Wild rice casserole #vegan

Ingredients:
Garlic 5-10 cloves
Mushrooms
Onion
Peppers
Eggplant
Chard
2-4 cups crushed canned tomatoes
Wild rice
Quinoa
Salt
Pepper
Soy sauce
Peanut oil
Vegan butter

Dice all the veggies and garlic.
Cook rice and quinoa.
Sauté Half the garlic, mushrooms, and onion (salt, pepper, and soy-sauce) in half peanut oil half vegan butter until caramelizing begins. Throw in eggplant, peppers, and the other half of the garlic, mix well and remove from heat.

I use equal parts veggies. So as much or as little as you'd like.

Mix rice, quinoa, canned tomatoes, and sautéd mixture together. You don't want it to be too soupy or too dry.

If you want a casserole, chop the chard and add to the mixture and bake covered with foil in a casserole dish at 450 for and hour.

For chard rolls, take mixture and stuff chard leaves and bake as directed above.

For stuffed peppers, fill whole topless peppers with mixture and bake as directed above.

The possibilities are endless and delicious.

Day 3 no-poo update

So today is the third day since I rinsed my hair with the baking soda and vinegar no-poo method. Normally my hair is crackhead greasy by day two so I am pretty stoked that is is just now starting to look grubby. Don't get me wrong, it's greasy, just not what I expected. I wouldn't wear it down or anything.

Today I twisted it up and clipped the twists up to a messy bun. I am saving the scarves and hats for worse hair days that I am sure will come. However, I am motivated to get past the greasy gross part and on to healthier hair days. So this is my three day update, so far so good.

Day 1 no-poo

So I finally did it, I threw out all of my shampoo. I'm going poo free!!! 

I've been reading about the no-poo method for hair care for a little over a year. 

At first it sounded like a great idea but not really something for me. I really didn't want to have dirty hair. I also like my products I use to style my hair. 

So even though I decided no-poo was not for me I continued to read up about it. I have read dozen of blogs following others ups and downs of their no-poo journey. 

The past year has been my most radical elimination process of my life. Our family is finally letting go of all the "crap" we don't need. 

We have eliminated processed foods, packaged poisons, gluten, animal protien, cleaners, detergents, and deoterant. It is only fitting that eliminating shampoo is next in line. 

No poisons and man made products on or in my body (or on or in my families) is what I am striving for. 

Life has been a crazy roller coaster of learning how to be human. Elimininating societies influence on how I live my life has made me a better person. By removing "things" from my life I am allowing myself to see if its really needed at all. 

I am determined to succeed at the no-poo method. I know I don't need shampoo. Now I just need to convince my hair that it's a good idea. 

So everyone says there is a greasy/oily period that last anywhere from two weeks to six months. Your hair produces oil daily to combate the oil we strip when we shampoo. Your body has been doing this for a long time so it is going to take time to train it to stop. 

In order for your body to regulate its oil production so you do not get oily hair you have to stop stripping it. In the mean time it seems like I most likely will require scarves and hats. 

I will keep you all posted on how it goes. 

Here is the no-poo recipe I am going with. It seems to be the most popular method. 

No-poo recipe:

1tsp Baking soda w/ 1 cup water

1TBS Apple cider vinegar w/ 1 cup water

Wet hair and massage scalp only with baking soda mixture and let sit for a couple minutes then rinse.

Pour apple cider vinegar all over your hair and let soak for a minute then rinse out. 

I did just this and my hair was tangly when I got out of the shower. I combed it out and it was soft and smooth when it dried. This was last night and now my hair is softer than it normally is. 

I am excited for this chapter of my elimination journey :-)

I will keep you posted along my no-poo path to see how it works for me.