Instead of giving you the rundown of where I’ve been – I figured I’d show you a little bit of what I’ve been up to the past few weeks.

I completely refreshed my health coaching website – design, email offer and copy. It’s much more colorful and lively now – and more reflective of who I am as a coach and a person.

Filling my desk with a million notes – that will most likely be written then forgotten about. You can probably see that I’m a huge unorganized mess with my  zillion sticky notes. I always think I’ll come up with a way to be more organized and yet it never happens. This is what my desk looks like about 95% of the time so I’m pretty sure there’s no hope on that front. My sticky notes are probably just as scattered as my brain sometimes.

Concocting all sorts of delicious treats in my new Vitamix - a million smoothies, this healthy vegan chocolate “milk shake” (crazy delicious), cashew nacho cheese, and hummus. I should probably start writing some of these things down so I can share them on here..

My husband and I decided to get a little more serious about our workouts – at least for a few months. We both had a few goals of toning up so we’ve been doing this 8-week program through FitnessBlender.com and holy moly! The couple that creates these videos seriously know what they’re doing – the workouts are really tough but definitely effective. I’m seeing results already. We’ve been using their videos for some time now, but just started doing this program to have something more solid and structured to go off of. We’re two weeks in and spending about an hour a day exercising. They’re killer – but I’m feeling so much better already.

I just picked up this book called WomanCode this week, written by a fellow health coach Alisa Vitti. She has a very successful business in New York called FloLiving which caters to women trying to get their hormones aligned. I’ve been really interested in this topic for a while since my family has a history of “lady problems” and so I’ve been absorbing as much as I can about the topic. Seriously.. this book is incredible so far – I’ve learned SO much. This tends to be a bit of a taboo topic, but if you’re looking for some knowledge to understand how the heck your lady bits work – read this! She makes it incredibly easy to understand – and gives you very practical ways you can reverse a lot of symptoms and issues you may be experiencing.

My husband and I took a little road trip last weekend up to our college town for the day. Here I am at the boardwalk (excuse the squinty eyes, you’d think I’d be smart enough to put the glasses ON my face instead of my head). It was one of the nicest days we’ve had in a while. We’ve been super blessed to have temperatures in the 70′s and 80′s here in the Seattle area for the last week or so – we’ve been heading out to parks and for walks as much as we can… knowing full well the gloom is just around the corner as it almost always is. The trip is just what we needed – a day away from technology, eating in a tiny hole in the wall cafe, grabbing gelato and sitting out in the sun to enjoy it. It felt like summer!

This weekend, we’re off for another car adventure. Tomorrow we’re heading out to spend time with my family in our hometown – and to celebrate an early Mother’s Day. Then Sunday we’re headed across the mountains to visit with my sister-in-law at college and maybe even meet her new boyfriend (gasp!). I’m looking forward to it. If I get myself in gear, I’ll try to get back here to share. Have a great weekend!

P.S. This weekend is your last chance to enter to win the raffle prizes for my Susan G. Komen walk! Come on over here for more details and to sign up!

Last weekend, my husband wrangled up all our family and threw me a little surprise celebratory lunch at one of our favorite local restaurants. It was such a sweet and generous thing for him to do and I couldn’t be more grateful. Sure, I had an idea that something was coming up – he’s not that great of a liar (which isn’t a bad thing!), but it was a really special day for us to all get together and celebrate. I wish I had a few photos to share with you, but since it was a surprise, I didn’t bring my camera along.

During the lunch, Tyler presented me with a framed version of my certificate and a brand new Vitamix that everyone had chipped in for!! I was over the moon excited and promised everyone a green smoothie each and every time they came over. Only my sister got excited at that idea – haha! I spent the entire rest of the afternoon planted on the couch watching the Vitamix DVD, reading through each and every recipe in the cookbook that came with it, and even watching a QVC special where they were selling them, so I could see them demonstrate some of the features. I’m a complete nerd, but I was in heaven. It couldn’t have been a better day to cap off all the hard work from this past year.

