Easy Indoor Edible Garden

Imagine if you could grow vegetables indoors without dirt or an expensive lighting system or cats nibbling on them.

You can!  You can grow bean sprouts!  And that’s just what I’ve starting doing.

I soak mung beans in water for a half day or overnight, then I rinse them twice a day.  Otherwise they stay in a dark place, such as my oven or a covered tub.  After about a week, I harvest them.

I got the idea when I went shopping on iHerb¹ for Broccoli Seeds, which were mentioned in David Perlmutter’s “Drop Acid” book² as something to sprinkle on salads.  When I added the broccoli seed bottle to my cart, the website displayed a Sprouting Jar in its list of suggestions.  And so I added that to my cart along with a bag of organic Mung Beans suitable for sprouting as a Christmas present for myself.

I’d been buying mung bean sprouts for a while.  They’re inexpensive, but they are far too perishable, lasting only a few days.  I was attracted to the idea of eliminating both the waste due to rotting sprouts and the hassle of going to the store more than twice a week.

It’s working out well.  I sprout and use about 1.5 ounces of mung beans per week.  I consume about a handful of sprouts raw every day.

I could sprout the broccoli seeds as well, but I prefer to eat them as they are.  The texture of broccoli seeds reminds me vaguely of nonpareils or fish roe.  However they have a green taste with a slightly bitter undertone.

Anyway, don’t wait until 2024 to resolve to start sprouting.  Do it now!

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¹ https://www.iherb.com?rcode=DOJ209 The author may receive a 5% or 10% reward from purchases made after a buyer clicks this link.

² https://books.google.com/books/about/Drop_Acid.html?id=JU0yEAAAQBAJ

Chocolate Fudge -- It's About Time I Made Some

I finally made chocolate fudge.  I used one of the “easy recipes” that you can find online – a combination of Sweetened Condensed Milk, Chocolate Chips and Vanilla all melted together, mixed and chilled.

Unfortunately, I have quite a lot more of it than I should have.  The stuff is dangerous.  I could easily eat all of it.  I’ve been known to eat a 14 ounce can of Sweetened Condensed Milk in a mindless trance of ecstasy.

So I’ll do what I always do with excess decadent treats – bring it to work in the hopes that folks will take it all before lunch time.

Make Your Own Sauerkraut

"Forget that store-bought stuff.  It's pasteurized," my Naturopathic Doctor said.  We were talking about sauerkraut.

I thought I was buying good stuff, with nothing more than cabbage and brine.  But she was right, it was pasteurized.  The bottling process sterilizes the jar and the product, killing off all that healthy bacteria.

So after years of putting it off, I took the plunge and made my first batch in September.  I was delighted with the results!  It was crunchy, snappy, tart, lively but not at all unpalatable.

Here's a beginner recipe to try:

1 small organic cabbage head

1 large carrot

dried dill weed

small palmful of sea salt (about 2 to 3 teaspoons)

Slice the cabbage thin.  Then chop the slices into small bits.

Wash the carrot with a nylon brush and grate it.  (I don't peel carrots.)

Combine the cabbage and carrot into a large mixing bowl.  Add the salt and dust with dill until it looks right.  Mix and pound with a blunt wooden spoon until a mash starts to form.

Place it into a 32oz straight neck jar, such as a clean, empty tomato sauce jar.

Pound it down, leaving about 1/2 inch room at the top.  Add water to completely cover the solids.  Cover the top with a coffee filter or strainer and leave it in a dark cool place for about two weeks.

After two weeks, remove the cover and skim any suspicious-looking stuff off the top.

At this point it's ready to eat.  Screw the cap on and refrigerate for longer term storage.

My special additions include seaweed (after soaking in water for while I prepare the cabbage and carrot) and the powder from a few probiotic capsules.

Check this web page for more ideas: http://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sauerkraut-2/

#NaBloPoMo2019

Easy-To-Make Gluten-Free Tortillas

The topic of home made Gluten-Free tortillas probably makes you wonder, “Corn Tortillas are gluten-free.  Why not just buy them?”

I did that for a while, but there are two problems with store-bought corn tortillas:

1. They have nasty-sounding ingredients in them (as do flour tortillas).
2. Corn causes pain in my joints.

So when I stumbled across the two-ingredient recipe at ElaVegan, I seriously considered trying it.  And when my local grocery store had the flour 25% off, I knew I was going to try it.

But I had my doubts.  “Oh, they’ll stick to the pan.”  Or, “they’ll fall apart when I turn them.”

But no, the recipe really is very easy.  If you can make pancakes, you definitely can make these.  It’s very forgiving in terms of how much water you use.  I started with the lower recommendation, which is for thick tortillas.  But as I continued, I kept adding water to see how thin I could make them.  The only limit I reached is when the batter got so runny, it ran to the side of the pan.  Yet, they still held together when I turned them.  I managed to get them a bit over 6" in diameter.  I used an 8" pan.

And despite using a “sticky” cast-iron pan, there was no sticking whatsoever when I applied a thin layer of vegetable oil to the pre-heated pan.

For the second batch, I happened to have a couple of old limes lying around.  They were so hard and shriveled, my wife gave up on them.  But I managed to get maybe 1/8 cup of juice out of them, which I added to the batter.  The juice gave a nice tartness to the tortilla.

Give it a try!

#NaBloPoMo2019

Halloween 2019 -- The Litterbox Costume

I dressed up as a litterbox yesterday.  This was an easy, low-cost outfit.

