Category: Information

Upcoming Video: Mabon Celebration

Posted on by Th3D0ct0r

One of the upcoming Sabbats–Mabon–is a social celebration of 2nd Harvest. With the way the U.S. is currently, social celebrations are a bit of a taboo. What I am offering is this: If you live in LA County, Orange County, or Riverside/San Bernardino County and you would like to participate in a socially distance gift exchange, please sound off!

The items I bring you may or may not be videos from my channel–you’ll have to guess! But, I would like to film the deliveries (not required for participation). All I ask is that you hand-make something to trade. The deliveries will be made Sunday, September 20, 2020. Please comment here or message me directly (or pop into the Discord channel and tag me) if you’d like to be a part of this Mabon Celebration!

P.S.: You do not have to celebrate Mabon. I don’t, personally. But, some of the goodies I have planned are too good NOT to share!

Blessed Lughnasadh!

Posted on by Th3D0ct0r
Sometimes I dress up and look pretty.

Merry meet and blessings be! Lughnasadh (LOO-nuh-suh) is upon us! The cross-quarter sabbat is a celebration of the First Harvest of the year. Today’s video features a seasonal dish, Blackberry Cobbler! I used an erithrytol sweetener for this recipe to comply with the low-carb diet I’ve been torturing myself with, but you could use regular sugar, if you desired. This is also gluten free and it is super amazing and tasty!

I chose blackberries because this is the last month they are available in SoCal. Now, Lughnasadh would normally feature the First Harvest–but, Lughnasadh is also sundown July 31 to sundown August 1, so trying to get two videos prepared for you before that date makes it a bit difficult to harvest first harvest items. 🙂

Also, a traditional Lughnasadh food is bread. I have a recipe for a Keto Flaxmeal bread that I’m itching to try, but I haven’t had the energy to expend in putting it together. Perhaps that will be a video for next week.

Although I do not, personally, celebrate Lughnasadh, I am more than happy to share with you ways you can bring the First Harvest season into your home. Just leave a comment on the video or on this blog post, or check out my Discord channel and ask there.

Blessed be.

Electrolytes & Sekanjabin

Posted on by Th3D0ct0r
I am confused as to why the cup I am holding does not contain tea or coffee.

When I started this keto diet journey back on June 1, 2020, I made sure I had done all my research. I hadn’t really had to deal with the Keto Flu that many people do. That was a bonus. In fact, within two weeks of starting, most of my autoimmune symptoms had vanished and I felt like I could safely restart my DDP Yoga program. I’m on week 6 of 13 and I’m feeling fantastic!

Except, I noticed that my blood pressure–normally 110/60 – 120/80–had crept upwards and on Monday (July 20), it was 132/98, with a pulse rate of 115-120, standing still. To the Googles! Turns out that if you’re electrolytes aren’t in balance, it can increase your blood pressure. Who knew!

I have since purchased an electrolyte powder to mix into my water, but this recipe has been a go-to. My only problem with it is magnesium has a tendency to get things moving, if you get my drift. And, for me, that can actually be a real issue since I don’t feel like I’m absorbing nutrients properly, already (celiac). I’ll try to remember to update on how the powder works for me. I’m actually going to make some this morning, once I finish this post!

Sekanjabin is a medieval drink syrup that you mix with water and it serves as a way to refresh and replenish certain electrolytes. It ranges in complexity from simple honey syrup and mint & cucumber to very complex syrups that include pomegranate and other deliciousness. Mine is super simple, keto-friendly, and made with ginger because I didn’t realize what I thought was mint was actually lemon basil.

I am eagerly looking forward to hitting my target goal (150lbs) and my stretch goal (145lbs). Not just because I’ll be in the weight range I would feel most comfortable in, but also, so I can start eating more carbs! I actually have a plan to shift into maintenance with a Mediterranean style diet (still gluten-free, obviously). I also plan on increasing my fish intake over the next few weeks (I’m not a huge fan of fish), and shifting to a thing one of my friends does called “Meatless Mondays” where it’s completely vegetarian fare. It’ll take a little bit of extra planning for me, but I think it will be better health choices.

How’s your SARs-CoV-19 lockdown going?

May and forward

Posted on by Th3D0ct0r

I’m very bad at remembering to update this blog. I’m so very sorry.

