in half and place on an oiled parchment sheet. Bake for 30 mins and turn off the oven. Leave squash in oven for 20 mins
3. Remove and let cool.

4. Using a fork, scrape the insides and you'll get noodle-like strands

5. Put in bowl and mix with pesto

6. Add salt and enjoy!

As a snack, I made homemade veggie crackers made from juicer pulp.

Super Veggie Crackers
Ingredients:
As much juicer pulp as you want

Process:
1. Lay out juicer pulp on parchment paper and press down to get as thin of a layer as you can

2. Either:

(a) Set oven to it's lowest setting, place baking sheet into the over, pry oven oven door with rolled up kitchen towels. Bake for 3.5 hours and turn over and bake for another 2 hours

or

(b) Dehydrate for 6 hours, turning over once (my oven dehydrates at 140 degrees)

3. Crackers will look like this, once ready

For dinner, I made hubby and me some more of the tasty squash. I paired it with my signature BBQ buffalo chicken and some sauerkraut I picked up at the farmers market.

BBQ Buffalo Chicken
Ingredients:
3 chicken thighs or 2 chicken breasts
2 tbsp Bragg's Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tbsp Spice House Smoked Spanish Paprika
1 tbsp Spice House Half-Sharp Hungarian Paprika
1/2 tbsp Celtic Salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Process:

 1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl using tongs

2. Heat oil on a grill pan or frying pan
3. Place chicken in pan and cook until golden brown (8-10 mins)

4. Flip over and cook for another 6-8 minutes (until fully cooked)

 5. Enjoy!

After dinner, I had a juice shake as a snack around 9:30. I had gone to the farmer's market and picked up a bunch of organic veggies. For $20, I was able to buy:

2 bunch of carrots (4 huge carrots each) with all tops intact
1 bunch of beets (4 long beets) with all tops intact
2 Lacinato Kale
2 Swiss Chard
1 Curly Chard
1 Fennel Bulb

Who said eating healthy is expensive!

Scary Green Monster
10 cups of carrot tops
2 large carrots
1 fennel
1 granny smith
2 inch ginger


I have to say that eating the chicken was a bit uneventful, although extremely satisfying. I thought the heavens would open up or something, but really it was just another Wednesday. I guess it's good knowing that I can survive without protein. Ever since FA, I felt like I needed to eat protein with every meal to survive. For a while, I was eating red meat at almost every meal. Sometimes a healthy intervention really opens up your eyes about your beliefs about yourself. It feels really great to be learning so much about myself.