3-Day Suja Juice Cleanse: Day 2

I just completed Day 2 of the 3-Day Suja Juice organic, cold-pressed juice cleanse, and my main thought for the day was: I’M HUNGRY!

I woke up this morning feeling hungry, but it went away with the first juice. I started feeling hungry again half an hour before my second juice, so I had a glass of water to calm my hunger pangs. (I read somewhere that when you start feeling hungry, your body is actually thirsty. I’m not sure how accurate this statement is, but the glass of water seemed to do the trick.)

Wanting to prevent that waterlogged feeling I had at the end of Day 1, I decided to reduce my intake of water from six glasses to three. It must have worked because I didn’t feel bloated today.

I was also tempted by aromas at the grocery store. There seemed to be a lot more free samples than I remember. Thanksgiving can’t come soon enough! Because of my grocery run, I had to wait a little longer than normal to have my third juice, and I was feeling pretty light-headed by the time I drank it. (Note to self: do not go grocery shopping during a juice cleanse.)

I still felt pangs of hunger prior to my last three juices, even with the glasses of water. However, I had way more energy today and felt slimmer, probably due to the loss of water weight. This day started off rocky, but it ended pretty smoothly. Final day tomorrow. Will keep you posted!

3-Day Suja Juice Cleanse: Day 1

Recently, I entered a 3-Day Suja Juice Cleanse giveaway sponsored by Cher of The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler…. Whenever I enter an online giveaway, I never expect to win, but it’s nice to be surprised, especially when I received an extremely large box containing eighteen bottles of the cold-pressed, organic juice!

I purposefully chose to start this cleanse right before Thanksgiving, sort of as a preemptive strike to the Thanksgiving overeating tendancies. Hopefully, the cleanse will help me curb my appetite and make me fully appreciate when I’m full. We’ll see, though…

Here are my Day 1 Impressions:

7:30 A.M. first juice “Glow”: The green apple and kale juices were the most prominent during drinking. The finish is more cucumber and mint. Make sure to like the taste of kale before proceeding with this cleanse. My stomach feels satisfied after this bottle.

11:30 A.M. second juice “Fuel”: Very sweet, mainly from the orange juice. Judging by the color, fully expected more carrot flavor. Instead, it was more citrus-y than smooth carrot. Would have preferred this as the first juice. Very breakfast-y type drink.

2:30 P.M. third juice “Purify”: Another color-deceiving drink, seeing as the drink is reddish from the beets. Tasted more like a lemon-carrot-green apple juice. Rather tart. Took me 45 minutes to drink the 16-ounce bottle.

5:00 P.M. fourth juice “Fiji”: Strong apple and lemon-ginger flavors. The ginger leaves a slight aftertaste. Looks like green tea when not shaken. Beginning to feel a bit waterlogged.

7:15 P.M. fifth juice “Green Supreme”: A lot of sweet apple and lemon in this drink. Surprisingly tasty and in stark contrast to the earlier tart apple drinks. Drank at the right time because my stomach started rumbling just as I opened the bottle. My favorite so far.

9:00 P.M. sixth juice “Vanilla Cloud”: The highlight of the six juices, mainly because of its non-fruit components: almond, coconut, honey, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The spices made the cold drink taste like a sweet but watered-down milk shake. Definitely the best out of the six.

Overall, Day 1 of this cleanse wasn’t bad. In fact, it was pretty easy. I never felt the urge to snack or cheat, so that was a plus. I started to feel a bit bloated by the end of the day, but that feeling went away pretty quickly. I’m excited to see how this cleanse will fit into my work schedule tomorrow since it’s a bit harder there to time my juice drinks throughout the day. Will keep you posted!

TwD: Baking Double Chocolate Cookies with Julia

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted for Tuesdays with Dorie; four months to be exact. I wasn’t planning on baking this week’s assignment either for fear of unintentional snacking on leftovers. However, my friend (Codename: Candelabra) was in town, so I was able to pawn these treats off on her and the Fort Wayne breast cancer center nursing staff, including Candelabra’s O.R. scrub tech/navigator (Codename: Cilantro)!

The few cookies I did sample were soft, velvety, melty, and decadent, similar to a moist and silky brownie. Actually, Candelabra has coined these cookies “C. Webb cookies” because they’re “super chocolatey and delicious” like the former Michigan “Fab Five” member/former NBA All-Star/current NBA on TNT commentator, Chris Webber:

(That last photo was to show you C.Webb’s humor.) Whatever these cookies are called, it’s a smart idea to have plenty of friends around lest you be tempted to eat them all yourself. Which you will! If you’d like to try your hand at these double chocolate cookies or “C. Webb cookies”, pick up a copy of Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America’s Best Bakers and join the bi-monthly baking group, Tuesdays with Dorie, where we choose recipes to collectively bake each month!

ffwD: (Water) Chestnut and Pear Soup

In my rush to gather the ingredients needed for this week’s ffwD assignment, chestnut and pear soup, I inadvertently grabbed a can of water chestnuts (like the tuber) as opposed to a jar of roasted chestnuts (like the actual nut). This little mistake was the reason my soup turned out extremely light in color. However, it still packed in a ton of flavor, especially from the organic thyme and pears. I didn’t mind the mistake; I happen to love the taste of water chestnuts. They actually paired well with the rest of the soup’s ingredients.

Now that the colder temperatures are here in Chicago, I’m all for making simple yet earthy soups like this one. I’d even go so far as to say that I’ll give this recipe another shot with the proper chestnuts! My attempt at chestnut and pear soup was made for French Fridays with Dorie, a group of bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.

