Category: Healthy Living

Although I’m veggie, I do make non-veggie dishes. My daughter isn’t veggie, although she mainly eats veggie dishes. Also, most of my loved ones are non veggie.

I must say my willingness to prepare non-veggie dishes for those I care about has actually worked in that they eat more veggie dishes. It wasn’t the goal, it just happened that way. The non veggie dishes I make, although not 100% veggie are healthy, and there’s always a veggie component.

I hear some veggies parroting how non-vegetarians aren’t healthy and that’s simply not true. Non vegetarians/vegans can be healthy too, it’s all about the choices you make. As I’ve mentioned many times, there are plenty of unhealthy vegetarians/vegans/raw foodists, etc.,… those that are unhealthy are making poor food choices.

But back to my food post…

Late yesterday afternoon you could find me making baked crab balls. In total, it took about 1.5 hours to make…

 

 

The shells were picked out of the backfin crab meat. That process was tedious!

 

I then moved onto the other extremely slow process of making all those crab balls. The crab balls were baked not fried.  The balls were all crab meat with just a touch of seasoning, I wanted to let the sweetness of the crab meat shine and judging by the reactions it did. Before my pre-veggie days one complaint I had about eating some restaurant crab cakes was the amount of filler included. It made you think, “Where’s the crab?”

This dish was made for a 50th birthday party for my Lutheran pastor. The dish received a lot of compliments and I made enough so that people could freely get a lot. Which is how it should be you know? When I prepare for a gathering, I tend to make a lot since I don’t want people to worry about people holding back eating so others can get some also. Eat until you get your fill. I really love cooking, but I don’t eat too much.

 

 

In total I made over 100 baked crab balls. It took a lot of time.

There are three layers of crab balls in this pan; 40 walnut sized balls on each row, separated by aluminum foil.

My daughter received about ten of the baked crab balls, but the bulk was wrapped up and taken to the party today. However, I promised her that I would make some for her tomorrow. Of course, this means I have to stop by the store tomorrow and purchase more backfin crab meat and that’s ok, she’s worth it. I’ll be sure to make enough for my father too. My mom works tomorrow and even though she’s left plenty for him to eat. He deserves something special too, right. After all, I only have one dad!

…would tell you straight away that the food would be really good. As they say, never trust a skinny chef! LOL!!! For one thing, he was really fast and the dishes were served in no time at all.

Although I’m not overweight, as I told suituapui on one of his recent posts, thin people an cook too. When I prepare a dish for others,  it rarely lasts long.

My only regret is that I didn’t make homemade tarter sauce. I thought I had the needed ingredients at home, but I didn’t. This morning, on my way to work I purchased tarter sauce <shudders> those that know me well know I rarely purchase prepacked food. I’d say 90% of the food in our house is made by me.

A few days ago, I wrote about the mosquito issue we have. It makes sitting outside unbearable with those pesky critters munching on your skin.

I use a variety of natural remedies to combat the problem; essential oils (citronella, mint, lemongrass), garlic, apple cider vinegar and more recently neem oil. I’ve only started using neem (outside of homemade skin remedies) within the last six years. So it’s my “newest natural remedy” that I use to combat pests.  Since I really wanted to spray a large area, I figured the most economical route would be to use neem oil. I use the Dyna-Gro neem oil. I use about two tablespoons of neem per two gallons of water.

It was my first time using the Stanley Lawn and Garden Steel 2-Gallon Sprayer and I must say it did an excellent job! As I mentioned in an earlier post, the plastic sprayer that I’d been using needed to be replaced. I decided to go with a steel sprayer that should last even longer than my trusty plastic sprayer. I look forward to using my Stanley sprayer (to use natural treatments on our land) for many years.

Early this morning, I sprayed about fifty feet away from our Warre beehive. My daughter and I enjoy watching the bees but with the the rainy weather we’ve been having that hasn’t been an option since it also brought out the mosquitoes in droves. About an hour ago, when my daughter and I went outside to check on the honeybees, we found we didn’t have to swat at the mosquitoes, they flew off to neem free areas.

I’ll be posting my Neem recipe soon

And although I meant to post my neem recipe that I use in the garden and in areas we hang out, I haven’t gotten around to doing that yet. It’s been a busy week/weekend. Our family, from out of town, arrived this past Wednesday for my aunt’s funeral (which happened on Friday.)  It was great catching up with them, preparing meals for them to eat, but it didn’t leave time for much else. No worries, I’ll post the recipe within a few days. The recipe is simple and mine only has three ingredients.

 

1. Eliminate garden pests with homemade neem garden spray

Last week I made a big dish of sauteed mushrooms to which I added lentils and vegetables such as broccoli, tomatoes, corn, etc.,

 

I didn’t have time to arrange it on a plate and make it look pretty (before I took the picture.) My daughter was hungry and so I quickly snapped a few shots and served her this dish.

I added a variety of seasonings and I remember cumin was in that mix.  I love cumin. A simple dish that was nutritious and delicious too. I didn’t use a recipe I just tossed things together and I must say, it turned out very well. My daughter liked it so much she had a second helping later that day.

 

In our household, although we eat simply, we consume a large variety of foods. My only requirements is that the foods we consume our whole foods.

What are whole foods? Whole foods are unrefined or unprocessed or minimally processed before eating.

At times, people automatically assume that vegetarians/vegans are “healthy” sometimes those following the diet automatically assume that also. That’s not always the case, especially if they follow the “standard vegetarian/vegan diet” which can be just as unhealthy as a Standard American Diet.

