Banango Kefir Smoothie

You know when you running out of time in the morning, getting the kids fed and dressed for school and you know you just need to eat something before shooting out for the day or to get something good into the kids before they off to school and you are worrying about harmful bacteria and viruses going around. This is the perfect Smoothie to shoot and go. Its supper easy and quick to do. Most importantly, the kids lovvvvvveeeee it.

All you need is:
1 Ripe banana (the riper the sweeter)
1/2 a big mango
500ml of ready to drink Kefir

Put all the ingredients in a blender and zap it.

Pour into glasses and its ready to drink! This recipe should give you 2 x 300ml glasses. I usually give half a glass to the kids (4 &6) as a full glass is to much for them.

Hints
I freeze my bananas when they getting a little ripe, it then makes the smoothie nice and cold and it prevents them from going all mushy.
This recipe is made simpler if you take your grains out and store the kefir milk in a jug in the fridge.
I add the chunks of mango in this photo, for visual aspects. ;)

You can also add a pinch of cinnamon and/or turmeric for the great health benefits..
Experiment and have fun. Please let me know how it has come out or what else you did to make it taste even more delicious!
Good Luck and Enjoy!

How to make Milk Kefir

Kefir is really simple to make once you have your routine set.
If you do not have Kefir grains you can always purchase them online or find a friend who has. Once you have them, they keep growing and you can then seperate them to make more batches. Its always a good idea to have separate jars incase one of them die, then you have a back up.
Just a few things you must not do with your Kefir Grains.

• Never wash your kefir grains with tap water, the grains need to be washed in unchlorinated water (bottled water). You don't need to wash them unless you suspect something wrong with them.
• Don't use metal equipement, to much metal kills the grains.

What you need

• Plastic or wooden spoon (don't use metal, the grains die with to much contact with metal)
• Plastic or glass bowl
• Plastic sieve
• Glass jug if you wish to store it

How to make Kefir Milk

Place your Kefir Grains in a glass jar, pour the amount of milk you would like to drink. Eg if it is your first try with milk Kefir, put in half a cup, as your stomach adjust add more milk in every time.

Leave your Milk Kefir out in a cool place for 24 hours (depending on your climate), if you live in a extremely hot place like I do (35-45'C), I leave my kefir in the fridge with the lid loosely on, as it carbonates, for 1-2 days. If I feel like it is going too slow (like in winter) I leave it out on the counter.
Putting it in the fridge will only slow down the fermentation.

You can taste the kefir as it ferments to see what stage you perfer.

I normally remove it from the fridge when it has started to seperate slightly. You can see in the picture above it has started to seperate.

I pour the Kefir through a sieve into a plastic bowl, I use a plastic spoon or spatula to move it around until all the kefir milk has gone into the bowl, leaving the grains in the sieve.

I wash out the fermenting jar and pop the kefir grains back into the jar, top up with milk and place back into the fridge or leave it on the counter, depending on the weather and when I would like another serving.

The Milk Kefir I drink straight or I make a smoothie for the whole family. I also store it in the fridge in a clean jar for a day or so, as seen in the picture below. It makes it easier to use when making a smoothie or wanting a little glass to shoot down.

How to store kefir

If you are going away, store you kefir in the  back of your fridge filled with milk. When you return you can give the milk kefir to your dogs or pigs (they love it), if it doesn't taste too bad you can always make cottage cheese, I will post how to make kefir cottage cheese soon.
If you want a break of milk kefir you can always store it in the fridge with a little milk and every 2 or 3 days top it up with alittle more milk, to feed the grains.

Something has gone wrong

If you feel like your grains are not fermenting and are not growing, you can put them into some Cream, which will give them a boost and hopefully revitalize them.
You could also give them a wash with bottled water and start again with fresh milk.

If you are getting an abundance of Kefir grains and have no one to give them to, you can always feed them to your chickens, dogs or pigs, they love them and are extremely beneficial.

With Kefir Grains you can make:
Smoothies
Water kefir
Cottage cheese
kefir butter
Kefir butter balls.

Chickens

There is something so awesome about going to collect your own eggs, or going shopping and skipping the egg aisle with a smirk on your face! Thinking "I don't need eggs, I got hens, ha-ha".

To receive eggs is so rewarding and the best thing is you hardly need to do anything to get such a fantastic food.

I have always said that a hen could be anyone's pets, they don't need much attention as in patting and stroking, but they do like to hang around you and be in your company. They roam around the garden scratching up insects and chomping on bits of grass and herbs and YES they do like to rummage through your lovely prepared garden beds, that you just planted all your lovely new seedlings in, (my preventative to that is put thorn branches in the beds, until my plants are old enough to fend for themselves). They come when you call, they can be trained to do tricks. To top it off, their poop is perfect for compost. Full of rich Nitrogen. All you got to do is make sure they have feed, water and a sheltered spot, and depending how generous you feeling a little titbit here and there. Who would not want a chicken. I even had an indoor chicken, she lived inside with us, and use to follow me every where I went. 

I do a number of things, so that my eggs (and of course chickens) are strong and happy. 

Marigolds, I have tons of them and didn't know what to do with them (other than thinking they brighten up my vegetable garden and scare off insects) until I read Fresh Eggs Daily and what she does with her Marigolds. She had said that, dried marigolds fed to your chickens will make their yolk beautifully yellow and placed in there laying pen will help deter insects. They also aid in blood vessel growth and skin tissue repair, as well as being an anti-inflammatory. 

For me this was a lovely way to get the kids involved in helping/playing with the chickens and helping me pick tons of Marigolds. Which also gives the Marigolds a chance to carry on growing and not get yanked out.

The kids loved this activity!

I also picked some of my basil flowers and heads for drying for the laying pens, as a insect repellent.

They also get there regular handful of meal worms every other day and a tray of sprouts, barley or lentils.

I have always doubt that my broilers would actually contribute to the egg collection. But I suppose after continually hearing her fellow mates yak yak about laying their eggs, she just thought she had to join in. 

I caught her laying this egg! I have notice a few times the broilers going into the laying pen to lay an egg. So I say bravo Snow and White, and thank you for your contribution.

For more reading on Marigolds and chickens visit Fresh Eggs Daily