Nov 27 Dinner: petit pois soup

Cook some petit pois in boiling water and blend when ready to obtain a nice soup.

Can you tell that by the time I finished to work, I just wanted to eat and go to bed?...:-)

Nov 27 Lunch: Red lentils with celery

Today's lunch was the red lentils from last night re-heated, eaten with some branches of celery. And this was such a lovely combination of flavours.

Nov 27 Breakfast: Oranges, pineapple and Mango super delice

Blend together the juice of 2 freshly squeezed oranges with half a large pineapple and a very bug mango to obtain two pints of a succulent smoothie in which both the flavour of the pineapple and the mango can be tasted to utter delight.

Mark: 10/10 Too perfect for any another mark :-)

Nov 26 Dinner: red lentils soup

Cook some red lentils in boiling water.

When ready eat as it is, it just seems to be a soup.

Nov 26 Lunch: Rice noodles with stir fried vegetables

While frying in a wok the following vegetables: yellow carrots, orange carrots, beansprouts, leeks, sugar snap peas, chinese mushrooms, water chestnuts, you cook the rice noodles in boiling water off gas.

When the noodles are ready, drain them and add them to the wok for a few minutes, then serve

Nov 26 Breakfast: Oranges, pineapple, banana and dates smoothie

Blend together the juice of 3 freshly squeezed oranges with a third of a very long pineapple, a banana and a couple of dates to obtain 2 pints of a deliciously tasty smoothie.

Mark: 9/10 as I would prefer the taste of banana to be even more subtle.

Nov 25 Dinner: Butternut squash and coconut soup (Again!)

Tonight dinner is today's lunch leftover :-) but I am far from complaining as I absolutely love this soup....

Nov 25 Lunch: Butternut squash and coconut milk soup

In a pan pour 2/3 of a can of coconut milk, add the same quantity of water, and then add your butternut squash cut and peeled, let cook until the butternut squash is very tender, then blend together to obtain a delicious butternut squash soup.

Clearly the amount of coconut milk and water used might vary depending on the quantity of butternut squash available. I would nevertheless advice to add the same quantity of water than you have added of coconut milk to ensure the taste of the latter does not become predominant in the soup.

Nov 25 Breakfast: Grapefruit, pineapple, pear and dates smoothie

Blend together the juice of a freshly squeezed pink grapefruit, with a sixth of a very long pineapple, a pear and a couple of dates to obtain a pint of a succulent smoothie.

Mark: 10/10

Nov 24 Breakfast: Banana and coconut smoothie

Blend together a third of a coconut milk can with 3 bananas to obtain a pint of a delicious banana smoothie.

Mark: 8.5/10 as not necessarily an healthy option.. :-)

Nov 20 Dinner: Petit pois and cashew nuts soup

Cook some frozen petits pois in some boiling water, when ready blend with a handful of cashew nuts to obtain a very nice and fulfilling soup

Nov 20 Lunch: Couscous with carrots, broccoli, green peas and red peppers

Another quick fix meal.

Boil some hot water. Pour some on the couscous and let it rest for 5 minutes. And pour the rest in a pan to which you add a mix of frozen vegetables such as carrots, broccoli and red pepper and green peas

Nov 20 Breakfast: Oranges, pineapple, pears and dates

Blend together the juice of two freshly squeezed oranges with a quarter of a very long pineapple with two peeled and cut pears, and a handful of dates to obtain over a pint of a very nice sweet and tasty smoothie. All fruits with the exception of the oranges can be tasted

Mark: 10/10

Nov 19 dinner: red lentils with celery and pomogranate followed by fresh grapes

Tonight, I ate the red lentils leftover from lunch, on top of which I put some pomegranates and some pomegranate juice to which I added some branches of celery, to obtain a nice and tasty mixture.

For dessert, I had a bowl of black grapes.

Nov 19 Lunch: red lentils with okras

In a pan of boiling water, cook some red lentils until ready.

In parallel, in another pan, pour some olive oil and some black and white mustard seeds, then add the washed and cut in two along the length okras. Let it cook until the okras are very tender.

Then cover half a plate of the red lentils, and the other half of the okras to have a very nice dinner

Nov 19 Breakfast: Melon, banana, mint and dates

Blend together a small green melon with a banana, some fresh mints leaves cut in small pieces and a few dates ( around 5) to obtain over a pint of a refreshing and summery smoothie.

