Pie baker and Candlestick maker..plus Herbs!

Sooo it`s been a month or two.. life has come up...doesn´t it always, I`ve been swamped with work stuff as usual... aside from that it`s been a warm, muggy, summer and pretty slow with traffic flow, but it gave me a chance to re-evaluate what I`m all about..
And as much as i love film and the arts... I really have always been into herbal remedies, secrets, potions and lotions and all that good stuff so I think I`m going to put film on hold for a few years and do what I`m truly passionate about.. Herbs.
I`ve already looked into Master Certified Herbalist programs, certificates, and lesson plans the best i found were at the American Herbalists Guild ( http://www.americanherbalistsguild.com/school-profiles ).

Well also holistic nutrition and aromatherapy but those pretty much go hand in hand .
I`ve narrowed down the schools to these:

ABC OF HERBALISM BY SUSUN WEED.

EAST WEST SCHOOL OF PLANETARY HERBOLOGY BY MICHAEL TIERRA 

HEART OF HERBS 

OR FOUNDATIONS OF HERBALISM.

I shall get back to ya`ll and my choices.. and adventures, i just started purchasing stuff to make my herbal balms which i had already made in the past, plus tinctures and oils... so i`m going to start with balms, and make my way up the latter, to lotions, soaps even candles!!

Avocado Toast and Gardening

Afternoon my dearies, so it`s been a few days since I`ve updated i`ts just been a hectic week with the restaurant just when ya think, something is good, Murphy throws you a curve ball.... Go figure.. But! Not to worry for that is not why I`m writing, just to catch ya`ll up, when i was im a hurry the other day, and had only a few groceries on hand, and was hunkering for a nutritious breakfast, i thought.. well i have avocado on hand, bread, tomato, and some olive oil..

So i made AVOCADO TOAST :D YUMMY!

Avocado Toast
What you need :

1-2 pieces of bread
olive oil or canola oil for browning
1 big avocado
Slice of a big Roma tomato
salt and pepper to taste

Prep:
Heat up a small cast iron pan or whatever you like to use , and pour a teaspoon or 2 of oil in it. Let it warm.
Once you start to see it warm up put the slice or slices in if they can fit and brown them to your liking making sure to flip the when they get golden brown...or however you like it.
Take of heat, put on a plate.
Slice open avocado, take out seed, then make some slices in the avocado, and scoop out on toast, mash around so you spread it all over, then add tomato slices on top.
Garnish with salt and pepper or balsamic vinegar for an extra twist.

Bon appetit, a breakfast under 15 min!

And speaking of food....well all food must come from somewhere right, usually trees or plants, which since i was a little girl I`ve always been fascinated with herbs, and remedies, and potions and what not, and planting, but until recently i barely just got into hard core gardening, if there is a term for that!
I already started my window garden with mint, rosemary, basil and spearmint.
And after the last post about the new book I got, i couldn´t be more excited..
What`s your fave plant or herb to work with / cook with ??
I`ve always been drawn to mint, for everything!!

Suprises in the mail...

Good morning everyone... my day has started out pretty good, got up and finished my left over oatmeal cake from last night and added some cinnamon sugar to it, alongside a nice almond ginger red tea.
And i got a notice in the mail to pick up a package, and it turns out a family friend sent me an old book that i loved when i was younger called " The Complete Book of Herbs" by Lesley Bremness.
Check it out here http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Book-Herbs-Practical/dp/0140238026


And a beautiful tapestry, which i will put a photo below.

Now back to the book.....

• This book is amazing it has detailed photographs
• culinary, cosmetic, household uses and many more
• garden designs
• types of gardens
• ways to plant
• oils
• massage therapy
• cooking and recipes etc
• and i still haven´t finished!

Here is the book and the link is above..

Kitty pic of the day

The beautiful tapestry from Belize

Floods and Oatmeal cake for 2

Well well well, so i finally get home last night around 10 pm, and a few hours later, it starts raining cats and dogs, so much so that in the entire lifetime i`ve been here, the water started pouring in from under the AC`s all the rooms got flooded mine not as bad just near the window but took me about 30 min to dry it all up, not to mention my curtains got soaked... again.
The music room next door, now that was flooded at least an inch high.. fudge!
We had to move everything out, and were running around with towels and mops, and buckets, and just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, the balcony drain got plugged, and more water started coming in through the windows, so my dad ran out there and unplugged it after 10 minutes!
And back to mopping and pouring buckets of water down the drain, not to mention my cats were freaking out, after about an hour and a half of all this madness, we managed to save the instruments, but the massage table took it pretty bad, a lot of the material covering it starting peeling off, bummer :(.
So... around 1 am ..ish.. i took a shower and piled into bed..
And woke up this morning around 9 am, starved and with no inspiration, until it popped into my head, CCKatie`s single serving mug cakes, so i set upon my self to create a creation of my own.

