Tea Gelatin Recipe

Some of you who know me in person have been asking me to share this recipe for a while, so I apologize that it's taken me so long! Fighting fatigue makes it hard to keep up with the world, sadly!

This one is super simple, hard to get it wrong. I decided to try making my own gelatin because I remembered how nice it was to eat Jello when my digestive system wasn't feeling well. I figured that it shouldn't be hard to make an organic version without all the food coloring, fillers, and sugar. My experiment worked!

Tea Gelatin

What you need:

-Two 12 oz mugs

-1 glass container that can fit 24 oz of liquid

-2 tablespoons of grass-fed gelatin (I use Vital Proteins.)

-3-6 tea bags or equivalent of loose tea (My favorites have been Choice's Lemon Lavender Mint, Frontier's bulk Rooibos tea, Tuli's Cinnamon Rose tea, and Numi's Gunpowerder Green Tea. The Rooibos mixes well most of these other flavors.)

Optionally, you may also use:

-Lemon juice (for sweetness and flavor, but don't pair it with green tea because it can draw the aluminum out of the green tea leaves, according to both my chiropractor and this article.)

-Nut milk (I used coconut milk, but only a light amount or the fat films on top of the gelatin.)

-Organic vegetable-based food coloring (I haven't done this)

-Organic non-sugar sweetener such as stevia or xylotol. (I have not used sweeteners in this recipe, so I cannot testify as to how well they work.)

-Possibly extracts for flavor, but I have not tried this yet.



Recipe:
1. Put 2-3 bags of your choice of tea in one of the mugs and fill it with filtered water. Let it sit, covered, in the fridge for 24 hours. Alternatively, you can use hot water to brew the tea and then place it in the fridge to cool. The goal is to make a strong cold tea. If you want to add lemon juice or nut milk for flavor, add it to this cold tea.

2. Once the cold tea is ready, make hot tea in the other mug. I use 2-3 bags in this mug too, as the flavor needs to be strong. Let it brew for about 6-7 minutes, long enough to steep, but not long enough to cool down.

3. Remove the tea bags from both mugs.

4. Stir in 2 table spoons of gelatin to the hot tea. Keep stirring, try to avoid letting it gel onto the spoon. If you want to add a sweetener, add it to the hot tea while you're stirring in the gelatin. I have never used sweeteners in this, so let me know how it works if you try it.

5. Once dissolved, pour the hot tea into the glass bowl. Then pour the cold tea into the bowl. If you wish to use safe organic food coloring (I will NEVER advocate using synthetic food dyes since they are extremely dangerous to your health), add it in now. Stir gently, just enough to distribute the coloring.

6. Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. The reason I suggest a glass bowl is so that you can see when the gelatin has set. It should be solid.

7. Enjoy!





Note:
Keep in mind that tea has medicinal properties. You're also making a few servings of gelatin. Even though it might be tempting, you should be careful eating the whole batch in one sitting, especially if you're using tea with caffeine!

Also keep in mind that this is not a meal replacement. It is high in protein, but it's not very filling. Treat it like a snack or something you can get down when you're feeling sick.

The Coconut Milk Solution

Coconut milk is a constant problem, but I use it every single day for my protein shakes. I'm living in a place where I cannot buy fresh coconuts, so making my own coconut milk is out of the question. For a while I was buying SO's Unsweetened coconut milk. It was really easy to use, had no sugar or carrageenan, and was inexpensive enough. The problems outweighed the good, though. It is so watered down that there's hardly any nutrition left, there were just enough additives and stabilizers to question how healthy it really was, and I was throwing away the non-recyclable packaging. So I turned to buying canned coconut milk, which is much more expensive. It was organic full fat coconut milk, though, so I thought it was worth it. I loved how thick it made my protein shakes, and how it kept me full longer, but... there's a lot of inconsistencies with canned coconut milk.

I've bought two brands: Native Forest and Natural Value. (If you're looking at the prices, be aware that the prices fluxuate within $10 fairly often. I pay attention and buy when it's cheap, and it can end up being 50 cents per can cheaper than in stores when buying this way. That's several dollars in savings.) Both brands have their goods and bads. Native Forest uses guar gum to keep the milk thick and stable, and that's not necessarily a good thing because the gum can irritate the gut. Their packaging is lined with BPA-free paper so the aluminum might be less of an issue. Natural Value does not use guar gum and it's the most pure I've found, but each can is a different consistency and it tends to form and inedible thick gross layer on the top of the milk.

