Lunch/Dinner Recipe 1: Puy Lentil Salad

This portion is enough for 4 people for dinner. As mentioned earlier, I tend to make enough food at dinner time so that I have for lunch the next day and this salad is delicious the day after as well so it makes for the ideal lunch.

If you are short on time, buy beetroots that are pre-boiled and fry them on an easy-slip frying pan with a tblsp of olive oil, salt and pepper for about 10 minutes at medium to high heat, stirring them regularly. If you have time, the beetroots are even better if you buy them raw and put them in the oven drizzled with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and cook them for about 45 minutes at 180°C (or until you can easily stick a fork into it). I sometimes wrap them in foil and cook them in that as they are less likely to burn that way.

You can prepare all the other ingredients while the beetroots and puy lentils are cooking:

2 cups puy lentils boiled in 4 cups of water. Rinse the lentils before boiling and add a tsp of bouillon to the water. Boil for app 20 minutes or until al dente.
1 red onion or 5 sprigs of spring onion, finely chopped
150 g sugar snap peas, blanched and chopped
150 g asparagus, blanched and cut into smaller pieces
2-3 carrots, finely chopped
A handful of fresh mint, finely chopped. Save a few whole leaves for serving.
A handful of flat-leafed parsley, finely chopped.
6 medium sized beetroot, scrubbed or peeled
100 g soft goats cheese
1 juicy lemon
Olive oil, salt and pepper

Mix lentils, onion, sugar snap peas, asparagus, carrots, mint and parsley in a bowl. Season with lemon juice, olive oil, salt (or Herbamare) and a bit of pepper. Cut the beetroot into either slices or squares and put on top together with goats cheese broken into medium sized chunks. For serving add a few mint leaves.

Don't give up just yet....

If you have read about all the preparations and the rules by now, you may already think to yourself 'How can I possibly get through three weeks on the basis of this?'. With no recipes yet on the blog to bring you that glimpse of hope and clarity I can understand why you may feel that way, but rest assured that eating alkalining foods allows for delicious and tasty meals so be patient. I will post recipes as fast as I can but for now, here are just a few headline ideas to keep you inspired (and given that many of them are quite self explanatory you could probably make them without a recipe):

Puy Lentil Salad
with sugar snap peas, carrots, red onion and fresh herbs,
topped with oven roasted beetroot and soft goats cheese

Salmon or Trout Fillet

baked in the oven with feta cheese
served with brown rice and steamed vegetables

Mexican Feast
salmon or yellowtail ceviche or chicken strips grilled on the pan, 

black beans, guacamole, fresh coriander
and delicious ginger/onion brown rice topped with a bit of sour cream. 

Serve with corn tortillas or corn tacos

Quinoa Salad
Boiled quinoa served with grilled, marinated artichokes, pine nuts,
avocado, buffalo mozzarella and sauteed mushrooms

Quinoa paddies
served with a big fresh salad of lettuce, spring onion, avocado and pine nuts

Soft polenta with goats cheese and sauteed mushrooms

Breakfast - Part II: Lazy weekend mornings

You will likely crave something new after five days of yogurt, cereal and porridge for breakfast. With extra time on your hands for breakfast preparation, the weekend options are plenty and delicious. Most of my weekend breakfast options has eggs as an important component.  It is recommended that you only have three eggs per week. I never strictly followed this rule but generally found that over the course of the three weeks I didn't have more than three eggs per week. However, if you do have more, I wouldn't stress about it (unless you have a big cholesterol problem)!

Remember though: like on weekdays, you need to start your day with a hot water with lemon or green tea.

Smoked salmon with wilted spinach and poached eggs
'The detox eggs benedict' - who am I kidding :-) I shouldn't create false expectations.... But it is still delicious!

Start by bringing a large pot of water to the boil - you will need this for poaching the eggs. Also make a small bowl of cold saltwater to be ready for when the eggs have been poached.
While waiting, wilt the spinach in a pot with a bit of water. If you are not a big fan of spinach you can substitute it with steamed asparagus.
Poaching eggs: When the water is boiling add a bit of lemon juice and salt to the water. To poach the egg, you can either use a 'poaching gadget' or stir the water so that it spins around the center into which you pour the egg. Put the lid on the pot and boil for 3 minutes. When you take the egg out put it into cold saltwater for 20 seconds and then drain it on a piece of paper towel. 

