Breaking my Juice Cleanse, Breakfast, and Mug Decorating Instructions

So today is two posts because I wanted to discuss breaking my cleanse separately from giving the sauerkraut recipe. Whenever you are coming off of a juice cleanse, no matter if it is three days or two weeks, you want to be very gentle with your body. I have found it recommended to eat raw for half of the time you cleansed, or at least keep away anything processed, refined, or out of a box, eating mainly fruits and vegetables. Every time you cleanse you will have a different experience in terms of how you feel. The first cleanse I ever did, I had a horrid migraine on day two through half of day three. I also was not hungry or had any urge to want to eat during it. This past cleanse, I felt like I had no energy and very tired throughout day two, however day three I felt full of energy, so much so, I could not get to sleep last night until seven in the morning today. I even tried taking some melatonin, but it did nothing. I do not like when my sleep pattern gets knocked out of wack, as it is not good for the body or mind. Plus, who wants to sleep all day?? While I was not hungry,  I wanted to just chew something. It was more of a psychological thing than physical hunger. I think it was mainly due to the low energy forcing me to stay inside burrowed and quite bored at times.

So once I finally slept and woke around 2 or so, I decided to make a simple fruit salad. I quite commonly eat a fruit salad for breakfast of one banana sliced up, 6-8 strawberries sliced up, an apple chopped up, and sometimes a few blueberries - always with a Tbs of Tahini (Sesame Butter) mix with about a tablespoon of water, to thin it out so it's easier to mix into the salad. However, not having any Tahini, I used a Tbs of Almond butter instead. I then sprinkled Cinnamon and a pinch of Cardamom on top. I didn't have any fresh strawberries, so instead I had to use a mix of frozen berries (an excellent substitute when you cannot find fresh organic berries or they don't look so good, as the frozen fruit is picked at its peak ripeness. With berries, it's important to try and buy organic because they do not have a shell or anything that would protect the part you eat as much as say a banana from those horrid chemicals), which means it did not turn out as pretty as it usually does due to the berry juices once they melted.
To drink, I steeped a loose Earl Grey tea and added some dried Lavender, steeping in my self-decorated mug with my nut milk bag (I will do a blog post at some point regarding the many ways to use a nut milk bag, as I have learned many more than simply to make nut milk. Perhaps when I post my almond milk recipe).

                                                            Breakfast of Champions  

This is a great breakfast, as it keeps you full and gives you a burst of fresh fruit and some protein from the tahini or nut butter. Its also very portable if you eat breakfast on the go or at work, school, etc.

Here's a close up of my mug

 



I did not want a perfect design, since I am not a factory, so I was not too strict with the design and just let it happen. The quote is Emerson- "Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink the wild air."I spent quite a bit of time on Pinterest, reading through numerous blogs with posts of directions to come to this conclusion as the best way and most helpful tips.

What you need to make your own:
-A ceramic mug, plate, etc. Something cheaper seems to work better, since there isn't such a high quality glaze. This was a mug my mother received full of teas over the holidays from Starbucks and let me have for this.
-Sharpie markers in your preferred colors. I stuck to black, as I have noticed that when you get into colors there is possibility for it to change after the oven. If you want colors, use the Sharpie paint markers or the thick permanent markers, rather than a thinner tip. This was just your typical Sharpie.

Directions:
1. Clean your mug first to get off all oils, which will make it easier for your design to come off or fade or color change. When you are drawing, try not to touch where you plan to draw on, as the oil from your skin.
2. If you want a perfect design or something you do not think you could draw yourself, you can cut out a design you have printed off or found and trace around it with eyeliner lightly. Or cut it out of wax paper after tracing it and take double sided tape or take a piece of tape and make a circle, connecting the ends, so it is all sticky and stick it on, holding the taped design down as you trace the design on the mug with the marker to outline. Then take off the design and remove the tape.
Tip: if you mess up or get some somewhere you don't want it, simply wet your finger and scrape it off. It scrapes off very easily before being baked.
3. Instead of putting it into the oven, let it sit out for 24 hours. This seems to help the marker.
4. After 24 hours, take it by somewhere there is no marker and set in the oven. Turn the oven on to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. This way, the ceramic slowly heats up as the oven heats up instead of putting it from cold to hot, which can cause it to crack or break.
5. After 30 minutes, shut off the oven but do not remove the mug. Leave it in while the oven cools, so that the ceramic slowly cools with the oven to once again prevent cracking/breakage.
6. Take it out of the oven with oven mitts just incase it's still hot-mine was.
7. Admire your beautiful new creation!

This would be a great idea for a gift, making a personalized mug and then filling with teas or coffee. I do not drink coffee, but I find tea so comforting any time of day.

Enjoy!

Til next time, all of the best and stay warm out there,
Jessica