Just Another Day In Paradise

Sourdough kefir bread

Delicious!!!

 

How to make fluffy biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup butter

3/4 cup buttermilk milk kefir 

Directions:

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add the soft butter and mix lightly with a fork or spatula.

Add kefir, stirring well until mixture forms a soft dough. Knead gently on a lightly-floured surface. Roll the dough about 3/4-inch thick and cut into 12-14 circles. 

Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden.

 

My cultured kitchen

Here is a tour of my kitchen. I have most of these bowls and jars in the cabinets and on whatever free counter space I can find. 

In the blue bowl I'm soaking flour with kefir to make pancakes for tomorrow's breakfast and in the yellow bowl I'm soaking red beans for tomorrow night's dinner. The small green bowl on top of the yellow bowl has a few rinsed egg shells which I put in the kefir water to give minerals to the grains. 

Next to our refrigerator I'm brewing espresso coffee grounds in a half gallon Ball mason jar in cold water to make the Perfect Iced Coffee. On the right I'm doing a second fermentation with blackberry syrup to make probiotic blackberry juice.

In this cabinet I'm making water kefir in the half gallon mason jar on the left, fermented kimchi in the middle mason jar and milk kefir in the quart size mason jar on the right.

Right next to my coffee maker I'm fermenting some kombucha tea. The SCOBY keeps growing more every week. I usually peel off the SCOBY baby and feed it to the chickens. They love it! ;-)

Here is my Yogourmet yogurt maker sitting n the counter next to my Kitchenaid.

Homemade blackberry probiotic juice

Kefir water

Fresh blackberries

Press the blackberries through a foood mill.

Strain through a plastic mesh strainer.

Enjoy! :-)

A few of our favorite drinks

Kambucha, Water kefir soda, Milk kefir

Fresh water kefir grains- How to make water kefir and some extra grains for sale

Tools Required:

• Plastic strainer
• Plastic or stainless steel measuring spoons
• Plastic or stainless steel measuring cups
• Half gallon mason jar
• Glass or plastic pitchers 

 Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup water kefir grains 
• 1 cup organic sugar
• 1/2 a organic lemon
• 1 thick slice fresh organic ginger, peeled
• 1/2 gallon filtered water (never use tap water because it contains chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride which will kill the grains)
• 1/2 rinsed pastured egg shell (water kefir grains can not survive without plenty of minerals. Pastured egg shells are a great source of minerals for your grains)

Directions:

Fill your half gallon mason jar with filtered water not quite to the top.

Add the sugar, lemon, ginger and rinsed egg shell. Stir or put a lid on and shake until the sugar is dissolved. Be very careful not to crack the egg shell.

Add the kefir grains.

Cover very loosely with a plastic lid (putting the lid on tightly could cause the jar to explode due to the natural carbonation process taking place). Put the jar in a cupboard for 24 hours but no longer than 72 hours. Leaving kefir grains longer than 72 hours is not good because at some point they will run out of sugar to eat and begin to starve.  This can damage and even kill the kefir grains. Shake your jar 2-3 times per day during this process.

To start a new batch of water kefir, remove the lemon, ginger and egg shell. Strain the water kefir into a glass or plastic jug through a mesh strainer to collect your kefir grains. I use this beautiful fruit infusion jug.

Set the grains aside and follow the instructions above. Replace the egg shell.

1/3 cup of fresh water kefir grains $5.00 plus $5.50 Priority shipping

 

Fruit infused water kefir

For the past few months I have been making water kefir for our family, but the kids haven't been drinking it as much as I would like because it's a bit plain- there is not much flavor to it. Fortunately, last week I saw this lovely Takeya Fruit Infusion Jug on Amazon and I immediately fell in love with it. :) It's leak-proof and it has a screen to hold back the fruit while pouring. I decided to strain the water kefir into the infusion jug after it has fermented overnight and I started adding raspeberries, lemon slices, ginger slices and fresh mint from our garden. It looks so pretty too! This has been the perfect solution to my dilema. Now the kids and I drink all 66 oz. every day and every morning I make a fresh batch of water kefir. 

Here are some benefits to drinking water kefir.

