Happy belated Earth Day!  I took last week off to finish up some tasks that needed my attention and ended off the week with lively Earth Day celebrations (which always includes good food)! ►

My original post was going to be the baked Arabian spice yam fries but the burger stole the show!  Totally took it over.  If you haven’t tried the beet burger or the Russian dressing from the vegan reuben sandwich then I highly recommend that you whip up a batch so that you can make this burger.  The only other addition is these flax bread buns that I made the other day which were perfect for the burger. ►

My first experience with a reuben sandwich was at Sugar Plum Vegan Cafe in Sacramento a couple of years ago and I immediately fell in love.  I was so in love that one day I took the almost 2 hour drive (one way) from my home to Sacramento just to get the sandwich.  I was addicted but knew that I could not continue to make long trips to Sacramento just for a sandwich. ►

My oh my…  I can’t express my sadness and disappointment after enhancing my knowledge within the past week on sodium intake.  Yes, sodium, which includes the beloved salt that makes our meals oh so tasty.  What would we do without it?

Ok, let me start at the beginning…  I was watching a health video that mentioned removing salt from the diet.  My immediate thought was that salt could not be that bad and maybe I just needed to reduce the salt in my diet.  Yep, that’s what I would do, reduce salt.  Also, I wasn’t just using any old salt, I was using high premium Himalayan sea salt which I knew was better than table salt. ►

Today my body was craving light and wholesome nourishment.  Because it was raining yesterday my meals were a little more hearty.  Today the sun broke through the clouds (for an hour or so) which inspired a nice yoga session and a craving for raw foods.  I was also inspired by Richgail’s (Astig Vegan) final post for raw fresh lumpia closing out her 7 day raw diet; Janet’s (The Taste Space) awesome looking raw Thai pineapple parsnip rice; and Linda’s best salad ever for day 2 of Cleanse America. ►

Spring is an awesome time to cleanse.  Actually it is the most important time to cleanse the body.  Spring correlates to the Wood element which governs the liver and gallbladder (both are important in filtering the blood); therefore these organs should be the focus of a spring detox.

What’s so phenomenal is that Mother Nature lends a helping hand by providing spring produce that aids in the detox of the liver and gall bladder.  So even if you don’t do a formal fast or cleansing for the spring, you will benefit from the cleansing qualities of spring fruits and vegetables.  If you want a focused fast then look to conducting a 3, 5, or 10 day fast depending on the level of results you want. ►

I have been in search for an awesome vegan Caesar dressing recipe.  I really liked the ensalada de Caesar at Gracias Madre but learned that they use nutritional yeast and I don’t feel to good after eating it.  I recently made the avocado based vegan Caesar dressing from the Cafe Gratitude cookbook and though it was a tasty dressing, it was not a good Caesar replica.  Then I stumbled upon Heidi’s recipe over at Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom, gave it a try and really liked it. ►