I call it 3 MINUTE COCO-NOAT CAKE FOR 2 and no, that is not a typo .
I named it that way for a reason :D Because i combined oats, and coconut flakes, and some other stuff and whatever i had on hand, and came up with this :

Now, if you like it keep on reading for imma dish out this recipe :D 

Here is what you need : 

3 minute CocoNoat cake for 2

To tell you the truth i kinda just threw this together without measuring much, except for the flour.. so bare with me.. i did do the math later though. Let me know if you had any variations . Also im throwing in a glaze cause who does love frosting!!

CAKE

1 C. flour 

3/4 C. oats

1/2 C. coconut flakes 

2 Tbsp. sugar 

1 Tbsp. flax meal

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Dash of cinammon

1/2 to 3/4 cup Non dairy milk of choice 

1 tsp vanilla ex.

In a medium sized pyrex bowl mix the dry ingredients.

Next add the wet ingr. to the dry.

Mix.

Put in micro for 3 minutes on high.

Make a glaze for the cake.

GLAZE

1/2 cup powdered sugar/confectioners sugar

1 tsp-2 tsp vanilla ex. depending on thickness of glaze.

1 tsp lemon juice

Mix together and drizzle on the cake with a spoon.

Yummy!!! 

Also if you want a non sugar version you can add dates, raisins or pineapple chunks in there i was gonna add banana, but sliced them on the side instead because with the flax, and the banana it would bind just a bit too much.

Hope you enjoy as much as i did, and if you want more sugar feel free to add 1/4 cup more.

I just wasn´t in that much of a sugary mood this morning.

Also!! Almost forgot i accompanied my cake with homemade strawberry chia jam, ( picture above ) i got the recipe at this blog http://www.goinghometoroost.com/2013/seasonal-recipes/chia-seed-jams/ 

Awesomeness, that´s all i gotta say.

Enjoy!!

A little about me....

Welcome, to my recipes, reviews, confessions, etc.... for Veggies and Vegans, both here in Mexico or from other places, I hope you enjoy what you see for it has taking me quite a while to compile all this info, but I will try my best to be at service, this is a new and exciting project for me which i hope most of you will come to enjoy. Now let`s begin shall we... a little about me.. well

My name is Heather I`m 23 years young :) I have 2 calico cats and have been living in Mexico since i was 8 years old, on the west coast to be specific, and my it has been an experience from awkward blossoming stages, to trying to find myself, to me giving up meat, and just completely changing my lifestyle, and completely embracing it.. and where I live, I won`t lie... it`s not easy... just being Vegan period isn´t easy, add to that a country that has taco and hot dog stands on every corner...and a very close minded view of things and your in trouble... and it was not long ago I decided to forego my old habits.. just barely 3 years ago, when i was waitress for the first time but not the last, I slowly started to let go of  sodas, candy and ultimately red meat.. at least at first, and then i lost 5 Lbs or 10 kilos approx. and I was like wow! I could get used to this.. I started dating more... and well just moved from job to job, and then this last October, (now down almost 40 Lbs and 20 something kilos... I`m at 55 Kg currently)..I was working at a seafood place, the employee dinners were chicken almost every single day until i said : enough is enough... and i have not looked back... but there was still one little problem... fish...... to this day sushi is still my fave food ever!.... it was hard... i started cutting back to a couple times a month and then new years came around and i had shrimp... :( sigh.... I know.. i cheated and i felt horrible so much that on day 2 of the year i got really, really.... sick... turned out it was something different entirely.. but still..since then i ditched fish too, well, that and i discovered a lot of info about mercury contents, pollution and environmentalism. And even back when I`ve always loved animals dearly... and plants, and the environment.. so it only seemed natural.. plus I`m a very spiritual person, and it has helped me immensely to release tension, clear the aura, and what not... if your into all that stuff... that`s another post for another blog..

Anyway as I was saying.. fish... right.. well slowly around Feb of this year ( `13) i started hoarding vegan cook books from all over the lands, and webs and blogs, etc.. and one of my first was Everyday Happy Herbivore, which saved me, well that and Youtube channels Eco-Vegan Gal, and the Vegan Zombie.

Good ideas on substituting tuna salad with chickpeas (garbanzos ) and Nutritional yeast, I`ve even made fake Cheeze, all thanks to ordering online from iHerb.com as well.... details later.

I`ve been looking into different diets in Veganism including raw, and oh don´t get me started on the chocolate covered diet ! ( chocolate covered Katie is a goddess).

So! If your still reading this, and haven´t gone off to Facebook or something... Thanks, I appreciate it, and hope you stick around, for more to come.

Blessings!

Heather