On that note, I’ve used it every single day this week, creating smoothies, sauces and soups. Some have been random things thrown in and others have been meticulously followed recipes from other websites. I wanted to share with you what we created for dinner two nights ago that has become one of my absolute favorites instantly. As you may know, I’ve been (or at least tried to be) gluten-free and (mostly) dairy-free for quite a few months now. It hasn’t been the easiest and I struggle all. the. time. with wanting to just grab a plate of mac and cheese or dive in to ice cream to get my fix. Of course when I do, I get the side effects that I had been dealing with for a long time just about instantaneously – so I immediately regret it. But I’ve tried to be more diligent lately. And that’s where this recipe comes in.

I made a vegan mac and cheese to suit my comfort food craving. It hit the spot – but admittedly wasn’t as cheesy tasting as I would have liked it to be. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. We have tried using nutritional yeast in the past and weren’t really fans. But this time – I think from baking it – it really came together nicely and wasn’t so… yeasty. It was quite delicious and the broccoli really helped make the meal feel a lot more rounded out. A new guilt-less pleasure that will be making the rounds on our menu plans!

So delicious! Be on the lookout for a lot more blender recipes to come! I’m a blending machine these days!

We decided (after taking a cue from one of my favorite fellow bloggers, Cassie) to host a raffle online of some of our favorite things to say “Thanks!” to the folks who help us reach our goal to walk as a team of 4.

We’re raffling off 3 awesome prizes to anyone who donates between April 1st and May 18th – and it couldn’t be simpler. Here are the details:

Team Save The Girls Raffle

What: Raffle of 3 prizes:

• Keurig K65 Special Edition with Keurig My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter and 35 variety K-cup pack ($200 value!)
• Cuisinart Gourmet Griddler ($100 value!)
• Apple iPod Shuffle 2GB in Your Choice of Color ($50 value!)

Who: Anyone who donates to any one of our 4 pages (Stephanie, Jill, Rachael, or Tyler) will be entered to win.

When: April 1st, 2013 through May 18th. The raffle will end May 18th and winners will be notified and asked for their shipping address May 19th via email using the email provided with the donation.

How To Enter: Head on over to our Raffle Page to find out the details and find out how you can win one of these 3 prizes! (Note: minimum donation is only FIVE BUCKS!)

Please pin the image and share this on your Facebook page to help us spread the word!

Thank you all for your support!

Of course that makes me feel incredibly lucky to be a blogger – since I have the luxury of proof-reading, editing, and realizing when things sound a little off before hitting the ‘publish’ button.

This is probably also why I hate public speaking, being caught off-guard about certain topics, or generally meeting people for the first time. I’m a thinker – not a talker. And far from a story-teller. But that definitely doesn’t stop me from writing my heart out online or word-vomiting every once in a while when I find myself in many social situations.

I think I just let the cat out of the bag on how introverted I am. Woops.

Welp. I have a salad recipe to share with you. It’s not going to be an interesting story, but it will be a story nonetheless. Hey – count yourself one of the lucky ones getting a first-hand sneak peek in my non-ability to story tell.

So in February, I went to California Pizza Kitchen for my father-in-law’s birthday. Both my husband and father-in-law ordered pizza. It’s probably the best thing to order at a chain restaurant with its namesake in it.

I ordered a salad. Because it was the one of about five items on their menu that didn’t have gluten or dairy in it. Also because I’m a rebel like that (hah!). I had very low expectations for said salad – because most salads you get at restaurants are a little meh – and mediocre at best.

This salad was actually pretty delicious – and for once in my life, I cleared my plate. I was pretty proud of that accomplishment. Essentially the salad consisted of lettuce with some roasted artichokes, red peppers, eggplant, asparagus and avocado – all topped with a yummy dijon dressing. It hit the spot unlike most salads I’ve ordered out at restaurants.

What shocked me most about this salad wasn’t even really about the salad at all – it was the idea that it had never dawned on me to add cooked vegetables to my salads before. Of course, I’ve had warm salads and raw salads, but have never married the two – it was an epiphany – even in its vast simplicity.

So this week when I was craving a veggie-laden salad, I immediately remembered this roasted/raw delight and decided to create my own version. I didn’t want to buy the specific ingredients I had in the version at CPK – and instead just picked up what looked good (and was a decent price) at the store. The veggies I chose were broccoli, red pepper, and zucchini.

When I was ready to make it, I chopped everything up, loaded up two baking sheets – drizzled them with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted them for about 10 minutes.