• Cardboard box – free (with a delivery from Petco)
• Okocat non-clumping paper litter¹ – about $3 (It was marked down and I had a coupon)
• New pooper-scooper – 97 cents
• Safety glasses – free (Household item)
• Dust mask -- free (Household item)
• Zip-Lock bag – free (Household item)
• Tootsie Rolls -- about $3
• Other Assorted Chocolate -- free (Household items)

The Okocat paper litter was a good choice for this project.  It’s extremely light weight, and the granules aren’t so small as to leak through any gaps in the box or in my pants.  I had some lying around because I tried it out with the cats, and I found that it would quickly get saturated with pee.  The entire litterbox had to be emptied and refilled with fresh litter about once a week.  This reminds me, I’m planning on writing a review of cat litters soon.

So, did you dress up for Halloween?  What was your costume?

#NaBloPoMo2019

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¹ https://www.healthy-pet.com/products/dust-free-paper-natural-litter
² Photo credit: anonymous coworker

What's on Your Grill?

Hamburgers and hot dogs seem to be the usual barbecue fare.  Or folks might get adventurous and add some skewered vegetables alongside them.

Try something different this time.  Roast peppers!

At this time of year, a variety of peppers or chilies should be fairly inexpensive owing to their abundance.  In fact, the pile pictured on my charcoal grill below cost about three dollars.  In case you can't make them out, the pile consists of:

• One Poblano
• Two Jalapeño
• Two red Cubanelle
• Two orange Cubanelle

The process is very forgiving, and you can leave them on and forget about them a bit and still get a nice result.

I like to put them on while my coals are still on fire, and I add kindling to maintain the fire.  Once they're black and squishy, I drop them into a paper bag, seal the bag, and let them steam in there own heat.

Then I go get the Impossible Burgers and steaks and put them on.  When those are done, I peel the black skin off the peppers and squeeze out the seeds.

The grilling takes the spicy edge off the chilies and leaves them sweet and mellow.

Ultimate Litterbox

The ultimate litterbox is not one that you buy; it’s one that you make yourself!

I’ve searched for years for a solution to our cats’ peeing out of the box problems.

One cat is big and tends to lift his back end when peeing, so I needed a big and tall box. Or he stands in the middle and pees over the edge.  All the covered boxes are too small, and some are even made so that pee that’s sprayed against the side would seep out between the bottom and lid mating surface!

Another cat was bullied away from all the boxes, so he’d pee in entirely different rooms and places, such as on my daughter’s desk. (We re-homed him.)

Another cat is just incontinent and can’t seem to wake up and move to the litterbox in time. Or he’s otherwise demented.

The last cat has no excuse. She’s young and healthy, but she just felt like joining in on the pissing contest!

But ever since re-homing the “Pariah Cat” and intruducing the Ultimate Litterbox, we’ve been pee-free (knock on wood).

Here’s what you do (doo):

1. Start out with a Sterilite tote box, one that’s at least 18” inches tall. I got mine at Walmart for a mere $10 or so. (Maybe it was so cheap because they were all out of lids.) Look for a container with as few “ribs” as possible. You want an inner surface that’s easy to scoop and won’t accumulate waste. Also, note that the clear or transparent boxes (such as the one shown on the right) are much harder to cut. They require a coping saw to cut the opening. The one pictured on the left is the recommended type.  It's easy to cut and the used litter slides right off.
2. Use a box cutter or pocket knife to cut an opening in the side that’s about 7” wide by 9” tall and starts about 6” from the bottom. You can adjust this to suit your cats’ needs. A less mobile cat might need the opening to be lower for easier access. You might make it narrower for a normal weight cat; this was made for our big Tom who’s halfway to being a bobcat.
3. Fill with your favorite cat litter. I used nearly an entire 28lB bag of World’s Best.
4. Sprinkle a cat attractant at the far end to entice the cat to move all the way into the box. This should prevent a cat from peeing out the opening.
5. Place the box on a waterproof mat just in case. The mat pictured here is a Litter Mat. Be sure to choose one that won’t let liquid seep through. Most are woven fiber and inexplicably will let pee through and trap it against the floor – a disaster on a wood floor!

Try it and let me know how you fare.  You might even try it with the lid on, too, if you have a cat that's used to a covered box.

Good luck!

How I Treat Stubborn Dandruff

When large portions of skin began lifting off my scalp, I tried the usual dandruff shampoos such as products that contain pyrithione zinc or selenium sulfide, the latter of which seemed to work marginally better.  But I wasn’t satisfied with the results, so I went to see a dermatologist.

The doctor described it vaguely as yeast and as an adult form of cradle cap and prescribed Ketoconazole 2% shampoo.  It worked amazingly well.  However, the condition also affected my eyebrows, and it was difficult to apply the shampoo there without also getting some in my eyes.  Also the condition would flare up again and again, and I’d have to treat it again and again.

I did some research into “cradle cap” and found that the itchiness I would experience was not a symptom.  I decided to forget about Ketoconazole and treat it like eczema.

I swapped shampoo for Dove Sensitive Skin Beauty Bar, which I was using on my face anyway.  And afterwards, I applied an eczema lotion such as Gold Bond Eczema Relief lotion or the equivalent store brand.  Finally (and probably most importantly) I cut back on ingesting dairy products and sugar.

This regimen works very well, although occasionally I shampoo a second time with the selenium sulfide shampoo, especially if I fail to stick to a healthy diet.

Commercial lotions for eczema are expensive.  They contain 2% colloidal oatmeal, along with a great deal of other suspicious chemicals.  As oatmeal is quite inexpensive, I wonder if I can just let some oatmeal soak in water overnight and then apply that water to my scalp to rinse out the Dove soap.  So the next step is to try the “oatmeal soak water rinse” to see if I can eliminate the lotion.

I do see a recipe for a DIY oatmeal shampoo, but that seems like too much work at this time.