Arrange the wilted spinach on a plate with 2 pieces of smoked salmon on top. Place the poached eggs on top and season with salt and pepper. The runny egg-yolk will provide the 'sauce' for the dish (instead of the classic hollandaise sauce).
If you would like to add a carbohydrate to this dish I recommend either a few spoonfuls of boiled quinoa or buckwheat blinis (I will provide a recipe for those at a later time)


Eggs any style with quinoa, mushrooms and avocado (with optional soft goats cheese or buffalo mozzarella)

Boil the quinoa (1 part quinoa to 2 parts water and add 1/2-1 teaspoon of vegetable bouillon granulate) for 15 minutes or until cooked. You end up using quinoa a lot when you are doing the detox (breakfast, salads, dinner) so I usually cook 1-1.5 cups at a time and then keep it in the refrigerator for when I need it next.

Mushrooms:
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tblsp olive oil
150-200 grams mushrooms - I like to use a mix of mushrooms (typically chestnut and oyster) but any of them will do.
Small handful flatleafed parsley finely chopped (you can use other herbs if you prefer - I find that thyme and lemonthyme both go well)
Herbamare or salt and pepper for seasoning

Heat up the olive oil and add the garlic. Let it cook for a bit before you add the mushroom. When the mushroom are well cooked add the parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Eggs: Scrambled, fried or poached as per your choice. Remember not to add any milk (other than soy milk) if you scramble them and use olive oil for the pan.

To serve, arrange the mushroom on top of the quinoa and serve with slices of avocado and the egg. I sometimes season the whole plate with a drizzle of really good olive oil and a bit of Herbamare. You can also add a soft goats cheese or buffalo mozzarella if you so desire.

Naturally, for those unfortunate people who do not like eggs (yup, they exist! I live with one), the rest of the elements of this dish also make a very suitable breakfast.


Detox Omelette
Any detox friendly ingredient can go in... I have found that a choice of some of the following work well:

Smoked salmon
Soft goats cheese
Mushrooms
Fresh herbs
Spring onion
Asparagus
Spinach
Tofu

And remember, no normal milk in the egg mixture. If you desire something creamier use soy cream instead of normal cream - but soy milk usually covers it.



Breakfast for the sweet toothed
This will be your alternative to the 'American pancake stack'. Baking powder, which is in the blinis, is strictly not allowed, but I take the attitude that if 99.9% of the food I have is following the rules then that last 0.1% will not make a big difference. I also make this dish as a pudding (when I have guests during my detox period) by making the almonds a little more 'fancy' roasting them on the pan with honey and cinnamon so they become more like a normal brittle.

Toppings:
Greek yogurt
Banana
Almonds
Honey

The 'Pancakes' - sweet blinis:
2 eggs
175 g buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda or baking powder
300 ml soy milk (you can substitute this with rice or almond milk if you prefer)
1 tblsp vegetable oil
2 tblsp honey

Whisk the eggs until frothy. Beat in flour and baking powder. Add the soy milk, beating well to keep a smooth batter. Finally add in the honey and oil.

Heat a little oil in a heavy frying pan and pour on the batter (I make them so they are roughly 12cm in diameter - they end up 3-4mm thick - I use a large enough pan so I can fit 3 per round). Cook until the underside is golden; flip and cook on the other side.

Serve the hot blinis with Greek yogurt, sliced banana, almonds and a drizzle of honey.

Breakfast - Part I: Busy weekday mornings

To give your body a good cleanse it is important to start every day of your detox with either a cup of hot water with lemon or a green tea. I either make it as the first thing after getting up and drink it during my morning routine or would buy disposable cups (like they use at all the coffee chains) and bring it with me on my journey to work.

As we all know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Busy work schedules and social lives however makes it tough for many to have breakfast before rushing out of the door in the morning and I am sure that doesn't change because you are doing the detox. The following breakfast options should be fairly easy and quick for those mornings - and you should be able to have them as easily at home as at the office.

