Guest Post: Days 19-21 RVC + Cucumber Gazpacho Recipe

I believe I owe you a 3 day summary. Can you believe three weeks are over? Only 9 days left!

Friday evening a friend of ours had a baby girl so we were at the hospital all night rooting for her. I have never been around when a baby was being born. We were in the waiting room next door chatting and the next thing you know we hear a baby crying, a brand new baby girl. It was really thrilling for me! 

Thus the delay of the food journal. 

Earlier this week I attended a local Farmers Market to check out what is available and to look into joining a CSA, (aka co-op) where I can pick up a box of produce in the local area for a fixed weekly dollar amount for produce fresh off the farm. I have to make a bit more of an investigation because this is the first time I will be joining one. But I’ve narrowed my search to 2 farms. And plan on beginning in two weeks. 

Since this is my third time being Raw Vegan for 30 or more days, I have a better arsenal of ideas to reach my goal. It’s become easier to navigate grocery stores, find recipes, read food blogs, follow proper Instagram posts and narrow down my Pinterest searches for what I would like and what I need. Also spending 2 weeks researching recipes, stocking up and transitioning my diet slowly with Smoothies and Salads was helpful.

Because being Raw Vegan is very detoxifying to the system, I’ve had my ups and downs physically but very minimally compared to the previous 2 years. If you remember last year, at about this point in my detox, I couldn’t even use my hands to type and was in a really big flare. However this time, actually Thursday-Saturday, I went into a 24 hour Red Skin flare (shortest flare ever I think) on my arms, knees and hands. Then the skin quickly died and renewed itself, all within a 72 hour period. Was this due to the Raw Vegan Detox? I don’t know. But very different from last year. 

For more information on Topical Corticosteroid Addiction, Red Skin Syndrome, you can go to my blog www.eczemancipated.com or www.itsan.org

Day 19-21of 30 Day Raw Vegan Challenge

Friday Breakfast:

I made another Nutmeal breakfast (as pictured on Instagram), well call this recipe Apricot Ginger Nutmeal:

Pink Lady Apple (1 cored and chopped)
Dried Apricots (1/4 cup)
Shredded Coconut (1/2 cup)
Almonds (1/2 cup)
Ginger (2 inch hunk peeled)
Cinnamon (1 tsp)

Threw it in the Food Processor and blended til resembled Granola. Put it in a bowl and poured some Coconut Water over it. It made about 2 cups for breakfast, was super yum and very filling.

Friday Snack: 1 Banana

Friday Late Lunch/Early Dinner:

Doug made fresh Guacamole with 2 ripe avocados, salt and the juice of 1 Lime. I snacked on it with Cucumber slices. Then I made a Cucumber Gazpacho out of the Creamy Lime Dressing from Thursday:

Follow the Thursday’s recipe for the Creamy Lime Dressing.  Then take 16oz of the dressing put it in the Vitamix and add the following ingredients:

Cucumber (1 medium peeled and chopped)
Green Onion (1 without the stringy root)
Green Grapes (1 cup)

Pour into your bowl. Top with Salsa, Black olives and a Cannel of Basil Cashew Cheese. (Cheese recipe from the Raw Lasagna I made a while back.) I stuffed myself silly and was good for the rest of the night.

Saturday Breakfast:

I have been quite slow moving in the morning this entire week. So Saturday was no different. I decided to give the new ChiaPod Snack that has appeared all over Instagram. I chose the Banana ChiaPod. It was really great and hit the spot to tied me over til I could have a larger meal. I would definitely eat it regularly. The ChiaPod says it is “Cold Pressed” Vegan. To me this means it is not heated and would qualify as Raw. So I felt this was a good option.

Saturday Lunch:

When we returned home I made a huge thing of Black Olive Zucchini Tahini Dip. 

Red Onion (1/2 peeled and chopped)
Black Olives (1/4 cup)
Lemon (juice of 1)
Celery Stick (1 chopped)
Garlic (1 clove)
Tahini (3 tablespoons)
Cumin (2 tsp)
Pink Salt (1 tsp)
Cayenne Pepper (A dash of flakes)
Baby Mixed Squash (9 baby squash stemmed)

Throw it all into the Food Processor and blend til smooth texture. (Doug said it was ugly. But it was tasty. I would have used more Tahini as a better binder next time. The black olives really whooped it up.)

I ate it with an accompaniment of Vegetable slices which included: Cucumber, Baby Sweet Peppers, Celery and Baby Squash.

I also drank a lot of Coco Libre Coconut Water.

Saturday Dinner:

Well for dinner I really had dessert. Doug and I decided to go to the movies and I knew he was gonna get popcorn. So I asked him if he would stop in Downtown Santa Cruz at the local Vegan/Raw Vegan Restaurant, Café Gratitude, so that I could get a Raw Vegan Treat. I purchased 2 slices of their Raw Vegan Cakes. 1 Key Lime Pie and 1 Carrot Cake. They let me take it into the movies. So I ate the Key Lime Pie during the movie and felt really happy. The Key Lime Pie really tasted like Key Lime pie and had excellent texture. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wanted to try a Raw Vegan dessert. The staff also said that it was the current fan favorite at Café Gratitude. (I saved the Carrot Cake for Sunday.)

Sunday Breakfast:

We were headed out the door again and so I grabbed another ChiaPod Snack, the Vanilla Bean Cinnamon kind. I would say that the consistency may not be for everyone because it is like a gelatin texture. But the flavor is there. I prefer the Banana from yesterday. I didn’t really taste the Cinnamon in the Vanilla Cinnamon flavor and I love Cinnamon, so it was a bit disappointing – still good just disappointing.

Sunday Lunch:

We went out with friends for lunch at a local Mediterranean restaurant in Aptos, CA. I ordered the “Greek Salad” without cheese. It was really delightful Spinach Salad with bell peppers, Kalamata olives, cucumber and tomatoes. I used their Jalapeno Mint Gyro sauces instead of the dressing because the sauce was fresh and without vinegar.

Sunday Snack: 

I made another of Christine’s famous Creamsicle Smoothies for Doug and I to split. I love them! And I couldn’t wait any longer to eat the other slice of Raw Vegan Carrot Cake that I brought home Saturday from Café Gratitude. It was excellent and really hit the spot with the raisins and spice. I would like to try making it maybe over the next 9 days left. We’ll see if I get to it.

Sunday Dinner:

After I type this up I’m going to have some Guacamole and Veggie Sticks for dinner with a few Juice Pulp Crackers.

Wow I think that about wraps up the last 3 days. Don’t miss out, we are in the count down now for the last few days of the Raw Vegan 30 Day Detox Challenge!

Find Heather on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter @hpesthetics. For more information on TSA/RSS, check out www.itsan.org, the International Topical Steroid Addiction Network. You can also read about Heather Petersen’s experience at: www.eczemancipated.com