Fresh Spring Rolls with Raw Vegan Coconut Mango Sauce

Ever since the first day of making homemade fresh spring rolls, I have been hooked! I could probably eat them every single day (I actually had them for lunch 2 weeks in a row) but I try to limit them because of the high fat peanut dip. Peanuts also don’t really agree with my stomach so I have been on the look out for a substitute that holds up to my original dipping sauce.

I have tried numerous different dips such as, sweet chili, hoisen, sweet potato, but none can compare to my peanut sauce, it is just that good.

Well on the way home from lunch one day I literally had a light bulb go off in my head! Cashews and mango! Why not pair them together in a dipping sauce for my spring rolls? The cashews will give them that nutty, salty flavor and the mangos will give it that sweet, fresh taste. My mind was set on making this when I got home for lunch, I just had to try it out and see how it held up to what I had imagined. 

So I got home threw some things in a blender and viola- a beautiful sauce has been born! 
To make it even better, I found this awesome spice at The Bulk Barn here in Moose Jaw called Coconut Thai and added it to the sauce. It complimented the flavors so well by adding a little heat and another element of sweetness. If you dont have that spice I offered some substitutions at the bottom. It might not taste the exact same as the original but it still tastes great! 
For my original post on how I make my spring rolls plus the ingredients for my amazing peanut sauce, check it out here!

Ingredients 

½ cup soaked, raw cashews

1 tbsp coconut Thai spice

1 fresh mango

1 lime, juiced

1 green onion

½ clove garlic

Or

½ cup soaked, raw cashews
1 cup frozen mango

3/4 cup raw coconut water

1 tbsp fresh cilantro 
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 green onion

½ clove garlic

1 lime, juiced
½ lemon rind 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Organize Your Juice Cleanse in 4 Easy Steps

Juice cleanse! Yup I am going there again! I had plans on doing another one after Mexico but that kind of fell by the wayside. Technically though, this IS after Mexico so I wasn’t totally lying to myself, I am just a procrastinator, no surprise there.

I had tried starting one about a month ago but I just wasn’t motivated enough and ended up just eating all of the produce I had bought for it instead of juicing it. At least it didn’t go rotten in my fridge! There is nothing I hate more than the forgotten brussle sprouts in the back corner that go rotten, I can literally see money being tossed away and a good meal being wasted.

I found the last time I did a juice cleanse it was kind of hard to get my proportions right and figure out if I had enough food in my fridge to last the rest of the cleanse. I found myself running to the grocery store more times than needed, which can be a bit of a hassle. So this time I thought I would plan out what juices I wanted to drink and make out a list of what I will need. Sounds good right? That should alleviate things a bit and make it easier to get back on the juicing train. BUT! What if I take it to the next organizational level?!
Below I have outlined four simple steps to help guide you in starting your juice cleanse, which is always the hardest part. So here are my tips and tricks to start a successful juice cleanse:

1)    Make a list Do some research and figure out which juices you would love to drink and make out a grocery list of everything you will need.  If you are doing a longer cleanse like 10 days, you can break it up into 2 grocery trips to avoid not having enough room in your fridge. I have listed below some of the juices I am drinking, which are great basic ones that are sweet and delicious.

2)    Wash your produce

This may seem like a no brainer, but it really helps you out in the long run. Fill your sink up with cold water and a cup of vinegar and throw in all of your fruit, veggies and leafy greens. Let them sit for 10 mins giving them a scrub to get off all of the dirt. Aslo you should de stem any fruit or veggies that need to be broken down (not the fruit!). Now when you go and juice its all ready to just throw in.

3)    Pre Package your meals

I don’t know about you but I buy all of my leafy greens from Super Store and they always come in these plastic containers that are a bitch to deal with. So why not use them to pre portion out all of my juices in the fridge so all I have to do is grab a container and bam! Its already washed, chopped and portioned for me to just throw in and juice away!? AND I know that I have enough produce to do my whole cleanse (or half of it) without having to go to the grocery store. Don’t forget to label which one is which, or you can leave them unlabeled and live dangerously! Ooo the possibilities!

4)    Cut down on cleaning

Take a bag – I use the thin vegetable bags you get at the grocery store - and line the container that the pulp goes into. You can then dump out the pulp and reuse the bag for the next meal and save you time cleaning it out. And always, always clean out your juicer right after you are done, if not she will be hard to clean out and you will get frustrated!

