1/12/11 Wednesday—Snow Day! How to Make Paneer & Nick's Best Crepes Ever.

Happy Snow Day!!!  Philadelphia schools are CLOSED!!  Truthfully, I had already decided that even if they didn’t close I was keeping Luke out of school for the day.  We needed a family day, and when it snows, the time spent seems somehow more nostalgic.  

We woke up late AGAIN! It was beautiful.  Nick took off today too and made the best crepes I have ever had.  I made a carmelized apple filling for them and we topped them with lemon juice and sugar.  So so good.  I took pics just because I can’t seem to help it.  Now that I can upload from my phone right to my blog…watch out!  Videos will be next.  ;) 


Scroll to the bottom of this page to see how to make paneer. 

I did abhyanga then meditated for 5 minutes then yoga for only 20 minutes…terrible.  Felt too hungry to go on.  If I was doing everything perfectly I would probably be doing an hour of yoga every day and meditating in the morning and when I got home.   There’s just so much more I should be doing…but I can’t seem to fit it in…even on a snow day.  I’m hoping that I will just naturally get better as I keep practicing.  Hopefully regular life will just organically become Ayurvedic life.   I hope it works out that way…I’m not really into forcing total discipline on my life.  It seems too violent an approach to such a holistic lifestyle.  

7:00  Notes from the day.  Stomach, full but felt pretty good today.  Started the herbs the other doctor recommended today, and cooked with coconut oil to help the stomach stuff.  Too early to tell if it is helping.   Pain—uncomfortable in my back and legs.  Radiating pain in my back (not due to pulling it out yesterday.)   Although that pain pretty much gone.   My old body took 4 days to get over my back going out…yoga body=1 day…amazing.   As pain goes, I think I am getting more and more used to it.  Mood—very good, except a little short tempered with Luke who seemed really edgy by the end of the day. 

Food 

Brunch: BEST CREPES EVER!! Nick's recipe: In blender-- about 6 eggs, pour in enough water to equal egg liquid, 2 TBS butter (or more) 1 TBS sugar, 3 TBS Namaste flour.  Lightly butter nonstick pan, then pour in batter and swirl pan around to spread. 

 Caramelized apples with cardamom, cinnamon and sugar.
Sprinkled with lemon and powdered sugar.  Yes that's bacon in the 
picture!!  I can't help it...I am weak!!

 Bananas sliced very thin with 

maple syrup and powdered sugar.

Snack: 2 organic Medjool Dates

Dinner:  Butternut Squash Dal with Paneer, bok choy and cashews
Base recipe is from: Vazhayila.com  but I used Moong Dal instead of lentils, added more onion.  Added paneer sauteed  with the onion and spices.  And topped with baby bok choy which I cut up and sauteed with coconut oil and topped with toasted cashews.  It was really good.  


Snack 2 (too late 8:30pm) Hot tea with raw honey and 4 chocolate chip 
gluten free mini cookies...why can't I be more disciplined!

Paneer:  
In Ayurveda, cow's milk is considered the most sacred of all types of milk.  It is also very sattvic (pure, beneficial to all doshas), and the only food to nourish all 7 tissues (blood, muscles, fat, bones, marrow and reproductive tissue) within hours of consumption.  Supposedly all other foods take months to work through all the tissues.  It is also said that for milk to be beneficial it must be boiled to make it easier to digest.  It should be raw, (not homogenized) and, it should, of course, be organic.

 

Step 1

Bring 5 cups of whole, organic raw milk to boil.  
Add 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 TBS at a time until milk starts to separate.
Milk will begin to curdle.

Step 2

 After milk has completely separated strain through cheese cloth and set on counter under weight.  I put a salad dish on the counter and then a screen so the paneer can continue to drain, then my cast iron pan.
You can reuse the remaining watery liquid instead of using lemon juice for a more mild paneer next time. 

Step 3

                  This small amount of paneer will set in about 30              minutes.  After it has set, remove the cheese cloth and use however you like. 

Your paneer is ready to eat!

Notes:  If it is too acidic, use less lemon juice the next time. I have eaten it with maple syrup and it was very good, but I usually saute it in spices and use it in dal.   Store like you would tofu, covered in filtered water.  Ayurveda says to cook every meal fresh and never use leftovers, but because that is nearly impossible for me I have eaten it up to 2 days after cooking it and it still tasted wonderful. 



 Going to watch a season 2 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and play darts with my family…yay!