Ghee Oil

I've finally taken it upon myself to try making some ghee oil, which is a very crucial pillar of which a lot of Ayurvedic nutrition is based on.  Ghee oil, which has many other names such as clarified butter, is the oil in butter separated from the milk solids (whey protein).  This oil is believed to have many nutritional and spiritual properties,  but I won't get into those, as it's your own journey.  The oil, when separated, can be left at room temperature, as the milk solids are what cause it to go off.  It just hardens, similar to coconut oil.

It's very simple.  You just basically boil a whole block of good quality, unsalted butter on medium-low for a while until you see the milk solids (white foamy stuff seen in the picture below) separate.

The next part, from my research is sort of up to you.  Some people like to leave it boiling for a while longer, while the milk solids slowly become a little more brown (hopefully not burning!).  When we separate the milk solids later, they can be used for various things.  One of which I've come across is the famous Gulab Jamun dessert dish, also from India, which involves fried balls using this part of the butter, then drenched in a honey spice sugar paste.  They're amazing, I'll try making them at some point.  Anyway, next part.

So to separate the milk solids from the oil, I got a cheesecloth, which is like a fabric strainer, and is super cheap.  I still used a fine strainer, but put the cheesecloth in it, for maximum filtering!  This then left me with this.

Big bowl a' golden beauty

This picture cannot properly emphasize the amazing colour of this golden behemoth of health.  So that's basically it.  Very easy, just boil, not too much, then strain out milk solids.  Put them in a separate baggie for the fridge but they apparently freeze great too.  I put my ghee oil into an old honey jar.

Didn't yield a ton, but ideally I'd make a bunch at a time.  Also, if you buy ghee oil straight from a store, your wallet will hurt worse.  Either that or your health will.  Probably both.  Your choice!

Ayurvedic Quinoa Breakfast

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I've been reading a fair amount about the Ayurvedic lifestyle of India.  Very early on, however, so some things may be incorrect.  Anyway, to the recipe.  This makes a fair amount by the way.  Most things I'll post here will, because I'm a fan of making things in bulk to save time and money.

1.5 cups of cooked quinoa

-to cook, just make sure you have a 2:1 ratio of water to quinoa, bring to boil, then reduce heat to        medium for as long as it takes to evaporate all water, and to make quinoa fluffy.  Different stoves have different medium settings, so I won't give an exact time.  For me personally, it was about 8 minutes on medium using a gas stove.

1 can of coconut milk
-CAREFUL with the ingrediants, as not all are created equal.  I usually look for just 2 ingrediants - coconout extract and water

2/3 cup almonds
-soaked in water for time it takes quinoa to cook

2/3 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup of shredded coconut
-just coconut.  nothing else.  why is this a difficult task food production standards?!

2/3 cup raisins

3/4 cup dates
-cut into a littler pieces, so they don't intimidate the raisins

Small, 1/4 cup-ish piece of fresh ginger grated

cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg
-ratio of 3:1:2 in the above order, experiment though with your own ratios.

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
-to make your own: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/how-to-make-vanilla-extract/ , saves a lot of money

Put all of the above ingredients into a big pot (or wok, my preference) just to cook for about 5 minutes.  With the quinoa being already cooked, you're just meshing things together a little here and warming them up. Afterwards:

Cut a pear into small pieces to serve with quinoa breakfast, and drizzle with honey or maple syrup.  Add some milk (I used goat, but use what your constitution/diet allow) to cool.

Enjoy!

Red Sunrise

Thanks to my past experience of working at booster juice for this recipe.

Note:  This requires a juicer.

Nicest colour!  Deeeep dark red.

All it takes is a bunch of red beets, carrots and oranges (I put in some Swiss Chard too for added health).

I'm going to guess the beats/carrot/orange ratio is about  2/2/1.

If it's not sweet enough just add more oranges!  Easy peasy.  Gives the good feels.

Greens juice

Got quite a bit of green juice here!  What went in:

1 whole cucumber (these produce a lot of juice! great ingredient for juicing)

a bunch of heads of dino and red kale (pictured) 

2 whole carrots

4 heads of swiss chard

I'm new to juicing, but I've noticed some key things that are helpful.  First, make sure there's a nice balance of tastes, it's easy to make a juice taste bad if there's too much of things that aren't sweet, like kale, spinach, etc.  It's nice to bring back some sweeter vegetables like carrots (make juices much much nicer) and cucumbers.  These are great helpers in this department. Fruits are obvious sweeteners too, and often provide lots of juice too.

