Winter Detox Recipes

All the recipes are for one person, except for dinner which is for four persons. The idea is that you can fix breakfast and lunch for yourself, and then for dinner cook a full meal for your family which will include your detox recipe, which everybody can eat, but which will be the only thing you'll eat along with a salad or raw veggies. While I've only given one recipe per meal you can have leftovers from one or more meals on your plate except of course all Fruit dishes must be kept separate from all vegetable dishes. Exceptions: Fruit can be eaten with the vegetable-Fruits cucumber, tomato, and avocado, as well as celery and lettuce.

If you choose to detox by using nothing but raw Fruits and veggies you'll find plenty of recipes here which you can double up on and use in place of any cooked veggie recipes. If you feel really deprived with an entire week of all raw foods I would counsel you not to do it. You'll end up gritting your teeth to get through, thinking about all the things you'll eat when you get through the week and then rewarding yourself with extra Starches and/or Proteins. Better to eat a cooked vegetable dish for dinner, (filling half your plate with salad or raw veggies or a raw soup on the side) and enjoy the week. It will be much easier to do an entire week of living foods during your Spring and Summer detoxing.

You'll be receiving a full week of menus but if you choose to stick with the same few dishes for the week that's fine. Also many of the soups and salads turn out just as good if you substitute veggies that you prefer or happen to have on hand instead of the ones called for. Use your imagination!

day one

Breakfast

You could just grab a couple pieces of Fruit, but I find that I don't look forward to a breakfast that doesn't feel special, so I'll be giving you recipes for Fruit meals, but you won't lose any of the benefits of detoxing by just eating a few pieces of the Fruits you like best. You could also pick up one of those plates or bowls of precut Fruit at the supermarket. I do this when I'll be having a busy week and know I won't have time for an elaborate breakfast.

Fruit Plate: Make a list of your favorite Fruits, include some Fruits that you've always wanted to try and for one reason or another haven't done so. Have you ever tried dragon Fruit? Cover a plate or large shallow bowl with lettuce leaves. You can use them later for your lunch salad. Cut 3-5 different Fruits into bite-size pieces and arrange on top of the lettuce. Breakfast!

Make enough for a second or third Fruit plate and eat as much as you want until noon. Any leftovers will be great snacks throughout the day.

Lunch

Warm Cabbage Salad

Saute until crisp-tender:

1/2 large red onion

in mixture of:

extra-virgin olive oil or sesame oil, and butter

Add:

1/4 cup dry white wine, soymilk, or fresh lemon juice. Boil until reduced by half. Remove from heat and add:
1/2 a cabbage, shredded, which will wilt slightly but not cook.

Puree:

1/2 block firm tofu
juice from half a lemon (optional)
1/4 cup soymilk
sea salt & black pepper to taste
2-4 tablespoons dried tarragon

Drizzle in:

extra-virgin olive oil until mayo reaches desired consistency.

Taste and if mayo tastes chalky or floury continue drizzling in oil, adjust seasoning as well. Spoon 1/2 the mayo into cabbage mix. Stir and add more mayo if needed. Leftover mayo makes a great dip for fresh veggies, or thin it with soymilk, balsamic vinegar, lemon or lime juice, and use as a salad dressing.

Variation: add diced celery or celery tops and adjust mayo to accommodate the extra vegetable.

Midday Snack

Cut a bunch of veggies into bite-size pieces or sticks. Some veggies that are good raw when sprinkled with a little salt (and black pepper if you like):

cucumber
celery
carrot
jicima
radish
bell pepper, raw, or roasted and wrapped around raw veggies
broccoli
cauliflower
mushrooms
tomato
avocado (dip in fresh lemon or lime juice to keep from turning brown)
roasted onion is good wrapped around raw veggies

Or have a fresh Fruit plate or Fruit smoothie.

