A few days ago I wrote, “I … have realized that the myth that we need high protein levels to thrive is just plain wrong. That could be propaganda from the meat industry!”

It is great to feel vindicated when you hold a unpopular viewpoint. It happened to me yesterday when I found these articles:

Vegetarian low protein diet could be key to long life
Secret of a healthy old age may lie in right balance of proteins

As suspected, the mad rush to consume protein via meat, dairy and protein powders is just plain misguided. I feel great using vegan protein sources including peanut butter and legumes, and using the Diet for a Small Planet techniques of mixing vegan proteins. Try peanut butter mixed with rice syrup for a sweet snack, or a combo-plate of rice, potatoes and lentils (my current favorite.) There’s plenty of protein to be had without doing anything unnatural, like killing an animal.

I honestly believe that killing animals to eat their meat is the original sin.

Since I started my $5 per week food budget, I’ve developed an odd habit: dinner for breakfast. Yes, I’m eating my dinner foods first thing in the morning, odd as that may seem.

Before I started conserving on my food budget I started each day with a tall mug of sweetened tea and a Clif Bar. The Clif Bars cost $1.50 or so here in the one supermarket in our remote mountain town. My favorite flavor was “Peanut Toffee Buzz” which has a bit of caffeine in it. Unfortunately the Clif Bars, which cost me a minimum of $10.50 per week, were the first things to go from my food budget. I say minimum because I liked them so much, I often ate them for snacks later in the day as well.

When I ran out of Clif Bars I started making oatmeal for breakfast but my supply has dwindled. Though I’m an avid food storage advocate, I hadn’t stored oatmeal. Big mistake! I plan to make a food storage shopping trip after my six-week $5/wk. budgeting experiment is over. Oatmeal is one thing I’ll stock up on. It is a great way to get a filling breakfast in the morning.

I know a lot of people reading this will be groaning because they think oatmeal is the worst breakfast ever, but it has its uses. It digests slowly and come to think of it, Avena Sativa (oat) is a popular herb for various reasons… energy being one of them. Google “Avena Sativa” and you’ll get other ideas on what people are buying this herb for. I have some in capsule form that I’ve taken as part of my regimen to get off hypothyroid medications.

Since I like to eat a substantial breakfast, and am a total vegetarian, I’ve started eating my rice, lentils, potatoes and carrots for breakfast. I cook them once or twice weekly in my rice steamer; rice and lentils in the bottom and veggies on top. I cut my potatoes in half and eat them like baked potatoes when the rice steamer opens. For breakfast I chop the steamed potatoes and carrots into small pieces, warm in olive oil with sliced fresh garlic, and then add the rice and lentil mixture on top. Spices I add are simply salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I like lots of garlic as you can see, and believe it has great health benefits for my circulatory system.

It is nearly 4am as I write this and I’ve just had two small plates of this wonderful breakfast. Though I also eat the same for dinner I’m fully satisfied with this and know I won’t be hungry for a while.

I’m developing another breakfast… with vegan pancakes and a variety of toppings. More on that another time. The recipe isn’t perfected enough to share yet. Meanwhile, I can say I’m still eating well though I’ve reached week three of my $5/wk. food budgeting experiment.

Food purchases last week were $1.99 for a bag of potatoes, $.35 for carrots, and $.98 for fresh broccoli. That gave me $1.68 left over which I’m adding to this week’s food budget. I haven’t decided yet what I’ll spend it on. I’m considering olive oil as I’m almost out. I do have a couple pounds of butter I could use instead. I’ll probably wait until later in the week to make a decision on what to buy next. Oatmeal comes to mind.

What do Bigfoot eat?

You may think this a trite question, but for me it isn’t. That’s because I’m a Bigfoot researcher. You may be shocked at this revelation about the character of this old hippie with a cooking blog, but please try to understand where I’m coming from. I live in a cabin surrounded by many miles of forest on all sides. There’s a little town nearby, about 1200 people, but I’m in the forest, surrounded by trees. There have been quite a few Bigfoot sightings within a mile of my little dwelling place. So I think wondering what Bigfoot would like to eat is a fair question.