While they were cooking, I made a super-yummy dressing with toasted sesame oil, brown rice vinegar, and red pepper flakes.

When the veggies were done cooking – I layered up my salad bowl with lettuce greens, roasted veggies, and topped it with toasted sesame seeds and my homemade dressing.

This meal is one that I’m vowing to not forget – the depth of flavor from the roasted veg combined with the fresh crunchy lettuce was awesome. I can’t wait to try different vegetables, lettuces or other greens as a base, and other dressings.

Have you had a simple cooking epiphany lately? Tell me about it in the comments!

I don’t have anything excitingly new to share this week – mostly just a few photos and “what I’ve been up-to’s.” As weird as it sounds, I spend most of my time that I’m getting things off my chest and out of my system on my health coaching Facebook page now. If you want to keep up with me more often (and see less of my random ramblings), come follow me there. I’m far more interesting and communicative than my once per week blog posts here. Well, isn’t that the best plug you’ve ever heard to continue reading someone’s blog?

Like I mentioned, I’ve been kicking things into high gear in the past few weeks working on two new offerings to my health coaching business. I’ll share them with you, since they so easily relate to what I come here to share with you each week.

The first one is a 7 Day Spring Detox. I’ve created a detox program that will help clear out your gut, liver, and give you a complete reset for the spring and summer months ahead. There are over 73 recipes included and a huge guide to how to detox your body effectively. If you’ve been thinking about a detox or a cleanse and didn’t want to just drink juice, I highly recommend this detox – the energy and lightness you’ll feel is pretty incredible! (not that I’m biased or anything). I also put together a week long blog series on detoxing a few weeks back called Detoxing 101 – lots of good info here if you’re into detoxing or wondering if you need one yourself.

The second thing I’ve been working on is a one-month meal plan. I’ve been keeping track of what my husband and I eat for a whole month and have gathered the recipes, shopping lists, and prep day task lists all in one place. I’m also including spotlight ingredients for each week’s recipes, so the ingredients that you might not be as familiar with are outlined and you know what to look for at the store and a list of what to do with leftovers (if you happen to have them). This is my first time doing anything like this, so I’m really curious to see what people think!

With both of those happening, there has been quite a lot of recipes to write and test out. Here are a few highlights:

I guess the last major “what’s going on with me” is that I’ve decided to do the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer. I’m not sure if I ever shared this on the blog, but last summer, my grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer on her 80th birthday. Luckily, they caught it early, she was in and out of surgery, then 6-weeks of radiation therapy, and is back to her old self. The entire process was only 3 months and I feel so blessed that her doctor was able to catch it and get her back to herself so quickly. I’m incredibly close to my grandma (and grandpa too) and don’t know what I’d do without her in my life.

I’ll be walking with my sister, mom, and husband and together we’re setting out to raise $9200!! Which is a LOOOOT of money to commit to, but I know that we’ll be able to do it. We’re planning to put together an online raffle in the coming few weeks, so be on the lookout for that – I have some really cool giveaway items in mind that I’m excited to share! Oh- and my husband put together this cute little website for our “team” – so come over and have a look at our bright shining faces and see how cute my grandma is (the photo was taken at her 80th birthday celebration at Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie, WA).

This week, I took a cue from both the Hulk-like “shakes” and the wonderfully chocolatey and minty cookies that I’ve been trying to avoid and make a Franken-smoothie. Enter the Chocolate Mint Smoothie. Not exactly a health food. Not exactly dessert. The nice in-between space where I can drink up freely and feel fine about indulging in a (naturally) green treat now that St. Patrick’s Day is upon us.

I’ve never actually been one for St. Patrick’s Day – the furthest I’ve ever gone to “celebrate” is to put on a shirt that happens to have green on it. At least this year, all I have to do is drink one these heavenly concoctions and I can tell people I drank my greens instead of having to wear it.

Speaking of heavenly concoctions, this is one. Oh my, it is. This smoothie is sort of a mix between a mint Oreo Blizzard (well, a melted one) and a healthy green smoothie. The banana flavor doesn’t exactly fade into the background as smoothly as I would have liked. But that’s not exactly the point either. The point is to drink my greens and feel naughty doing it. So this year instead of reaching for your Guinness, reach for this delightful sweet (and green!) drink. You can even get away with drinking it for breakfast – I won’t tell!

