Vegan Life

Home Brew

by ladypbwiggins

One of the unexpected side affects of a raw vegan lifestyle was a drink I had never tried. It was included because of the probiotic contents. I liked it and made it a part of our regular meal plans. The only problem was the cost. When I first started drinking it, the cost was about $2.89 for a 16 oz. bottle. Now, it is $3.99. I buy about 5 bottles/wk. Food cost has gone up and the drink cost has made my grocery bill huge. I have wanted to try making my own, but the task seemed daunting. What did I know about brewing? Oh, wait a minute. Maybe some of you are thinking I’m talking about whiskey, wine or the like. Nope. It is kombucha. Kombucha may have an alcohol content. It depends on the brand. I drink GTs Synergy brand. It is raw and the alcohol content is negligible. I have had some that gave me a slight buzz. I don’t remember the brand because I stick to Synergy. Until, now. I read a lot about making my own. I joined groups on Facebook to learn from experienced brewers and could get questions asked rather quickly. I bought a book entitled The Big Book of Kombucha by Crum and LaGory. Finally, I was ready to begin.

Oh, I need a SCOBY or pellicle. This is and starter tea is needed to begin. Hesitantly, I ordered a kit from Amazon. The kit included black tea, sugar, a pellicle aka SCOBY, ph strips, a pipette, a cover and the all important rubber bend. There was enough product to make two batches. NOW, I’m ready.

Of course I couldn’t do it exactly according to instructions. Where is the fun in that. Rather than brewing my tea with boiling water, I chose to make Sun tea. I sat a quart of water with 6 tea bags out on the patio. After that I followed the instructions. Seven days later my brew looked like this. It was growing a new, healthy pellicle.

Fifteen days later it was time for the second fermentation. This is where you add flavor and create carbonation if you desire. I added ground ginger and cayenne to the bottles Three days later I drank my first batch of Home Brew aka my Kombucha.. My grocery bill will be reduced about $20 because I can make my own and flavor it any way I want or not.

I Surrender – For NOW

by ladypbwiggins

Those who have followed me and know me know that I am resistant to pharmaceuticals. It is my very last resort. The health issue that I have is the source of any other potential issues: high blood pressure. I didn’t know I had the condition until a blood vessel burst in my eye. I had to have surgery on my eye. The day of the surgery, my BP was so high that they rescheduled. That was the day this battle began.

Since then I have been regulating my BP with vegetables, specifically beets. It was going well, but I did get periodic spikes. The spikes in BP measurements are my Dr’s concern. She said they were just as damaging to my blood vessels. So for now I will take a very low dose of lisinipril. One of the side affects is allowing a build-up in potassium that damages your kidneys. To me that is trading one problem for another. My goal is to eventually get off this medication. In the meantime, I will eat clean and exercise and take this poison. Those who pray to the Heavenly Father, please pray for me.

The Veggie Burger Search Continues

by ladypbwiggins

A few posts ago, actually, quite a while ago I made my own veggie burger blend. A few days ago I discovered Javant’s Healthy Vegan Eating on YouTube. I made it. It is pictured below. His mix is made with no oil and no soy, so I had to give it a try. It was very good. I guess the walnuts along with the mushrooms gave it the fatty moisture mouth feel, aka texture.

I had forgotten that I made a veggie burger mix posted in My Vegan Burger. There are differences that could make a big difference to some people. First of all,Javant’s recipe is to be cooked. It uses cauliflower, walnuts, mushrooms, carrots, red onions and seasonings. Javant’s ground is designed to be used for multiple purposes.Therefore, no specific seasoning was used. It was very general. Mine is raw; designed for raw vegan lifestyle. My mixture included mushrooms, carrots, green onions,ground flax seed, soaked sunflower, jalepeno, and liquid smoke. There were other seasonings used, but they were specific to burger flavors, or at least they might have conflicted with Italian or Mexican flavors. I thought I had resolved my search for a homemade vegan burger blend. I’m down to two. I’m going to take a little from his and and add to mine. I will then cook a batch and dehydrate another batch. I learned a lot from Javant. I will continue to checkout his videos.

Javant’s Veggie Grou

Never Again

by ladypbwiggins

I’ve been trying to get back to cooking vegan meals instead of buying them. Three days ago I decided to cook dry chickpeas on the stove top instead of the pressure cooker. I let them soak for almost 2 full days. I thought surely the beans would cook in about 4 hrs. Well it’s been about 7 or 8 hours and they are NOT tender. I’m going back to the pressure cooker. I would have been done by now if I had used it first. My tuna-less tuna said will have to wait another day.😒

Beet Root Powder

by ladypbwiggins

I finally ground the dehydrated beet pulp. Why buy beet root powder when you can make your own? All you need is the dried pulp and a grinder. I used my Nutribullet grinding attachment but a coffee or spice grinder will probably work just fine. I gave it a try this mornig. I put 1 tablespoon of the powder in my waffle mix. The batter was pink. I expected pink waffles. Didn’t happen. They were regular waffles . The beet flavor was barelty noticeable. The waffles tasted good. Results were nutrition boosted waffles.

Loss Replaced With Better

by ladypbwiggins

I was so excited about getting the great results of beet and celery juicing. I began to plan for other juice meals and then……

Silence. My Caynel Masticating Juicer stopped. I thought it had over heated. I waited. Turned the switch. Silence. I tried again. Silence. My juicer died. Of course the warranty had expired. It was laid to rest last night in the dumpster.

