healthy

Make Your Own: No Tuna Chickpea Salad

by ladypbwiggins

I liked tuna salad before vegan. I have my own veganized version using chickpeas. The difference is capers, a cashew based Mayo(Make Your Own recipe) and coconut amino. I had used avocados, seasoned salt(homemade).

Of course I had to try this one. It was the first thing I made. I forgot to take a picture, so I forced myself to make it again. 😂 That is why you saw other posts first.

This is good. Almost as good as mine. I could eat bowls of this and nothing else. 5 stars

Get the book and Make Your Own

Make Your Own: Nutty Date Granola

by ladypbwiggins

Who loves granola? I have had many types. Some reporting to be vegan. All reporting to be healthy. Some were. I had not ever used dates as the fruit supplying the sweetness and the glue. The recipe called for Medjool dates and a variety of seeds and nuts.

Before Baking

It was gooey and delicous.

After Baking.

Now don’t make my mistake. I got sidetracked and baked a little longer than most people would like. I enjoyed the crispness. It was a quick blend of nuts, oats and seeds. You can use any nuts you want. I used walnuts.

Getting Richer

by ladypbwiggins

I have been absent but I have not been idle. I have been enriching my soil. Or should I say life has been enriching my soil? I was blessed to visit Los Angeles in March. I attended the celebration of my mother’s 90th year of life. Old friends, family members I had not seen in a long while and my mom’s new friends (new to me) gathered together. It was glorious. I then spent time with my son and his family. My baby granddaughter gave me pure unconditional love. She is one of my lights.

I returned home to join into a flurry of activity. I was able to spend time with my other lights, granddaughter and grandson. I joined in the resurrection production activities at my church. In the midst of all this the choirs had to prepare for regular Sunday services. I was tired but overwhelmed with joy. I truly enjoy my fellow choir members. We laugh, we cry, we disagree, we work it out, we worship together, we minister together. It is glorious. Rich soil.

Before I went to L.A., I ordered a cookbook, Make Your Own by Javant Benson. I discovered him on YouTube. He is a vegan cook who uses no-oil, no wheat and no refined sugar. I had wanted to decrease if not eliminate my use of oil. I tried some of his recipes and liked them. He had done the heavy lifting, trying different ingredient combinations to produce tasty, healthy vegan food with no oil. I decided it was a worthwhile investment.Now that all the other intense activity is over I can focus on trying his recipes. The following posts will be about this journey. This week I have completed several recipes and I can’t wait to tell you about the experience.

I have made familiar recipes my own when I wanted to vegan-ize traditional recipes. However, I still used oil. Tomorrow I will share my Make Your Own experiences.

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.

Homemade Turkey Andouille Sausage

by ladypbwiggins

To those who know I am not eating meat, I wrote this some time back and never published it. Hope my meateating friends will enjoy it.

I love New Orleans inspired gumbo but I don’t eat pork and I am allergic to shrimp. I decided to make a seafood gumbo but I really wanted the sausage flavor. I thought what better to do than to try my hand at making andouille sausage with ground turkey.

I added these spices, compliments of allrecipes.com and the foodnetwork.com:Emerill Lagasse, to the ground turkey.

Finding the seasonings to begin was simple process but turkey is not as fat as pork. What to do about that? My first thought was to add olive oil or coconut oil. Then a light bulb flickered. Bake some turkey thighs and use the dripping from that. The added bonus is meat prepared for another meal.

A Second Touch

by ladypbwiggins

This morning my bible study covered the account of Y’shua (Jesus) healing a blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26). The man’s friends begged  Yshua to heal him. Y’shua took the blind man by the hand and led him outside of the village. He spat on his eyes and then touched them. He asked him if he could see anything. The man said I see people but they look like trees walking. Y’shua then touched him again. It is reported after the second touch the blind man’s sight was restored and he could see all things clearly.

In my humanness, my first reaction was to him spitting in his eyes. I have a real serious issue with people spitting on me. But putting that aside, I wondered why a second touch needed. I know He was powerful enough to heal on the first touch. He had done it before. That question lingered in my mind through the rest of the study.  A second touch was required to complete the healing. Why? Was it the man’s lack of faith? Was it the disciple’s lack of faith and understanding? Was it necessary to teach that sometimes a process is needed for healing? Was it to teach the disciples the difference in seeing and seeing clearly? In light of the disciples’ lack of understanding about the Pharisee’s leaven, maybe Y’shua had to show them how blind they were and that they had a need to see clearly and that He was the source of that clarity. Hmm.

Some of you know my husband and I went through a horrendous year in 2015. I was faced with his death. While the EMTs worked to resuscitate him, I prayed, LORD if it is his time, take him because I don’t want him to suffer but if it isn’t, please heal him completely. As soon as I finished my request, he began to breath. I believe that was God’s answer that He would heal him completely. When he left the house he was breathing on his own. Here we are almost a year since he came home from rehab for the third time. He has made tremendous progress but he is not completely healed. He is walking with a cane and his memory is still shaky. I have asked God why hasn’t he healed him completely yet?  Why hasn’t He restored him to good health mentally and physically? What are we not doing that we should be doing? What do we need to see clearly? To what am I blind? Could it be that a second touch is needed?