One woman I talked to had a sighting a mile or two from where I live. She said it came into her yard so she set out apples and other fruit for it. This creature apparently ate what she left out. One day it came to her kitchen window and looked in. She said it had a kind and grateful face, and yellow eyes.

Now I’m not asking a Bigfoot to come look into my window though I think that would be cool. What I need to know is what is best to feed it. An acquaintance in Santa Cruz area says they won’t eat bananas unless you demonstrate how to peel and eat them while they’re watching. You see, often Bigfoot watch quietly and undetected from behind trees. They blend in with tree trunks and sometimes imitate tree stumps by crouching down when they think they might be detected and there’s no trees to hide behind.

You might think I’m wacko… I know most people don’t read Bigfoot literature. But there’s a lot of new anecdotal evidence on the internet and in Bigfoot books these days that make it almost impossible not to believe once you’ve allowed yourself to learn more. Many of the sightings are by very credible people, like this Bigfoot Sighting at Oregon Caves National Monument.

Add to that the books by scientists about Bigfoot, and it is a certainty. Right now I’m about to read a book called Bigfoot Sasquatch Evidence by Dr. Grover Krantz. I’m nearly finished reading Tribal Bigfoot by David Paulides.

Superb book, that one.

Did you know there’s a new hobby called “squatching”? It means that people go out into the forest where there have been Bigfoot sightings, and do things to try to attract Bigfoot into the area so that they will hopefully have a Bigfoot sighting or at the very least, find some footprints, or hear vocalizations, or tree knocks. The closest I’ve gotten so far is to hear vocalizations and to get that weird feeling of someone watching and telling me mentally to go away.

Part of squatching is to go into the forest to set up an area where the dirt is cleared enough to bear footprints. Soft raked dirt is needed because often ground is packed too tightly to show any footprints at all. In the morning after raking a baiting site, hopefully you’ll find footprint tracks if you’ve done it right.

I’m thinking… watermelon. I have a bunch of little watermelon in my garden that might do. But would a Bigfoot know what to do with it? And if I put this bait out, would a bear get it instead, or a raccoon? More than likely.

I know a place where the dirt is already soft and mainly dusty… all I’d need to do is take a rake and some food, then camp nearby … I definitely want to try that soon… but first want to figure out what to offer Sasquatch, and rig a way to hang food in a tree in such a way that a Sasquatch could reach it but a bear or raccoon couldn’t.

Strange desires we have here in the forest, no?

I know many Bigfoot researchers say that Bigfoot eats meat. No doubt they need lots of food to sustain the growth of such a large, strong body. But they’re also into berries and roots. Maybe they’d like potatoes and strawberries!

I just found a couple of pages a friend of mine wrote about stocking and organizing a pantry… and of course I wanted to pass on the information to you since the intent of this blog so closely matches Dianne’s articles.

First I noticed her article on Gather.Com, one of my favorite article-writing sites. Her article, A Well-Stocked Pantry, caught my eye… because pantries are often on my mind… especially as my tomatoes are getting ripe and I’m wondering how I’m going to can and store them all!

In her article she linked to a related Squidoo page about kitchen pantries on which she shows examples of why having a well stocked kitchen pantry will be invaluable in a number of situations. I too look for the sales to buy supplies in quantity. She has a poll there, “Is your pantry organized and well-stocked?”… I had to admit, mine is well-stocked, but not organized. I love her organization suggestions!

Today someone reading my post about cinnamon and honey weight loss tea asked whether it would be safe to use during pregnancy. I looked through my herbals and found a recipe for easing pregnancy, which uses cinnamon, so that indicates to me that cinnamon could be safe for pregnant women (and their unborn dear ones.)