Lately, that hasn’t exactly been the case. Lattes, I realize, over time have come to be something that I feel like I should indulge in on Friday mornings. Not that Fridays are all that special, but I’m always much more lax on the weekends with what I eat than I am during the weekdays. I figure it’s the whole 90/10 concept in action. If I eat well 90% of the time (aka during the week), I don’t feel so bad when I indulge a little on the weekends. And Friday mornings count as the weekend, right? Hah! Obviously, I’m going on a tangent here, because I haven’t actually had any lattes lately. The last three times I’ve tried that little plan out, I’ve not been able to sleep for two nights, because caffeine and I just don’t get along apparently (which is pretty crazy that I was drinking coffee every day for a few years).

What I have indulged on in the past few months are Dairy Queen blizzards and tirimisu. The second sounds decadent and totally worth it – the first… a little meh (and totally unhealthy), but it hit the spot when I needed a frozen treat in mid-February. The last thing that I mentioned that I crave every once in a while is kettle corn.

Kettle corn is something that I’ve never made at home, and even this experiment I tried wasn’t perfect, but it was delicious. In fact, it wasn’t really kettle corn at all, but maple walnut popcorn. This idea I had a few nights ago while catching up on New Girl and The Big Bang Theory, shows that just require a little snacking action.

It came together in about 10 minutes and since I didn’t measure much of anything or check on the temperature to make the consistency perfect, the syrup didn’t set up like it would have if I used a candy thermometer. But it was absolutely delicious and between my husband and I, we devoured it in about 15 minutes.. a big bowl mind you, not a teeny tiny little bit. Yep, this was pure deliciousness and it was amazing. Here’s the very loose concept (it’s hardly a recipe) for you to recreate it on  your own, next time you find yourself watching New Girl and The Big Bang Theory (or other favorite shows):

• Toast some chopped walnuts in a dry skillet
• Add a little butter
• Add some maple syrup
• Add a pinch of salt
• Let it bubble up for a few seconds
• Remove from heat and pour over cooked popcorn
• Put a lid on the bowl and shake the dickens out of it until coated
• Enjoy while relaxing in front of New Girl & The Big Bang Theory

On an entirely unrelated (and a little more healthy) note, I’ve updated my “Health Coaching” section of my site to include a 28-page download of the most frequently asked questions about my experience with the health coach training program at the Institute For Integrative Nutrition®. You can get this and a free catalog about IIN™ at the bottom of the page.

Have a great week!

I wish that I were one of those people who wasn’t obsessed, who was able to say “Oh, I don’t waste my time with things like that. I have more important things to do.” But I’m not. I fully engage and am infatuated. In fact, I’ve actually come to use it almost in place of Google sometimes, assuming that most ideas that I find on there have been vetted (if nothing else, by popularity) by a ton of other women. I’d rather try something that other women have been pleased with than do something that I stumble upon through search engines and have no idea if anyone else has had success with them. It’s probably faulty logic, but for now, it’s been working for me.

Which leads me to the recipe I’m sharing today – one I found on Pinterest, of course. And one that I actually made (I should be getting a medal for actually MAKING something I pinned!). Then tweaked to be a little healthier. When I happened upon this recipe, I had seen it about a million times before I figured I would give it a go. Strangely enough, since then, it looks like the blog has been shut down so I’ll give it new life again (with my own tweaks) here.

I wasn’t really on the hunt for a muffin recipe when I found this. I was trying to come up with a plan for exploring some gluten-free baking without a million ingredients (as per my new year’s resolutions I set back in January). I was particularly intrigued with using a blender to mix the batter, which sounded too fun to pass up. Plus my other ventures into gluten-free baking have been… a little less than stellar so far. So this sounded too easy to mess up.

When I made these muffins the first time, I followed the recipe to the T – and they turned out great! But they also included 3/4 cup of sugar, which is something that I decided could be swapped out for a more natural alternative – honey. I also upped the Omega-3′s and fiber with some chopped walnuts and ground flaxseed. This variation was even better than the first, super moist and delicious! (As a side note, I’ve been experimenting with bringing dairy back into my diet here and there- and so far, things have been positive – woohoo!)

