Golden Milk, Vegan Blue Cheese, Witch Hazel, & Nettles Tea

I found a few things I forgot to add to yesterday's post!  First off is this Golden Milk from Wegman's that I had about a week or so ago!  I opted for the 8-ounce. 

You know how I LOVE Turmeric and I try to add it to at least one of my food or beverages a day!

This was pretty good.  It was mellower than I expected.  The Black Pepper sank to the bottom and it was a bit harsh but not overly-so.  I need to make more of this myself - at home.  It's easy and I have all the ingredients on hand.

One of the many 'new-to-me' products I was able to get my hands on this past week and our travels to Ohio was this Blue Cheese!  Vegan, of course!  It's by VioLife.  I have seen The Vegan Zombie and others post about it from Expo West and I thought it was going to be a year or two before it came over to the East side of the US.  So when I saw it - I didn't hesitate to grab it.

I will say...it's ok.  It's not OVERLY awesome.  I don't think it's something I would nibble on by itself.  However, I have tried it two other ways.  One was to melt it on a bagel - that was fairly good.  The other was to do a small dice and mix in with an Alfredo.  That was YUMMY! 

It's something I will continue to play around with.  I'm convinced it has potential.  I'm thinking the crumbles on a salad paired with another vegan creamy ranch or blue cheese type dressing would be stellar.

A few updates...thankfully, I seem to have the Dyshidrotic Eczema under control with the help of Witch Hazel and Nettles Tea.  I'm going to continue to use both of these things because now I have a boil on my leg from a pair of pants that was irritating me.  Both can be used for both issues.  And I'm going to try and drink Nettles Tea each night for the additional benefits while building up my immune system and a bit of self-care for my liver. It's also great for inflammation, pain, and skin so those are things I can put in my mental Rolodex, too!

For some AWESOME info on BOTH:
Nettles Tea & Witch Hazel

Hail Merry Caramel Sea Salt Bites & Dyshidrotic Eczema

Hail Merry Caramel Sea Salt Bites & Dyshidrotic Eczema...I know...that's a WEIRD Blog Post Title.  Let me explain...First up - the YUMMY bit of this post!  This past weekend we took a day trip again and stopped by Erie to pick up my BIL and then drove to Buffalo to go to Pizza Plant.  (More on that in the next couple of days)  We were waiting for him to get out of work and the Whole Foods Co-Op is just a couple of blocks from his house and I ran in real quick to see if there was 'anything I couldn't live without' and came across a fairly good price on these Caramel Sea Salt Bites from Hail Merry and I was INSTANTLY a fan!





Now on to the Dyshidrotic Eczema part of this post.  NOT pleasant.  I didn't know what it was until I researched it and I'm pretty sure it's something I have had on again and off again in the spring and fall.  I learned a lot from THIS POST and other sources.  In short, it's either an allergy issue or a stress issue.  I guess it could be either with me but I'm wondering more about the foods...here is why...

It says to up your intake of Vitamin A Foods but after I looked at the list of vegan foods that were high in Vitamin A I realized I already eat a lot of those things.  Then it says to lower your intake of foods with nickel and/or cobalt in them and that is when I started thinking.  As far as the vegan foods with nickel in them the following are my favorite foods on that list and I tend to eat a lot of the following foods...

Black Tea, Nuts, Seeds, Soy, Chickpeas & other kinds of beans, Tomato, Corn, Spinach.  Honestly, with the exception of soy, the other foods make up about 80 percent of my diet these days.  I don't think there is a day that goes by that I don't have a nut, a seed, a tomato, corn, or beans.

BUT...why now?

That...I'm not sure.  Then I read that Baking Powder is on that list of things to watch out for on the nickel/cobalt list.  It also says that outbreaks could last 2 to 4 weeks.  Interesting.  It just so happens that I attempted Vegan Pancakes at home about 2 to 3 weeks ago and used Baking Powder in the recipe.  Could this have contributed?  Or was in the combo of everything?  Regardless, I'm going to try and lower my intake of some of my favorite foods now...ie...tomatoes, corn, beans, nuts, seeds...but...I will have to see what other kinds of things I can make my vegan cheesy sauces out of, too!  YIKES!

In the meantime...what am I going to do about self-care and healing my palms from the itching?  Witchazel.