I went to a local fermentation meetup group about a year ago, eager to learn more about how to make kombucha tea at home, and in the process I stumbled across a “new” (at least to me) type of fermented drink called water kefir. Water kefir has actually been around for thousands of years and goes by many different names including Japanese water crystals. The girl who had brewed this tasty lightly carbonated concoction had flavored it with fresh blueberries after it had been fermented. I was immediately impressed by the versatility of this probiotic wonder drink-which is purported to contain trillions of healthy bacteria to aid digestion and the immune system.

Unlike milk kefir, water kefir is perfect for those who are lactose intolerant. This summer I decided to try brewing my own water kefir and found that it’s actually quite easy to prepare-and easier and more fool-proof than kombucha.

Here is a basic water kefir recipe that helped me get started:
1) Fill a quart sized jar with room temperature mineral water* leaving about 2 inches of space at the top
*(or spring or tap water with most of the chlorine filtered out. Reverse osmosis water isn’t recommended, although I have tried it without ill effect. The main thing to remember is that minerals are beneficial to the functioning of water kefir grains, so if they’re not getting minerals from the water, some mineral rich fruit should be added)
2) Add approximately1/4 cup sugar and stir
3) Add1/4 cup Water Kefir Grains
4) If available add 1/4 cup starter water kefir, otherwise you can add half a peeled lemon to the brew for your first 2 or 3 batches.
5) Then wrap a small handful of dried un-sulfured fruit into an unbleached coffee filter or a reusable fabric pouch (So far I have tried: dates, dried mango slices, raisins, figs, and apricots or a combination thereof)

I’ve also tried dried candied ginger in my primary ferment. Maybe it was just me, but that batch seemed a little flat. I might eventually give ginger another try in a secondary ferment though, after it has established some zing.

I then cover the jar with a coffee filter or other breathable material, secured with a rubber band (if you using metal try to make sure the rim is completely dry before securing so the metal won’t rub off and contaminate your grains). I leave the brew alone at room temperature for 2, sometimes 3 days. The longer it brews the stronger the flavor starts to get and the more carbonation it will acquire. If you like a sweeter more soda pop taste, one day might be sufficient. You can sample the brew or give it a stir now and then with a plastic spoon or straw.

After the primary ferment, sometimes I’ll do a secondary ferment. This involves straining out the water kefir grains for the next batch, discarding the fruit, and then bottling the water kefir (minus 1/4th cup for your starter) in a sealed container and then letting it sit on the counter for a day to add even more carbonation. You should leave about an inch of head space and crack the lid open every few hours for just a quick burp to let some of the gases escape (this helps prevent the bottle from bursting).

Before putting the finished water kefir into the fridge I also like to tape on a label with all pertinent info that I’ll soon forget-like what ingredients I used, when the primary ferment began and ended, if and how long the secondary ferment lasted, and my impression-like “wow, super fizzy.” One word of caution, I’ve heard that the more carbonated it is, the higher the alcohol content. I believe the alcohol % in water kefir is a fairly trivial amount like less than 0.8% but it bears mentioning. Part of what sparked my renewed interest in water kefir is that the kombucha I usually buy at the store was recalled because they were having trouble keeping the alcohol content below 0.5% and it ran into regulatory issues.

I actually made a batch last week that reminded me of the Kombucha Botanica Elderflower I used to buy and love. I used one dried fig and some raisins in a full 3 day primary ferment. I noted that it was really potent-maybe too potent and decided to skip the secondary ferment and put it in the fridge for 5 days—and when I took a cautious sample, it was irresistibly delicious. I’m still new at this little hobby and am eager to learn more about fermented foods and water kefir health benefits. I’ve purchased a book that came highly recommended called Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods and look forward to continuing this experiment!

This post shared on Fight Back Friday

If the thought of wielding a massive cleaver gives you goose bumps, but you have a hankering for some fresh coconut water take a look at Vita Coco. All the natural health goodness of fresh young coconuts without the risk of missing fingers, yikes sorry for the graphic image let’s stick to a more inviting picture – the image of good health.

• Coconut water is low in sodium and sugar and very high in potassium (even more than bananas, or sports drinks like Gatorade)
• Coconut water helps raise the metabolism, boost the immune system, and improve circulation (and in a pinch it can be used for blood transfusions since it is identical to human blood plasma – oops sorry that brings us back to the missing fingers quip I’ll try to refrain)

If you aren’t that familiar with the health benefits of coconut water do some searching and you’ll soon find out that coconut water is some amazing stuff (maybe that’s why all those commercials you see for vacations in the tropics have all those gorgeous people in them – it must be the coconut water)

But back to the Vita Coco shall we? Not only do they offer plain Jane coconut water that is scrumptious all by itself, they offer many other flavors made with natural fruit purees along with the coconut water. Give the Passion Fruit, Tangerine, Peach & Mango, Pineapple, or Acai & Pomegranate flavors a try – you’ll be dancing in tropical vacation commercials in no time.

I have not been paid by Vita Coco to butter them up and make them look good – their products speak for themselves – I am also not endorsed by meat cleaver sellers or emergency room workers for mentioning tragic accidents that might result from improper use of said cutlery – I do however receive a small commission from Amazon for any purchases made through the links on this site so tell all your friends to stop here first and practice hitting that buy button – it does a blogger good

This Post Shared on Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday

I love a good cup of chai tea on a cold winter morning. Black tea has antioxidants that help the body to eliminate free radicals from the body, thus fighting colds and flu, heart disease, and possibly even cancer, but when you have some delicious organic chai to sample when the weather heats up it’s a bit of a dilemma. Thank goodness for the noggin’ using person who thought of iced tea!