Mark: 9/10

Nov 18 Dinner: 2 avocadoes, clementines and dates

The usual speedy one when I some ripe avocadoes and no tomatoes at home. Cut in two on their length, pour a bt of olive oil and eat as it is. perfect and fulfilling.

As a dessert, I had three clementines and a couple of dates

Nov 18 Lunch: home made dal of red lentils, potatoes, green, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and aubergines

Leftover of a few days ago a home made dal made of red lentils, potatoes, green, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and aubergines.

Nov 18 Breakfast: coconut and banana smoothie

In a blender pour a quarter of a can of coconut milk, 3 bananas, add some water if you don't have enough liquid to obtain a pint of a very nice smoothie with a light coconut milk. Add more coconut milk if you want a stronger taste. I had added almost as much water as coconut milk.

Mark: 8/10 ( as I would have prefer to taste more the coconut)

Nov 17 Dinner: Butternut squash and coconut milk soup

As you might remember I really like the sweet potato soup I cooked a few days ago, so today, I did again the butternut squash soup cooked the same way.

So in a quarter of a can of coconut milk, I cooked two small peeled and cut butternut squash. And after 30 minutes of so of cooking, when ready, I blended the mixture to obtain a bowl of a butter nut squash velouté. Yummie!!

Nov 17 Lunch: chick pea &broccoli curry with brown rice and salad

Today I had lunch with a friend at a vegan place in Hackney, the pogo cafe, and one of the specials of the day was the dish mentioned above, which was delicious.

Nov 17 breakfast: orange, pineapple, and pears smoothie

Blend together the juice of 2 freshly squeezed oranges, with a quarter of a very big pineapple and two peeled and cut pears to obtain a very refreshing and tasty smoothie.

Mark: 8/10

Nov 16 Dinner: an avocado

well coming home after almost a night out, where I had drunk two freshly squeezed orange juice, i was not particularly hungry, but needed to eat right away. I thus went for an avocado. Cut in half take the stone out, add just a few drops of olive oil, and this provides a tasty meal..:-)

Nov 16 Happy hours: 2 freshly squeezed orange juices

As I went out tonight for a couple of drinks to celebrate a friend's birthday, I had two freshly squeezed orange juices.

Nov 16 Lunch: home made dal of red lentils, potatoes, green, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and aubergines

Same as the night before a home made dal made of red lentils, potatoes, green, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and aubergines.

Nov 16 Breakfast: clementines

I had three clementines for breakfast

Nov 15 Dinner: sweet potatoes and coconut milk soup

Last night success with the butter nut squash soup with coconut milk, led me to try again this one. So after having peeled and cut one large sweet potato, I cook it in a quarter of coconut milk with some water. I let it cook until all the coconut milk had been absorbed and blend the sweet potatoes cook that way with some hot water to obtain a very nice sweet potatoe soup with race of coconut. I will highly recommend this

Nov 15 Lunch: Nov 14 Dinner: Lentils, potatoes, green, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and aubergines casserole

Same as the night before a home made dal made of red lentils, potatoes, green, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and aubergines.

Nov 15 breakfast: apples, carrots, and celery juice

Juice together 3 organic apples, with 7 or so small/medium organic carrots and two branches of organic celery, to obtain a very refreshing and cleansing drink.

Mark 8/10

Nov 14 Dinner: Lentils, potatoes, green, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and aubergines casserole

In a pan of boiling water, cook some cleaned red lentils. In another pan of boiling water, cook some peeled potatoes.

In the meantime wash, cleaned and cut the red, the orange, the yellow and the green peppers.
Then washed and cut the aubergines.

Then in a wok, pour some olive oil, then cook the peppers, when ready poor the aubergines, add to the potatoes to this when ready , after having drained them and cut them in pieces, then add some herbs ( fines herbs, cumin seeds, cumin powder), then add the red lentils, and then when almost ready add the tomatoes.

Let cook for a few minutes then serve.

Voila a nice and healthy dish

Nov 14 snack: home made mix with cacao nibs, wolfberries and pollen

My lovely sweet and not so sweet snack: home made mix with cacao nibs, dried wolfberries and pollen. Fab!

Nov 14 Lunch: butternut squash and coconut milk soup

This is the left over from last night. So for more info, click here

Nov 14 Breakfast: a red exotic winter delice

I liked so much the smoothie I prepared on Monday, that I thought I will do it again today with a very small addition: some pomegranates.

Hence, blend together the juice of one freshly squeezed pink grapefruit, half a pineapple, a mango, a papaya , and some pomegranates to obtain two pints of an excellent orange/red smoothie, in which pretty much all flavours except the grapefruit can be tasted.