Plain yogurt (bio-live, Greek or goats milk) with banana, cold-milled flax seeds and if you prefer slightly sweeter a bit of honey

Gluten free cereal with unsweetened soy, rice or almond milk

Breakfast porridge - this one requires a little bit of work. I put all the dry ingredients in a pot the night before so all I have to do in the morning is add banana, water and soy milk and bring it to the boil. I then put it in a storage container, wrap it in a scarf (to keep it hot) and bring it with me to work. By the time I got there it was nicely cooked and in case it had gotten too cold I would stick it in the microwave for a minute (if you are lucky enough to have access to one at work). When having this porridge at home, I also just bring it to the boil and then wrap the pot up in my duvet for 10-15 minutes (this is like the old days when people slow-cooked food in hay-boxes). Another thing to make it easier is to make a larger portion of the porridge mixture on the weekend so that it is ready for use.

Porridge mixture:
Equal amounts of millet flakes, brown rice flakes and quinoa flakes

For one portion you need:
1/2 cup porridge mixture
A small handful almonds (I put them in whole)
A sprinkle ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 banana (sliced)

I always have it with a good amount of honey!

Easy Snacks

Snacks are essential when you are doing the detox. Not only will it help you stay away from 'detox unfriendly' temptations but you also tend to eat more food than normal (or at a minimum, more frequently). It is natural for you to eat more during this time since your diet will become healthier and more easy to digest and thus won't 'clog' your system. Fortunately, the choice is large and varied.

I used to keep nuts, a bag of corn thins, a glass of almond butter and some honey at my desk in the office, so I always had access to a quick, healthy snack. If I had time and was well organized I would bring hummus, vegetables and other snack foods with me to work in the morning (and if you are lucky enough to have access to a refrigerator at work then you can keep most of these in the office).

Snacks requiring no preparations:
Nuts - I tend to prefer almonds but other nuts are also ok. Stay away from peanuts and nuts that are toasted with any sort of oil though.
Bananas (the only fruit you are allowed so I hope you like them!)

Savory snacks:
Carrots, celery, sugar snap peas or asparagus with hummus
Rice cakes or corn thins with hummus
Griddled tofu with hummus or tahina (Tahina is a sesame paste mixed with spices, water and lemon juice. Recipe will come in a later post)

Sweet snacks - if you, like me, have a sweet tooth, the following snacks will be a treat:
Rice cakes or corn thins with ricotta cheese and honey
Greek yogurt with honey and cold-milled flax seeds.
Rice cakes or corn thins with almond butter and honey

Plan well - Part II: The Pantry Shopping List

As strongly suggested in my earlier post 'Plan well - Part I', you need to ensure that your pantry and refrigerator is filled with detox friendly foods to be well prepared for your three week detox period. I have found that it is the 'dry goods' that represent the biggest change for most people when they start the detox. No more pasta, white rice and muesli. Instead, you will have quinoa, brown rice and gluten free cereals/porridge grains.

I therefore recommend that you start out by stocking up your pantry with detox friendly dry-goods. These will form the base of your diet over the three weeks (and many of them will hopefully last you through the full period). Some of the items may be a little tricky to source in a normal supermarket. In London I recommend Whole Foods for the items that you are not able to find in your normal supermarket. Elsewhere, specialist health food stores should have most of the items.

- Cold-milled flax seeds (I have found the Virginia Harvest brand - sold at Whole Foods in London - to be the nicest one. This is delicious with your yogurt.)
- Unsweetened soy or rice milk (almond milk is another alternative)
- ‘Pouring’ honey (easier to use on yogurt)
- Almonds or other favored nuts except peanuts (get plenty - they are an excellent snack and easy to keep with you)
- Almond butter (I have found the Meridien brand to be the most delicious - in London, this is sold at Whole Foods)
- Corn thins or rice cakes
- Precooked polenta flour
- Red quinoa
- White quinoa
- Buckwheat pasta or noodles (check the list of ingredients to make sure it is indeed 100% buckwheat - many products advertised as corn, buckwheat etc contain up to 70% wheat)
- Puy lentils (for Londoners, Waitrose calls them 'Lentils, 113')
- Herbamare (herbal salt excellent for seasoning)
- Vegetable bouillon (I really like the green 'Marigold Swiss')
- A very good olive oil
- Basil pesto (ensure that it does not contain Parmesan cheese. 'Seggiano' makes a delicious one)
- Green tea (please see my separate 'Green Tea' post)
- Herbal teas as per your preference

If you like porridge the following three ingredients are a nice mix for a delicious morning porridge (replacing normal rolled oats):
- Brown rice flakes
- Millet flakes
- Quinoa flakes
Are you however more into normal breakfast cereals the following will be good alternatives (served with either soy, rice or almond milk):
- Corn flakes (ensure they are made with 100% corn)
- Brown rice puffs
- Buckwheat flakes (again, ensure they are made with 100% buckwheat)

Green Tea

Green tea will become an essential part of your life when you do the detox and for a number of reasons I thought it deserved a special mention. For starters, I should clarify that 'Green Tea' covers a range of teas such as Oolongs, white tea, Sencha, Jasmine etc.

