Here I am, smack dab in the middle of another Food Lover’s Cleanse. For those just catching up, The Food Lover's Cleanse is a two-week plan designed by Bon Appetit in which participants voluntarily deprive themselves of refined bread and pasta, dairy, sugar and sweeteners, alcohol, and the caffeine product to which they’ve built up an ungodly tolerance toward and drag themselves back into the kitchen to remember how to cook delicious winter meals made mostly of greens, vegetables, healthy fats, whole grains, fruits, and lean, mean, fighting proteins. It’s called the Food Lover's Cleanse for a reason: you’ve really gotta be into food to ante up. The folks at Bon Appetit give you a meal calendar, a book of recipes, and a shopping list, and then you’re off.
This year, the recipes have largely been the previous year’s FLC, redux. If you recall, last year I found the big winners to be the Pork Tenderloin with Porcini Broth, the playful Barley Pilaf with Leeks and Lemon with its riff on sour cream and onion, and, like, all the breakfasts. The rest—middling to “huh.” So imagine my dismay when I—ready to forgive and forget Bon Appetit’s past effronteries—happily clicked through to check out the new meal plan and saw, yet again, Curried Brussels Sprouts, Chickpeas, and Sweet Potatoes. Curried Brussels Sprouts, Chickpeas, and Sweet Potatoes? Boiled-cabbage-ville? Again?! Well, at least we documented the pitfalls so we can stay well and far away from them. I made a mental note to avoid cooking techniques that produce mushy-like food and to defend, at all costs, the Maillard reaction.
Speaking of which, after going at this cleanse for a couple of years now, I realize that I have a few tips to share with those interested in taking a whack at the Food Lover's Cleanse themselves. Here goes:
- Shopping Lists: Read through the recipes for the week and pay attention to the ingredient lists. Sometimes the shopping lists Bon Appetit puts together miss an item or two, and sometimes they include items you don’t actually need. Case in point this time around: a full jar of tahini sitting in the back of my fridge.
- Grocery Shopping: I’m not gonna lie, this can be pretty tough. Not only are you swimming through hordes of people trying to re-stock their shelves after coming back from holiday vacations, but the grocery stores themselves are trying to do the same. Make it as easy on yourself as possible and design your grocery list in order of how you shop. Think about the sections of the store, and then arrange your grocery items according to your typical path through the store. For me, this means bulk section items are at the beginning of the list, then the canned, prepared, and frozen goods in aisles, followed by produce section items, the meat items, and finally, the dairy items. This brings up another tip: use some kind of task management tech that makes it easy for you to re-arrange shopping items. I’m partial to Todoist. And finally, try shopping with someone! Make sure you both have access to the list and have one person start at the top while the other starts at the bottom. Plan to meet in the produce section somewhere among the rainbow carrots.
- Cooking Multiple Dishes: The nice thing about the Food Lover's Cleanse is that you’re making a lot of new food. The bad thing about the Food Lover's Cleanse is that you’re making a lot of new food. Remember to get the recipes to work for you. Take a look at everything you’re planning to make and think about which components will take the longest to cook. This should help you decide which components should be cooked off first. Say you notice that your Bistro Salad needs roasted vegetables. Start the vegetables in the oven, and then hit pause on the rest of that recipe—it’s too early to poach the eggs. In the meanwhile, cook off the Millet Tabbouleh component (easy to keep warm by placing in the microwave), and then come back to the salad to toss your now-roasted vegetables in garlic and paprika and poach your eggs.
So far, the new additions to the plan for this year have received rave reviews at home. Standouts of the FLC 2016 were the Moroccan Lamb Shanks with Pomegranate, the Salmon with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce and Carrot Salad, and the Sea Scallops with Celery Root and Meyer Lemon Salad. Right now, I’m looking forward to the Broiled Mackerel with Scallions and Lemon.
I bought the new Food Lover's Cleanse cookbook and am very excited about the meal plans they’ve put together for seasons other than winter. Hello, Quinoa Salad with Broccoli and Pistachios! I’m coming for you. But not too soon—I’ve got some chocolate cake to get to first.
As always, follow along with me on Instagram @eatersgonnaeat for more adventures in food. Flip through the rest of the FLC 2016 meals I’m cooking over on the Projects section.