The problem with both brands is that I never know if the milk will be usable right out of the can or not. Both brands have presented a problem with occasionally having great ready-to-drink milk that pours well, and other times the milk is a solid clump. This is very annoying.

But I have a solution!

What you need is:
- A good blender
- A can or two of coconut milk
- Filtered water (I have an RO filter on my sink)
- Mason jars or a tall pitcher that seals

I have a Ninja blender that works really well for this task.

1. Pour half the can of coconut milk into the blender.
2. Fill the blender about half way with filtered water
3. Blend for a minute, past the milk looking like it's ready. You want to get all the clumps out.
4. Pour it in to mason jars
5. Enjoy!





This method reduces the cost of the coconut milk, works out all the clumps to make it smooth, and thinks out the milk enough to where it's easier to shake a protein shake. It doesn't taste any different, just has a thinner texture. It tastes and feels thicker than SO's coconut milk, so that just shows how watered down their milk actually is.

I typically get one can of coconut milk to fill two mason jars. I could easily think it out more than that and still have good quality milk, but I choose not to because I do want enough of the fat from the coconut milk in each protein shake.

Recipe: Stuffed Cabbage Leafs

This is a break from the norm and is a recipe post. I'm in New Hampshire visiting my parents and wonderful doctor, so what better time to write a food post?



Cabbage stuffed chicken fried cauliflower rice with sunflower seed butter sauce! Yep, its a mouthful. I don't know a better name. Thai cabbage dolmas? Israeli dolmas with sunbutter sauce? How about just a picture of it:

Why this recipe? Because there aren't enough recipes online that are comparable with my strict limited blood type O high protein diet. I want to change that. 😇 Also, because I made this one up as I went, so I figured it was worth sharing since it turned out well. This recipe is also great because it has a lot of flexibility for food allergies and dietary needs. I'll include options along the way.


I made this in my parent's small kitchen with very few tools. At home I would have used a food processor and whisk, but here I used a cheese grater and a fork. And a pan that was too small. So there is no need to fear owning the right kitchen tools.


What you need:


- A carrot
- Fresh ginger
- Cauliflower rice or actual rice
- Peas
- Meat or tofu or eggplant cubes (I used finely diced chicken because I need meat.)
- A head of cabbage
- Nut butter (I used sunflower seed butter, but almond or cashew butter would probably work very well too. Tahini?)
- Coconut aminos or soy sauce or fish sauce
- Whole fat nut milk or yogurt (I used coconut milk. I wonder if a whipped avocado would work instead. A boxed nut milk might work, but I can see it being too thin.)
- Apple cider vinegar
- Coconut or Avocado or sunflower seed oil
- Seasoning (I only had cumin and parsley to work with, I would say a good curry, masala, shwarma, or other middle eastern blend would work great.)


Note: There's no reason why you can't add more diced vegetables or even throw in some almond slices. This is not a scientific formula. If you love okra, by all means, include some. You could use sausage as your meat option. I think scrambled egg would also work well. I formed an outline for a recipe that can be altered easily.  I realize this type of recipe is already common, but it usually requires ingredients that are not allergy or diet friendly. The important thing to note is that it tastes good for as simple as I made it - this isn't bland or boring for the lack of ingredient variety. Also, keep in mind that you shouldn't combine starchy foods with proteins. That's a recipe for digestive disaster (like the good 'ol American hamburger.)


First, how to make the sunflower seed butter sauce:


Put two spoonfuls of sunflower seed butter into a bowl. Add the same amount of coconut milk (or try a whipped avocado.) Pour in coconut aminos to your liking, I probably used 2 tablespoons worth, maybe 3. I didn't measure. Add a table spoon of apple cider vinegar. Mix very well. It should have a thick syrupy consistency. If too thick, add more milk first, then add more oil. Taste test it.

How to make the cabbage dolma:


0. Go to the farmers market and buy the big $7 organic cabbage. Or just grab whatever cabbage you have around. I'll have enough cabbage for 10 of these - I couldn't find a smaller one at the market! The size of the leaves were my mom's inspiration for making a wrap. I took the idea and ran with it.


1. Gently peel off the cabbage leaves, one at a time. I pulled off 4 and it turned out to be the perfect number, but again, my cabbage was huge. They will not want to come off easily, and you will likely rip them. That's ok, as long as only the edges rip. I cut the base of each leaf and peeled from the base first, then loosened up the outside of the leaf. There's probably some trick to peeling off cabbage leaves, but I don't know it.


2. Place the leaves in a large enough pot and boil or steam them. As you can see, mine barely fit.  I let them steam for the entire cooking time, which was about 30 minutes. The idea is to get them soft, no longer crunchy.

