Milk Kefir Smoothie Recipe and Information

Kefir is an absolute lifesaver for our family:

My 3 teenage boys have seasonal allergies. For the last few years, we have used milk kefir to avoid allergy symptoms.

When the boys were little we tried everything. I bought every single allergy pill on the market, some worked better than others, but after a few weeks of taking it, it would be ineffective and we would need to find something else. It was so bad, when we went to a concert in the park, the whites of the eyes would swell. (Yes, I got a little freaked out, but apparently it's "normal.")

Finally, my friend Cara gave me some milk kefir. Go here to read her post on Dairy Kefir for Seasonal Allergies. *If anyone is your family is sensitive to food changes, please read through Cara's post on healing crisis. When we first started, one of my sons did go through a detox.
It was amazing how much it helped! Within days they had no allergy symptoms! We had to be careful to give it to them every day or symptoms would return. In a pinch, I've even bought store-bought kefir and it still helped.

To be honest, my teenagers aren't very fond of the taste of milk kefir. But they ask for a smoothie every morning, because they can feel the difference it makes and it works better than any pill!

I have used pasteurized and raw milk to make kefir. I definitely recommend raw milk, but if that is not available to you right now, we still had allergy relief when we used pasteurized milk.
Kefir has other great health benefits as well, DIY Natural explains it great: How to Make Kefir and a bit about it's benefits.

Click here to purchase your own kefir grains from Cultures for Health
(Scroll down for more How-to and FAQ on Kefir.)



Every morning we drink a milk kefir smoothie:



Kefir Smoothie

Ingredients:
4 cups kefir
1 cup frozen fruit
2 tablespoons raw local honey (this also helps relieve allergy symptoms)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Blend all together in a blender.
Serves 5.





Want to know how to make kefir? It's wonderfully easy! Check out these links:

• How to Make Kefir From Whole Natural Life
• How to Make Kefir Video + FAQ from The Polivka Family
• Kefir FAQ from Homemade Mommy 
• What is kefir? from Homemade Mommy 

Click here to find out exactly what probiotics you can get from kefir:

• Milk and Water Kefir Grains From Real Food Forager

Avoiding dairy? You can still do kefir!

• Water Kefir recipes and tips from Earth Friendly Goodies
• Coconut milk kefir from Homemade Mommy 
• Coconut water kefir and coconut kefir pudding from Small Footprint Family

Nourishing Days Talks about Why They Choose Kefir for its Health and Sustainability


Need some recipes on how to get this amazing food into your family? Try these:

• How to make kefir cheese (cream cheese!) from Homemade Mommy

• Raw kefir cheesecake from Homemade Mommy 

• Natural Gelatin Desserts from DIY Natural

• Kefir K2 smoothie from Homemade Mommy 

• Kefir Pops are a great way to get kefir in the kids.

Lacto-Fermented Kimchi

Kimchi is a delicious fermented food. Full of great probiotics, it helps with digestion and overall health. Though Kimchi isn't as simple as making sauerkraut, it's totally worth the extra work to get such wonderful flavor.

Kimchi is Korean Sauerkraut. It has a great bite, and depending on how hot the chili peppers are, it can be pretty spicy. My absolute favorite way to eat it is mixed with chicken and peanut sauce, either in a wrap or as a stirfry.
Traditionally, it is made with napa cabbage, but in central Montana, that is not always easy for me to find, so I've used regular green cabbage and find it works just as well.

Lacto-Fermented Kimchi

Ingredients:

1 cabbage

1 bunch of green onions

3 carrots

1 bunch radishes

1 tablespoon fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons dried chili peppers or 3 fresh chili peppers

4 teaspoons sea salt

I use a skinny glass to compress
the veggies as much as possible.

1 teaspoon whey per mason jar (optional, if not using whey, double the salt)
~

4 pint jars with lids

Directions:

Thinly slice cabbage and green onions. Grate carrots, radishes, ginger and garlic. Dice peppers, if you are using fresh.

Combine everything, except the whey, stirring and mashing. Allow to rest for an hour, this lets out more the juices, which is helpful.