I see many veggie sites that regularly promote processed/pre-packaged foods and while it’s fine to have it now and again, including it regularly is not the smartest thing to do if you’re goal is to improve your health.

 

Yesterday, I ate greens throughout the day since that was what I was craving. In the above dish, I “spiced” it up a bit by adding some of the seasoned lentils I’d made on Saturday. In addition to the lentils, I added some sunflower seeds, raisins and balsamic vinegar. The greens consisted of spinach, kale, collard and dandelion greens.

I’m really enjoying using steam for cleaning around the house. The Hoover Twin Tank Steam mop that I’ve purchased makes mopping a breeze and it’s no longer a chore that I dislike.

Unfortunately, I don’t get to use it too much since my daughter has decided she likes it also. I do sneak and spot clean when she isn’t around.

 

Yesterday the Steamfast 1300-Watt Sidekick Portable Steam Cleaner arrived from Amazon. I did a lot of research before settling on this model. I wanted something that I didn’t have to refill often, many of the portable steamers I saw didn’t hold more than about 10 ounces of water. Something I have to change often, nope not interested! The good news is that this one holds 33 ounces of water and the steam lasts 30 minutes. I liked that. Another selling point is that it has a strap so you can carry it while cleaning around the house. Sold!

First thoughts on the Steamfast 1300-Watt Sidekick Portable Steam Cleaner

I’d say the Steamfast steamer is extremely effective in lifting up stubborn stains. Which is perfect since you don’t need to do as much scrubbing to get rid of the ground in dirt/stains. The tub was the first thing that received the attention of the portable steamer. I pretreated the bathroom wall with a 1:1 vinegar water solution. I let that sit for about 10 minutes and then went over the area with the steamer and wiped everything down.

 

I did this one more time and the remaining hard water spots were removed. My only regret is that I didn’t take a before picture.

 

The next area that received the steamers attention was in the kitchen area; more specifically the oven door. I recently had a spill, and as you can see the juices were baked in pretty well. Let’s see how the steamer handles this job.

I tackled the oven door, steaming it first and wiping. I noticed that it did pull up a lot of gunk.

 

For some added cleaning power, I applied baking soda/vinegar to the oven glass. The baking soda/vinegar combo made a delightful fizzing sound. After about ten minutes I pulled out my cloth and wiped it all away. Everything was gone, except the spots that somehow managed to seep inside the glass when this spill happened a few days ago. I’ll have to take the oven door apart to remove that. Boo!

What I didn’t like about the Steamfast 1300 portable steamer

The nylon utility brush attachment needs to be redesigned since it won’t stand up to heavy use. Since I already knew this might be a possibility in the reviews I’d read, I was prepared and had a much larger brush.

 

Of course, it didn’t attach to the steamer but that’s fine. It did the job. The bottom line is I really do like my Steamfast portable steamer, this combined with my Hoover twin tank steam mop will make daily cleaning a bit easier.

Judging by the reviews I’ve seen on floor steam maps and hand held steamers I think people get the steamer only models confused. The steam/heat can be effective in loosening up ground in dirt and sterilizing the area but it’s not going to “clean” the area. Just like my Hoover steam mop, this does not suction up the dirt. You’ll have to wipe away the loose dirt. I find it most effective to clean as I go; Clean an area with the steam, wipe away the dirt. Rinse and repeat until the job is complete. Unless it’s a ground in stain I’m able to clean an area with just steam. I like that!

One of the questions I’m asked a lot in person (and online via email) is the type of cleaners I use. Quite a few of my friends are looking for gentle products to clean their homes. Since they know I’m not a fan of using harsh chemicals they will come to me for advice. Some of them are a bit surprised when I tell them my favorite cleaner is distilled white vinegar.

The only thing I don’t like about vinegar is the smell, but that dissipates shortly after the surface is dry so I can live with the area smelling like pickles since it’s such an effective cleaner.

 

White vinegar is a weak acid that contains about 5 percent acetic acid. Because of this it can be extremely effective for removing calcium deposits, water deposits from glass, tarnish from certain metals like brass and copper, and stains from sinks.

I’ve found that white vinegar is an extremely effective way to clean our floors. Over the years, I’ve noticed that it leaves our floors much cleaner (for longer) than any other “fancy product” that I could purchase. In fact, I’ve been using white vinegar as my “cleaner solution” with my Hoover Twin Tank Steam mop with much success.  I also use vinegar to clean my windows!

While I occasionally use apple cider vinegar for my natural vegetable washes when it comes to cleaning around the home I always reach for distilled white vinegar.

 

A few weeks ago, my daughter asked for tofu scramble since I hadn’t made anything with tofu in about a year or so I whipped up her favorite tofu dish… tofu scramble.

First I needed to purchase tofu, we don’t keep that in the house and so I made sure to add that to the list when I went to the store.

 

I opened the tofu and removed most of the water by pressing adding seasonings and placing into the freezer overnight I’ve noticed when marinating tofu, it seems to take on the flavor of whatever you add to the tofu.

 

 

I pulled it out of the freezer and sliced it

 

and then cut it into cubes.

 

Yellow onions were added to my wok, and then I tossed in a variety of vegetables and spices.

 

My daughter must have been hungry since she had two helpings.  My only regret is that I didn’t have more colorful vegetables to add to the dish, but even though it was lacking more veggies it turned out quite nicely. Simple, nutritious and delicious, I like that!