Kefir pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 kefir
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into kefir. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Kefir smoothies

2 cups of kefir

2 cups frozen strawberries

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 cup fresh spinach

6 grape tomatoes

1/2 cup carrots

1/4 cup honey

or you can make kefir popsicles. These popsicles are actually really good. My kids have been eating 2 popsicles a day. Just don't tell them I put spinach and carrots in it. ;-)

How to make milk kefir- picture tutorial

Place kefir grains in a clean wire mouth glass jar.

For 2 tablespoons of grains add 2 cups of organic milk. Cover jar loosely, and allow to sit at room temperature, out of direct sunlight for 12-24 hours.

After 12-24 hours, strain the kefir into a clean glass jar using a stainless steel strainer. 

You now have fresh kefir.

Place the grains back into the same jar and repeat steps.

Here are some of the known kefir health benefits:

1. Strongest natural remedy against any allergy
2. Strongest natural antibiotic without side effects
3. Treats liver disease
4. Treats gallbladder, dissolves gall bladder stones
5. Clears the body of salts, heavy metals, radionuclides, and alcoholic products
6. Cleans the body of chemical antibiotics
7. Treats kidney stones
8. Good bacteria in kefir are able to fight off pathogenic microorganisms
9. Lowers level of LDL cholesterol
10. Cleans the gastrointestinal tract
11. Irritable Bowel Syndrome
12. Treats gastritis
13. Treats pancreatitis
14. Treats ulcers
15. Prevents and treats colon cancer
16. Improves digestion
17. Improves the body functions
18. Improves the human immune system
19. Cures Candida
20. Cures hypertension
21. Stops growth of cancer cells
22. Speeds up healing process
23. Treats psoriasis
24. Treats eczema
25. Treats inflammatory diseases
26. Reduces size of tumors
27. Treats heart disease
28. Reverses calcination of blood vessels
29. Clears the blood vessels
30. Boosts the bodies energy
31. Natural “feel good” food
32. Treats lung infections
33. Normalizes metabolism thereby can be used as for weight loss
34. Cures acne
35. Has anti-oxidants and anti-aging properties
36. Nourishes hair
37. Treats the gum disease parodontosis
38. Lessens effects of medicines
39. Replenishes body of good bacteria after antibiotic
40. Balances the microflora of the body’s digestive system
41. Regulates blood pressure
42. Lowers blood sugar
43. Lowers blood lipid levels or cholesterol and fatty acids
44. Treats diarrhea
45. Treats constipation
46. Promotes bowel movement
47. Anti-stress properties
48. Treats sleeping disorders
49. Treats depression
50. Treats attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
51. Improves the brains neuro functions like reflexes, memory retention, attention, the five senses
52. Reduces flatulence
53. Lactic acid fermentation enhances the digestibility of milk based foods. People who cannot otherwise digest milk, can enjoy the vital calcium rich Kefir.
54. Treats yeast infection
55. Eliminates vaginal odors
56. Cures wrinkles
57. Treats arthritis
58. Treats colitis
59. Treats gout
60. Cures migranes
61. Treats rheumatism
62. Treats other stomach disorders
63. Detoxifies the body
64. Improves protein quality of milk, and enhances absorption and digestion
65. Good bacteria manufacture B vitamins such as B3, B6 and folic acid.
66. Aids in treating tuberculosis
67. Treats stomach cramps
68. Treats chronic intestine infections
69. Treats liver infections
70. Treats asthma
71. Treats bronchitis
72. Treats sclerosis
73. Treats anemia
74. Treats hepatitis
75. Healing effects on catarrh, digestive nodes, astral nodes, bilious complaints
76. Treats leaky gut syndrome
77. Prevents metastasis
78. Cures bad morning breath

 

Lacto-fermented cooking

Last week I was introduced to lacto fermententation by a dear friend. (I'm also making my own kefir, which is how I make the whey to lacto-ferment the food, but that's another post.) I have been having so much fun making all sorts of different foods. I love opening my refrigerator and seeing all those glass jars full of healthy and delicious food for my family. 

So far I have made lacto-fermented hummus,

lacto-fermented redneck caviar,

lacto-fermented ranch dressing

lacto-fermented cucumbers,

and lacto-fermented salsa.

I also made lacto-fermented apple sauce, but that was eaten the first day and lacto-fermented mayonnaise, which I used to make the dressing. This weekend I'm going to make some probiotic potato salad. 

More pictures to come soon. :-)