 

These are some of the juices that I am going to be drinking throughout the 10 days:

2 apples

4 stalks celery

2 big handfuls spinach

1 cucumber

1 lemon

2 pears

3 stalks kale, de stemmed

3 stalks celery

1 cucumber

1 lemon

10 oranges

2 grapefruit

12 oranges

I am already on day four and I feel great. Other than feeling a little tired during the day and having food cravings (not hunger pains) I feel pretty normal. I am trying to do 10 days but I am not putting any pressure on myself if I don't feel like finishing. I hope my tips and tricks help you out on your journey because I know they helped me!

Fruity Colada Smoothie

On Wednesday I had a not-so filling breakfast of just 3 bananas and 4 cups of spinach with coconut water, blended into a smoothie. Normally I have about 2 cups of berries in there but I was out of my favorite frozen berry blend from Super Store. I thought it wouldn’t make that much of a difference in my day, but boy was I wrong.

While at work I was helping a member and I started to get really unfocused and I had trouble remembering numbers. So I attacked my 3 oranges that I brought as a snack and felt so much better. Thankfully I had a healthy snack with me, because I don’t know what I would have done. Well, I would have probably snuck downstairs to the staff room and grabbed a bag of chips, which is a horrible idea because that isn’t good for me or my body.

So that night I was determined to have a filling breakfast and went grocery shopping after supper. I picked up lots of fruits and veggies, including some pineapple and mango. I had this idea of a pina colada inspired smoothie that day and was excited to try it. Happily, I wasn’t disappointed! The smoothie turned out divine and it is now one of my favorites, even my husband said that it was the best spinach smoothie he has ever tasted. 

As you can tell by the ingredient list it makes quite a lot, around 6-8 cups, depending on how big your pineapple is and yes you drink it all to yourself for breakfast. I know it seems like a lot but you need it, trust me. It lasted me all the way until 11:30 and I felt great, I was alert, I felt full and satisfied, which didn't happen the previous day. So if you ever are craving something tropical and are wanting a really filling breakfast this is the smoothie for you! 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Mango Blueberry Salad

I often find myself craving salads, especially in the morning. I guess I have eaten so many salads for breakfast that my body now needs its leafy greens bright and early!! And this morning was no exception. I have been meaning to use up the blueberries in my fridge for a couple days because a couple were going moldy so today I made a mango blueberry salad. It was so fresh and delicious it has quickly become one of my favourites! Technically if you really look at the ingredients this salad is a fruit salad, that is if you count tomatoes as a fruit (I don't, to me they will always be a vegetable). It is super simple to throw together and because the fruit is so juicy there is no need for dressing.

I used my vegetable mandolin to slice up the cucumbers, zucchini and mango but if you don't have a mandolin you could make this a chunky salad, it should all taste the same, right?!

Ingredients for Single Serving

1/2 cucumber

1/2 zucchini

1 tomato

1 mango

1 cup blueberries

Juice Cleanse Day 3.... What? Day 3?

...what it’s already day three? Holy that went by really fast! I actually catch myself thinking about the next couple days and what I will be juicing and I have to stop myself because tomorrow I am introducing solids back into my diet. I would really love to continue on this juice cleanse but because I am traveling I wont be able to juice, so I need to introduce solids back in to make it easier on my digestive system.

Day three is like day one and two, I have energy, I feel good, yet a little tired. I woke up this morning and felt the better than normal, still hitting my snooze button 5 times, but still really well. I was super thirsty this morning and ended up drinking over a liter of water, plus my hot lemon water. I walked on the treadmill for half an hour and danced around the gym by myself for a couple songs. So a really great start to my day! 

For breakfast I made my apple juice but instead of kale I used spinach and for lunch I made my pear-ific. I decided not to go with orange juice again because of what happened yesterday, but I think I will try it for breakfast on Saturday morning!

I slept really well last night, going to bed at 9:00 and falling asleep by 9:45, which felt great. I think the sauna helped with that, it relaxed me and helped me wind down from my day. So I planned on going for a sauna again tonight, but it was so snowy out today that indoors seemed like a better idea!

For supper I did a mango, cucumber and coconut water juice, I was not worried about this one because anything with coconut water in it will be delicious. I also drank another liter of water before I went to bed because I was feeling a little dehydrated and tired, which means its time for bed soon. By the looks of the last three days I am thinking day four should go well, but I am excited to introduce some solids back in. Ashley suggested making a juice and blending an apple into it, so maybe I will make my Green Apple juice for breakfast again and just not juice the apple. I only have two more sleeps until Mexico so the next couple days will be a whirl win of getting things together, luckily this juice diet hasn't slowed me down. 

Thanks for reading!

xoxo - N