Sooooooo....guess what?

One of my many excuses for my absence, I am PREGNANT! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I am super excited! I have actually gone back to vegetarian eating for now. I am eating pasture raised organic eggs and some dairy. I am SO excited you have no idea. So far my only symptoms I have are that I have mild cramping, mild headaches, SUPER tired and sore sore boobs! I will try my best to keep you all updated!

It's me...I have returned!

Hey everyone, so sorry for the long absence. I have still been reading your guys blogs, but I've been a combination of busy and lazy lately which is my reasoning for not posting. I am back though! I am working shorter hours this summer so I will have more time on my hands. I am excited for the break, but bummed about the less pay factor. Anyway, Here are some pictures to update you a little.

 Breakfast of peanut butter and mango sandwich while tanning outside

There is a sushi place near my house, and they serve cucumbers in their water. It's good!

I don't remember the names of these sushi, but one had green soy paper wrapped around and other had sun dried tomato paper. Tastiness!

Dinner last night was a chick'n patty with a portobello mushroom cap bun.

This day I was craving a Guam dish, so I ended up modifying chicken keleguen and making tofu keleguen. This contained tofu, coconut, unrippened mango, lemon juice, green onion, thai peppers and salt. This is definitally not for everyone. I personally love it though. I eat it with Guam red rice!

Tofu scramble, fresh made salsa, plantains and pretzel bread

I went to the farmers market on Sunday and found these for my Sonic boy. They only had two vegan ones. Sonic is not vegan, but I try to either make or buy all his treats vegan.

I like this picture. He has such a funny look on his face!

My love :) Adios until next time!

2011 Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door Contest

Just a quick post on this. PLEASE vote for me! Here is my direct link: Carissa's PETA Link. The winner gets two tickets to Hawaii and I would love to go back and visit my family! Thank you guys! Please spread the world. Love yas :)

UliMana Winner & Tincture Recipes

The winner of the UliMana truffles is...........Michelle!!! YAY MICHELLE!!! So email me your address and I'll get those over as soon as it's payday (I'm broke right now :). My email address is scarshelter (at) gmail (dot) com. 

Breakfast was hash browns with lots of catsup and hot sauce and a green juice with bananas, kale, cinnamon and ginger. 

Tinctures I have been working on. I have three tinctures "extracting" right now including Sleep tincture, PMS tincture and Immunity tincture. Would you like to know how to make these? Well, I'll tell you then! To make an alcohol tincture, it is actually very simple.

Alcohol Tincture Instructions:

1. Fill a quart jar 1/3 to 1/2 full of herbs.
2. Fill jar to the brim with alcohol. 

*Make sure alcohol is at least 40% alcohol which is 80 proof. I don't recommend anything more than 100 proof because it is pretty strong and burns when drinking. Also, I recommend using organic vodka, but you can really use any plain vodka and if you absolutely don't have any vodka then you can use plain rum*

     3. Keep in dark cool place for two weeks.

     4. After the two weeks, strain vodka/herb tincture through cheesecloth.

     5. Pour into bottles and use! (It can be stored in a dark cool place for approximately 3 years, but usually longer.)

*This method is NOT for children, adults only. I only say that because it contains alcohol.*

*Also, I personally feel that alcohol tinctures work better, faster and they are stronger. That is why I like to make alcohol tinctures as opposed to glycerin.*

Child & Adult friendly method is the following:

Glycerin Tincture Instructions:

1. Fill crock pot 1/3 full of herbs.
2. Pour hot water over herbs, mix with spoon until herbs are damp. Do not soak them with water!
3. Pour vegetable glycerin over herbs until crock pot is full.  

*Make sure that glycerin is FOOD GRADE. You can ask for help in the store if you need to.*

     4.  Heat on low for 3 days. Stir occasionally.

        *This makes a HUGE batch by the way. You can cut down the mixture to make a smaller batch if you want. I like to make big batches though :) *

     5. Always keep an eye on your mixture. If it smells like it is cooking (very strong smelling) or burning, don't worry. Your mixture is not ruined, the process is just sped up. So cut your time down to 2 days instead of 3.

     6. Strain glycerin mixture after 2-3 days while it is still warm. It's easier to pour while warm. 

Here are the herbs I used in the three tinctures above:

Sleep tincture: Lemon Balm, Chamomile, Passionflower, Hops Flowers & Valerian Root.

PMS tincture: Cramp Bark, White Willow, Chamomile, Passionflower & Valerian Root.

Immunity tincture: Peppermint Leaf, Echinacea Root, Elderberries & Rose Hips.

If you aren't interested in buying all the things to make a tincture and just want to buy one from me, then just let me know what type of tincture you need and I can make you one :)

This is all some awesome Thai food I had the other day. I am sure you haven't noticed by now that I LOVE Thai food. 

Here is a picture of my friends hairless cat. She is super friendly!

...and my Panther just chillin.

Review: Artisana & An Ulimana Giveaway

Jaisan with Artisana Nut Butters was kind enough to allow me the chance to review some of their wonderful products. Here is a little information about them. They are fresh, organic and raw! We all know the benefits of raw food eating and there aren't too many "butters" out there that are raw. All of their products are peanut, gluten and dairy free! They have an awesome variety of butters as you can see above. They have coconut butter, cashew butter, macadamia butter, pecan butter, walnut butter, almond butter, tahini butter, cacao bliss, cashini and more! I can honestly say that it was so hard to chose my favorites! I LOVED the macadamia, pecan and cacao bliss the best though. The coconut butter is also so tasty and sweet. Great for making dessert bars! They were seriously ALL so good. You guys NEED to try this brand out. Seriously, you will not regret it!