Mark:9.5/10

Nov 13 Dinner: Butternut squash and coconut milk soup

Having had some overtasting coconut meals over the past few days I was very cautious not to add too much coconut milk, and might have ended up adding too little of it ( 1/3 of a can).

In the coconut milk, add two small butternut squash cut and peeled, and some water, let it cook on the fire until the butter squash pieces are very tender. When this is the case, blend together, and enjoy this very nice soup.

I did... even if I would have loved to taste just a bit of the coconut.

Nov 13 Lunch: tomatoes salad, mashed potatoes with coconut milk and broccoli

As a starter, a simple tomatoes salad with olive oil and some herbs.

As a main course, the left over from last night dinner, i.e. mashed potatoes with coconut milk, with some broccoli.

Nov 13 Breakfast: banana, pomegranate and coconut milk smoothie

Blend together 3 small bananas with some coconut milk and some pomegranates to obtain a small pint of nice but nothing more smoothie.

Mark: 6/10

Nov 13 morning snacks: clementines

As I was starving around 11 am, I ate three clementines.

Nov 12 Dinner: mashed potatoes with coconut milk, broccoli and petits pois soup, and some semolina

In a pan full of boiling water, cook the potatoes. When ready, drain the water, and mash the potatoes, add a bit of coconut milk. I am not sure I will do it again this way, as the mixture did taste a bot strange. Next time when detoxing, I will just add water instead.

On a plate pour some mashed potatoes, add some soup strengthened with the semolina left over.

Nov 12 Lunch: Broccoli and petits pois soup

In boiled water, cook some broccoli and petits pois. When ready blend together.

Nov 12 Breakfast: Exotic winter delice

Blend together the juice of one freshly squeezed pink grapefruit, half a pineapple, a mango, and a papaya to obtain two pints of an excellent smoothie, in which pretty much all flavours except the grapefruit can be tasted.


Mark: 9.5/10

Nov 11 Dinner: Sweet potato and coconut mlik soup

Peeled and cut a large sweet potatoe.

Pour in a pan some coconut milk, and cook the sweet potatoe in the pan. When ready mixed together. If you want to mix together at the end, do not put on too much coconut milk as the taste might be stronger than the sweet potatoe's one.

This can also be eaten without mixing the two.

Nov 11 Lunch: Roasted vegetables (long red pepper, sweet potatoes and potaoes)

Turn on the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Peeled and cut the potatoes ( both types). ! long and large sweet one, and 2 large normal ones.

Cut in their length the two red pepper.

Put all of them in a dish, pour olive oil on top with some herbs such as fines herbes, or dried basil, and cook in the oven for an hour.

Nov 11 Breakfast: Clementines and banana

Just two clementines and a small banane

Nov 10 Breakfast: grapefruit,mango and pineapple smoothie

Blend together the juice of a freshly squeezed grapefruit with a medium mango cut and peeled and half a pineapple to obtain over a pint of a tasty and sweet smoothie, in which both pineapple and mango can be fully recognised.

Mark: 9/10

Nov 9 Dinner: Red lentils soup

In boiling water, cook some red lentils. Blend together when ready to obtain a nice and smooth red lentils soup.

Nov 9 Snacks: clementines, wolfberries, cacao nib and pollen

First snack: some fresh clementines

Second snack: home made mix with cacao nibs, wolfberries and pollen. Fab!!

Nov 9 Lunch: Broad beans soup with semolina

Cook in boiling water some broad beans, then blend together then add some semolina to the soup to obtain a nice and thick soup.

Nov 9 Breakfast: grapefruit, papaya and pineapple smoothie

Blend together the juice of a freshly squeezed grapefruit, with a papaya and half a pineapple to obtain over a pint of a sweet smoothie

Mark: 9/10

Nov 8 Dinner: 2 avocados

Cut in half one avocado, enjoy it... feel slightly hungry two hours later.. so cut another one...

I had two mature avocados sitting at home... I just could not resist

Nov 8 Lunch: Fried Vegetables with chinese egg noodles

Fried in a wok some chinese vegetables, hen add the noodles which have been boiled in hot water in parallel to obtain a nice and consistent meal.

Yes the egg noodles are not recommended during a vegan non processed food diet...

Nov 8 Breakfast: Apple, pear and mango delice

Juice 4 organic pears and 3 organic apples to obtain a nice and sweet juice that you blend with two medium mangoes to obtain over a pint of a delicious and smooth smoothie. As usual the taste of the pear is dominant, the texture of the smoothie consistent with pear and mango.