Happy (Early) National Bundt Day!

Mary of The Food Librarian is crazy for bundt cake. For the past several years, she’s celebrated this momentous day by baking a bundt cake for each of the thirty days leading up to National Bundt Day on November 15th. However, this year, she’s doing a “lite edition” and posting fifteen different bundt cakes leading up to Friday’s finale.

I’ve decided to join again this year, albeit a few days early, because National Bundt Day also coincides with French Fridays with Dorie. So, in honor of National Bundt Day, I’m posting an applesauce bundt cake using the homemade applesauce or “compote de pommes” I made last week for French Fridays with Dorie! I followed Gale Gand’s recipe for applesauce cake but excluded the walnuts and raisins. (Ew. Raisins.) I’m not sure why, but my cake needed an entire hour to bake as opposed to Gand’s 40-45 minute suggestion. Perhaps my homemade applesauce was a bit watery, making the batter more liquidy than usual. Plus, I think the longer baking time resulted in a darker cake. Regardless, this turned out to be a delicious, warm, and moist applesauce bundt cake. As you can see, I ate two slices immediately. This recipe is definitely worth trying. Happy National Bundt Day!

ffwD: Compote de Pommes

This week’s assignment, compote de pommes, or homemade applesauce was extremely easy to make. The hardest part, if you can even call it that, was peeling and coring the six Fuji and Gala apples needed to end up with approximately 2&1/2 cups of applesauce. In my opinion, taking 30 minutes to boil down the chunks of six apples seemed a bit time-consuming just for applesauce, especially since the last 10 minutes required continuously adding more water to the pan. (Although this may have occurred because I had the heat on too high.)

Once the apples were mashable, I added four tablespoons of sugar and vanilla to the mixture because I planned on baking with the resulting applesauce. As I don’t have a food mill, I puréed the apple mash in my Magic Bullet, giving the applesauce a rather fine consistency. Although this was an easy and tasty recipe, I don’t see myself making it again.

FYI, I’ll be posting my baked good incorporating this homemade applesauce later next week. This applesauce, or compote de pommes, was made for French Fridays with Dorie, a group of bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.

Brown Butter Coyotas

On Saturday, Liz of That Skinny Chick Can Bake posted a recipe for a cookie I’d never heard of: brown butter coyotas. Seeing as Liz’s posts are always amazing, I immediately wanted to make these intriguing and perfectly round cookies. Well, I knew my cookies wouldn’t be perfectly round and they baked way darker than Liz’s, but they were extremely crispy and tasty, especially with the melted brown butter and delicious, warm cinnamon. The cookies were a snap to make and definitely have the added bonus of making the entire house smell incredible. I can easily see these paired with some cinnamon ice cream as well. Head over to Liz’s blog to get the recipe.

ffwD: Muenster Cheese Soufflés

I really enjoyed this week’s ffwD assignment. These soufflés turned out puffy, fluffy, eggy, and yummy. The bits of French muenster were melted and gooey without feeling congealed or greasy. And the panko breadcrumbs added the tiniest amount of crunch to balance the airy soufflé. Despite their immediately deflating nature, I found it more comical that I was baking and eating these delicate soufflés while watching the hard-hitting Thursday night NFL game between the Carolina Panthers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Quite the juxtapositional experience!

These muenster cheese soufflés were made for French Fridays with Dorie, a group of bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.

Fig Toasties

In one of the far corners of this Sunday’s Chicago Tribune, I found a recipe for something called fig toasties. It’s really just slices of sourdough toast slathered with French cheese and topped with delicious fresh figs that have been cooked in butter and balsamic vinegar. The hook for me was the fresh figs. But, alas, my local Mariano’s had run out of the sweet fruit, so I settled for a new jar of fig preserves. I couldn’t find the recipe’s Brillat Savarin, but I found a similar French, cow’s milk, triple-creme cheese as a substitute.

Fig Toasties
(adapted from The Chicago Tribune)

4 slices sourdough or other rustic bread
2 oz. ripe triple-creme cheese, such as Brillat Savarin, at room temperature
4 fresh ripe figs
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1 pinch crushed red pepper

1. Pop bread in the toaster and toast golden. Spread with cheese. Cut each slice into 3. Arrange on a serving tray.

2. Slice away bottom of each fig. Slice each fig crosswise into 3 circles.

3. Heat butter in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add fig slices in a single layer. Sizzle, shaking pan now and then, until pink flesh turns tan, about 1 minute per side. Drizzle on balsamic vinegar. Scatter on pepper. Sizzle until deeply colored, about 1 minute more per side.

4. Set one fig slice on each cheese toast.

Makes 12 servings

ffwD: Caramel-Almond Custard Tart

I’m finally back on track with French Fridays with Dorie, and what a dessert to come back to! This delightful treat was the perfect balance of sweet, buttery crust topped with creamy caramel custard and toasted almonds. I felt like I was eating a soft cookie version of a bear claw pastry, but with caramel custard thrown in!

I was worried about making the caramel custard from scratch since my previous attempts at homemade caramel sauce have resulted in hard-as-glass shards. I almost chickened out and followed Dorie’s Bonne Idee of skipping the caramel cream and using vanilla and almond extracts instead. However, I’m glad I gave it a try as it was definitely worth the intense caramel flavor boost in the tart. It also helped that Dorie warned that seizing might occur and would melt away with the heat. This is definitely a repeat dessert.

This caramel-almond custard tart was made for French Fridays with Dorie, a group of bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.