Detox Beverages

The "Fit For Life" books have great Fruit and vegetable juice concoctions. Also check out the Raw Foods Bookstore.
herb teas (I like Celestial Seasonings the best because their flavors are intense. If you've never really liked herb tea try the Zinger teas - absolutely awesome.)
Good Earth tea: decaf, iced or hot
Banana Milk: puree one banana with 1-2 cups water
fresh Fruit juices
fresh vegetable juices: carrot, tomato, celery (add spices if you like)
water with fresh lemon or lime juice, hot or cold - add a little raw maple syrup or honey if you need to, but try not to while on detox

Dinner

Mushroom Soup

Bring vegetable or mock chicken broth to a boil. Remove from heat and add thinly sliced or diced mushrooms. I prefer to finely mince my mushrooms in a food processor. Taste and add sea salt and/or pepper. This is one of my favorite meals. Of course it depends on the flavor of the broth you use. I've found that the best tasting broths are made with powdered mixes I purchase in bulk at the health food store. The prepackaged powdered veggie or mock chicken broths I've tried don't taste as good, neither do the canned broths.

Also I've found that leftovers of this soup don't taste as incredible as when freshly made, so if I have leftover soup I add soymilk or cream to it and a few extra veggies for a creamy soup. Taste and add broth powder if needed. Another way to avoid leftover soup is to boil the broth and ladle it over fresh veggies in each person's bowl. Then store the broth and add veggies the next time you have soup, or spices for a hot drink.

When I'm planning to detox I get out the food processor for one big mincing, slicing, pureeing session. Here's a sample of my food processor session listed in the order in which I do everything which makes cleaning the bowl easier between veggies. I don't do all of the foods below each time I detox, it depends on what I'm planning to make and/or what's in my fridge.

Things to slice:

apples (store in container with lemon water to cover)
- Apple, Celery, Walnut Salad
- drain and eat as is or gently warm and sprinkle with cinnamon or apple pie spice
celery
- Apple, Celery, Walnut Salad
- Warm Cabbage Salad
cabbage
- Warm Cabbage Salad
red onions
- Warm Cabbage Salad
- soups

Things to shred:

carrots
- Carrot Salad
broccoli stems which I've peeled the tough outer layer off with a vegetable peeler
- Broccoli Salad
apples
- Apple Cream Soup (a modified version of the Greek soup Avagolemeno)
jicima
- garnish lettuce salads

Things to mince:

mushrooms
- Mushroom Soup
carrots
celery tops
- Mushroom Celery Soup
zucchini
- Ratatouli Soup
broccoli
- Broccoli Soup
cauliflower
- Cauliflower Soup

Things to puree:

fresh basil with a little vegetable or mock chicken broth
- Basil Soup
- Basil Dressing: mix puree with extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lemon or lime juice, sea salt & pepper
fresh cilantro with a little vegetable or mock chicken broth
- Cilantro Dressing: mix puree with extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lime juice, sea salt & pepper
- Sopa de Cilantro (a modified version of Sopa de Tortilla)
dried tomatoes that have been soaked overnight in boiling water
- Ratatouille Soup
- Tomato Soup

day two

Breakfast

UnDiet Apple Pie
Pulse in food processor until apples are roughly chopped:

peeled apples
cinnamon
date/maple sugar
fresh apple juice
just a touch of fresh lemon juice to keep the apples from turning brown.

Serve as is or spoon into shallow bowl or saucepan and heat until warm.

Variations:
Add raisins, or chopped fresh or dried cherries, or dried cranberries, or dates to apples before or after pulsing.

Before pulsing apples puree a banana with a little apple juice & fresh lemon juice, then add apples etc. This method gives your apple pie a nice sauce more similar to cooked apple pie.

Extremely Quick UnDiet Apple Pie

Slice apples and sprinkle with cinnamon or apple pie spice.

Lunch

Oriental Salad
This salad keeps well for several days.

Boil a pot of water and blanch a mixture of the following veggies equivalent to 3 cups for 2 minutes:

red cabbage, shredded
celery, sliced
water chestnuts, sliced
bean sprouts
onion, sliced
green beans, whole or cut in half

Drain in colander and rinse under cold water.