Now I await the arrival of my new juicer. Didn’t plan to spend that much money on a juicer but it is my medication provider. It cost about 4x as much as the other. I will let you know if it provides 4x the quality.

It is my expectation that the loss will be replaced with better.

More Veggie Juice Bounty

by ladypbwiggins

This will be a short one. More of the pulp was refrigerated so I put the pulp in the dehydrator. I will grind it and make a powder that can be used in smoothies and soups. I might even sprinkle the powder on salds and tyr making salad dressings. So much to experiment with.

Beet, Celery, Carrot Pulp Galore

by ladypbwiggins

As you can imagine making fresh vegetable juice everyday yields a lot of pulp. I can’t imagine throwing it away. So what do I do with it all. My first thought was veggie patties. I looked around at different recipes and decided to use a variation of my veggie patty. I put the beet pulp, carrot pulp, celery pulp, shitake/portobello mushrooms in my food processor along with sunflower seeds, onion powder, garlic powder, organic liquid smoke, chilli flakes, flaxseed eggs and salt. I formed this mixture into patties and put them in the dehydrator for 12 hours. The reul

The results are reasonably firm and soft in the center. I need more of a binding agent so I will try chia seed egg or oatmeal the next time. This is my first try. They turned out well. Tasted okay but I need to add more seasonings. When I get the amount figured out I can share a recipe. But for now know I used 2 cups of the beet, carrot, celery pulp combinations and 2 cups of shitake/protabello mushroom blend, 1 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds. The rest was to taste or as they say in my family until it feels right. 🙂

Daya 6 & 7: The Battle is Won

by ladypbwiggins

Seven days ago I engaged in a battle with my Blood Pressure. I was determine to defeat this adversary with natural means. I had tried several different pharmaceuticals prescribed by my primary care provider and my cardiologist. My doctors’ felt the side affects to them were out weighed by the decrease in my pressure. However, I was the one feeling those side effects. All but one made me extremely ill. The one that was tolerable wasn’t as effective. I stopped taking them. I researched the vegetable and herb world to find answers to my situation. I found beets decreased the blood pressure quickly. I also found a herbal tea that reported decreasing blood pressure. On last Sunday I began. Three hours after drinking 8 oz of fresh non-pasteurized beet juice my pressure had dropped 20mmHg units. I was hopeful. You can read the details in the preceding posts.

My “beginning the day” blood pressure was always less than it had been the day before. The last two days I have had measurements in the 120/80 -ish range in the late afternoon. This morning, I drank 12oz of a combination juice of beet, celery, carrot and apple. At about 5pm I took my pressure and it was 122/71. This will be my daily prescription for my blood pressure along with potassium and magnesium tablets and a decrease in salt intake. I will continue to try to reduce my stress and increase my exercise. This is my self-care plan. I am making an appointment with the cardiologist. I expect that will be a positive visit, except for the stress test I have to take. 🙂 I am not a doctor or a medical expert. I can only share my experience. If this appeals to you, discuss it with your doctor and give it a try.

I am continuing the war of taking care of my body on all levels. I still have difficulty prioritizing myself but I am getting better. My next battle is returning to the weight and dietary practice pre-quarantine. I liked how I felt and I like how I looked. Seventy is my new 40. I am going to get there. It took 18 months to get here, so I know it will not happen over night. First order is to get back into the habit of making my raw food that needs to be dehydrated in a timely manner.

Next experiment is making veggie burger patties with the pulp from the beets and celery. Hope they taste as good as the juice.

Day 4: Self Care: Not So Easy

by ladypbwiggins

Self Care. That’s what I was told I needed to do. But just like a doctor telling a patient to eat right without an eating plan or what eating right looks like, telling me I needed to self care without offering a plan or what it should look like. I know the admonishments were for my good and they meant well but sometimes you just can’t get a handle on what you are suppose to do to correct your situation. My eldest gave me a massage treatment gift and it was wonderful. If my budget allows I may make it a monthly or bi-monthly thing. That alone is just a bandaid. To alleviate the source of my issues more must be done. I am returning to our raw eating plan, at least 90%. I made scheduling my day to get at least 6 hours of restful sleep. I am taking breaks after each major activity. I am EXERCISING. All of these are necessary for my self care. Yet, I haven’t figured out how to relieve the stress. It’s as if the release valve on my pressure cooker is stuck and releases the pressure too slow. The main source of my stress is not going away so I have to find a way to unstick the valve.

I am told self care means making yourself a priority. I get that but how do you accomplish that when something else has a higher priority , time wise, over the course of the day and you are exhausted at the end of the day. There is little energy left for self care. I am trying to create a plan that takes care of my responsibilities and place myself high on the list as well. It is not as easy as it sounds. I trust God to guide me.

After I finished the with the tags, the two thought came to me, that self care was doing what makes you feel good in addition to all the above stated healthy things. The other was self care stems from self love.What makes me feel good? What gives me the most joy? What could I do all day and enjoy even after I get tired? Thanks Lord. How do I weave it into my day? I have always struggled with loving myself. Or at least showing love to myself in a tangible way. This is the war I have to win. It is time. The struggle has gone on too long. Silence the negative voices in my head and replace them with the few positive thing said. Most of all replace them with the two most powerful voices in my life. Mine and the Lord’s. He said a lot of positive things about me. I am the negative one. I have to come to agreement with God. I embrace me. I have said this before but now is the time I need to stick with it until it manifest and the voices are silenced. This is the best care I can give to myself. Everything else will fall in line. Thanks Chef Babette for the inspiration.