Salad bowl blog

Every day I either think about or experience three or four different things that I want to share on this blog. Alas, I don't get paid to share my life so there may never be time to write about and post all those things. Sometimes, however, I will just toss a bunch of topics/thoughts/happenings into one semi-long post and that'll be that.

Vegan, gluten-free, almond lemon blueberry cupcakes!

1. My hair:

 In two days it'll be an official month since I shaved my head :). Some of the novelty of the cut has worn off for me. I'm still 100% glad that I did it but now that my hair has grown out some I feel like it's in an awkward stage. First of many I'm sure. I'm fine with that though and excited to see what it will look like on September 5th, and October 5th, and November 5th, and...you get it :).


2. Moving and its complications:

Since last Sunday I've been in between apartments. I moved out of the condo I rented for the past 2 years and am currently staying with friends until I sign the lease for my new apartment- hopefully next week. When I moved out I had to stay goodbye to some very important things: central AC and  kitchen utensils. :(. The friends hosting me have an attic apartment. It's great because along with a regular bedroom, I have my own kitchen and bathroom! It is also, especially great because they are letting me stay here for free! It's not so great because it's really hot up here. I mean really frickin stinkin HOT! Sweat-rolling-down-your-chest-and-back-if-the-fan-is-off-for-a-minute HOT! They did warn me about that though. And it's really a small price to pay. The heat has actually been nice while I'm exercising. I sweat so much more than I normally would and so I feel like I'm really working hard AND more sweat means more toxins leaving my body, woot!

Cooking has been a challenge. The condo I previously rented came with a fully equipped kitchen. Thankfully, before I moved I'd acquired my own blender, food processor, crockpot, juicer, and mason jars (love those things!) but I recently had to quickly buy a saucepot, frying pan, a mug, a bowl, plates, cutting sheets, cutting knives and cutlery- and those are the very basics of what I need. I'm also currently doing my cooking on a pair of burners which is definitely harder than using an actual stove.

And finally, I'm now living farther away from everything--the places I work, my friends, my favorite grocery store, the library etc. So getting anywhere I need/want to be takes at least a half hour longer.
I've been grumpy this week from tiredness and having to get used to these small changes. I think I'm just about adjusted though :).

3. Ailments-

Remember the hives outbreaks I'd been having for over four weeks straight? They're gone! And without my having to take any Zyrtec (thank you very much Dr. Jackson!) Unfortunately, for about a week and a half now I've been having a consistent pain near the right side of my lower back, right around where I think my kidney is. And something funky is going on with my left arm. I don't even really know how to explain the problem but it feels like my arm has gotten super sensitive to touch and temperature-- I've been getting random flashes of intense pain, the kind of pain that will make me immediately drop anything I might be holding at the time; if cold, or even cool, water touches certains spots of my arm (mainly my palm and wrist) then I'll feel that same pain, or if something I'm holding or carrying in that arm presses or pulls even slightly on my arm then I'll get that pain again. And when I run my fingers over my left arm it's nearly painful. I'm thinking something wonky is going on with my nerves in that arm, maybe from all the heavy lifting and carrying I've done within the last week because of moving? I dunno. Google hasn't been helpful this time and I'm not in any hurry to go back to my doctor who I've officially deemed as worthless (as a doctor for me, not as a human being). We'll see how it goes.

4. I recently made vegan fried chicken and vegan mac and cheese.

I took extensive pictures of the entire process but I'll only post a few. I found the recipes for both at www.brownvegan.com

In case you don't feel like clicking the link and reading the ingredients for this recipe, I'll tell you the basics: It's Gardein brand chick'n wrapped in rice paper and a batter of spices, flour, and cashew cream. I used safflower oil to fry it.

Vegan fried chicken! Although I don't think I fried it long enough, it was delicious! The rice paper had the same texture of chicken skin so that added authenticity.

"Cheese" Sauce. I loved this sauce, it could almost be called healthy b/c its made from raw cashews, carrots, potatoes, onions, water, dijon mustard, lemon juice and spices! The only mildly unhealthy part was the 1/3 cup of Earth balance vegan butter, and 1/3 cup of butter spread over about 8 (or more) servings is not bad at all.

The cheese sauce poured over some brown rice macaroni

Sprinkled with breadcrumbs (which I made by putting 4 slices of ezekial bread and a tbs of vegan butter in the food processor) and paprika

Seriously delicious and as healthy as mac and cheese could ever be!

5. This book is changing my life :)

I highly recommend it to EVERYONE. He doesn't advocate veganism--he thinks meat (lean cuts and preferrably organic, and grass-fed) is a part of a healthy diet. He does advocate a whole foods sugar, dairy, and gluten (at least for a trial period) free diet. As the title implies he offers invaluable information about the importance of controlling your blood sugar and curing diabetes and obesity if you have it and the way to live to prevent developing those diseases if you don't currently suffer from them. Even if you think you'll never be in danger of  getting diabetes or being obese, you'll learn alot from this book!

6. I'm currently reading The Good and Beautiful God.

I kind of read it before a few years ago but I didn't apply it in the way the author suggests. I'm excited to see what will come of it this time around.

Ok, I think that's all I wanted to share for now.

Laters!