Whisk together, pour over vegetables, and toss:

2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, or 1/4 teaspoon dried
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon date sugar
1 teaspoon dried coriander

Dinner

Basil Soup

Bring to a boil:

vegetable or mock chicken broth

Remove from heat and add:

pureed basil. Taste and add sea salt and/or pepper, or more powdered broth. Ladle over:
diced raw tomatoes, room temperature

day three

Breakfast

Honeydew - Kiwi Smoothie

Puree in blender:

2 cups honeydew melon
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored, cut into chunks
1 kiwi, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 - 1 cup fresh apple or pear juice
3-4 tablespoons maple or date sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Lunch

Greek Salad with Avocado Dressing

Tear into bite-size pieces:

lettuce

Garnish with:

thinly sliced red-onion
sliced olives
thinly sliced cucumber
tomato slices

Avocado Dressing

1 avocado
1/2 cup water, or fresh tomato juice (I sometimes put the seed pulp from the inside of a tomato into a fine sieve set over a bowl, then use the resulting liquid, or put salted sliced or chopped tomatoes in the sieve.)
2 teaspoons fresh cilantro or 1/2 teaspoon dried - if you don't have cilantro you can use coriander or mint
seasoned salt or salt-free seasoning such as Mrs. Dash to taste
(black pepper to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon or lime juice

Puree in blender. Add more liquid if necessary until dressing is the consistency of honey. Taste and adjust seasoning. Any leftover dressing is great as a sauce for steamed vegetables or a dip for steamed artichokes.

Dinner

Cream of Celery Soup

This is a cooked soup and therefore it's important that you don't make it too early in your detox or on a day when you've used soymilk in your breakfast Fruit smoothie.

Slice into pieces no bigger than a quarter an inch long:

1 bunch celery

This step is important or the celery strings will be very annoying in the finished soup. If you're making a big batch of soup use the slicing feature of your food processor. If you're making a small batch of soup use the celery leaves and tender inside stalks you've saved from the last time you made celery sticks.

Place celery in steamer basket. Use filtered water to steam until tender, about 5 minutes. Dump celery into bowl, or onto paper plate. Cut into large chunks and steam until tender, about 7-10 minutes:

1 onion

Let cool slightly then dump into blender, add celery, some of the water from steaming the vegetables, sea salt and black pepper to taste. Puree. Taste and adjust seasoning.

day four

Breakfast

Berry Smoothie

bag of frozen berries (no sugar or syrup added), thawed or frozen
2 bananas
fresh apple or pear juice
(1 tablespoon vanilla extract)

Puree in blender. I haven't specified the amount of juice to use as you can make your smoothie as thick or as thin as you like. If you're craving ice cream, freeze all the Fruits and add just enough liquid to puree the Fruit until it's smooth but still very, very thick. You will have to stop and scrape and stir the Fruit a few times, but you'll end up with a delicious, creamy, frozen treat.

Lunch

Leftover soup or salad.

Dinner

Hot Gazpacho

Bring light veggie broth or mock chicken broth to a boil. Remove from heat and add:

diced tomatoes
diced celery tops or very thinly sliced celery stalks (I like to chop up the celery tops that I cut off when I make celery sticks. I save them to use in soups like this or I steam them and puree with a steamed onion for a delicious Celery Soup. Add sea salt & black pepper to taste. When you're not detoxing you can add a little tofu or cream to the blender.
diced red onion
diced green bell pepper
diced green chilies
chopped or pureed cilantro
black pepper to taste
hot sauce to taste

(Garnish with chopped avocado.)

day five

Breakfast

Hawaiian Shake

1/2 a pineapple, cored, peeled, and cut into chunks
fresh orange juice
1 banana, broken into chunks
(several dates, chopped)

Puree in blender.

Lunch

Mexican Caesar Salad

Puree:

1/4 block soft tofu (don't use silken)
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice
2-4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, or 1 teaspoon coriander and 1 teaspoon cumin
enough soymilk to allow tofu to puree

Drizzle in extra-virgin olive oil until tofu is desired consistency. If you need to thin, use fresh lemon or lime juice or soymilk.

Break romaine lettuce into bite-sized pieces. Toss with enough dressing to evenly coat. Garnish with pumpkin or sunflower seeds, or pine nuts.

Dinner

Wilted Spinach
I like to buy bagged spinach as it's been "professionally" washed. No matter how well I wash fresh spinach I can never seem to get all the grit out.

Heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil & 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan. Add 2 cloves garlic, minced, then 1 bag or one well washed bunch of spinach. Stir until spinach is coated with oil. Remove from heat and add sea salt & pepper to taste. You could also add a little ground nutmeg.

day six

Breakfast

Creamy Orange Drink
Puree: 4 bananas with fresh orange juice (and a little vanilla, and/or date or maple sugar).