I wasn't a green tea drinker myself before I started my bi-annual detoxing but today this is almost the only hot drink I have. I crave it like you today may crave your morning coffee - fortunately this one has a number of healthy benefits such as a high level of antioxidants (In her book Green Tea: The Natural Secret for a Healthier Life, Nadine Taylor states that green tea has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years).

Many people have declared to me that they don't like green tea. Neither did I, until I learned how to make it and source the right tea! There are HUGE differences in green tea and how you make them. Prices swing from £2 to £100 per 100 grams and the taste and quality is not far from that large swing (that being said, don't for one second think that an expensive tea is necessarily a better, more tasty tea).

Green tea brewing can become quite a science if you get stuck into it - I am not there at all but have found a nice balance between 'the tea bag' and 'the intense scientific tea brewing process'. One thing I am acutely aware of though is that green tea can become very bitter if you brew it too long (one of the reasons I avoided it in the past and wrinkled my nose when I had it - especially over-brewed tea bags).

For those of you living in London, if you don't have much knowledge about green tea or find yourself in the 'I don't like it'-camp, I would highly recommend a visit to the Tea Smith in Spitalsfield Market (see details below) before you start your detox. This is a wonderful place to be educated about green tea and to taste a couple of them to learn what you like. If you have time, treat yourself to their Afternoon Tea Smith Ceremony tasting menu with 4 different teas paired up with delicious biscuits, patisserie and chocolates. It is a delicious and inspiring experience.

There are a number of specialty tea stores in most large cities where you can taste the teas in addition to buying the actual tea, the various brewing gadgets and get educated on how to brew it etc. My favorites are:

In London: 
Tea Smith in London's Spitalsfield Market. They have a wonderful teabar with the most extensive 'tea menu' I have ever seen. They sell teas, gadgets for easy brewing, beautiful tea porcelain and any other tea item you can imagine. http://www.teasmith.co.uk/
East Teas in London's Borough Market. They are passionate about their tea and travel to Asia themselves to source it. If you have the time and interest they will spend lots of time with you at the stall in Borough Market teaching you about their teas and have you taste a selection. They also sell gadgets for brewing. http://www.eastteas.com/
Harrods also have an excellent tea selection in their loose tea section.

In Copenhagen:
A.C. Perch's Tea shop is one of the oldest shops in Copenhagen and in addition to having an excellent variety of teas it is also a true charm to visit. They don't have the facilities available to have you taste in the shop but they do have a small cafe attached where you can taste a large selection of their teas. The staff in the shop is however very knowledgeable and will tell you how long to brew the tea you buy. http://www.perchs.dk/

In Vienna:
Haas & Haas has a wonderful selection and a great cafe next to the shop where you can taste the tea before you buy. The shop is large and sell a huge variety of teas, tea pots, cups, cakes etc. http://www.haas-haas.at/


If you want to keep it simple (at least to start with) and use tea bags, the best green tea bags I have found are from Mighty Leaf Teas. I bring them with me when I travel and they are truly delicious and come very close to the quality of tea I get when I use loose leaves. You can buy tea directly from their website: http://www.mightyleafteas.co.uk/  or alternatively contact them to find out where the nearest distributor is to your home (for those of you who live in the US, Whole Foods sell their products). My personal favorite is the 'Organic Hojicha' but I recommend you try a few different ones to find out which one suits your pallette the best.

Plan well - Part I

To make the three weeks of detox as easy as possible, I recommend that you plan well.

Firstly, try to pick a period where you don't have a heavy social calendar. Restaurant dinners are manageable as you will be able to pick out something detox friendly from most menus; dinners at friends' houses are trickier though as there are few things ruder than not eating what they have spent time and effort preparing for you. My friends are quite used to me announcing that I am on detox and the compromise tend to be that I host them and thereby have full control over the menu. Many friends have been at my house for dinners where they didn't even know they were served 'a detox meal' and fortunately I have always received compliments for such meals - including pudding!

