12 week Loc Update!

Before the locs

Day 1

Week 3

Week 6

Week 9

Week 12

My Loc Journey <<<<Check out my youtube!

Hey guys! I figured its been a while since I updated my blog with how my locs are doing. I am still in the game and absolutely LOVING it. Today makes 12 weeks and on the 19th I will be exactly 3 months in. You can see from my pictures my hair has gone through some serious changes. Those smooth twist from day 1 are long gone lol.  I still have some 2 strand twist pattern in some areas where my hair is finer but most of the back is disappeared and I have tons of budding everywhere! I have only done 1 retwist and that is pictured in my 3 week mark. I did the retwist because I was being overwhelmed by the frizz and to just be real going from being obsessed with my hair and always having my hand in it to just letting it do its thing I got kind of bored and felt the need to do something so I retwisted.  I almost immediately regretted it because then I got the scalpy look and it thinned my locs out a lot. I am on a semi-free form loc journey which means I will do no retwist or they will be very far and few in between. I am hoping to not have to ever retwist again but I am just going to listen to my hair and do what it tells me to do. For now I just separate them everyday and that's enough to prevent them from all meshing together. I like the look of free form locs but that is not for me at this point in my life. I am loving how simple my life has become since I locked my hair up. All I do is shampoo once or twice a week with Dr. Bronners peppermint shampoo, oil daily w castor or coconut oil, and keep them separated. When I was a loose natural I had so many hair products it was ridiculous. Every week I was rushing to buy some more shea moisture or whatever products I thought I needed to achieve the "perfect" twistout.  I look back and I was doing wayyyy too much.  I couldn't even leave the house without prepping my hair hours in advance.  Knowing that I can now walk out the door in 15 minutes is priceless!

This journey for me is about so much more than just hair.  Everyone is different but for me this journey is about learning and accepting myself in my most raw form. Learning patience, letting go, and trusting the process.  Of course I cant wait for my locs to mature and I know the way it looks physically will make me happy but seeing myself transform week by week, month by month, I learn so much more about myself.  I am more than my hair.  I am more than an image. I have been living a pretty free lifestyle for the past few years and freeing myself from the hours of work and money I put into maintaining my loose natural hair has given me motivation to focus more on other things that I often put on the back burner.  I am putting my energy into things that matter. We live in a world where women are often made to feel like they need things like hair, makeup, clothes, and model type bodies to be complete. When you learn to truly accept yourself with out all the bullshit the world tells you that you need in order to be seen as attractive you reach a dangerous new level of freedom.  My locs may still be in the "ugly stage" in many peoples eyes, I don't do the beat face trend or any of the other silly shit that the world wants us to put our focus on but I feel more beautiful than I have ever felt in all my life. 

This journey has taught me self acceptance on a whole new level and I am very much so spiritually connected to my locs. They remind me of plants and nature, watching them grow and transform, watering them daily.  No one thinks anything of the tiny sprouts but everyone will enjoy the harvest. We are no different than anything else growing in nature.

Thank for following my journey and make sure to head over to my youtube channel for more frequent updates and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe.  My 3 month update will be up soon! My Loc Journey

Loaded Nachos

Who doesn't love a huge plate of nachos loaded with all the goods? Nobody! I'm gonna show you guys a much healthier alternative to traditional nachos that are still packed with flavor and wont make you feel like your missing anything!

Ingredients:

Tortilla chips

Vegan Queso Queso recipe

lentils

pinto beans

onion

green onion

tomato

lettuce

jalapenos

salsa

taco seasoning

Directions:

1. Look back to my mac and cheese recipe to blend up the queso needed for this recipe.Queso recie

2. In a large sauce pan cook lentils with taco seasoning packet (make sure its vegan the do slip milk in certain brands)

3. Smash cooked pinto beans up to make refried beans or you can purchase a can

4. Layer the chips with queso, beans, and lentils. Make 2 layers like this.

5. Place nachos in the oven and bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes.

6. Top with diced onion, green onion, tomato, lettuce, jalapeno, and salsa.

Load these nachos up anyway you like them! If you really wanna do it up throw some meatless crumbles in there as well! You can also load up tacos or burritos with the same ingredients. Great recipe to use if you are entertaining non vegans they will leave thinking vegans only eat grass!

~Peace begins with your plate~

Tofu and Potato Scramble

This is a great meal for any one looking for something to replace their typical egg breakfast. It is full of protein and will fill you up with out having to consume chicken menstruation! Its very simple and you can adjust ingredients to your liking.