These banana oatmeal muffins taste like mini banana breads, but without flour. They’re excellent when warmed in the microwave for just a few seconds to bring them back to life. I like to pretend that each and every time they’ve just come out of the oven, which feels oddly indulgent. Even though I’m not much of a baker, these are so delicious, I think I’ll be bringing them into our regular rotation here at our house.

Make them, enjoy them, you’ll love them!

Have you found any amazing recipes on Pinterest lately? What are your favorites you’ve come across?

This might make more sense to you if I told you that I’m generally quite a busy-body. There aren’t very many times during my day where I’m not actively doing something, even if that something is staring at Pinterest (you know, looking for “ideas”) or crocheting squares for my first-ever blanket I’m putting together while watching TV. And heaven forbid, if I am not doing something, it is pretty darn certain that I’m mulling some big idea over in my head. My husband calls me “squirrely” – I think I’m just incredibly *ahem* productive. Either way, I spend so much time doing-doing-doing, that I actually don’t always take much time to figure out what to share on my blog all the time. And while I can be incredibly organized, I’m also very scatter-brained and lazy.

This is one of those times that I’ve been having a terribly lazy, want to sit and watch movies all day on the couch sort of week (I say “want to” because this only really ever happens once a year, around Christmas). What’s maybe not great for you is that I don’t have anything amazing to share about my cooking adventures this week. But what IS great is that I was nominated by a fellow blogger for a “Leibster Award” and that’s giving me plenty to talk about!

I have been blogging for a few years now (here and there on other blogs before I started this one) and for about a year and a half here on KitchenCourses and this is my first blogging award! In fact, it’s probably more exciting for me to know that someone out there is reading my blog, let alone handing me an award! Sometimes this blogging thing can feel like you’re talking though a megaphone and into a wall.

Anyway, this was a very sweet gesture by my new fellow blogger friend Christina over at The Contemplative Carnivore. Be sure to go check out her blog and give her some love for giving me something to write about this week!

According to Christina (who did a little bit of digging) discovered that “the word “liebster” is a German word for sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest and other synonyms.” So this award is a blogger-to-blogger award that’s a great way for bloggers to share about themselves and promote some of their own favorite blogs to their readers. Basically, it’s a “let’s all share the love” type of award – something that I’m always down for. Plus it’s fun to do something different once in a while.

Without further ado, here are the rules that I have agreed to play by:

The Rules:

1. List 11 facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 questions given to you.
3. Ask 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate for the award.
4. Choose up to 11 up and coming blogs to nominate.
5. Go to each blogger’s page and let them know about the award.
6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

11 Facts About Me:

1. I used to hate exercising. With a passion. I used to say “I hate sweating” to just about anyone who asked me what I did to work out. Which basically meant that I never “exercised” for probably 10 or so years. That’s embarrassing, but I’m past that hurdle now.
2. I’ve lost almost 10 pounds in the past year by identifying (some of my) food sensitivities and cutting out the foods that bloated me up and made me feel like crap.
3. I haven’t had a haircut in 6 months. It’s looking a little shaggy-do over here.
4. I get angry when I think about my wedding day. I don’t like to talk about it much. So many things went wrong that day and I get so frustrated thinking about how it could have been better. I’m happy about the end result (obviously), but remembering that day specifically makes me cringe.
5. What I eat on a day-to-day basis is actually quite boring and not blog-worthy. There’s a lot of oatmeal, soup, chicken/rice/veggies, smoothies, popcorn, and nuts going on.
6. Some weeks, I’ll go four or five days without leaving the house. I work at home, live at home, do my workouts at home, and do most of my shopping on the weekend. I’m quite the homebody, especially in the colder winter months (I’m usually better about it in the spring and summer).
7. I’m incredibly conservative when it comes to money. My husband and I have our budget locked down to (almost) the dollar and know where just about every penny is going to wind up. It helps that this year we’re reigning in all our “fun” money to try and pay our car off a year and a half early.
8. I did ballet for 10 years as a kid and loved it. I miss it, even as an adult, and I’ve been getting really into the barre exercises because of it.
9. I have always been “the quiet one.” I was always shy as a kid and am still as an adult. I’m incredibly introverted and don’t see any problems with it.
10. I had a goal of reading one book a month last year and exceed it by at least 3 or 4 books (I lost count). It’s a hobby I love, but always forget about.
11. Even though I’m a holistic health coach, my family doesn’t listen to one ounce of my health advice.

