Miscellaneous Thoughts

My Prayer for USA Christians

by ladypbwiggins

During my study of Daniel, I took special note of his prayer for Israel in Chapter 9. It struck me as quite appropriate for the Christians in the USA at this time in history. Here is my adaptation. Here is my prayer. If you pray and if you love this country, I ask you to join me in praying this prayer for it.

To the Catholic and Protestant Church and those who claim to follow Y’shua’s teachings.

O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who keep His commandment, we have sinned and committed iniquity (crookedness) we have done wickedly ( are wrong and caused to be wrong) and rebelled, even by departing from your precepts (commands) and judgments (sentences). Neither have we heeded your servants who are rightly teaching your Word, who earnestly spoke in your name.

O Lord, righteousness belongs to you but shame of face to us. We have been unfaithful to you.

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or God, to walk in His ways which He set before us. Yes all the church has transgressed. We have not made our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.

O Lord according to all your righteousness, I pray, let your anger and your fury be turned away from us who claim to be yours. Now God hear my prayer. Cause your face to shine on me, on us because our hearts are desolate.

O my God, please hear, please see us. I am not worthy to be heard or seen but Father you are merciful.

Please Forgive Us Your Children.

Please Forgive Us who are Called by Your Name.

The Long Way ‘Round

by ladypbwiggins

Sometimes I find myself questioning God about Carl’s healing. I know without a doubt that he answered my prayer that fateful night quickly and clearly. He confirmed it every step of the way in the hospitals and rehab through nurses, speech therapists and Carl’s progress. Yet, here we are almost 4 years later and there are still areas that are not completely healed. The brain trauma due to a lack of oxygen caused by the several episodes of ventricular tachycardia still affects his memory sometimes. He says it’s like being in a fog and when it clears he remembers. I guess I didn’t think it would take this long. I asked God why was it taking so long? Was I doing something to slow down the progress?

One day while reading Exodus, I believe I received my answer. In Exodus 13:17,18 God says He led the people along the path of the Red Sea rather than the short route through the Wilderness of Sin because the wilderness took them through the land of the Philistines. The Philistines were large in size and proficient in war.

So it happened, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearer; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war [that is, that there will be war], and return to Egypt.” But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea; the sons of Israel went up in battle array (orderly ranks, marching formation) out of the land of Egypt.

EXODUS 13:17‭-‬18 AMP
https://bible.com/bible/1588/exo.13.17-18.AMP

It jumped off the page. He didn’t choose the shortest route. They were not ready for what they might encounter. Think about it. They had not needed to war for 430 years. Egypt handled that. He took them the long way so that they could learn.

  • Learn Him and His ways;
  • Learn how to strategize;
  • Learn how to fight;
  • Learn to be His nation

More questions. What had I not learned? I realized maybe it wasn’t about me. Maybe there was more for Carl to learn; maybe for us to learn together. Hmmm…

Thank you Lord for “the long way ’round.”

Asian, Vegan, Oil-Free

by ladypbwiggins

Recently I had a craving for good Chinese Lo Mien. I found a restaurant that does not use MSG. I tried it. It seemed very oily to me. Disappointed. I decided to give them a second try after discussing the oil quantity with the restaurant. They explained how they prepared the lo me in and that much of what I thought was oil was a combination of a small amount of oil and Hoisin sauce.

I am now on a quest to adapt good Asian recipes to our dietary requirements. I am beginning with Thai and Chinese. The resulting dish must be vegan, gluten-free, and oil-free. I welcome all your authenic tried and true suggestions or recipes.

Finally Oil-free Waffles

by ladypbwiggins

The struggle continues to find substitutes for oil that works in my food. I finally succeeded with my waffles. I have tried pureed applesauce with no success. Tried a blend of pureed applesauce and avocado. That was better but not quite right. Saturday I decided to try just pureed avocado. Success! I added this to my vegan, gluten-free mixture and found success.

Gluten-free vegan oil-free waffles

Now I will try this with my cornbread. Southern upbringing requires good cornbread. Anyone out there with a good cornbread recipe? Biscuits? Not sure I’m ready for green biscuits.