Here's the muscle.  An omega juicer, which is working great so far.  Basically, the bulk of this is just a motor (inside white part) I believe, and the rest just turns and crushes the vegetables (lovingly) and produces juice from the bottom tubing, and outputs the waste, or pulp through the horizontal opening at the end, which I'm learning acts as great fertilizer in a garden.  Everything must be used effectively!

Yellow Smoothie, Earth Tea

This smoothie is great, and very very easy.

1 banana

Tumeric - a decent amount, to your liking

Cinnamon - a dash of

Ginger - I like ginger, so I put quite a decent chunk of fresh ginger in

Ice - Put some in to blend, then put more in after it's blended and just blend partially to get some nice texture

3rd chakra drink - Power center, energy, willpower. associated with the power of fire and digestion.  interesting that turmeric is said to be a great digestive aid.

This might be the healthiest little brew I've cooked up.  Can be a little expensive because of certain ingredients. 

Matcha Green Tea - small scoop (there's lots of different kinds, I use DoMatcha)

Lemon - A half or full juiced one

Ginger - Same as the yellow smoothie

Cayenne Pepper - A sprinkle, this is a great digestive spice (also is great to put in cuts! who knew?)

Goji Berries - I got mine from the bulk barn, probably the cheapest I could find, these guys can get pricey

Hot Water

Vanilla chai breakfast quinoa with bluebs

First recipe on this blog.  I made this one myself.  Some of the recipes found here may just be borrowed from others, though I usually tweak things.  Also, I make most things in BULK so they last multiple meals and saves time and money.  Speaking of money, I'll be taking rough swings at the general pricing of most things.

VANILLA CHAI BREAKFAST QUINOA with BLUEBS (blueberries)
1.5 cups quinoa - set out to soak in water for a while, maybe a half hour.  then wash them in a strainer.
1 can coconut milk - try for minimal ingredients list, hopefully just coconut extract and water.
Unsweetened almond milk - amount varies depending on how you want the consistency to be.
Vanilla extract - pour a little.  as much as your budget allows.  this stuff can be expensive, I recommend making your own (vanilla beans soaking in vodka for a few weeks)
Shredded coconut - as garnish
Frozen canadian wild blueberries! - just a bunch, I put lots.
Buncha of Canadian natural maple syrup - to however sweet you want it to be, if not sweet enough, just add more.

Herbs/spices (To recreate chai flavour)
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Cardamom
Cocoa
Salt

I don't like to put too many amounts, because I think you should explore what you prefer.  The goal here, as mentioned, is just to recreate a chai flavour.  So some general guidelines: Not too much cardmom, it's a strong one.  Lots of cinnamon and nutmeg, these guys work well together.  Just a dash of salt.  As much cocoa as your chocolate-y desires allow.  The batch above doesn't have too much.

That's basically it! Although, some things I prefer to put in as well are some handfuls of walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and recently I've been putting chia seeds or hemp hearts on top.  Most of these are pricey so I put them as optional, but they add a great texture.  Especially the walnuts and pumpkin seeds.  These are all health kings too, so the more of these the better in my current view.

HOW TO MAKE
1) Bring 4 cups of water to boil with the quinoa already in it (after it's been soaked for a while and washed)

2) Add dash of salt once boiled, and then simmer for however long it takes the quinoa to soak about 75% of the water, often can be up to 15-20 minutes with a gas stove, probably longer with an electric.

3) Then basically just add everything else, so add in the coconut milk, herbs and spices, maple syrup, all the optional nuts and seeds, and vanilla extract.

4) Add in some almond milk if it starts to get too dried up

5) Once the stews been a brewin' for a while (depending on consistency you desire, I prefer a little thickened, but still liquidy) add in the frozen blueberries, and stir until they're nice and thawed, and have shared their purple opinions with the rest of the stew.

6) If you want to impress someone, or are just celebrating your own great self, add some garnish.  I like sprinkling shredded coconut, cinnamon (can't have enough of this stuff), and more maple syrup.

7) To cool mine down I often add some almond milk after the fact.

Note:  This makes a whole bunch, so I hope you have some glass containers to store it in.   Good for multiple days.  Also, when reheating, you should use a pot with some water or almond milk added to the mix (to help liquefy it a little) as opposed to microwaving, this decreases the nutrition I've been hearing.