I was inspired to write this post following a party my husband and I hosted over the weekend.

You see, adopting “clean” as a way of life leaves some people rather perplexed… How do you cope with social situations?  What do you do at parties?  What about eating out?

All these are valid questions, and whilst I am not 100% clean living 100% of the time, I do use my Cleanse principles as a lifestyle – not just something I occasionally do for 28 days every now and then.  That being said, I do like to do a period of strict adherence twice a year just to give my body a boost and, having been away on an indulgent honeymoon in December (right before a big family Christmas), January seemed like the right time to banish the booze!

January 2013 has been a pretty social month for me – pub quizzes, dinner parties, birthday bashes and, most recently our annual January shindig.  I thought that some of you might like to know what food and drink I served, just so you can see how easy it can be to have food that is both high on taste and kind on your body.

Drinks:
As well as mojitos, white russians and baby guinesses for those guests who did want some booze (!) I served:

– Virgin coladas (pineapple and coconut milk with ice)

– Pomegranate fizz (sparkling water, fresh limes, pomegranate seeds, fresh mint).

 

Food:

Apart from a cheeseboard and some kettle chips, everything else we served was clean:

– Chicken and vegetable skewers served with *satay sauce (recipe below)

– Blinis – smoked salmon / parma ham / lumpfish caviar (blinis made with buckwheat flour)

– Quinoa salad (quinoa, apricot, fresh coriander, goats cheese, red onion)

– Spinach and rocket salad with toasted pine nuts

– Crudities (carrot & celery) with homemade dips (hummus, guacamole, red pepper dip)

– Unsalted nuts

– I even made some flapjacks and a (99%!) clean chocolate torte (using ground almonds, eggs, coconut palm sugar and raw cacao, plus 90% dark chocolate and butter to ice it).

The Day After:

The best bit, was that we were able to make a delicious, healthy Sunday “roast” the day after.  We roasted a chicken on a roasting rack (stuffed with lemon and rosemary), and filled the tray with all the leftover veggies that we’d pre-chopped to go on skewers the night before (red onion, mixed peppers, courgette and mushrooms – and we added a few cloves of garlic for good measure).  That was just popped in the oven for 50 minutes while we got on with clearing up the house post-party!  Then we simply dished it up and served it with a spoonful of the leftover quinoa salad.

Chicken, roasted veggies, quinoa – delicious!

*Satay recipe (this went down a storm):

  • 1 can coconut milk (we use Essential Organic which is just coconut and water)
  • 2 tbsp Peanut butter (we used Suma organic which is literally just peanuts, nothing else added)
  • 1 tsp Tamari soy
  • 1 tbsp manuka honey (or could use coconut palm sugar)
  • 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
  • 1 small Red chilli (finely chopped)
  • 1 small onion(s) (finely chopped)
  • 1 clove garlic (crushed)
  • ½ tbsp groundnut oil
  1. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the garlic, onion and chilli over a moderate heat until onion is soft.
  2. Add the honey / sugar and stir until slightly caramelised. Add the tamari and peanut butter and stir through.
  3. Add a little coconut milk at a time until you achieve your desired consistency.
  4. Tastes best served immediately but also refrigerates and re-heats very well.

I really hope you find this useful and get some inspiration for entertaining when you (and / or your guests) are keeping it clean 🙂