Post-Christmas cleansing

No, I do not subscribe to a "cleanse" in the sense of chugging pepper-spiked lemonade. Gross. And no, I am not consuming only fruits and vegetables for the next 10 days. What I mean by "cleansing" is getting back onto the clean-eating and menu-planning track and refocusing on whole, clean foods again after a good solid week of holiday treats and party food.

I started this morning with a hearty bowl of steel-cut oats mixed with chopped walnuts, a few dried cherries (until my son ate them all--"Cheddies! Eat, eat!"--and some real maple syrup from the co-op. I would have loved to whip up a Green Monster smoothie, but I forgot to buy peanut butter when I went to Trader Joe's. Grr. Lunch was a salad with mixed greens, apple, and stinky cheese dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette. Planned snacks are raw almonds, dried apricots, blue-corn-flax chips and salsa, and 72% dark chocolate to ease myself off the steady sugar intake of the previous week.

This morning I was thrilled to get my first 2010 issue of Clean Eating Magazine! I am so excited to flip through it and get some fresh ideas. One of my tasks tonight is to peruse the grocery store circular for some green veggies; we have plenty of squash, onion, and potato from the co-op, but eating green things in the middle of a Michigan winter requires a little more non-local shopping (or preserving, oops), I've discovered. And besides, I've become rather fond of roasted broccoli, and I used my last two heads for dinner on Saturday.

This week I will be soaking some black beans, making a big batch of brown rice, and cooking a million-and-a-half chicken breasts to I'm ready for a quick snack or lunch without too much additional prep. I've said before how important planning ahead is, but I too often forget it myself. And now I need to choose something for dinner tonight... What's on your menu this week? Got any great recipes for acorn squash?