{phfr} (and resurrecting milk kefir)

7% battery now - no time to check tag for name!

Wow! I love this online journal/space what have you that I keep.  Just wish I was here more.  Moving on!
 
Linking up for {pretty, happy, funny, real} at LMLD!

Pretty
Pretty yellow flowers in our front bed.  I aim for edible landscape but these were too pretty to not have. haha! Actually they are off of the deep almost dead clearance rack at Lowe's from a couple of months ago.  And I do aim for edible/purposeful and I guess beauty has a great purpose, but I tend to be more practical.  Anyway!  Gosh I'm a bit sassy! But computer battery at 8% and I type now or never so no deleting! Again, anyway: Aren't they pretty?

Happy
A friend of our was ordained a priest! Yippee!!! It was so amazing so amazing to receive a blessing from him and hear him speak the words of consecration.  Awesome.  Praise you Jesus!

Family blessing.

Funny

The kids while "we" bake bread.  It's a ROYAL mess that makes Tyler's skin crawl...poor dear! But it is lots of giggles and yeast-y feasting on raw dough!  The chic is crazy! And I LOVE you that way my sweet Rita!  I eat up all of your silliness!

Yeast anyone?

Bliss.  Pure Bliss.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the floured eye lashes.  That precious baby boy of mine.

Mmmm

Ninja baking skills!

Real

Does your milk kefir look like this? Sad, disgusting, pathetic, etc.?

Does it illicit girlish and squeamish comments from your otherwise very manly husband?

Yes, it can be remedied.

Carefully.  Oh so carefully.

So that you can save your kefir grains for a time when life is a bit more quiet (and the heat isn't rapidly culturing your milk at 4x the speed it happens in winter).

1. Strain the kefir, as I've taught you.

2. Put just enough milk into the fresh jar to cover the grains.

3. Cover.

4. Label so that you don't wonder why on earth there is a jar with milk in the fridge when you are cleaning your fridge, and throw it out...

5. Put into the refrigerator for safe keeping.

Whole 30 Experience {phfr}

PRETTY: Lacto-fermenting Swiss chard stems

Remember this post?

Well, a year later I finally went to the end of ends and did clean, whole food eating via Whole30 for 50+ days.

Linking-up for {pretty, happy, funny, real} with LMLD!

REAL
I can say that I had a HORRID sugar addiction.  Like, mean, angry, hateful, give me that cookie dozen of cookies or else!!!!  Bingeing on ice cream (hello 1/4 gallon of ice cream for breakfast) eating an entire loaf of homemade bread, myself, in one day, with a generous 4tbsp of butter to go along, etc. were weekly happenings.

My sugar addiction rolled into carb land and bam! no surprise I was battling yeast imbalance for so, so long.

Some weeks into my life, post-Whole 30 and me and Tyler are both itching to do another.

But truly, I'm fine with having GOOD cheese, yummy milk, homemade grits, a bit of local rice, you know, REAL food.

I know my passion is organic and local.  Sometimes I lean towards organic more, but often I'm just happy to put back into our Louisiana economy.

Whole 30 was awesome but if sweet potatoes are your only carbs and you want to eat local, you can be up a creek if it isn't the Fall...just a thought.

Growing our own food doesn't get any more local and I can choose organic seeds/plants which is awesome.  Just today I harvested the first batch of organic cucumbers (eight) and a reusable shopping bag full of organic Swiss chard.  I'm praying the patron saint of gardening helps our tomatoes to be plentiful and healthy this season, as well as all of our veggies.  My sweet husband is long due for homegrown tomatoes.

Local and organic and home-grown all lend towards whole food eating, and that makes me HAPPY.

I'm trying out a lacto-fermenting recipe for Swiss chard stems.  Hoping Rita likes this "pink food!"

Anyway, I really loved Whole30.  It was a great "reset" and having Tyler join me was such a blessing!

MORE HAPPY: First harvest! Swiss chard already de-stemmed and two cucumbers were still lost in chard oblivion in the sink.

Probiotic Gift: Kefir

A dear friend of ours shared his kefir grains with us a few months ago.  This is one of the greatest gifts!


Since then I have been "making" homemade kefir every few days.


Not only is it delicious, filled with more probiotic power than yogurt (although we still do enjoy our homemade yogurt) and a great milk substitute, but it is so simple.


Milk substitute?
Here are a few ways we substitute our homemade kefir for milk:

• cereal and kefir
• a nice tall glass of kefir
• half milk and half kefir when mixing-up macaroni and cheese

Another way to enjoy kefir is

• drizzled over sliced and diced fresh fruit

Kefir "grains," our pets with a purpose!

I was going to take step-by-step photos for you...but really I think it might be better with the few pictures I've captured.  It will embrace the simplicity of the kefir.


So, first you would need to acquire kefir "grains*."  They aren't grains... and science has never been able to reproduce them - the stuff sold in the grocery isn't true kefir.  They have traditionally been given, not sold (although that's no longer true) and the origins date back further than your brain might believe.  These little organisms grow rapidly, are alive (first pet anyone?!) and truly a gift of God!


Once kefir grains are acquired, pour some creamy organic whole milk over the grains, cover (no metal)  and let sit for 12-24 hours.  Because the kefir is fermenting the milk, the longer you wait the more curdled and sour your kefir will be.  If you wait long enough, you can join Miss Muffet and chow on some curds and whey!

Simple homemade kefir...much less involved than yogurt.

Whenever you decide your kefir is ready (I usually shake over the sink and then get a little smell to check), strain the kefir, using a colander (metal ok since contact is short), into a bowl/jar (glass recommended).  


Use a wooden spoon (or rubber or plastic, just not metal) to gently stir the grains to make sure I get as much kefir as possible.  If a few grains fall into your kefir, no prob bob!  The grains are super healthy for you and can be eaten, or you can fish them out and reunite them to their buddies (just make sure your hands are very clean!).


Here you can add a step of straining the kefir with cheesecloth to remove the whey - but we don't mind the whey and I love cutting out a step!


Put the kefir grains in a clean jar.


Pour more creamy yummy organic whole milk over your grains and cover (no metal).


Take the strained kefir and pour that into its own jar.  This should last 2-3 days (some websites say 7-10 but it is usually gone before then anyway) in the refrigerator.  I find it helpful to put a sticky note with the date strained on the jar.


We prefer our kefir chilled, and it pours over ice nicely.  It also makes a great sort of filling snack for car rides and comes out of a sippy cup with no problem.

Sippy cup friendly!

And the perfect bedtime snack.

* The amount of kefir grains you see (about 1/4 cup) easily makes one quart of kefir in about 18 hours (depending on the temperature of the house).  We currently have the AC blasting most of the time to accommodate us in the immense humidity and heat of South Louisiana, but if we were a bit more frugal with the temperature settings, the kefir would likely be ready in 12 hours.  On a smaller scale, two to three tablespoons of grains easily makes a pint of kefir in 12 hours!

Have you had homemade kefir?  Do you find homemade yogurt overwhelming?

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