Lunch

Marinated Mushroom Salad

Blanch 1 pound mushrooms (leave small mushrooms whole, cut medium mushrooms in half ,and slice large mushrooms) in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain well. Meanwhile in saucepan large enough to hold both the marinade and the mushrooms heat until warm:

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
6 tablespoons Italian seasoning, Herbes de Provence, or basil, or thyme
sea salt & black pepper to taste

Dump drained mushrooms into marinade while they're still hot. Toss until well coated. Place the entire pot in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Toss a couple of times. Remove some of the mushrooms from marinade with a slotted spoon and use to garnish a salad bowl of lettuce. Spoon a little of the marinade over the salad. Toss.

Reheat the marinade. Add 1 small onion, cut in half and sliced, and 1 small bell pepper or small zucchini, cut into quarters lengthwise and sliced, or equivalent amount of whole asparagus or green beans, and 1/4 cup whole pitted olives. Place back in fridge. Allow to marinate until dinner.

Dinner

Roasted Marinated Vegetables

Preheat broiler. Dump marinated vegetables into a colander with a bowl underneath to catch the marinade.

Arrange vegetables on a baking sheet. Broil 2-4 inches from the broiler about 10 minutes, until tender and browned.

Place marinade in a jar or cruet to use as salad dressing next week.

day seven

Breakfast

Coffee Banana Smoothie

2 bananas
nondairy milk
hot decaf coffee
(vanilla and/or date or maple sugar)

Puree.

Lunch

Italian Salad

Prepare a big bowl of lettuce and your favorite vegetarian pizza toppings. Here are some suggestions:

sliced olives
sliced or chopped bell pepper
sliced or chopped tomato
sliced mushrooms
chopped red onion
green beans

Tomato Dressing

1/2 block firm tofu
2 cloves fresh or roasted garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons Dried Tomato Paste or Dried Tomato Pasta Sauce
1 tablespoon fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
sea salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup soy milk

Puree in blender until smooth. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides of the blender a couple of times. With blender running slowly drizzle in extra-virgin olive oil until dressing loses its chalky taste. Thin if necessary with soy milk.

Dinner

Steamed Artichokes
Wash artichokes (while one artichoke is enough for a meal, I usually cook 2-4 at a time, because they take so long to cook and they make a great late night snack) and let drain upside down while setting up a pan with a steamer basket or tray. Add water until it just comes through steamer tray. (Sprinkle salt, mock chicken broth powder, or the one of the UnDiet pre-mixed seasonings over water. Don't worry about stirring, the action of the water when it boils will mix everything together.)

Cut off the top 1/3 of the artichokes, cut off the stem. Place artichokes in steamer. Steam for 2-3 hours depending on the size of the artichokes, checking every 40-60 minutes to see if water needs to added. Use a pair of tongs to pull a leaf from an artichoke after 2 hours. If it comes out with no resistance it's done.

If you need a dip for your artichoke use one or more of the creamy dressings you made this week. Put them out in small bowls from which each person can spoon an assortment of dips onto their plate.

Check out these books:

Ann Wigmore's Recipes for Longer Life

Wigmore, Ann/ Kimball, Betsy (Edt) / Paperback / 1980
"Must have book for tastey, healthful natural food!", February 12, 1999 ~ Reviewer: manager@rest-q.net
"Transform seeds, nuts and grains into nutritious and delicious sauces, cheeses and loafs. Excellent charts and how-to sections. Beautifully illustrated with upbeat language. A tremendous asset to my kitchen skills. I paid twice the price at the local store! Now I'll order Ann's other books from Amazon!"
List Price: $11.95 / Your Price: $9.56 / Order this title

Dining in the Raw

Rita Romano / Hardcover / 1997
From leading chef, restaurateur, instructor, health-care provider, and dietary consultant Rita Romano comes a groundbreaking recipe book that combines the techniques of macrobiotic, vegan, allergy-free, and raw food disciplines. 700+ recipes.
List Price: $19.95 / Our Price: $15.96
Order this title

The Uncook Book - Raw Food Adventures to a New Health High

Elizabeth Baker / Paperback / 1996
This is the epitome of health and elegance in the raw! Full of easy-to-prepare-and-serve fresh, natural foods that bring health, effortless weight loss, and abundant energy. Learn delicious gourmet recipes and preparation techniques.
Order this title

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last revised June 10, 2007
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