my love of kefir

My most recent nutritional love... kefir.
What is kefir? It's a probiotic beverage. It's like a super charged yogurt in a thick fluid like form. Here's what I love about kefir, it normally contains a large number of both live bacteria and yeast (more than 50 strains).

If you do a bit of research in nutrition and food processing history, you'll find out that when bacteria was discovered and the scientists figured out how to kill them.... they killed all bacteria in any types of processed foods. Years and years later, we're  now realizing that there are so many GOOD types of bacteria and yeast that are really beneficial to our digestive tract and just keeping our bodies in balance. 

Article explaining a bit more about good bacteria. 

And so I discovered kefir and come to find out, the kefir made in stores is made out of a kefir powder rather than a grain.... and the powder has maybe 7-9 strands of bacteria, and the home made kind made with kefir grains can contain more than 50.

Kefir is SUPER easy to make. You buy these cute little grains (not really a 'grain', like a wheat or something like that, so it's gluten free, but they are called grains any way... don't ask me why.)

from some place like culturesforlife.com and re-hydrate them for a few days. Then you pour in your milk with the grains, let them sit for 12-48 hours on your counter covered with a coffee filter and rubber band as a cover and viola! Kefir! Just strain out your grains and use them again! Put your kefir in your fridge until you want to use it! Other options for using your kefir are to bake with it, you can strain with a cheese cloth and make kefir cheese or I've made a home-made ranch before!

I've been trying to make a smoothie for the boys and I almost everyday. I like the idea of getting probiotics in them this way rather than through processed probiotics. I'll write more on why another time!

Here's the smoothie I made today. SO good. A tip I found on another blog, can't remember where, was to put in frozen watermelon chunks into your smoothie. It makes it extra yummy. And that's a scientific fact. Trust me.

Summer Peach Kefir Smoothie

1 cup Kefir (I use homemade)

2 fresh peaches (or frozen)

1/2 ripe banana

4 large chunks of frozen watermelon

1-2 tablespoons of raw local honey

4-6 ice cubes

Put all ingredients together in the blender, starting with the liquids first and blend!

SO good! Summer in a glass!

And my boys always ask for more! Win!