Water Kefir

Say wha????? I know, it's ok. When I talk about this yummy flavored soda pop type of drink, I get the look. No, it's not a foreign language, and no it's not a new kind of drink meant for earth loving hippies that sit in a circle chanting. Water kefir is an amazing probiotic drink full of the good healthy bacteria that our bodies need.

I have always been into healthy eating, and trying new things, especially after having my first child. It all started with breastfeeding (which I have spent four years of my life doing, woot woot!!) and just grew from there. I buy very little processed foods, and make most everything from scratch.

Now, let me just mention though that just because something is homemade, it is NOT OKAY to eat a ginormous piece of apple pie and several scoops of homemade ice cream...not that I did that...just want to throw that out there for those that *could* be tempted you know...

I am grateful that I LOVE to cook, and love to try new recipes. I have recently become a member of the Holistic Moms Network here in St.Cloud that I have learned a lot from. Between HMN and being a LLL leader for our area, you hear copious amounts of cool things to try. One of them is water kefir. You can learn more about it here. The end result is a fizzy almost soda-like type of drink. You can flavor it, this time I did a raspberry lemonade. The girls even like it, and you don't have to drink much to gain the benefits. It is definitely a trial and error type of process. The second batch I made fermented too long and tasted like a very strong type of wine. Kids weren't impressed.

It all starts with these groovy little things called kefir grains. There are two types of grains, water or milk. I buy my milk kefir from our coop, and have no desire to make it on my own. I got my grains from a mom who attends my Holistic Moms meetings. You can also buy them online too.
The process is quite easy, you use a combination of water, sugar and dried fruit, along with the grains which you sit in a cool dark place to ferment, usually 12-24 hours. After this first ferment you can flavor it, and then let it ferment again.

Now, one thing I beg of you, if you are going try this, is to make sure you buy organic dried fruit without sulfites. I had a major skin reaction and realized it was from the dried cranberries I had used. You can read the step by step process here.

I really feel like this is benefiting all of us, especially Alayna who has been dealing with a wonky gut lately.