Evenly pack 4 pint jars. Add 1 teaspoon why per jar. I use a skinny glass to compress the veggies as much as possible.

Add a little water, if needed, so that the veggies are covered with liquid.

Set at room temperature for 3 days and then transfer to the refrigerator. 

And the kimchi is ready to eat!

Add a little water, if needed,
so that the veggies are covered with liquid.

If left unopened, kimchi should last a couple months, once open, use within 2 weeks.

As with any ferment, if there is mold or unpleasant smell, discard. (I've never had my kimchi mold.)

Makes 4 pint jars full

Set at room temperature for 3 days and then transfer to the refrigerator.

And the kimchi is ready to eat!

How to Stay on Top of Laundry

Okay, I don't need any smart alecky remarks telling  me to pile it up and sit on it. My husband beat you to it!

Having a big family- there always seems to be so much laundry. How do you keep it under control? Here are my three main goals:

• A minimal amount of clothing
• Wear something more than once
• Pick tops and bottoms that can be mixed and matched

I don’t regulate the amount of clothing my teenagers have. Perhaps I would struggle with that more if they were girls, but right now, they do well. They are responsible for washing their own clothes. I don’t set the time, or remind them. (They only have a couple years left at home, so I figure they need to notice when they are running out of clothes and when they need to wash more.)

Brian and I have both gone through our clothing, so our wardrobe is quite limited. We dress simply and have a fairly minimal amount of clothes. We wash clothes about once a week, 2 loads- one light, one dark.

With my little ones, I do limit clothing. They have enough to last 5 days. When they change to PJs at night, they have to put their clothes in the washer. They do not have hampers.

During the day we toss in towels, washrags and cloth napkins. The washer is run, either when it is full or when someone needs to wash a load of their own clothes. Typically it gets washed at least once a day, in the afternoon. We pile the clean clothes on the couch and sort them right away. The little ones are in charge of folding wash rags, cloth napkins and putting their clothes away.

Our typical load of laundry will look like this: 

80% belonging to one person
15% household laundry
5% small children's laundry

We have color coded bath towels and wash them once a week.

I keep one set spare sheets for the older boys (twin), so they rotate washing sheets, or just wash and put back on the same day. I have one spare set for the master bedroom and then 3 spare mattress covers/sheets for the toddler beds. There have been times when I have had to strip the same bed several times during the night, so I don't want to be caught without sheets for them.

And as I mention when I discussed Family Organization: Mark a "dot" on the tags in birth order. Oldest child has 1 dot, 2nd child has 2 dots, 3rd child as 3 dots, etc. If something is passed down, you can just add another dot to the tag. People who don't dress the kids regularly can easily sort out who's is who's.

How do you stay on top of the laundry at your house? Leave a comment and give me your suggestions, please!

Spring Healthy Living E-book Bundle Sale

This is so exciting! I LOVE ebook bundles! This is such a great way to get all the books I've been wanting for an amazing deal!

For the next week (April 17th-23rd) Village Green Network is running this sale:

30 Healthy Living E-books -- only $39 (A $479 value!)

That's getting 30 ebooks for less than $1.50 per book! Honestly, I don't know which book I'm looking forward to most!

Here are 2 that I am super excited about:

Your Custom Homestead
Jill Winger of The Prairie Homestead

What if you could fulfill your homesteading dreams without having to relocate? What if you could start a journey towards a simpler way of life where you are right now? Your Custom Homestead takes you through a 3 week process of moving closer to your homesteading dreams, no matter where you live.

Real Food For Real Life
Emily Benfit of Butter Believer

If you're feeling overwhelmed by all the "food rules" out there, you'll love this brand new book about eating healthy, without letting food take over your life. Real food is supposed to be simple! Get back to the basics and check perfectionism at the door, while learning the hows and whys of feeding yourself and your family healthy, whole nutritious foods.

Want to see the other 28 books? Click here!

Download all 30 e-books now for this LOW price and read them at your leisure -- on your Kindle, iPad, iPhone or computer.

Click here to order the Spring E-book Bundle today!

Greek Easter Bread

Disclaimer: This is not a minimalist recipe.