Ingredients:

1 pack of extra firm tofu

1 medium to large potato

1/2 of a red pepper

1/2 of a green pepper

mushrooms

onion

salt and pepper

turmeric

onion powder

mustard

paprika

daiya cheddar cheese shreds (optional)

Directions:

1. Dice up peppers, onion, and mushroom and set to the side.

2. Drain tofu and press water out with paper towels.

3. Dice potato and saute in a large frying pan for about 5 minutes with a couple teaspoons of water.

4. Using your hands crumble the tofu up so it looks like real scrambled eggs and put in the pan to cook with the eggs for another 5 minutes on medium high heat.

5. Add the rest of the veggies and continue cooking until veggies are sautéed completely.

6. Add seasonings to your liking but only use a dash of turmeric because its mostly there for coloring.

7. Add 1 teaspoon of mustard and continue mixing. This is optional for color as well.

8. Add a handful of daiya shreds and stir in until they are melted.

9. Serve and enjoy!

This tofu scramble tastes so much like real scrambled eggs its insane! The only difference is this recipe is 100% cruelty free! You can serve this over toast, wrapped in a tortilla like pictured above, or served with vegan sausage and waffles. There are several ways to adjust this recipe. I hope you give this recipe a try and make sure to lmk if you do by tagging me on Instagram @veganhigh

*Peace begins with your plate*

Follow my Loc Journey

I am too excited to finally be on this loc journey! I have been natural for about 6 years and have enjoyed every minute of it, but I am at a point in my life where its time to go a step further. I love my natural hair I think its truly beautiful but I'm tired of being a product junkie and I'm tired of putting so much extra time into my hair when I could be doing other things. Never knowing whether or not that twist out was gonna come out right, constantly fighting shrinkage, spending hours waiting for my hair to dry, picking and fluffing trying to get the perfect shape, I'm over all that. I'm all about living a free minimalistic lifestyle and I just started feeling like my hair was taking over. I told myself I would loc my hair at 30 and I chickened out. I kept giving myself excuses for why I should wait the most recent one was I needed to wait until after my wedding in august, but on 4/19/17 something came over me and I immediately felt the need to loc my hair. I knew the longer I waited the longer it would be till I had beautiful mature locs and I had pushed the process back long enough. I would see people online Id been following for years and how their locs have grown to be so beautiful and I was like damn that could really be me but I keep playing! Also my fiancé started free forming his hair 6 months ago and seeing his hair transform has been beautiful.  I knew that this is something I needed to do. Tomorrow I will be 2 weeks in and I feel like each day gets better and better. Yes I'm in what people call the "ugly stage" but I don't see it like that. No my locs are no where near where I want them physically but every stage my hair goes through is helping the process so I appreciate it.  Right now I still have obvious 2 strand twist and lots and lots of frizz and shrinkage but its all included in the journey. I just have to be patient. My plan is to semi free form so I wont be doing any retwist I will only be separating them so they don't all congo together, I think that's a beautiful look too but not for me at this point! Right now I just spray with water and castor oil mix, let it get mist from the shower, and leave it alone. I will shampoo once a week and no conditioner just oils to moisturize. If I'm at work I pull it in a low ponytail or wrap it up in a scarf just because I don't feel like explaining my choices to all of my clients and most wouldn't understand anyway. So many people still think locs are dirty or unprofessional and all types of other nonsense its really ridiculous. I don't want my locs soaking in that negative energy! If you're interested in following my journey I will be doing monthly updates on this blog and I will do even more updates and showing pictures on my Instagram @veganhigh. This is all so new to me I'm constantly on youtube watching other peoples journey but if anyone has any tips or advice to help me through my journey please let me know!

                                           Watch my loc journey on Youtube!

Mushroom Stroganoff

If you want a hearty comfort meal look no further. This stroganoff is super creamy, savory, and delicious! It was my first time making it and I was very satisfied!

Ingredients:

1 package of pasta

1 package of brown mushrooms

1/2 package of shiitake mushrooms

1 cup of peas

1 diced onion

Vegetable broth

1/2 cup of flour

1 cup of vegan sour cream

2 tbsp. of liquid aminos

garlic

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Put pasta on to boil

2. Rinse of mushrooms and saute in a splash of water with diced onion, salt, pepper, and garlic.

3. Once vegetables are soft and veggie broth and flour and whisk everything together until you get a thick gravy consistency. Adjust broth and flour as needed.

4. Add peas, sour cream, liquid aminos, and more salt, pepper, and garlic. Bring to a simmer.

5. Drain pasta and mix into the mushroom gravy mix.

6. Serve and enjoy!

Top with crushed red pepper flake to give it an extra kick. This reminds me so much of traditional stroganoff. The sour cream is optional but in my opinion it does help give the dish the creaminess it needs. This is a heavy meal so try not indulge in the whole pot!! ;)

Raw Tacos with walnut meat

I learned how to get pretty creative with raw vegan dishes when I went on a raw cleanse last month. Of all the dishes that I made the tacos were my favorite by far, even my fiancé couldn't get enough so I know I did good! Lets get started!