Questions from Christina at The Contemplative Carnivore

1. Why did you start your blog?

I started my blog with the big vision of sharing my love of food. It has gone from wanting to share big picture “tips, inspiration, and ideas” to more tactical recipes and what I’m up to types of posts. I see the blog as a reflection of where I’m at right now in my life, and even though the blog has morphed over time, this is where I’m happy with it right now.

2. Who or what inspires you?

All my fellow health coaching buddies, who are working to do their best in the world to make a difference one person at a time. The idea that my measly little life can help change someone else’s blows my mind and gets me excited every day about the work I do. My grandma also inspires me – she kicked breast cancer this year in 3 months at age 80, because of an early diagnosis and a doctor’s gut feeling. I’m incredibly amazed at her journey and how humble she is to share it.

3.If you could have dinner with 3 people, dead or alive, who would they be?

These questions are always tough to answer. I’d say my husband, because he always makes me laugh and we have some of the best talks about life and nonsensical things. Maybe Anthony Bourdain, because he’s a badass and I love his shows, but also because I’d want to see if he’s really as big of a jerk as he makes himself out to be on TV. And probably Dr. Andrew Weil. I feel like I could learn so much from that man and would love the opportunity to sit at his table.

4. What is your favorite thing to eat and/or cook?

My favorite thing to eat lately (it changes all the time) is taco salad. I can load it up with a bunch of greens, beans, rice and salsa and feel like I’m eating something far worse for myself than I am. My favorite thing to cook would be a full three-course meal. I have put together very few full meals for people, but when I have, I’ve found it incredibly rewarding.

5. If you could only pick one travel destination to visit for the rest of your life, where would it be?

Probably anywhere tropical. My husband and I honeymooned in St. Lucia and were in love with the weather. Anywhere that has that much sun on a regular basis is a friend to me!

6. What is the best health or fitness tip you’ve ever been given?

Think of everything you do as an experiment and always continue experimenting. Basically, lightening up on the idea that there is one “right” healthy way to live. Do things that feel good in that moment, and if they don’t feel good, then stop doing them.

7. What is your favorite book?

I don’t really have a favorite book. I guess that’s kind of sad. I love all stupidly girly romantic comedy books though. I get a hard time for it, but they consistently put me in a good mood, so I don’t care what people say. The “little lady” series by Hester Browne was one that I really got into.

8. If you could go back in time to any historical period, which one would you go to?

Maybe the ’70′s. I could have probably been a good political sign-holding free-love type hippie lady.

9. What is your biggest guilty pleasure?

Pretty much anything chocolate. I put raw cacao into my smoothies all the time to get my fix. Also: peanut butter m&m’s. They’re just too addicting.

10. What is your favorite restaurant?

I don’t have one right now – sad! There was a cute little hidden restaurant at the hotel where my husband and I got engaged that we would love to drive to and have dinner once in a while. But they recently converted it into a pizza place and totally changed the atmosphere. Total bummer, but we’re on the lookout for our next favorite. It’s been a lot harder to find places that don’t have gluten and dairy in all their food too.

11. If you could impart just one piece of wisdom to the world, what would it be?

You have full control of the outcome of your life and health. There are no certainties and you get to choose what you do with each and every second and where each of those seconds leads to.

My nominees and 11 questions:

Dulcet Devotion

LunchItPunchIt

Sweet & Savory

Fitting It All In

Back To Her Roots

Questions for the nominees:

1. Who encouraged you to start your blog?
2. What are three things that inspire you on a daily basis?
3. What’s your favorite outdoor activity?
4. What’s your favorite thing to eat/cook?
5. What’s the best meal you’ve ever had?
6. What do you like to do in your free-time?
7. What do you do to stay healthy?
8. What’s the juiciest bit of advice you’ve ever been given?
9. Where did the name of your blog come from?
10. If you were on a deserted island, what’s one kitchen tool you couldn’t live without?
11. If you could impart just one piece of wisdom to the world, what would it be?