May was a stressful and busy month. I was in a flare for most of it. I ran out of my pre-recorded videos and, because of the flare and other chaos, couldn’t produce two videos a week.

Now it’s the first week of June. I’m still sick (or flaring or something) and I am, again, out of videos, so I don’t have any this week.

But what I can tell you is this: I am starting a “carb cycling” diet for the 30 days of June. What it will be is this first week is strictly Keto. Day 1, I hit all my macro goals, but was way under on calories. That was actually awesome because I didn’t feel hungry. Day 2 (today), I woke up with a pain in my abdominal area that could be light food poisoning (not likely) or the effect of a deep tissue muscle spasm in my back that causes my diaphragm to spasm, as well (more likely). Regardless of what it is, it hurts and I’m exhausted.

Taco Tuesday

I made Keto Tacos this morning for breakfast. Made with Impossible Foods ground meat substitute, onions, cheddar shreds, and romaine lettuce. Tasty and very filling. You can find similar recipes at PaleoLeap.com.

Enjoy!

New Video: Jamaican Jerk Tofu

Posted on by Th3D0ct0r
“Double, double, toil and trouble…”

California has been issued a stay-at-home order. Only essential adventures are allowed (such as going to the grocery store or picking up prescriptions, etc). I live in a house that was subdivided into three apartments. We have shared hallways. Fortunately, we really like our neighbors and consider them family. We decided to isolate together for a Dungeons & Dragons session to break up the monotony of being in our individual rooms and release some pent up tension from working from home. A couple of the guys upstairs are vegetarians, so I decided to make something I figured all of us could enjoy: Jamaican Jerk Tofu with Coconut-Lime Rice and Black Beans.

It was definitely a hit.

Our adventuring went well and we did another evening of Dungeons & Dragons a few days later. It’s tough to be a bard whose primary instrument is the bagpipes. But, we had thematic music to underscore the adventure and had a lot of fun. For the second excursion, I made the Scotch Eggs, again, and made sure to make two vegetarian versions, as well. As soon as I’m able to get more of the Lightlife ground meat substitute, I’ll make some more and maybe do a taste-test video for it! According to the guys, they were all amazing.

P.S.: Hey, folks! So, I’m a Ph.D. Candidate in the field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology and my research focuses on using Dungeons & Dragons (among other games) for leadership development. I’m ramping up to start a YouTube channel for that, as well. In the meantime, you can look at the random stuff I have posted for that over on my business website, Improved Initiative.

Newest Video: Shepherd’s Pie w/Rutabaga Topping

Posted on by Th3D0ct0r
No shepherds were harmed in the making of this video.

Hello! And welcome to the day before the last day of public interactions! This video was filmed Saturday, March 14, in the morning. I and my husbeast/cameraman were going to drop off House-Guest-Xander in Santa Paula and then head to Newberry Park for gaming with some friends. While we were drinking tequila and eating delicious food, Governor Newsom put California on lockdown for the Coronavirus. We had one more public outing on Sunday (brunch with our new Reeve and Reevess for her birthday!), and then the moritorium came in.

This Shepherd’s Pie was a huge hit with the gamers. Each bite elicited responses of, “Ohm’go’ thi’is so goo’!” and “Ru’abaga?! Really?!” So, it went over well! As did the Heathen Cakes. As we face the real possibility of a strictly enforced quarantine, I’ll start into videos explaining how the poor of the medieval times extended the life of beef and other meats and rely on some budget-friendly cooking to help get us all through this Plague (hey, ’20s…we didn’t want a repeat of 1920… or 1820… or 1720…..).

Please stay safe and make sure to follow me on Facebook for the twice weekly classes on helathcare and other “witchery” things to keep you safe during the lockdown/quarantine.

New Video: Turkey Hand Pies

Posted on by Th3D0ct0r
Enjoy the beautiful disaster!

In a world where everything could go wrong… it does! Well, not everything. The pasties turned out delicious! I just missed some bits in the filming. And there seems to be a lot of “Rocky, move!” being yelled. Rocky is my youngest kitty (at 11!) and is a black and white sweet boi who just happens to love fish, turkey, chicken, and rum. He makes an appearance in the video. Cats make everything better. 🙂 Please enjoy!

Remember to like/subscribe/ring the notification bell so you can be alerted as soon as these videos go live! Don’t forget, I also have a Patreon and a Discord server! Come join the party!