Secondly, if you don't normally spend time in the kitchen, there will be no getting around it now. The biggest change for my friends has been the need to bring their lunch to work. I would generally make enough food for dinner that I could bring the leftovers as next day's lunch. If you are short on time, London now has many 'mix your own salad' places which even have brown rice or quinoa (both allowed) among their base choices, which is a good alternative to bringing your own lunch.

Finally, you need to get your shopping sorted and your pantry filled. Without the correct foods around at home and at the office (and in the handbag if you happen to carry one around) it will be very hard to stick to the rules.

I will post the rules in a separate post later (easier for future reference) but for now you will find them below. Most people's reaction to the list is "so what CAN I eat??". That is hopefully where this blog will become your inspiration and guide.

1. No red meat (chicken and fish are fine)
2. No dairy - however, a number of exceptions: Plain bio-live, Greek and goats milk yogurt, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, goats cheese, feta cheese, halloumi and buffalo mozzarella are all ok.
   
3. No alcohol
4. No fruit, except bananas
5. No vegetables from the nightshade family (such as potatoes, aubergines, cucumbers, tomatoes or peppers).
6. No sugar - and therefore no foods that contain such. Honey is however allowed.
7. No gluten
8. No yeast
   
9. No artificial flavorings or sauces (tomato sauce, vinegar, mustard); herbs & spices are fine
10. No soft drinks, teas or coffees, except herbal and green tea

What's all the fuss about???

Since I am no doctor, dietician or anything even close to either, I will try to refrain from too much medical 'blabber' as to why one should have a more alkaline/alkaline-forming diet. However, from reading articles and various research there is a lot of evidence showing that people's diet today is much too acidic (once you get into the alkaline lifestyle you will realize just how much!) and that this is one of the causes of many of today's lifestyle diseases such as cancer and diabetes. What is quite funny though is that it is the allure of easy, no starvation, weight-loss that has tended to persuade most of my friends to try it out. That they have subsequently found themselves feeling fantastic in many more respects is the added bonus.

I myself decided to do it because of my very sweet tooth! Since childhood I have struggled to stay away from sweets and tend to consume them in such large quantities that I started worrying about becoming diabetic later in life. But as alkaline food has become a larger and larger percentage of my diet I have to say that it is the general feeling of well-being that makes me continue. I sleep amazingly, my skin is clear and glowing, no 'afternoon blues', no cravings, I don't have a gram excess weight on me and I beam with energy - what more can one really want from life??  Well... there comes a time when the chocolate is just too tempting or the craving for a pizza or a steak too great, but fortunately I seem to have found a happy balance so that I can still have all of those delicious foods (but in smaller quantities than in the past) and luckily crave them much less frequently.

The full detox is three weeks. The first time I did it I truly struggled - headaches, cravings and most importantly I didn't have a good idea about what I could eat and ended up with the same 3-4 dishes for three weeks which was not much fun. I practically lined up in front of the Italian ice-cream store the hour I had completed my three weeks!!

I can't promise you no headaches - you are bound to have them given that you no longer will eat or drink all the 'artificial stimulants' that most people tend to have every day. Rest assured though that it will go away after a few days. In terms of cravings what I hear from friends who have done the detox is that they actually don't crave the things they thought they would. One friend, who is particularly fond of wine, thought that would be the toughest one to miss - yet, he hasn't craved it once during his detoxing periods. What I can promise you is a much larger variety of food than I initially had. On this blog I will post lists of snacks and recipes which will hopefully make it much easier for you to have a delicious food experience with a full stomach throughout the three weeks - and beyond hopefully!

It has been two years now since someone suggested to me to write a blog about 'the detox' - my bi-annual cleansing which over the six years that I have been doing it has turned into more of a lifestyle. My shopping basket and my pantry has definitely been revolutionized over this time - and I think very much for the better.

In order for all of you guys to more easily go through the three weeks of 'detox' the intent of this blog is to hopefully make it easier to prepare you and to get you through it. I aim to post shopping lists, food lists, recipes and should you have questions, please don't hesitate to post them and I will get to them as soon as I possibly can.

Most importantly, I hope that, like it did for me, this will change your life for the better for the long run. Good luck, Marianne