Carrot & Apple Juice, Berry Smoothie & Sprouted Quinoa Pizza

The aim today was to start a liquid fast. Purely for the fact that i feel my body needs some rest and a little detoxing as i have become quite bloated recently and feel a little sluggish. I need to get my energy back and kick-start my body again.

I had liquid meals for breakfast and Lunch, but remembered that i had some quinoa sprouting which needed to be used today otherwise i would have had to just through it away. Which i wasn't okay with doing! So i made myself a non liquid dinner tonight, which was a really tasty pizza. Full on liquid fast starts tomorrow!

Breakfast was Carrot & Apple Juice. I love the taste of carrot juice, it has to be one of the faves. To properly detox, you are meant to cut all fiber out from the diet. Hence why i am liquid fasting, rather than juicing as i still want to keep my fiber. However, when it comes to juices such as carrot & apple, the pulp isn't that great to drink. I do have an actual juicer machine, but it is at the back of a cupboard and a nightmare to clean. I ended up blending the ingredients, and then putting it through a sieve, so only the juice came through.

Carrot & Apple Juice 

2 Carrots 

2 apples

50ml coconut water

1tsp ginger

1tsp turmeric 

For Lunch i made a fruity & creamy smoothie. It was immense. I now stick to using coconut water as a base for most of my drinks.

Beautiful Creamy Berry Smoothie

2  Large Bananas

1 cup of mixed strawberries, raspberries, blueberries

200ml Coconut water

1tsp vanilla essence

( i wanted to add some mixed spice too but i didn't have any )

Now THIS is a pizza. Pizza is something i would not normally even imagine eating, but a friend on instagram uploaded a picture of a pizza using a Quiona base. So i thought i would give it a go. Unfortunately i had started to soak my quinoa long before i decided to liquid fast, but, i have to say it was worth the fast fail!

I couldn't believe how crunchy and tasty the base was. I will deffo be making this again in the future :)

Sprouted Quinoa Pizza

150g Quinoa - soak for 8-24 hours

2tsp Cider Vinegar

salt

pepper

2 tsp mixed herbs

Topping 

Tomato pasata

veggies of your choice - i used mushrooms, olives, sweetcorn, tomatoes, spinach & nutritional yeast

Soak your quinoa in water for 8-24 hours. Drain, and blend with cider vinegar, salt, pepper and herbs. It will for a thick white looking paste / dough. Place the mixture onto a lined baking tray, and shape into a large circle. You want it to be about 1cm thick. 

Cook in the oven for 10-15 mins, then carefully flip over and cook the other side for 5-10 mins. Put the tomato pasata, and the toppings onto your pizza and cook for a further 5-10mins.

Mushroom Stroganoff [ with Quinoa & Buckwheat ]

 

 

I originally set out to cook a Mushroom Risotto tonight, but I got carried away with experimenting and this delicious meal was the outcome. About a month ago, I went to this really nice Veggie Restaurant in Hammersmith called THE GATE with a friend of mine. We nearly missed the entrance as it is practically disguised, and at the back of some kind of religious building. Apart from the odd location, the actual restaurant itself is incredible. It was packed.. I mean jam packed and bustling and had such a good vibe as soon as we walked through the door. Almost every item on the menu had a vegan option, so I was super happy. I ordered a mushroom risotto and it was seriously one of the nicest meals I have EVER had. 

 

I tried to replicate the risotto, but I am such a veg ADICT I had to chuck in some other veggies too. The taste of the sauce I created was pretty spot on though - yipee. I am not a huge rice eater, and so my meal became more of a stroganoff rather than a risotto. I much much much prefer eating grains such as quinoa and lentils than rice. I came across buckwheat in my wholefoods store the other day and thought I would give it a try tonight with my quinoa. Buckwheat is.. different in texture. It is almost nutty in flavour, and has much more of a bite to it than most other grains. I quite enjoyed it and it went really well with the Quinoa. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mushroom Stroganoff  [ with Quinoa & Buckwheat ]

 

Mushroom Stroganoff

1 Cup Sliced Mushrooms

1/2 Courgette finely sliced or grated

1/2 Carrot finely sliced or grated

1/2 Onion chopped

100ml coconut milk

100ml water

1 Vegan stock cube or Seasoning to taste

 

Place all ingredients into a pan and leave to marinate ( off the heat) for 10-30mins. Cook on a medium heat for 15-20mins, until veggies are cooked and the sauce has reduced and thickened.

 

 

Quinoa & Buckwheat

 

1/2 Cup Quinoa

1/2 Cup Buckwheat

 

Rinse with cold water first to remove the bitter tasting outer flavour. Boil in a pan of water for 15-20 mins.