Mark: 9.5/10

Nov 7 Dinner: Courgettes and aubergines sautees with cashew nuts

In a pan or wok, cooked some courgettes first, cut in slices, then when these are slightly grilled, add the aubergines, and when this is ready add some cashew nuts, that you let grilled for a few minutes.

Perfect green and fulfilling dinner

Nov 7 Lunch: couscous with boiled broccoli, carrotts, petits pois, green beans

In a boiling pan pour some mix frozen vegetables including, for example, carrots, broccoli, petits pois and green beans. When ready, mixed with the couscous you had prepared in parallel. Another great 5-10 minutes dish

Nov 7 Breakfast: a very nice melon, mango, banana and date smoothie

Blend together a small melon, a medium mango, half a banana and 4 or 5 dates to obtain a pint of a nice and sweet refreshing smoothie. Please note that in this combination the taste of the melon is not overcoming as it can sometimes be.

Mark:9/10

Nov 6 Dinner: Broad beans soup and a banana for dessert

For a quick, easy and lovely soup, boiled some water and pour into it some frozen broad beans. When ready, blend together.

Nov 6 Lunch: Brocolli and petits pois soup followed by a celery, beetroot, avocado and tomato salad

I ate the leftover from the previous night soup: the broccoli and petits pois soup.

And mix together 3 medium cut beetroot, 1 cut avocado, a handful of cherry tomatoes cut in half, and a branch of celery cut in small pieces. Dressing used olive oil and juice of a freshly squeezed lime.

Nov 6 Breakfast: the perfect delice

Blend together the juice of a freshly squeezed grapefruit with half a pineapple and a medium mango to obtain a pint of a delicious sweet and tasty smoothie.

Mark: 10/10

Nov 5 Dinner: Broccoli and petits pois soup

Boiled in hot water some frozen broccoli and some petits pois to obtain a very nice, quick and fulfilling soup

Nov 5 Lunch: Home Dal with brown lentils, courgettes and aubergines

This is the leftover of the previous night, hence check this recipe

Nov 5 Breakfast: melon, mango, wolfberry and date smoothie

Blend together a melon, a medium mango, a handful of wolfberries, and some dates to obtain a pint of an extremely sweet and weird smoothie.

Hence mark: 3/10

Home Dal with brown lentils, courgettes and aubergines

I had more tie to prepare the dinner, so while your lentils (250g ish) are cooking in boiling water, you wash, cut and fry in a wok the 2 courgettes. And when those are cooking you wash, cut and then pour to the wok the 2 small aubergines.

To give a bit of taste to the mixture, I added some cumin seeds, some cumin powder, and some coriander powder. and when ready I added the lentils to the wok, mixed together and let it cook a bit longer to obtain what is for me a lovely dinner, with some left over for tomorrow which will be a plus when in a rush or if lazy...

Avocadoes, cherry tomatoes, radish and celery

Another quick lunch was required but I was feeling hungry.

Hence here it was:
2 avocadoes cut in half, a handful of washed cheery tomatoes, a handful of radish and a branch of celery.

Great combination of taste, and easy to prepare when hungry "NOW" as it happened.... :-)

Pineapple, mango, pear, and grapefruit smoothie

Blend together 3 peeled cut pears, half a pineapple, a medium peeled and cut mango with the juice of 2 freshly squeezed pink grapefruit to obtain two pints of a lovely, sweet, tasty and smooth ( yes I meant it) smoothie.

Mark: 9/10

Grilled chestnuts

I went to a party last night and a lot of lovely food was on offer, but the only one I could really eat in addition to boiled potatoes was chestnuts, hence my choice of food while watching fireworks from a roof

Avocado

Cut an avocado in half, pour a bit of olive oil in it and this makes an easy, quick, and tasty snack

Apples, Carrots and celery juice

Juice together 2 apples, 2 carrotts and one branch of celery to obtain a very refreshing cleansing juice.

Fried vegetables with rice noodles

Fried in a wok some vegetables. In the meantime, let the rice noodles cooked in boiling water for 5 minutes out of the fire. Once the noodles are ready, poured them in the wok, mix vegetables and noodles together.. et Voila!!! If you want you can add some spices during the cooking. However, this is not recommended during the detox.