Ingredients:

1 head of romaine lettuce

3 cups of raw walnuts

2 cups of cauliflower

2 ears of corn

Tomato

Fresh jalapenos

1 red onion

1 bell pepper

2 tbsp. of nutritional yeast

1tbsp of liquid aminos

Coriander

1tsp of cumin

 1 tsp Lemon juice

salt and pepper

sriracha seasoning

Directions:

1. In a high speed blender add walnuts, nutritional yeast, liquid aminos, coriander, cumin, salt, garlic, pepper, and sriracha, pulse thoroughly until walnuts are ground up to look like real taco meat. You can adjust season to your liking.

2. Break large leaves off of romain lettuce rinse and set aside, these will be your taco shells.

3. Pulse cauliflower into pieces small enough to like like actual rice.

4. Cut corn of the ears rinse and set aside in a bowl.

5. Dice up tomato, jalapeno, red onion, and bell pepper and mix into bowl w corn making a raw salsa mix, season with salt, pepper, garlic, and coriander.

6. Layer lettuce shells with cauliflower rice, walnut meat, and salsa and serve!

If you are on a raw cleanse or just in the mood to eat raw and need something to spice up your life definitely give these tacos a try! You will be surprised at how tasty that walnut meat is it literally taste like real taco meat and I wasn't expecting that.  I topped mine with a raw ranch that I had made the night before but feel free to top it with whatever raw vegan sauce your heart desires. You could even use a bit of cashew cheese which you can find in most health food stores.

~Peace begins with your plate~

Vegan Sushi 2 ways: Spicy tuna and Tofu sushi rolls

Tofu sushi rolls

 Spicy Tuna sushi rolls

When you think of sushi it usually consist of dead raw fish (yuck) but today I'm going to teach you how to make 2 different types of delicious vegan sushi that would satisfy any sushi lovers out there!

Ingredients:

1 package of nori wraps

2 cups of cooked white rice, jasmine or sushi rice are best

1 cucumber sliced thinly

1 carrot shredded

1 red pepper sliced thinly

4-5 stems of green onions

1 pack of crispy onions

1 pack of tofu

Old bay seasoning

1 package of vegan cream cheese

Sweet and sour sauce

Spicy Tuna Ingredients:

2 cups of chickpeas

2 tbsp. of just mayo sriracha flavor

1 tbsp. of chopped jalapenos

1 tbsp. of sweet relish

paprika

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Cut tofu into strips and coat with old bay seasoning. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes flipping half way through.

2. In a high speed blender pulse chickpeas until shredded resembling real tuna from can. Place chickpeas in a bowl and mix in spicy mayo, jalapenos, relish, paprika, salt and pepper until it looks like traditional tuna salad you can adjust measurements to your liking.

3. Place your sliced cucumber, red pepper, carrots, and cucumber in to separate bowls so you can keep a clean organized area to prepare rolls on.

4. Mix cream cheese and sweet and sour spice in a bowl to make a sweet creamy sauce for the tofu rolls.

5. Also prepare of bowl with water in it, and a bowl of the cooked rice, you can add a few tsp of rice vinegar to your rice if you like.

*You should have all the ingredients organized to start rolling*

6. Lay out a nori sheet and use your finger to dab some water on the end of the sheet

7. Add a thin layer of rice to entire sheet except where you put the water bc that is where your wrap will seal.

8. Add all of the veggies on to the rice being careful not to over stuff your sushi, I usually just make a thin row of each veggie.

9. Add crispy onions

10. For the tofu wraps add a row of tofu as well as some of the sweet cream cheese dip we made.

11. For the spicy tuna wraps add a row of the tuna mix.

12. Slowly start rolling your sushi together making sure all of the ingredients are being secured tightly just as if you were rolling a burrito. Roll till the end and if you need more water to seal add more.

*If your wrap tears wrap a second nori sheet to keep everything together*

13. You can eat it like this as a sushi burrito pictured below, or you can slice it up for bite size sushi pieces. I usually make 5 to 6 pieces of sushi from each roll.

Both versions of the vegan sushi are delicious and filling. Of course you can add or take away ingredients to your liking but this is my favorite combo. The flavors together create heaven in your mouth from the crispy tofu slices and the sweet cream cheese with the light fresh veggies and the spicy tuna with the crunch from the crispy onions again with the veggies it is so yummy together! There is nothing that cant be prepared vegan friendly grab some sweet chili sauce and dig in!

~Peace begins with your plate~