Day 17/ Jicama Fries, Muesli, and other "facsimile foods"

Last night, even after I wrote yesterday's post, I had a cooked food craving that was nearly uncontrollable. I had to do something really fast or I was going to eat my "contraband" food with abandon (I haven't gotten rid of the bad stuff out of my frig yet).

I kept thinking about my desire for something greasy, salty, and spicy. I remembered how in my pre-cleanse days (Join The Lifeit Detox 28 Days Raw Food Cleanse) I really loved seasoned french fries with honey mustard sauce.

So I had a jicama on top of the frig that I hadn't tried yet, so I washed it, peeled it, then sliced it into strips that were about the same shape as french fries. Then I drizzled the pieces with olive oil, paprika, onion powder, sea salt, and some cajun seasoning. I wanted to have some honey mustard with them, but my old dressing that I have in the frig is made with high fructose corn syrup (which I have recently learned is another dangerous enemy in our everyday foods). I will need to purchase either prepared organic honey mustard, or I will need to get some dry mustard seeds to make my own dressing for next time.

The jicama surprised me...I wasn't expecting it to be slightly sweet, but it was...it was also crisp...kind of like an apple but not sour and a little more starchy. But with the olive oil, the spices, and the salt, it satisfied my craving (thank goodness!).

I decided to take a photo of the famous Green Smoothie. Nothing special, but visuals are always nice.

For the first time, I prepared something that was similar to my familiar bowls of cereal that I have eaten most of my life. The other photo above looks like a normal bowl of breakfast cereal, but it is actually Muesli made with organic rolled oats, raisins, raw almonds, raw sunflower seeds, agave nectar, rice milk, and fresh blueberries. I got the recipe from Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People. It was both tasty and filling.

In the book 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food, the author Victoria Boutenko says that there are actually three stages to adopting the raw vegan lifestyle, and that the first stage is when you are eating a lot of gourmet raw vegan meals, dehydrated foods, and rich foods like nuts because you need the food to taste as much like the SAD (Standard American Diet) as possible. But that as you progress into eating raw foods on a regular basis, your tastes become much simpler.

I'm here to freely admit that I am definitely in stage one, and that in order for me to last on this cleanse (and afterwards), I need to prepare and eat as many "facsimile meals" as possible...the more the meals taste familiar, the greater my chances for success. Luckily I love to cook, and am excited and amazed at all of the delicious, creative raw vegan recipes that are available.