3. Start frying the cauliflower rice or actual rice in a pan with plenty of oil (I used 3 table spoons coconut oil.) I don't eat grains, so I can't give advice on making fried rice. I do know that cauliflower rice is moist, so it needs time to dry out enough to fry. I had it on a medium high heat until dry and slightly brown.


(To make cauliflower rice you simply throw cauliflower in a food processor or blender and grind it up into small grains. I didn't have access to one this time, so Mom grated it on the cheese grater and it actually worked really well, just took more effort.)

4. Grate the carrot and ginger with the cheese grater and mix them. Use as much of each as you want. I can't tolerate a lot of carrot because it acts like sugar in my body, so one carrot was plenty for me. I recommend a lot of ginger here. I used 3/4ths an average palm-sized root and liked it.

5. Add the carrots and ginger to the cauliflower rice, turn the heat down to medium low.


6. Add desired seasoning.


7. Chop or shred your meat / tofu/ eggplant, then add it to the pan. Optionally, you can cook this separately to brown it, but I threw it in raw. I need my vegetables cooked down far to digest them, and they got cooked down enough by the time the chicken cooked fully.


8.  Add in the sunflower butter sauce after the chicken. Stir well, keep mixing the mixture.

(Poor lighting, sorry!) 
9. Carefully pull the cabbage leaves out of the pot with a spoon, not tongs. Tongs will rip it. I placed them on a paper towel to absorb the water, then put it on a plate. Spoon the fried cauliflower mix into the middle of the leaf, leaving plenty of space for folding. Optionally, squeeze lime juice on at this point. I thought it was a good addition.

10. Roll the leaf. You'll figure it out. It will stick and stay sealed if you left enough room along the edges of the cabbage leaf. Optionally, you could drizzle more sauce on top.


11. Serve and enjoy!

 

 

Teeth and Tongue Part 1

A couple of weeks ago my teeth started to grow sensitive... again. The sensitivity has come in waves for a few years, and the wave have picked up the pace and intensity since starting the Candida cleanse. I also noticed that the inside of my two bottom front teeth were turning black. Black like cavities, without the decay or sensitivity (it's my molars that grow sensitive.) I thought about what I could do. I know that oil pulling does work with sensitivity and whitening to some degree, but it's so inconvenient.  I wanted to try a different method. I looked at my container of hydrogen peroxide and remembered that it used to help with any tooth issue when I used it years ago.

I swished hydrogen peroxide for about 3 days before I noticed that my tongue had turned black. Yes, black:

If you're not too grossed out, expand the photo. You'll see that the black is actually fuzzy hairs. I immediately got a hold of my doctor, but I didn't think to tell him about the hydrogen peroxide at first. It was my mother who told me that the same thing happened to her tongue when her dentist told her to swish hydrogen peroxide in her mouth. Apparently hydrogen peroxide draws bacteria out of the mouth in such a way that these hairs form, collecting more bacteria and dirt, essentially turning them black. A bit later, I had noticed that I was developing some mild thrush on my tongue too. I never noticed that I had thrush in the past, which is one reason that I assumed I didn't have Candida before. This was the first time I saw it on my tongue, and I can only assume that the hydrogen peroxide pulled out some candida too, causing it.

My doctor had me swish plain yogurt once a day in my mouth for a week so the good bacteria in the yogurt could replenish my mouth. This was the first time I'd had dairy in my mouth in about 2 years (I quit dairy before I started working with my doctor.) This was the most disgusting thing I've done in a very long time!! Why did I use dairy? Frankly, because I live a town that doesn't sell any dairy alternative yogurt without added sugar. Dairy was my only choice, so I used grass-fed whole fat plain dairy yogurt. It tasted so disgusting that I've now lost all interest in dairy products ever again - not even cheese sounds appealing. How can any of you stand the taste?! I digress. The immediate problem was that it made me congested in my sinuses and throat (I never swallowed the yogurt.) Again, because I couldn't find an alternative yogurt, I kept using this, despite the allergic reaction it caused. The later problem was that my acne increased around my mouth. I can only assume this is in relation to the yogurt. All problems aside, it worked. My tongue is back to normal again! Well, normal for me, anyway.

But what about the black on the back of my teeth? No change. It's still there.

I have a few theories about what's causing it, but my guess is the quality of our water. When we used to live in a very old industrial building that was converted into an apartment, the water came through old pipes. We brushed our teeth with this water and it turned our teeth colors. I strongly question the quality of the water in out house at times, which is why I use filters on the water for drinking, showering, and bathing. Teeth brushing is the only time I use unfiltered water. I'm going to try to come up with a solution.

