Kefir

Hello!! Life has been busy choir concerts, birthday celebrations, changes at my work end of the school year, my dear friend J visiting from Seattle.

I guess i have a lot of catching up to do! I want to first start with a little interesting experiment I have been doing at home.
I have been making home made kefir! What is Kefir??

Kefir is a cultured, enzyme-rich food filled with friendly micro-organisms that help balance your “inner ecosystem.” More nutritious and therapeutic than yogurt, it supplies complete protein, essential minerals, and valuable B vitamins.There are many health benefits to drinking Kefir. Here is a link to check out the benefits: www.kefit.net

A woman that I work with was talking about how she makes homemade kefir and loves it. She has made smoothies and cheeses! I looked up the info and it sounded interesting along with many health benefits. She was very generous to give us some kefir grains.
I was a little creeped out at first - this is a live fungus, bacteria that I am growing in my kitchen. Yikes!
I have been very surprised - it's easy to make and the smoothies are tasty! I have lost some weight and actually feel better this is with me drinking it for a few weeks.

Here is a picture of the Kefir grains:



To make kefir you put the grains in a glass and pour about 1/2 c to a 1 cup of skim milk over the grains. Put a little plastic wrap on top of the glass. It can just stay on your counter for a 12 to 24 hours. You can let your kefir sit out longer and it will be thicker consistency. Do not let any metal touch your kefir grains. After the "culturing" process I strain my kefir into a glass bowl. You then rinse the grains with water and start the process over with the milk.
I let the kefir that was made sit in the fridge to get cold and then make a smoothie the next day Each day the grains are producing more kefir so you do not run out. The grains start to get bigger and multiply. That is is weird part! But i can share them with my family or friends if they want to get on the kefir diet!
Kefir is cleansing for your system so you are suppose to drink it for 20 days and then take a rest for 10 days. Start it up again after the 10 days!

I have been making a smoothies out of my kefir and drinking it for breakfast.

I use about a 1/3 c of frozen fruit ( I use strawberries)
1/2 c of kefir
1 tbsp of honey - you will need to adjust the taste based on how sweet you want it
throw it in my magic bullet and i have a homemade kefit smoothie for breakfast!



Enjoy!!