LORD, I pray that you touch us again with your healing hands. I ask that you restore Carl’s body and mind to be better than before. We believe you allowed him to stay here because you still had a job for him to do. Touch me and teach me what you desire of me. LORD give us a second touch.

Do you need a second touch?

I just can’t see My Leftovers

by ladypbwiggins

It is so easy to fall back into bad habits and worry. I have a mountainous list of things to do in a short period of time. “I just can’t see how” it will all get done. There is a financial component that “I just can’t see how” I will get it paid on time. The problem here is not how it will get done or the cost. The problem is “I just can’t see.” My answer to my real problem popped up in my bible study this morning.

Mark 8:18-21. My paraphrase

Y’shua (Jesus) said to his disciples, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” They thought he was talking about bread. They forgot to get some for the trip. Y’shua knowing this asked them, when he fed the 4000 and the 5000 what happened? He reminded them that not only did he supply the need but there was an abundance of leftovers. The unspoken questions, I believe, are why would I be warning you about the Pharisees’ bread. Even more so, why are you worrying about not bringing any. Don’t you yet know, I will supply the need?

That was the message to me. With all that I have done for you, especially in the last year and half, all the miracles you have experienced, all the needs met, why are you worried about all you have to get done and how much it will cost? Don’t you yet understand WHO your supplier is? I have supplied your need and you have had an abundance of leftovers. 

Do YOU need to be reminded of your leftovers? Are you worrying about things you know full well Y’shua has the authority to handle? STOP.

We have an abundance of leftovers.

Homemade Mustard Trials Revisited

by ladypbwiggins

A few months ago I tried a Dijon mustard recipe from The Homemade Vegan Pantry. I thought I had used a white wine that was too dry. The mustard had a very bitter taste. I tried it again with a less dry white wine. I allowed it to sit longer hoping it would be mellower. Today I tested it and it was just as bitter as the first. I gave up on that recipe. I decided to try a different recipe. It was taken from the Homemade Condiment cookbook: the Spicy Brown Mustard.  The ingredients: powdered yellow mustard, kosher salt, tumeric, paprika, water, white wine vinegar, and brown sugar to taste. I used a few drops of agave. I didn’t have white wine vinegar so I used white cooking wine. 20160827_133353

The result is a smooth, spicy mustard paste. It is usable now but I think I will let it mellow a bit. It has a little bitter tinge but nothing like the other recipe. I wonder what would happen if I used white wine vinegar?20160827_133433

Well, I am getting back in the lab. Happy cooking.

 

GMO Link to Obesity

by ladypbwiggins

This morning I read a blog post from Sherry Brescia. Many shrug off GMO’s and the effect they have on our health. I know we cannot escape them completely but we should pay more attention to what we are eating and the possibility that we are enabling our own demise. Ms. Brescia has written an informative article that warrants re-posting. GMO–Genetically Modified Organism or Getting Massively Obese?

We seem to care more about losing weight than being healthy so maybe this will get some people’s attention.

Necessity Brings Joy

by ladypbwiggins

So now what is that crazy woman talking about? Necessity brings joy. Sometimes when you have a need, the satisfying of that need brings greater joy than you expected.

Here’s the deal, Saturday, I ran out of almond milk. I had no cash. I didn’t want to u20160716_132308 (2)se a credit card for a gallon of milk. I looked around the pantry and saw that I had some cashews. I had been meaning to try making cashew milk. This seemed like the perfect time. It is simple. Put the cashews and water in a blender and let it rip. In minutes, there was milk.

I looked in  my vegan cookbook to get an idea of the ratio of cashews to water for a reasonable milk consistency. It was 2/3 cup of whole cashews to 4 cups of milk. That seemed like a lot of water for so few cashews so I increased it to a full cup of cashews. To my surprise I stumbled upon cashew cream. I did some research on the uses for cashew cream and discovered I had solved another dilemma I was facing. This cashew cream provides the creaminess and consistency I needed for both these projects.I wanted to make vegan ice cream without making a sugary syrup for a sorbet. This will be my substitute. I also needed a sour cream impostor to try in a new cornbread recipe I found. I will try adding vinegar to the cream to sour it. I’ll let you know the outcome.

Back to the milk. I used the ratio suggested by the experienced vegan and was rewarded with a good tasting cashew milk. There are no preservatives, no sweetener, no added anything. Two and two/thirds cup of cashews will make a gallon of milk.  What makes this most appealing is no added cost for  cream.

For you who like a little coffee in your cream, this is a healthy, tasteful preferred choice to the coffee creamers you buy in the store. I don’t usually add cream to my coffee but I tried a little. It was very good and flavorful.

So the necessity for almond milk provided the joy of cashew milk and cream. It was a good day.