In the mean time, the next thing I'm trying is something that might seem very strange to those of you who don't already know this trick. I'm brushing my teeth with clay and charcoal. Here's the recipe:

Clay Toothpaste:

-1 part bentonite clay

-1/3rd part activated charcoal

Optional:

-1/8th part pure stevia powder for sweetness

-Ground cloves (For calming sensitive or painful teeth)

-Ground mint or cinnamon (for astringent properties and flavor)

Directions:

Mix together in a glass bowl. Do not use a metal bowl, which will deactivate the clay. (Plastic is technically fine, but I do not advise using plastic for any reason when a sustainable non-petroleum based product is available.) Wet your toothbrush, then dip it into the powder mixture. Scrub your teeth. Yes, it turns black! But it does not stain - I promise! It rinses with water very easily. For extra disinfecting and whitening power, leave in your mouth for 5 minutes after you're done brushing before you rinse with water.

(Non-petroleum plastic toothbrush)

In my experiment I'm just using the clay and charcoal. This isn't much different from the toothpaste I've been using and love: Redmond Earthpaste. The difference is that their toothpaste is a bit abrasive and does not contain charcoal. My DIY toothpaste is significantly cheaper and is not abrasive against the teeth at all, protecting the enamel. My hope is that the charcoal is gong to bring an extra level of cleaning power and help draw out whatever is making my bottom two front teeth black.

(This is "Part 1" because I'm going to say more about oral care and toothbrushes in another post. I plan to update this blog with the results of this toothpaste, as I've only brushed with it once.)

Recipe: Chicken Soup

I'm often asked, "So... what do you eat?" It's a good question. I do not eat grains, diary, pork, shell fish, sugar (not even fruit,) starch, fish with high mercury content, nightshades (such as tomato,) or moldy foods (like peanuts.) My diet is very low in carbohydrates, which means my diet is extremely limited compared to the average American diet.

I could just as easily say, "I eat beef, chicken, turkey, walnuts, green beans, spinach, etc...," but that would actually make my diet sound much more limiting than it really is. I decided that I'll share my recipes with you in order to show that it's not that difficult to eat such a restrictive diet.

Here's what you need to know about my cooking: unless I'm baking something, I don't use exact measurements. You can easily half, double, triple, or quarter these recipes because it's not about getting exact measurements.

Today's recipe:


Quick Chicken Soup

• 1 Chicken breast

• 1/2 can coconut milk fat OR 3-4 table spoons coconut oil (I prefer the milk fat for overall taste and texture)

• Chicken broth to taste OR coconut milk to taste (broth gives it a thin chicken flavor, milk makes it creamy and richer.)

• 2 dashes of cinnamon

• 3-4 dashes of poultry seasoning

• 3+ dashes of turmeric

• 3+ dashes of ground ginger

• Himalayan or sea salt salt to taste (if you use broth, pay attention to how much salt is already in it!)

• Optional: green peas, carrots, broccoli, and/ or asparagus

•  Optional: Omit other seasoning and use a curry seasoning mix instead. 

Chop the chicken breast into small bite sized pieces. Throw them in a stainless steel, cast iron, or ceramic pot (avoid non-stick due to the hazardous toxins that leak out into the food.) If you want to include vegetables, throw them in. Add the coconut milk fat or coconut oil. Dump in your seasoning. Now fill the pot with the coconut milk or chicken broth (only pour as much in as you want to eat.) Put a lid on it. Cook on medium for about 5 minutes (or until it lightly boils,) then turn it down to low (2-3 on my stove.) Let it simmer for about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour it in your bowl and enjoy!

Note about coconut milk: Whole fat coconut milk in cans tends to separate, but not always. I don't always know if the milk will come in one creamy liquid or separated into fat and liquid!  The solid part in the can is the milk fat. That's what I add to my soup. If your can of coconut milk is not separated, I'd recommend using the whole can and then add in broth to finish filling out the soup.

Note about chicken broth: I have only found two brands on the market that fit my needs: it must be MSG/ Yeast Extract (they're the same thing) free. It must not contain any sugar or starch. It should not use "natural flavors." The two brands that fit my needs are Imagine and a certain line of Pacific stocks. (Click on each brand name to get taken to a page the shows the broth.) Please check the ingredients to make sure - both brands have lines of broth and stock that contain MSG/ Yeast Extract. These ones I linked to do not contain it.