The Master Cleanse…..and chicken cannelloni

I’ve decided that I’ll start my summer off with the Master Cleanse. Friday will be my last day here until August! I’m so excited 🙂  Last year I used my vacation month to get into great shape before work and school started again and took a toll on me. It really gives me some leeway throughout the year. I’m definitely not doing this for weight loss purposes. I’ve already reached my goal!! I’m very happy with my weight (again, I was just looking to lose a few pounds), but I’ve heard of a lot of people gaining energy and feeling great after the cleanse. For these reasons, I’d like to do the cleanse to start my summer off right. I might do it again right before work starts in August so I can get a little energy boost for all the new kids.

I’m only doing the cleanse for ten days, because I’d like to get back in the gym doing my normal routine (instead of a light version I’ll do while on the cleanse) as soon as I can. I’ll definitely let you guys know how it goes, and if I feel those great results I’ve read about.

I’ve decided to also do the “Ease in” and “Ease out” phases of the cleanse. Even though I’m starting on Monday (the “Ease in” phase starts 4 days before the actual cleanse), I’ve already started to only eat raw food. This isn’t such a huge adjustment for me, basically I just have to cut the meat portion out of my meals. I’m incorporating a lot of fruit here at work to give me energy, so it’s definitely a treat 🙂

I enjoyed some peaches, a banana, and grapefruit juice for breakfast.

I tried to start “Easing In” yesterday. It was really difficult since I made one of my favorite semi-guilty pleasures, chicken cannelloni. I say, “semi-guilty”, only because of the pasta that you have to eat it with. I don’t ever add cream to the cannelloni mix, but I do add parmesan and mozzarella. I try to limit myself to two tubes of this cheesy goodness. Last night, I could only eat the tomato/red onion/basil salad that I always serve under cannelloni, which is also delicious. 

Here’s a pic of my husbands portion (cannelloni included).

And of my salad portion (un”effected” by instagram 🙂 ).

The fresh basil made it absolutely delectable.

So here’s my recipe for the cannelloni stuffing, add as much or as little of the ingredients as you like, I don’t ever assign them measurements, I just go by what I feel like eating.

Stuffing:

3 cooked chicken breasts (however you like), diced

handful of lowfat mozzarella, shredded

about a handful of freshly grated parmesan (eyeball it 🙂 )

2-3 cups of fresh spinach, chopped

couple tbsps of chopped sundried tomatoes

a handful of chopped basil

couple tbsps of chopped mushrooms (sauté before adding, unless they’re canned)

about 3/4-1  cup of low-sugar, organic pasta sauce (whatever flavor suits you, or make your own!)

It should come together with a gooey consistency, not too runny (or it won’t be easy to stuff into the cannelloni tubes) or dry, add or cut back wherever you see necessary. You can pretty much add whatever you like to this mix (olives, garlic, ricotta, cottage cheese…whatever you fancy).

After you make the filling you can stuff them into cannelloni tubes (with hands or a teaspoon) or roll them up in precooked sheets of lasagne sheets (I used both yesterday since I ran out of the tubes).

After you’ve arranged your cannelloni in your cooking dish, you can just ladle out the same pasta sauce on top of the cannellonis. I also add about a handful of parm on top of the sauce, and some fresh basil. Make sure the sauce covers the pasta so it can cook thoroughly.

Cook it covered at around 180C (or about 350F) for around 20-30 minutes. The main idea is to make sure the pasta cooks thoroughly so make sure the dish is covered .

For the tomato salad, just throw together diced tomatoes (I used cherry, plum, yellow cherry, and regular finnish tomatoes), fresh basil, couple cranks of sea salt, and finely chopped red onions.

Voila! A beautiful and healthyish meal 🙂