From John Lust’s herbal, The Herb Book: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to More Than 500 Herbs:
This is said to prevent nausea and miscarriage. It is also for reducing labor pains and increasing milk production.
1 part cinnamon
5 parts blackberry leaves
5 parts milfoil
10 parts raspberry leaves
Steep 1 teaspoon in 1/2 cup boiling water. Take 1/2 to 1 cup daily in mouthful doses.

Note that there’s to be NO OVERDOSING… which is what I need to address concerning the cinnamon and honey diet. Though the cinnamon may be safe in normal amounts, drinking large amounts might not be safe during pregnancy. Plus, I wonder about the wisdom of trying to diet during pregnancy. This is something a pregnant woman should definitely discuss with her physician.

In addition, you should be aware that there are certain herbs intentionally used (by some) to terminate pregnancies. Here’s the list of common herbs a pregnant woman should avoid:

Angelica
Birthroot
Blue Cohosh
Brooklime
Bugloss
Cotton Root Bark
Ergot
Golden Seal
Ground Pine
Juniper
Male Fern
Motherwort
Mayapple
Pennyroyal
Potassium Permanganate
Rue
St. Johns Wort
Savin
Tansy
Thyme
Valerian
Yarrow
This information is derived from two sources, Herbs & Things - Jeanne Rose’s herbal, and Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs.

All these are likely to cause abortion to occur. DON’T try this at home! I’m against abortion in general so I’m hoping this won’t be taken by anyone as a way to terminate a life. I put the list here for the benefit of herb-using women who want to preserve their pregnancies.

This list of herbs said to ease childbirth comes from John Lust’s The Herb Book:
Althea
American Spikenard
Bennet
Birthwort
Black Cohosh
Blind Nettle
Blue Cohosh
Cannabis
Columbine
Comfrey
Common Groundsel
Cotton
European Ragwort
Flax
Garden Raspberry
Garden Violet
Goat’s Rue
Horehound
Iceland Moss
Lady’s Mantle
Pansy
Primrose
Ragwort
Shepherd’s Purse
Silverweed
Spikenard
Squaw Vine
Wild Red Raspberry
Wormwood

NOTE - some of these are mentioned on the ‘do not use’ list… I’d especially avoid Blue Cohosh! Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs says it isn’t safe to use.

And about the Wormwood - I wouldn’t use that either. I know that too much of that is a danger.

Personally, I’d stick to something simple like Raspberry Leaf Tea which is well-known to be good for pregnancies.

Jeanne Rose wrote: “Raspberry leaf tea has been used for hundreds of years by women throughout their pregnancy to ease the pains of labor, to prevent miscarriage, and to increase the milk supply. It was mentioned by Pliny in his medical botany books. For the tea: one ounce of the leaves is steeped in twenty ounces of water for fifteen minutes, strained, and drunk - at least two cups per day. The leaves are also used as an astringent for diarrhea, as a gargle for sore mouths, and as an infusion to wash external ulcers and wounds. The berries are excellent eaten during a bout of diarrhea.” - Herbs & Things, page 100.

Also, note on the list of herbs that ease pregnancy, Cannabis is listed. This is Marijuana.. which is, in my opinion, a miracle healing herb… but I recommend that mothers do NOT use it during pregnancy or at any other time. The reason is that use of Marijuana is cause for child welfare agents (CPS or DHS social workers) to take children from their mothers. Especially during pregnancy, this is a real danger. I have met a young woman who used Marijuana to ease birth pains, who never got to take her child home from the hospital because THC was found in her baby’s urine. You will notice, if you give birth in a hospital, one of the first things they do is slap a urine sack on the infant to collect urine for drug testing. YES, this is true! And babies with any kind of drugs in their system are taken away from their parents. So DON’T use Cannabis/Marijuana while you’re pregnant. It just isn’t safe. If you use it you might need my other site: Fighting Child Protective Services CPS False Accusations, and I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone.

One more very important thing! Use moderation, no matter what herb you choose, whether you’re pregnant or not. Too much of any herb can be dangerous. If you’re not certain a herb is safe, ask your obstetrician or (if you’re breastfeeding) your pediatrician.

Here are the links to the herbals I used for this post: