Sunday, March 30, 2014

No More Tummy Aches, Avocado Cream Sauce, and Julian the Julienne Makes a Repeat Appearance

Hi Spatulettes!

So in my quest to be as healthy and happy at the wedding as humanly possible, I decided I needed to make some changes.  Between stress at work, having a constant stomache ache, and having an impossibly difficult time getting myself out of bed in the morning, I knew that something had to change, but I didn't know how to do it!  So when my friend and MOH Jessica became an Arbonne consultant and I went to her first "party" and heard about a "2-week Detox" including lots of whole foods, tons of water, and required all meals to be completely free of anything I could possibly be allergic to, I knew I wanted to try it!  I was initially worried about it because it required giving up caffeine, and given my anti-morning-person-can't-get-out-of-bed track record, I didn't know if it would be possible.  But I tried skipping coffee one day (on a Sunday before I started the "detox" when I could be relatively lazy and it was ok), and then I tried it the next day (and felt a little less lethargic) and by the third day I literally felt like I had more energy without the coffee than with the coffee!  I got myself out of bed on time without snoozing 2 (or 3 or 4 or 5) times, which was a bad habit i'd been doing for longer than i'd like to admit!

So i've been doing this detox for 2 weeks now (and I literally lost 5 pounds in the process which I wasn't expecting!) and have decided to keep going for another 2 weeks because I feel SOOOOO much better!  I don't know what it is that was giving me the constant tummy-ache yet, but afterward i'll add things back in, one at a time, and figure it out.

Another great thing I discovered (courtesy of another friend and bridesmaid Jessica...) is this website for meal planning/shopping list coordination called Pepperplate.  It's been helping me stay on track and plan out super healthy meals for the week.

My other favorite part about this detox is that it's required me to change my cooking habits to fit all these hypoallergenic guidelines, and i've discovered some delicious recipes!

So I bring you... Zucchini Spaghetti with Avodado Cream Sauce!  Adapted from HERE.

Zucchini Spaghetti with Avocado Cream Sauce


Serves 2
Ingredients:
For Noodles:
- 3 large zucchini
-1 tbsp olive oil

For Sauce:
- 1 large (or 2 small) avocados
-8 basil leaves
-1 tsp kosher salt
-sprinkle of ground pepper
-3 garlic cloves (i've been using the frozen cubes of garlic from Trader Joe's; LOVE THEM)
-2 tbsp olive oil
-Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions:
-Julienne the zucchini and put your "spaghetti" in a colander. Use some papertowels to squeeze most of the liquid out
-Chop up the basil, avocado, garlic (or put in garlic cubes); Add salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice to a food processor (I used the chopper attachment on my amazing immersion blender tool)
-Blend baby blend!
-Heat up a pan with your 1 tbsp of olive oil, then briefly sautee the spaghetti just until it's a little wilty
-Add in the the cream sauce and mix it in.

Serve with a dollop more of sauce on top. I sprinkled with a little smoked paprika for fun.

It's like guacamole flavored spaghetti and the best thing ever.  My fiance didn't even care that it was all made out of green stuff.  He reported it went really well with the Saison beer he got at Trader Joe's.

So i'll keep you updated with more fantastically delicious, fabulously healthy, and happy-tummy-inducing meals!  I'd love to hear from you!  Do you have any favorite go-to healthy and delicious dinners?  Tell me all about it in the comments!