In celebration of Katie’s decision to cleanse, I agreed to help her meal prep for the following week. This, after a morning of volunteering harvesting crops in my church’s garden, then an insanity master class at the gym – a near perfect (and exhausting) day! Meal prepping can be time consuming and not so fun by yourself – but meal prepping with a friend 1. Is More fun 2. Twice the people means everything goes faster 3. Allows you to cook more food, yet not eat the same thing 5 days in a row :) Win-Win…win.
The “basic” rules of the Standard Process cleanse diet:
- 21 days in length
- Diet consists of twice as many vegetables as fruits, Raw (if possible – if cooked, not for very long), organic (if possible), ½-1 cup of lentils or ½ cup of wild or brown rice per day. There are also some starchy veggies like sweet potatoes that are limited (only ½ per day) and no corn is allowed.
- No processed foods, alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, nuts/seeds, dairy, or grains (except wild/brown rice).
- 4-7 teaspoons of oil per day (coconut oil, fish oil, flax seed oil, extra virgin olive oil, grape seed oil).
- Can’t have meat until day 11 (and then, only lean meat in small amounts)
- There are a bunch of supplements that go along with the cleanse. More info of those here: https://www.standardprocess.com/Standard-Process/Purification-Program/Program-Diet
What we prepped:
- Herbed Pesto + brown rice
- Sweet potato + cinnamon + coconut oil
- Fresh salsa (tomatoes, jalapeno, garlic, onion, salt),
- Guacamole
- Roasted butternut squash and red onion w/ EVOO
- Spaghetti Squash with mixed herb pesto (basil, parsley, chives, thyme, oregano, rosemary, garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt)
- Vegetable Lentil soup
- Kale Chips
Once everything was cooked, we portioned out meals for each of us for the week. Katie left with two huge bags of food and I have a fridge full of healthy food!
Peel squash and cut off both ends. Remove fibers/seeds from cavity.
Chop into appx. 1 in. chunks.
Chop red onion into ½ in. pieces.
Toss squash/onion in a drizzle of olive oil. Layer evenly on a sheet pan and sprinkle with S&P. Cook at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes or until squash pierces easily with a fork.
Spaghetti Squash with mixed herb pesto
Cut the spaghetti squash in half long ways. Place halves cut side down on a lightly oiled sheet pan. Roast at 425 degrees or until squash easily separates from skin.
From long end to long end, shred the squash with a fork into a bowl. Mix in as much mixed herb pesto as desired. For one large spaghetti squash, I used about 3 T of the pesto.
Mixed Herb Pesto
Combine your favorite herbs in a food processor. I used what was in my garden (a mix of basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, chives, mint, and rosemary).
Add to the food processor 1 clove garlic, zest and juice of 1 lemon, a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and a small amount of oil/water (just enough to blend).
Season with Salt and Pepper.
Kale Chips
Wash and thoroughly dry hand-torn pieces of kale. Lightly coat in olive oil + seasoning. You can choose garlic powder & salt, Mrs. Dash, old bay - anything! Lay kale in an even layer on a sheet pan and roast in oven at 300 degrees until kale is crisp. Usually 5-10 minutes.