Every year, the day before Easter, I stay up late to finish baking this bread. This is an all day bread, it takes about 10 hours from start to finish. But it is the most delicious, absolutely incredible bread. Ever.

This is a huge batch, but we give some as gifts for Easter and then eat it all week long. If you use a kitchenaid, it cannot handle this much dough- a Bosch bread mixer can.



Greek Easter Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon crushed anise seed*
4 tablespoons yeast
1 cup warm water
6 eggs, beaten
16 cups white flour

Egg wash:
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons milk
sesame seeds

Directions:
In sauce pan, over medium heat, warm milk, then add sugar, butter, salt and anise. Stir and heat until butter is melted.

Mix yeast and warm water in mixer, let sit.

Beat eggs until they are light and fluffy.

Turn mixer on, add 2 cups of flour and then pour in the beaten egg and the milk mixture slowly, alternating. (Allow it to mix while you are pouring and do not dump it in all at once.)

Add the remaining flour 1 cup at a time, allowing it to mix in between cups. Knead for 5 minutes. Put into greased bowl, flipping so that all sides are coated in grease. Cover with dish towel, set in oven with just the oven light on. Let rise until doubled, approximately 3 hours. (The bowl I use is about 14" wide and 5" deep.)

After dough has doubled, punch down dough, put on floured surface and divide into 5 equal sections.
Divide each section into 3 and make "snakes".
With your fingers put a little cold water on the tips of the 3 "snakes", squishing them together to seal. Braid and then seal the other end the same way, tucking slightly so the loaf has a nice finish look.
Place on baking sheet, cover with dish cloth and place back in oven (with only the oven light on). Let rise approximately 1 1/2 hours. Just before baking: mix egg and milk for egg wash, brush on loaves and then sprinkle on sesame seeds.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes for skinnier loaves (12-14 inches long) or 50-60 minutes for fat loaves (10-12 inches long). This bread rises more when it's baking.

*Anise seed- I use anise seed and crush it with a mortar and pestle. This seems to have the best flavor.

Traditionally, the breads should have red eggs in the braid, it looks beautiful, but I typically leave them out.

Because I only have round stones for baking sheets, I  make my loaves curved, rather than straight.

Red Eggs for Greek Easter

My older 3 boys have a Greek heritage and I love so many of the traditions of the Greek Orthodox. I'm not particular about celebrating on Orthodox Easter (which is in May this year), but I do make sure and incorporate the Greek Easter traditions into our regular Easter celebration.

I wrote about how I enjoy traditions and feel they are very important, but, I also like to keep them simple. Dyeing eggs red has a great meaning, plus, it simplifies the egg dyeing tradition. We only need red eggs. 

We dye our Easter eggs red to represent the blood of Christ.

And how do we get such beautiful crimson? It's actually pretty simple:

How to Naturally Dye Eggs a Crimson Red:

Dry "paper skins" from yellow onions. (from about 5-10 yellow onions)
5 cups water
2 TB white vinegar.

Add all ingredients to a pot, boil for 30 minutes, with a lid on. Allow water to cool.

After the water is lukewarm, place eggs in, adding water enough to cover eggs,  turn the burner back on to hard boil them- as they cook they will turn a beautiful crimson color. *Tip from reader: Keep the eggs in the water over night to cement a truly red color.


These photos aren't edited- this is the real color of the eggs! I will never go back to food coloring again- God's natural colors are so much more vibrant!!


Another bonus- the color doesn't come off on hands.

After Easter dinner, we go around the room, cracking the eggs against each other to see who's egg can "win". As we do so, we remember:


"And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it."

Matthew 28:2

He is no longer there, He is risen!

We also make Greek Easter Bread. Click here for the recipe.

Super Fruit Dip

Ok, so it's not made out of "Super Fruit", but the name is rather catchy, don't you think?

Anyway, this fruit dip is super! Super easy, super tasty and has protein and good bacteria. It makes for a super well rounded snack!

Super Fruit Dip

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter (or your favorite nut butter)

1 cup full fat plain yogurt

1/4 cup honey (more or less, depending on your sweet tooth)

Directions:

Stir all ingredients together. Dip fruit in it and eat.

Enjoy!