Back In The Kitchen

by ladypbwiggins

I am so excited. I have been trying for a while to create my own veggie burger raw and cooked. I have used other people’s recipes. Some were good and others not so much or at least not to my liking. What are my motivations for making my own. I could just buy them. Right?
Motivation 1. Mastering my refrig

I also wanted to confidently create my own with whatever I had in the kitchen. That’s what so many said they did in their experiments so why can’t I?
Motivation 2 Cost

Buying them can be a budget buster. They are expensive. Here in Texas they are approximately $4.50 and up for 4 patties and they may or may not be vegan.
Motivation 3 Satisfying The Cardiologist

This is the hardest. Carl’s doctor has so many requirements. First it was raw so the body could heal itself. Then it was you can add in cooked but must be vegan,gluten-free, oil-free and clean as possible. Vegan was easy. We had already eliminated dairy and most flesh. Gluten-free required learning how to use different grains and seeds and the flours made with them to make waffles, bread etc. Keep in mind the raw, clean and oil-free parameters. Oil-free is easy to understand but no so eary to accomplish. You don’t want dry burgers, or dry anything. Still working on that one. Then what’s clean.

Clean eating is a deceptively simple concept. … At its simplest, clean eating is about eating whole foods, or “real” foods — those that are un- or minimally processed, refined, and handled, making them as close to their natural form as possible. fitnessmagazine

Minimally processed is the kicker. How can you know if it is minimally processed unless you make it yourself?

I finally found a recipe from The Spruce Eats that was very close to the #Dr. Praeger patties that I buy and fit within the parameters set by the Doctor. So with a little modification here is my offering.

Recipe

1 2/3 cup beans (this was a mix of kidney, lentils and leftover black)

1 cup cooked quinoa

1/2 c chopped on onion

1/2 c chopped yellow bell pepper

1/2 medium fresh jalapeño

1/2 medium avocado

1 Tbls brown rice flour

1 tsp chia seeds in 2 Tbls of water

3 Tbls of liquid aminos or to taste

Pinch of cayenne

Mix all ingredients in a food processor until well blend. Form patties and bake at 375° F for 45 minutes or desired firmness.

The brown rice flour made them a little crusty on the outside but were moist on the inside. I will try next time with oats instead of quinoa.

7 burgers that were 4″ in diameter and 1/4″ thick

The flavor was great and now that I’ve made them it will be a quick process next time.

I would love to read your comments and don’t for get to follow me at Pat’s Random Thoughts

Use It All

by ladypbwiggins

Anyone that has purchased organic and non-GMO produce knows it is expensive by comparison to conventionally farmed produce. So why do I do it and how can I make it more economically beneficial? For me, I figured I could pay at the grocery store or I could pay at the doctor’s office. The toxins in the pesticides that are used in conventional farming build up in our systems and eventually affect our kidneys and liver, killing us slowly. So those vegetables you were eating to become healthier might possibly be the cause of your illness. Unfortunately you can’t wash away the pesticide that has been absorbed into the meat of the vegetables or the fruit.

So I had to get my money’s worth. I was lying in bed thinking about the root system in plants. (That’s another post). It occurred to me that the stems of greens that we throw away contain nutrients. Rather than throw them away I put them in a pot along with other almost expired veggies. Add to that some seasonings and you have the making of your own vegetable broth.

Then I thought what to do with veggies after the broth was strained. I poured the cooked veggies into the food processor and chopped them all together. It looked interesting.

I wondered if it would add creaminess to a homemade salad dressing blend. Or maybe, it could be used as flavor additive and binder to my veggie burger recipes. It remains to be seen, but the goal is to USE IT ALL.

Leave a comment if you have suggestions.

Disappointment? Protection!

by ladypbwiggins

I found an apartment complex that had all th amenities Carl and I needed and wanted. It had special rent consideration for senior citizens and to top it off it was 8 minutes from my daughter’s home. When we went to check out the Vizcaya apartments, we discovered our income exceeded the upper limit allowed to get the discount but not enough to afford to live there. Disappointed, we continued the search. With the assistance of our daughter’s real estate agent we found another one about 15 to 20 minutes from our daughter, The Marquis. This apartment is a little smaller but provides a comfortable living space including good neighbors. 