Melon, banana, dates, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries smoothie

Blend together a small peeled and cut melon, with a small banana, a couple ( 5ish) dates, and some raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries to obtain a pint and a half of a very red melony smoothie. As the melon is unfortunately predominant. Which is kind of strange since the red colour, will not let you guess such a taste. I will need to try it with less melon as a bit overpowering for me. Dates and raspberries could be tasted as well on a few occasions.

Mark: 5/10 mainly due to the over melony taste

Fried plantain and courgettes

Having recently bought some plantain, I thought I should have a go at cooking some. Unfortunately, I had not bought some green ones, but some yellow ones ( sweeter but not as sweet as the black ones), hence the soup was a bit out of the question. I thus thought about mixing them with a more sour vegetables. I ahd some courgettes at home, hence why i ended up first frying the plantains, then frying the courgettes on their own, then mixing the two of them together.

The taste was clearly different and maybe not the best mixture ever, nevertheless I enjoyed it. Would I do it again? Dunno... I might try with some green plantain to see.

Snacks

As a snack, I had an organic gala, then a few hours later a few dates.

Fried Okras and cherry tomatoes

In pan, pour some olive oil, fried briefly some mustard seeds, then add the okras, cut in twos over the length side, cook until the okras are soft then add the cherry tomatoes cut in two as well to obtain a very nice hot dish.

For more flavour, you could also add some cummin seeds or curry powder while cooking the okras.

Pear, Pinapple, Date and banana smoothie

Juice 4 pears and half a pinapple, then blend the juice with a small banana and a handful of dates to obtain a pint of nice and sweet smoothie. Unfortunately, the taste of the pears and pineapple were a bit lost under the banana and dates ones.

Mark: 8/10

Dinner - Nov 1

The starter was a home made fresh juice, obtained by juicing 2 organic gala apples, with two carrots, and two sticks of organic celery.

The main course, was again a soup very similar to the one eaten for lunch, as I had some leftovers, hence spinach, broccoli, half an avocado, and 100g of cashew nuts.

Lunch - Nov 1

I prepared a soup of broccoli and spinach boiled together from frozen, and blended with cashew nuts.

From what I remember, broccoli is a great diuretic, hence recommended when detoxing.. Which seems to have been trully founded...:-)

Breakfast - Nov 1

After the usual hot water with half a lemon juice shortly after waking up, I had a smoothie a few hours later, which was made by blended together the juice of two freshly squeezed pink grapefruits, half a pineapple, a medium peeled and cut mango and a few dates.

November detox - Day 1

Hello all.

Even though I had kinda started my detox last week, today is the first official day of my 2007 winter detox.. and I thought that this time I will write precisely what i eat over the month I am detoxing.

Home made dal with orange lentils

In a pan with boiling water, pour 300/400grs of orange lentils.
In the meantime, wash and slice courgettes. which you then olive oil cooked in a wok. Add one red and one green pepper into the wok, then wash and cut one large aubergine and add itto the wok.

Add olive oil if necessary. And when all the ingredients have been cooked to some extent add herbs and spices, such as fines herbes, cumin, and tumeric and curry powder.

Once the lentils are cooked add them to the wok as well, and let it cook for another 5 or 10 minutes.

Serve warm or cold.

Mark: 8/10

Green peas and cashew nuts soup

For 2 persons:

Cook 500g of green peas in boiling water ( you might want to wash them beforehand)
Then blend the green peas with the water they have boiled in and a handful of raw cashew nuts.

You might want a bit of salt and pepper ( I did not as part of my detox).

Mark: 8/10

Guacamole

Following excellent market prices, I seem to have bought 15 tender avocadoes for £1 and 60 tomatoes for £2, hence I have mainly been eating freshly home made guacamole over the last two days. Nice but time for a change I believe.....

My home made guacamole, is very basic, as it could seriously not be simpler. Absolutely anyone can do it, and enjoy the results. I just mix gently, i.e. at low speed just for 20-30s or so, 4 avocadoes with 8/10 medium tomatoes. To give you a refreshing, fres guacamole.

Tobasco, or lemon juice could be added to it to make it spicier, as well as garlic for taste. Being on detox, I could add lemon juice for preservation, but since I seem to eat it right away, that's not exactly necessary.

Fruits and Vegetables raw salad

Tonight's for dinner, I mixed together beetroot, tomatoes, celery, yellow pepper, apple, grape, raisins, sunflower and pumpkin seeds to get a very tasty, strong flavoury salad.

The mixture of ingredients might seem strange but the result is wonderful, and might just encourage you to be more innovative in your own cooking. And please feel free to share when you are.