At first, I was really weary of the idea – making a fermented bacteria-laden drink in my own home? Won’t that smell funny? Or worse – grow mold? Luckily, not yet. I have spent the past month (this has proven to be quite the exercise in patience) growing a scoby, then brewing my first fermentation, then second fermentation to create my very first batch of kombucha!

There are plenty of in-depth blogs and websites out there that you can get a lot of your questions answered about the ins and outs of kombucha brewing (my two favorite resources are here and here). For now, I’ll just share what my first experience was with growing my own scoby and brewing my first batch of kombucha.

Growing A Scoby

I don’t have any photos for this, because it just wasn’t all that exciting when I got started. I began with a $4 bottle of organic kombucha from Whole Foods (yep, $4, that’s why I’m trying this at home!). The process is as follows:

1. Make one cup of black tea. Sweeten with 1 tbsp sugar (it needs to be white sugar, but don’t worry – you won’t be drinking it – the bacteria over time will eat the sugar and you won’t be ingesting much of it at all). Let the tea cool to room temperature.
2. Add the sweetened tea to mason jar.
3. Pour in the bottle of kombucha.
4. Place a paper towel or thin kitchen towel over the jar and fasten with a rubberband.
5. Place the jar in a dark corner of your kitchen or pantry and forget about it for 2-3 weeks.

The scoby forms and looks like this after 3 weeks of growing in my pantry:

The scoby itself is pretty gross looking, but awesome at the same time. I’ve always been a freak for science experiments, so this is amazing to me. My husband was pretty grossed out by and insisted I did the “removal” of it first (you know, just in case).

Starting The First Fermentation

The next step after getting my beautiful scoby to grow was to start in on the first full batch of kombucha. Here’s the play by play for that:

1. Make as many cups of sweet tea as you want in your end result, keeping the same 1 tbsp of sugar to 1 cup of tea ratio. You can see in the photo, I made a whole bunch so I could make the most of my time.
2. Let the tea cool to room temperature then add it to a larger glass jar (you don’t want to use any jars with metal on them as it has a weird effect on the bacteria). It has to cool so that the bacteria don’t all die once you add the tea to the jar.
3. Pour the scoby and starter brew from the mason jar into the larger jar with sweet tea.
4. Cover with a paper towel and rubber band.
5. Place back in the dark corner of your pantry or kitchen for 7 to 10 days to ferment.

I let my kombucha go for a full 10 days, and the flavor still seemed weird to me. I’m assuming that it’s because this was the first brew and that over time it will work out to be a little better. It could also be that since I’m not a seasoned kombucha drinker that it was perfectly fine and I just haven’t become all that familiar yet.

Starting The Second Fermentation

The second fermentation is totally optional, but it’s the only way to flavor your kombucha – and since I was already in this far, I figured I might as well try out a few different flavor options. What the heck!

These steps are quite simple, just like the rest:

1. Clean and sterilize the glass containers you’re going to use for bottling. I got these cute swing top containers, but the extra that I made just went into an extra mason jar.
2. Remove the scoby from the top of the jar and place it in a bowl with about a cup or so of liquid. This is just to keep it moist while you’re working with the rest of the kombucha.
3. Add some fruit juice to the bottom of the bottles (I’m sure there’s some sort of ratio that you’re supposed to apply, but I ended up just adding about 1/2 cup into each container). This is where you can get creative flavoring your kombucha – this first batch I tried apple juice and cranberry juice, then in my “overflow” mason jar, I combined the two.
4. Use a funnel and pour the kombucha into the bottles, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Mine was already fizzy when I poured it into the containers (photo below)
5. Close the bottles up tightly and place back in a dark corner or pantry. Let it sit for another three days.
6. After three days, transfer to the refrigerator – it’s ready to drink!

The final product is actually quite tasty! I really love how the cranberry flavor came out, not so much on the apple. I’m excited to play around with the flavors more in my next batches.

There are two amazing things about this process: 1) I will always have a rotational batch of kombucha brewing in my pantry or readily available in the fridge, 2) I’m about to save myself a whole bunch of money on a drink that normally sells for $4 for 16 oz! Woohoo!

Have you ever tried brewing your own kombucha (or other fermented food)? What were your results like?