DAY 14 - Daniel Fast

You are now two-thirds done with the fast.  Next week you'll be eating your favorite foods again.  Are you looking forward to it, or are you getting used to this new way of eating?  In thinking about what I miss most, I've decided meat isn't one of them nor is sugar or junk food.  I really miss my plain Greek yogurt, feta and goat cheese, and lattes.  And every once in awhile I think a cookie might be nice...something not too sweet, though, like tender, buttery shortbread or a chewy oatmeal cookie.  So I must be a dairy girl!  All the creamy things seem to be what I miss most.  Jeff definitely misses meet and coffee.  What do you miss most?

BREAKFAST:  Smoothie

Here's something new I tried...mixing in a bit of matcha green tea.  It's full of antioxidants.  If you use green fruit, like kiwi, you'll get a green smoothie...

I think matcha green tea and soy are a great match-a!
Although I prefer regular milk for coffee lattes
I actually prefer soy milk for green tea lattes

LUNCH:  Cherry-almond salad and pita or crackers with bean spread

Use a spring greens mix or butter lettuce for your salad...the sweet, tender leaves go well with the dried cherries.  Then add some crunchy toasted almonds, smooth avocado and the pomegranate dressing you made for the quinoa salad a couple days ago.  Serve it with this yummy bean spread and whole-grain crackers (Mary's Gone Crackers) or whole-grain pita toasted until crisp.

Rosemary-Garlic Bean Spread
1 head of garlic
olive oil
fresh rosemary sprigs (or dried rosemary)
1 can of white beans (white kidney, navy, cannellini, great northern)

1.  Slice the top of a head of garlic and place garlic on a sheet of foil.  Drizzle olive oil over exposed garlic cloves.  Wrap in foil and bake in the oven at 400 for 30 min.  Allow to cool so you can squeeze the soft, creamy roasted garlic cloves out of the head.

Roast until the garlic is a rich, caramelly color
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_garlic

2.  While garlic is roasting, saute rosemary in a tablespoon or two of olive oil until fragrant.

You can also saute the garlic and rosemary together
and even add onion if you want a little more zip

3.  Drain beans and rinse.
4.  Place beans, rosemary and oil, and 1 clove of roasted garlic into a food processor and process until smooth and creamy.

DINNER:  Left-over carrot-ginger soup, apple slices with almond butter, "manna" bread

Super-easy dinner!  Just warm up the soup, slice some apples and dip into some almond butter, and then toast a piece of "manna" bread.

What is "manna" bread?  It is a totally sprouted, raw, "live" loaf of bread.  No sugar, yeast, salt or oil.  Very healthy.  It's a very moist bread, more cake-y than bread-y.  I think it tastes much better toasted.  It comes in a variety of flavors...rye, rice, fruit and nut, multigrain, fig and flax, hemp and banana, and more.  I have rye and fruit and nut at home.  I like the fruit and nut the best.  If you try it and like it, you could easily work it into your breakfast rotation for one more option.  Check your grocery store's health food freezer section to find it.

Here is a list of the ingredients:
Sprouted organic wheat kernels, filtered water, organic raisins,
organic dates, organic almonds, organic cashews, organic hazelnuts,
organic cinnamon, organic nutmeg, organic oatmeal
Wow!