Pepper Paints

I Am Sharing My Kefir Grains…. Enter My Give-A-Way!!

OK–this is the third time I have tried to write this post. I am out of time and patience so it’s not going to be all that I wanted it to be–which is so hard for the perfectionist Virgo side of me! But here it is………..In a nutshell

I went to a kefir and yogurt making workshop a few weeks ago hosted by Warren Taylor of Snowville Creamery. (I LOVE Snowville…their products as well as all they stand for!!! And after the demo I have a huge crush on Warren too!)

He is a wealth of information and a great speaker. He is a self proclaimed dairy evangelist. Most of the photos I took of him look like this

He never stops moving or talking! His love for yogurt and kefir and all things dairy is infectious! The most exciting part of the demo was all we learned about kifer and kefir grains. (yes I know I spelled them differently)

The grains look like small pieces of cauliflower. He showed us a large  container of fermented milk with the living kefir grains in it. Next he strained out the grains.

The colander held the living grains

And the kefir that was ready to drink was strained out into the bowl (and then into a pitcher)

A small taste of the keifr was passed around for all to try

It was delicious!! I loved it!! all sour, fizzy and unsweetened. From the first taste I was hooked! My friends prefer their kefir made into a smoothie-I like mine straight up! And first thing in the morning, to coat my belly and intestines with all those good bacteria. Mmmmm   Even those that are lactose intolerant find they can tolerate fermented dairy products.

We were each sent home with a small amount of kefir grains to make our own kefir.

About 2 Tablespoons worth. I brought them home and put them in a small amount of Snowville milk and let them sit for a day and then strained and drank the kefir and added more milk to the grains etc.. etc.. over the past few weeks.

Here is a photo of my kefir. The grains are on the top and the whey has settled to the bottom. A good shake after straining mixes it all up .This photo was taken about over a week ago and I have almost double the amount. My kefir grains are healthy and multiplying like crazy!!

Now I have so many grains I can share them with one lucky reader!! Aren’t you so excited!

I will send the winner approximately 2 Tablespoons of my kefir grains and directions for how to take care of them.

If you want to be entered in the Keifr Grain Give-A-Way leave a comment below. If you tweet about this give-a-way leave another comment telling me.The same goes if  you link back to this give-a-way or if you share it on facebook. So you really have four different ways to enter.

I will close comments and announce the winner Tuesday mid-morning.  (2/15/2011)

Good Luck!!!!!

Thursday’s Recipe – Pumpkin Smoothie

From Better Homes and Gardens (who gave no specific ingredient amounts in their recipe!)

Pumpkin Smoothie

In a blender mix together 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin with vanilla yogurt (I added more for sweetness), a banana (I added 1 1/2 bananas), a spoonful of peanut butter (I used a small spoonful), a handful of ice cubes and some milk to thin.

Thursday’s Recipe – Super Easy, Home Made CrockPot Yogurt

The chef and I have been very busy in the kitchen this summer!

I have always wanted to make my own yogurt but never found a recipe that looked easy enough. Until now!!

This is the recipe I followed.

It was ridiculously simple.

Because this is unsweetened I have been using it like sour cream as well as yogurt. Over the top of grated cucumbers with lots of salt and pepper Mmmm-In smoothies, over fruit with a little maple syrup. Oh boy-a half gallon of milk’s worth of yogurt did not last long around here!!

Are there any home made yogurt experts out there that could answer some of my questions??? Like in addition to starter can I add more probiotics to make a super cultured yogurt? I am not sure if they would grow. I am also interested in making some non dairy non soy yogurts…Oh the possibilities!!

Thursday’s Recipe …. Green Popsicles

Ginger wanted a popsicle for breakfast, a big homemade green one!

We have been slurrping down many a green smoothie lately and when there are some left overs  I fill up the popsicle molds with the extras. I know this isn’t rocket science. But it sure is tasty! This tropical flavor is by far the most requested morning smoothie and popsicle combination we make.

I fill half of  my vita-mix with spinach (packed down) add some fresh pineapple, a frozen banana and some frozen mango. Then I pour in a little bit-maybe 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of coconut milk and a little water.

These make a nice tropical treat!

Thursday’s Recipe ….. Raw Pad Thai With Kelp Noodles

Kelp noodles=heaven! Oh my, I can’t believe how good these are. Excellent texture! If you are local you can buy them at the Clintonville Community Market on Crestview.

I know every week I rave about how good my recipes are—and I am biased because I really do like to eat—but this Pad Thai is awesome!!!

For 1 package of kelp noodles

4 to 5 Tablespoons  nut butter

1 Tablespoon hot sauce

1 Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoon tamari1 teaspoon vinegar

2 teaspoons seseme oil

1/4 cup of water

juice of 1 lime

I rinsed my kelp noodles and put them in a bowl then I  put all the above  ingredients in my vita-mix and poured it over my noodles.

Next I cut up lots of veggies and tons of cilantro. You can use any veggies you choose-I used red cabbage, scallions, pea pods, chard, shiitake mushrooms. Sprinkle a few cashews on top. Let the pad thai sit for ten or so  minutes to soften the noodles.

I have been participating in the green smoothie challenge this week.  I often drink green smoothies but not daily. I must admit I don’t really love green smoothies. But I wanted to see if I would see any benefits to drinking them daily for 2 weeks. I will let you know!

Thursday’s Quarter Recipe

Remember I used to post recipes on Thursdays and invited readers to join in the fun and link to recipe on their blogs on Thursdays? Well let’s try again!! If you need the whole sorted explanation of why I chose to call them quarter recipes you can read about it here.

So here is my meager but tasty and healthy recipe for this week.

We enjoy smoothies many mornings. On this day we mixed up a couple of frozen bananas, about 3 large handfuls of spinach,  some orange juice, a couple of tablespoons of goji berries, a couple of tablespoons of chia seeds, and a whole lot of frozen blueberries in my VITA-MIX.

I keep my chia seeds in the freezer, that’s why they look sweaty.

This may be a green smoothie, but the blueberries really make it more purple.

If you have a favorite recipe to share (it doesn’t have to be raw) leave a link in the comments to your blog’s recipe post.

Or think about joining in next week. Because I have the world’s best salad recipe to share next Thursday! (I have been eating it for days)

Thursdays Raw Recipe

The grocery stores around here have been having some great prices on fruit-some organic and some not. I try to buy organic whenever possible-which is about 90-95 % of the time. But there are a few things like pineapples and mango that I don’t often see here as an organic choice. But the last few weeks these have been really cheap. So I stocked up and have been making this smoothie over and over again with a few minor changes here and there.

These measurements are just guesses because when it comes to smoothies-I just dump things into my Vita-Mix.

1 to 1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks

1 to 2 mangos

1 frozen banana

a handful of ice

almond milk-enough to make it as thick or thin as you want

a handful of almonds

2 Tablespoons of chia seeds

2 Tablespoons of hemp seeds

dash of cinnamon

This tasted a lot like orange sherbet!  I almost always make green smoothies and adding spinach to this didn’t change the taste too much.   Other additions to this basic mixture that tasted good have been spinach, frozen strawberries, flax seeds and a cut up orange. You can pack tons of nutrition into these smoothies, which is a great start to the day!

If you have a raw recipe to share this week please leave a link to your raw post in the comments. Thanks!!