As evidence by my blog posting dates, learning about health has fallen off my radar. However, eating and living healthy have not!!! One of my favorite health secrets right now is kefir. It's a yummy way to get fermented food and probiotics into your diet. Here's what you do:
1) Get kefir "grains" from a friend (they look like the tops of cauliflower). Anyone who makes kefir has multiplying grains, so there's always plenty to share. There are also places to buy them online. I've always just asked on a local e-mail loop.
2) Get good quality milk (raw, from a farm) and put at a least a couple teaspoons of grain in a quart of milk (or how ever much kefir you want to make.) Let it sit out about half a day on the counter. You are looking for it to thicken up around the grains at the top. OR do an internet a recipe for refrigerator kefir and make it slowly in refrigerator.
3) Use a strainer to separate the grains from the kefir. Store grains in a little milk in the refrigerator till you are ready to make another batch.
4) Store kefir in fridge. In my rather picky opinion, the kefir isn't good to eat plain.
5) Make a kefir shake. Here's my recipe that I often enjoy for breakfast.
Put in to blender:
- 1 cup kefir (I use the marks on the blender itself.)
- about 1/2 a frozen banana (stored cut into small chunks)
- berries or other fruit (such as 3-4 strawberries)
- one scoop of stevia (using the scoop that comes in my stevia...it is very small..the sweetness counters the sour kefir taste.)
- a squirt of honey (stevia sweetens, but this just adds a bit of flavor)
- Cinnamon (helps blood sugar) and Nutmeg (good for adrenals)...I like the taste, but added these originally for health benefits...I have also use the above too with clove when I was worried about a possible ulcer.
- Sometimes I add a green powder or a few fresh green leaves. I like to keep it small so I don't affect the taste.
