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!