Well, I failed. My 2-day cleanse did not go as planned. Here’s the rundown of day 1:

• Woke up and made a delicious smoothie per directions, couldn’t even drink all of it. Boy did I think I was getting off to a great start.
• Since I woke up at 10, making it to lunch wasn’t too hard, so I put my snack of cucumbers on my greens and made a nice vinaigrette of oil and balsamic vinegar. I then put some Italian seasoning on my 4 oz. of chicken and grilled it on the stove. It was a delicious meal that was very satisfying and reminded me how much I enjoy eating healthy and how easy it can be.
• 2 hours later- I was starving. Now I think it was all in my head since I knew I was on a diet, but I was literally starving. I was headed to Borders and ordered a big cup of green tea that I was allowed to have as a snack (remember my post about tea?!). Needless to say, it wasn’t a great snack.
• I headed home for dinner where my mom was making me a delicious dinner according to my cleanse (the exact same thing as lunch). Thank goodness I got home and my parents said, “We’re starving. We’re eating early.” So once again I ate a delicious dinner of 4 oz. of chicken and greens.
• Now the plan probably would have been great if I’d gone to bed 2 hours after dinner, but I didn’t. I went over to the bfs where he was snacking on chips and coke and I was starving and wanting a chip more than anything. BUT I was good and knew I couldn’t eat just one, so I didn’t eat anything and sat there in starvation.
• I woke up this morning prepared to go forth for the second day of the cleanse. However, I was soo hungry and shaky that I felt like I could barely walk and was going to pass out. This is when I decided I was going to stop this silliness.

What I learned: Cleanses are kind of ridiculous. You should never starve yourself. I enjoy eating healthy. I love diet coke. so. much. I hate green tea. so. much.

I did eat healthy today though and even made a wonderfully delicious treat: Monkey Bread. This recipe is definitely one to be shared, as it tastes just like normal monkey bread, but so much healthier for you.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp. Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated), divided
2 tsp. cinnamon, divided
2 tbsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread (like Brummel & Brown)
2 tbsp. sugar-free pancake syrup
2 tbsp. brown sugar (not packed)
1 package Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations Seamless Dough Sheet
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Directions:

Fresh out of the oven

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix 1 tbsp. Splenda and 1 tsp. cinnamon in a large bowl or container. Set aside. Spray six cups of a muffin pan with nonstick spray, and set pan aside as well.

Place a small pot on the stove, but do not heat it. Add butter, syrup, brown sugar, 2 tbsp. Splenda, and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Leave this on the unheated stove, to be melted and mixed later on.

Roll out the dough on a clean dry surface, and sprinkle evenly with baking powder. Gently smooth baking powder into the sheet with your fingers.

Cut dough sheet widthwise into six strips equal in size. Cut each strip into four squares. Roll each square into a ball, for a total of 24 dough balls.

Place 12 dough balls in the bowl with the Splenda-cinnamon mixture. Lightly toss to coat, and then place them gently in the muffin pan, with four dough balls in each of three cups. No need to press the dough balls into the pan — just let them fall naturally. Repeat with remaining dough balls, so that each of the six muffin cups contains four coated dough balls. Set aside.

Bring the small pot on the stove to medium heat. Stirring frequently, heat just until butter has melted and contents are mixed well. Evenly spoon the butter mixture over the dough balls.

Bake in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes, or until puffy and firm. Allow to cool slightly, and then plate and enjoy!

MAKES 6 SERVINGS (Well, I don’t know about that…What can I say? It’s just too good!)

My latest eating healthy adventures have been all about the zucchini, and both have surprisingly turned out great. So pick up some fresh zucchini at your local Farmer’s Market and try these out.

Zucchini Rotini from Women’s Health

2 c whole wheat rotini

1 c fat free cottage cheese

2 tbsp salt-free Italian seasoning

1/2 c shredded zucchini

1 c canned, diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 c reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

This recipe was very easy to make and very delicious, reminding me of spaghetti squash for some reason. I couldn’t find whole wheat rotini so I used linguine instead. Also, I HATE cottage cheese, but wanted to try this recipe anyway and loved it. I honestly couldn’t taste the cottage cheese at all. I baked mine in the microwave in a small bread pan and it worked perfectly. Though the recipe claims it’s only 2 servings, ours was easily 3.

Zucchini Zazzle from Hungry Girl

1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (about 1 large zucchini)
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
1/3 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 tbsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread (like Brummel & Brown)
3 tbsp. crushed walnuts, divided
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine both types of flour, Splenda, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

In a separate medium bowl, mix together the zucchini, egg substitute, applesauce, butter, and vanilla extract. Slowly add this mixture to the first bowl, and stir until thoroughly blended. Mix half the crushed walnuts (1 1/2 tbsp.) into the batter.

Line 9 cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with baking liners and/or spray with nonstick spray. Evenly distribute batter among the 9 cups. Top each cup with a sprinkling of the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp. crushed walnuts.

Bake in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool and then enjoy!

Review

These turned out GREAT! The zucchini taste was very subtle and really just tasted like a good, healthy muffin. Though the ingredient list may look daunting, you most likely already have a lot of it in your kitchen. I used a bit more walnuts in mine than called for, and the batter actually made 12 servings instead of 9. One thing I would be wary of is how long they are in the oven. After 20 minutes my toothpick came out clean, but there were still random gooey spots in a few of the muffins I’ve found as I’ve been eating them.

Well, my next foodie adventure is this 2-day cleanse, starting today with one of my roomies and my mom. I’ll give you the reviews Thursday!