Shopping for the Cleanse

Sprouts opens at 7AM and I was there at 7:50A after I took the kids for their donut cleanse supplies and dropped them off at school. I was armed with a list of 21 items, many of which I'd never had pass my lips before:

GRAINS

Quinoa

Cream of buckwheat (I later learned this is not a grain, but a fruit?? Getouttahere.)

Basmati rice

millet (I thought this was birdseed?)

UNKNOWN

Mung dhal (my cleanse guide seems to exchange these two Mung deals for one another.)

Mung lentils (the Vietnamese woman at the checkout knew what these were and ran and got them for me.)

Ghee (no luck - I can substitute sunflower oil; I've seen Shruthi, my guide make it and it's a huge PITA.)

FRESH

green beans

cabbage

kale (hmm. Never had but got a bundle.)

collards (Again, never had, but will give it a go.)

lemon

Berries

Celery

shallot

DRIED

Dried prunes (I feel like a granny.)

Dried papaya/pineapple (Didn't get either yet. I only saw pineapple and it looked like it had sugar on it. My kids and I call papaya vomit fruit because of the way it smells.)

Raisins (These had heretofore annoyed me, but they and my new friends the prune satisfy my extremely active sweet tooth.)

SPICES

Ginger root (gnarly, dude - love ginger, but never had the whole root before.)

Cumin seed

Coriander powder

So after an hour of wandering the store looking for stuff, I was hungry. I came home and made the cream of buckwheat - 30 long minutes of waiting and stirring. It was great - loved the raisins in it for a bit of sweet, dumped in what I thought was too much cinnamon, but it was okay, and cardamom. I could have eaten both portions, but know I will be on the go tomorrow AM at 8 when I'm supposed to eat.

Needing a place to put these new things away from my regular groceries, I started cleaning out drawers and cabinets. We also have 2 upcoming parties at our house, so wiping down the crumbs and ick is a good idea anyway. Work, work, work, sort, sort, sort, wash, wash, wash for 3 hours and I'm hungry again.

The quinoa takes 30 minutes to cook. Nothing fast or easy it seems. I sauteed the kale in canola oil. Whatev. Very plain even with the garlic and the coriander seed. The kale was bitter. My middle name is bitter, but I don't like to eat it. I was hungry enough to not care.

Both meals I ate on our beautiful back deck in the spring sunshine instead in front of the computer, TV, or newspaper. That's a huge change. I am basically lazy, so I have become quite proficient at multi-tasking so I can lay around and chill later. It's almost 7 and I'm hungry now. Guess I'll eat the 2nd portion of the quinoa and maybe put some more kale or some collards in.

This is a huge lifestyle change for me. The "simple" lunch meal took 4 freaking pans.

Well, I now have clean cabinets and drawers, let's hope my innards get equally as clean.

Namaste.