They have some great looking recipes on their site HERE. There is a recipe HERE for macadamia nut butter ball cookies that sounds so good and can easily be veganized! I see this brand in every health food store I go to, so it should not be hard for you to find. If you can't find it near you though, not to worry, they sell Artisana online on many different sites! Thank you again Artisana for allowing me the chance to try out all your awesome butters! I am now hooked and will definitely be loading up on some more on my next trip to Whole Foods :)

As always, I was not paid for this review and Artisana sent me these products for free to sample. 

Want to win some raw truffles and a sticker or two? Of course you do! UliMana was nice enough to send me some truffles that I could use for a giveaway. I asked for some coconut nectar ones as those are the ones that you guys seemed to be the most intrigued with :)

To win:

*Become a follower on my site.

*Post that you would like to win these raw truffles.

*For an extra entry, post a link to my blog contest on your Facebook and leave me the link.

That's it!

Contest ends:

April 10th

I wanted to give everyone a shot at winning.

What are you looking at?

Quick Post

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been a while. I just wanted you to know I wasn't dead. For those of you who read my last post, I ended up having to go to the dentist. I had my three wisdom teeth pulled. There was a bad cavity in one of them, but I refused to have it filled and decided to just get them all pulled. I don't need them anyway.

Smoothie from McFosters with mint, pineapple, tempeh milk, tahini and agave.

Fresh mango snack

 Spankopita with tofu scramble, no egg agave hollandaise and hash browns from McFosters.

Yam tempura from Wasabi

This is what I have been working on. I have been getting all my herbs organized. 

They are all labeled now!

My Nano and his new homemade catnip toy.

Tooth decay

Hello all! I recently have developed a bad tooth ache due to the fact that I have a wisdom tooth growing in as well as a cavity in that wisdom tooth. Has anyone read this book:

I am very interested in it, but it is about $30 so I have not purchased it yet. I am going to look for it in some used book stores though. I am against getting fillings because of the high levels of mercury in them. Just for those who aren't familiar, here are a few facts about fillings that I have copied and pasted:

"For years, dental patients have assumed that the materials being used in dentistry are safe. It is now becoming widely believed that this is not the case. With the recent rise in awareness about amalgam (mercury-based) fillings and how they continuously offgas highly toxic mercury vapor into the mouth, dental consumers are becoming more choosy about what materials they decide to have placed the the highly-volatile environment of their mouths. A close look at the materials used in dentistry show that there may be no such thing as a perfect filling material.

Porcelain/Ceramic
Although porcelain/ceramic fillings have been used for years, they often contain a substantial amount of aluminum, normally in the form of aluminum oxide. In some cases, they contain 45% aluminum oxide. Some manufacturers claim that only very minute amounts of aluminum leach from these fillings, however, medical professionals have claimed to have witnessed aluminum toxicity allegedly caused by this type of filling material. The general belief is that aluminum toxicity leads to immune system issues and neurological disorders. It has also been reported that porcelain fillings contain various other metals such as cobalt, barium and cadmium, each of which can be harmful to your health. Some manufacturers of porcelain fillings utilize chemicals like acrylate, formaldehyde, hexane, hydroquinone, phenol, polyurethane, silane, strontium, toluene and xylene which can be present in the final filling material.

It is well known that mercury and aluminum are extremely toxic to the body when mixed. Dr. Boyd Haley states that the two metals together are 100-times more toxic to the body than either metal alone. It may be wise to consider this fact if you believe that aluminum leaches from fillings, especially if you're having amalgam (mercury-based) fillings removed just prior.

Resin
Resin fillings are often thought of as "plastic" fillings. They normally contain a mixture of glass and plastic with other substances. The health concern associated with resins are that they contain a class of chemicals known as bis-phenol (or BIS-GMAs). This substance has been shown—in some cases—to leach estrogen-mimicking compounds into the body. There are also reports that some brands of resin contain barium and/or aluminum. Some resins are based on another class of chemicals known as methacrylates and have properties that may make them hard on the liver and kidneys over an extended period of time.

Gold
Gold, in it's pure form, is not useful as a dental restoration material (in most cases) because it is too soft. For this reason, it is normally mixed with other metals including chromium, nickel, copper or palladium in order to increase its strength. The incidence of diagnosed nickel and copper toxicity is increasing rapidly as the awareness of the harmful physical effects of these metals is realized. Copper toxicity often has many of the same symptoms as does mercury toxicity.

Amalgam ("Silver")
Amalgam fillings contain up to 50% (more in some cases) of mercury. This mercury is well-known to offgass into the oral cavity constantly. Because the toxic properties of mercury are well-known, and considering mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive metal, amalgam fillings are virtually never considered an option by dentists who stay current with medical research. Most (or all) of the arguments promoted by the American Dental Association claiming amalgam safety have been successfully rebutted in the medical literature and by professional organizations.

Popular Materials
There are several trends in the dental industry as information about the possible toxic nature of fillings becomes apparent. One of these trends is the use of a filling material called DiamondLite. Many biological dentists are now considering this material to be one of the "safer" alternatives, although not perfect."

With all this being said, I really need your help if anyone has any in site into reversing cavities. I am researching as well. The biggest thing I found is that we need to eat less sugar and processed foods.Also, I am currently applying one drop of clove bud essential oil to my infected area daily.

Clove oil kills bacteria. Its main component is eugenol. Eugenol is a powerful phyochemical that anesthetizes, fights free radical oxidation, kills intestinal parasites and bacteria and fungi. Clove oil is antiseptic and antimicrobial which make it great for tooth infections I think. Just to warn you if you plan on trying this, clove oil is very strong! Also, do your research before hand. The best thing to do is to soak a cotton ball in olive oil and then add a couple drops of clove oil. Apply this directly to the infected tooth for as long as you can. Do not sleep with it on your tooth though!