Cleanse Around the World - 9 Great Recipes

If you're like I used to be, a typical meal is planned around around meat. You grill some chicken breasts or fish, toss up a salad, and, if you're feeling ambitious, you grill or steam up some vegetables. There's nothing wrong with that - that's a pretty standard home-cooked meal.

And when I'd go out for dinner I'd order things I loved but never thought to try making at home - sushi, Indian food, Asian dishes, even African food. Again, I think that's typical of most of us.

But when I started cleansing I had to figure out how to make meals that were satisfying and nutritious, and I had to do it without my usual go-to item on the plate - the meat. I started researching recipes and playing around with those "exotic" foods that I'd only eaten in restaurants and what I realized was that most of those dishes were already vegan (or easily modified to be). So I made curry without chicken or lamb, sushi without fish, and pho without beef. And they all had so much flavor - I was blown away! I was making restaurant quality food in my own kitchen!

I've become a better cook because of cleansing, and I've become a vegetarian as well. That's because I've learned that fruits, vegetables and spices can combine in ways I'd never thought of to create subtle, sophisticated flavors or combust into blow-your-socks-off spicy dishes. My palate is never bored; in fact, I think the flavors I'm discovering now are more interesting than those in my previous SAD (Standard Amerian Diet) existence.

Here are the links to the recipes for some of my favorite foreign food discoveries. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I have!

Vegetarian Pho
Vegetarian Sugar-free Sushi Rice
Tandoori Tofu
Navratan Korma
Indian Dal
Vegan Sag Paneer
Tofu and Black Bean Tacos 
African Peanut Potato Stew
Gluten-free Spaghetti with Pesto Cream