Food is your medicine!

Let's talk about Ayurveda for a moment.... What is Ayurveda, anyway?

Ayurveda means “knowledge of life” and is the ancient study and science of digestion.  Ayurveda considers food to be your medicine. Everything that you put into your body, or digest, whether it is food, air, water, environment, or thought-- all of these things affect the wholeness of your being, or your health. Ayurveda accounts for your dosha (body type) when determining what types of foods and activities are best for you. 

In Ayurveda, the idea is that the easier it is to digest your food, the more energy you may have to heal your own body. Almost 60% of your energy goes to the digestion of your meals each day. Ayurveda recommends consuming foods and liquids that are easy to digest and refraining from putting a lot of toxins into the body like caffeine and nicotine which are difficult to process.What if you could use less energy processing food and eliminating toxins...leaving more energy for your body to use for healing? 

Makes sense to me!

Eat Taste Heal is the new cookbook I have just ordered that is bursting with Ayurveda recipes and information on how to heal yourself through your food. I am so excited to add this book to my culinary library and try out some new recipes! Don't worry I'll give you the scoop!

Until we meet again....happy eating!

What is your DOSHA? Wait...what IS a dosha?

I, like most people, love to take quizzes to find out more about myself. I have taken every quiz I can find, personality tests, IQ tests, numerology, astrology.....you name it! So, when my yoga instructor for the teacher training program I am in told us we were going to take a dosha test I was super excited....even though I had no earthly idea what a dosha was. There are 3 types of doshas, or body types, according to Ayurveda: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Every individual has a little of each of the three doshas, but there is often one (or sometimes 2) that is more dominant than the others. I happen to be a Vata dosha....bigtime! Like, my middle name should be Vata.

Vata types are typically very thin with prominent joints and have trouble gaining weight. The elements represented in the Vata dosha are air and space, very movement oriented. When out of balance, a Vata dosha will have anxiety and nervousness. The air and space elements keep the Vata continually in motion, so it is important that Vata types do things to ground themselves.....like eating earthy foods and doing restorative yoga.  There are even lists of foods that will help balance out the Vata dosha and foods to avoid eating. 

If you are interested in what type of dosha you are, find out by clicking the link below and taking the short quiz:

http://doshaquiz.chopra.com/

Kitchari-didgeridoo

Kitchari is the first vegan food that I have ever cooked. It is a rice and bean dish, like a stew, and is very easily digestible. The base is split yellow mung dal (split peas) and basmati rice. You can add any vegetables to the rice, the suggested vegetables for your dosha type are listed on Ayurveda Institute recipe, which you can access by clicking on the link below.

KITCHARI RECIPE

This dish is particularly nourishing and will not make you feel heavy or bloated. It gives you lots of energy and can help regulate your digestion. (Careful not to consume it for every meal or constipation can result.) The mung dal is one of the most easily digested foods and will leave you feeling great!

I like to add a few shakes of Dr. Braggs Amino Acids (soy sauce substitute) and lots of fresh cilantro on top! The aromas of the spices cooking always fills my house with the most beautiful scents. My family has surprisingly taken to the kitchari very fast and now we usually have some on hand for work and school lunches. It's easy to reheat and doesn't lose any flavor in the fridge!

Kitchari is fun to eat and fun to make and even fun to say.....we can't help but embellish this one at our house, singing, "Kitchari-didgeridoo!!"

A Long Time Ago in a Cookie-Jar Far Far Away.....

Cookie cutters/stamps from William Sonoma catalog. Adorable and they work perfectly!! Two thumbs up! Great gift idea for sci-fi fans who seem to already have everything.

Ain't nothin' but a GHEE thang...

GHEE!! 

I have only recently started using and making my own ghee. Ghee is really just a fancy name for clarified butter. It is infinitely better for you than butter or margarine because all of the impurities have been removed, such as saturated fat and milk solids. Ghee can help lubricate the connective tissues in your body, promoting flexibility, which makes it a favorite food of yogis worldwide. You can use it in place of cooking oil, butter or margarine and is even tasty as a spread on bagels and muffins. 

A few months ago I made my first batch of ghee on my stovetop at home. I was warned by a friend, "Don't buy ghee, it's too expensive and it's just so easy to make." So I looked up the recipe on Ayurveda Institute's webiste: (http://www.ayurveda.com/online_resource/ghee_recipe.htm) and started making my list of ingredients...one pound unsalted butter. After returning from the store with my unsalted butter, I realized that I didn't have any cheesecloth. Excited to even need an advanced-cooking type supply like cheesecloth, I hauled myself back to the grocery store to buy a package of that and an airtight, glass container with a lid.

Finally prepared, I got to work. Having no real idea of what I was doing, I tried to follow the recipe as closely as I could. It wasn't terribly difficult, but it was messy. The butter pops and splatters everywhere as the saturated fat rises to the top. This I wasn't prepared for at all. My daughter, aged 13, wandered into the kitchen at this point and exclaimed, "Are you doing a science experiment in here? What's all the bubbling for?" My suggestion is to use a deep pot, like a soup pot, so the splatters won't totally coat your entire kitchen floor and counter and stovetop surfaces. 

The final result was a big tub of ghee that lasted us over 2 months! It is shelf stable, but it is very important to only scoop ghee out of the container with a clean, dry utensil. If water or bacteria get into the ghee it can easily spoil. The health benefits of ghee are enormous and grow as it ages. 

So, I ran out of ghee yesterday making a batch of kitchari (an ayurvedic food, sort of like a rice soup), and my family is already clamoring for more! Who knew they would take to ghee so quickly? One of my tasks today is to make some more. I hope that my kitchen can withstand a thorough coating in clarified butter and a brisk cleaning afterwards.