It is now several months later.  Hurricane Harvey just visited Houston and it’s suburbs. This was our first time actually living in hurricane force winds and rains. The windows shook, rain drops sounded like rocks thrown against the windows and tornado warnings were ongoing and we were on the mild side. With all that the water never rose more than ankle deep in the parking lot and drained fast. 

Harvey deposited so much water that Vizcaya flooded up to the 3rd floor. Had we gotten that apartment we would have lost everything. Do you think it was coincidental that we couldn’t get an apartment there? I think not. God saw our future and protected us. Just a reminder that what was viewed as a

disappointment was actually the hand of God protecting us. 

3 Little Words

by ladypbwiggins

3 little words

Hold so much power.

We all desire to hear

3 little words

That can birth or destroy.

We use them so glibly.

Why are we so careless?

Disingenuous use hurt and anger us.

Why do we do it to others?

You say you mean them

But your actions portray something else.

Think

Are you there when needed

If only a smile

Or encouraging word?

Do you even know the depth they carry?

Think about them before you say

Those 3 little words.

I LOVE YOU!

 

 

 

Re-Purposing Kitchen Tools

by ladypbwiggins

In 2015 we had what I thought then was a major dietary change because of my husband’s heart challenges. We had already decided to eat only turkey and seafood. The individual cuts of meat were getting expensive.  I thought why buy ground turkey and other turkey parts. Why not buy a whole turkey and break it down. I bought a meat cleaver, a boning knife, meat grinding attachment for my Kitchenaid, a cast iron skillet and a cast iron stove top grill. I almost broke my arm congratulating myself.  I bought an organically fed turkey and got to work. Just as I thought I had the cuts I wanted and freshly ground turkey. Then things changed…..again.  

We are no longer eating meat. What do I do with all these cooking tools?

I thought about all the fruit that could be difficult. Where would I lose the most fruit trying to slice the skin off? What would be the hardest to cut?  The pineapple.

Is cutting the outside of a pineapple a challenge for anyone else? It seems I lose so much pineapple using my chef’s knife.  I decided to put my theory to the test. I the end off the pineapple and then half with the meat cleaver. I used the boning knife to cut the pineapple around the edges to separate it from the outer skin. It went around the curves so close and so smoothly. As you can see in the last picture it cut very close losing almost no meat of the pineapple. Fast, easy and profitable. Need I say more.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I later tried the boning knife on a watermelon and it was butter. I lost virtually no meat of the watermelon. I am confident it will work on other melons. y next experiment is the meat cleaver versus the coconut.

What tools are in your kitchen that can be re-purpose? Share them with us.

 

Raw Onion Rings

by ladypbwiggins

One of the dishes prepared by the Garden Kitchen was onion rings. I thought how hard could it be? Rawmazing had a recipe I chose to try. The directions called for a large sweet onion. Because I was trying this for the first time I used what I had on hand, a small onion. This will explain the size in the picture. I didn’t dredge it twice either as the recipe called for. This was a test run for flavor and dehydration time limit. The recipe uses almond pulp and almond milk. I recommend making your own almond milk and use the pulp left behind. That’s easy too. Homemade almond milk taste so much better than store bought. 

Onion Rings p,55

1 large sweet onion

4 cups almond milk

3/4 cup almond milk pulp, dehydrated

1 cup ground flax seeds, ground

1 Tbls smoked paprika

1/2 tsp ground chipotle

1/2 tsp Himalayan salt

Slice the onions and put in a container with the almond milk. Let it soak.

Dehydrate the pulp left from making the almond milk.

Place dehydrated almond pulp, ground flax seed, spices and salt in the food processor.

Separate the mixture into two batches. Dredge one batch at a time. Place the drained onions in one batch flax mixture. Dip in the milk again then back into the mixture.

Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 6-8 hours or until they are almost dry. The breading should be dry but the onions still moist.

20170429_134500 (1)