As with any gourmet drink or dish there is an art to making the best iced tea, and it starts of course with the chai tea itself. I had the opportunity to try out a new to me organic decaf chai tea from LeafSpa makers of premium organic loose leaf teas.

The LeafSpa decaf chai is a spiced Darjeeling black tea infused with organic cinnamon, organic ginger, organic cardamon, organic pink peppercorn, and additional organic cinnamon, vanilla, and ginger flavor. That’s a lot of organic goodness that combines to make a delicious nicely spiced warm and soothing chai tea. But again, unless you are in the middle of a thunderstorm and need the warm reassurance of a good cup of chai you’ll want another use for your tea during the hot summer months.

Along comes iced chai the summer savior for tea drinkers. But here is a healthy indulgent iced tea recipe with a twist: a chai tea shake a-la-natural health goodies…

Our Chai Tea Shake Recipe

(or if you like fancy names it could be the Natural Health Goodies Secret Ingredient Goody Goody Gum Drop Chai Tea Shake without the Gum Drops – but that takes longer to say than it takes to make so maybe not)

First make up a batch of chai tea:

• Use 1 tsp loose leaf chai tea per 6oz cup of water
• Heat cold water to a rolling boil and let sit until the temperature is between 180-200 Degrees F
• Steep tea for 2-3 minutes or to desired strength

Allow your chai tea mixture to cool (it can be left in the fridge over night if you like) and then pour into a blender along with enough vanilla frozen yogurt so its nice and creamy…..

Last but not least is the super secret natural health ingredient.. drum roll please… bda bda buda bda (how do you type a drum roll anyway?)

Vanilla Kefir!

Kefir, if you haven’t heard is a probiotic yogurt-like cultured milk that has tons of good for you digestion and immune boosting benefits and makes a nice addition to smoothies or in this case chai shakes.

Blend all ingredients until frothy and rich pour and enjoy. And then try to say “Natural Health Goodies Secret Ingredient Goody Goody Gum Drop Chai Tea Shake without the Gum Drops” five times real fast.

I have several more LeafSpa teas to try so please subscribe and stop by again for more LeafSpa Organic Tea reviews and recipes.

This Post Shared on Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday

Have you been looking for a kids toothpaste that is so good your children will WANT to brush their teeth? Now how about one that is loaded with natural effective ingredients instead of all the artificial junk found in most children’s toothpaste?

We tried out a really effective herbal all natural toothpaste made by Vita-Myr awhile back and we loved it – the only problem was one of the main ingredients was clove. Clove is a very effective antibacterial and anti-inflammatory which is great for gum health, however it does have a strong taste – our 4 year old thought it was too “spicy”.

Alas, back to the gunky un-natural kids toothpaste…. but not long after we wrote up a review for the Vita-Myr Zinc Plus toothpaste – we received a surprise from the fine folks at Vita-Myr – a couple tubes of their Natural Orange Flavor Children’s Xylitol toothpaste. It has the same beneficial ingredients as the Zinc Plus toothpaste along with Xylitol which is a proven powerful cavity fighter and antioxidant – it even has clove. But with the nice subtle orange flavor you’d never know – and your kids won’t either.

Proof in point… when I brushed our 18 month old’s teeth with the Vita-Myr Children’s Xylitol toothpaste the first word out of her mouth was More! (and she wasn’t a big talker at the time so it must have been good)

She now loves brushing her teeth – and I love knowing that Vita-Myr children’s toothpaste contains no harmful chemicals, fluoride, artificial sweeteners or colors – not to mention this toothpaste is so effective at removing teeth scum it makes them squeak.

If you’ve discovered a great effective kids toothpaste leave a comment below – we are always looking for new natural health products to try.

This post shared on Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday

My girls absolutely love kefir, a delightfully delicious cultured milk similar to yogurt. (and I admit I’m a little addicted as well) Someday we’d even like to make our own if we can find a good source of kefir grains, but until we do we like to try various store bought kefir when we find it.

We recently found a good one at a local co-op made by Nancy’s – Organic Blackberry Kefir – I’m salivating just thinking about it. Nancy’s makes four varieties of Organic kefir in 8oz and 32 oz sizes – plain, raspberry, blackberry, and blueberry.

Not only is their kefir loaded with tons (well, billions actually) of live probiotic cultures including L. Acidophilus, B Bifidum, L. Rhamnosus, and L. Casei (which besides being fun tongue twisters are actually great for digestive health and the immune system) Nancy’s organic kefir uses all organic milk, fruit and inulin (a prebiotic – probiotics best friend that enhances nutrient absorption).

In fact the organic milk comes from grass fed cows which provides a massively huge amount of good nutrients not found in “regular” milk.

The natural health geek in me has to mention a couple of points: one Nancy’s Organic Kefir uses Agave Nectar which while it is a low glycemic sweetener, has very high levels of Fructose which many even geekier natural health guru’s believe should be avoided like the plague.

Also in order for it to count as a low-fat drink it contains organic nonfat dry milk (in addition to actual organic milk) – which kinda defeats the point of all those good for you fats found in grass fed milk. There is a widespread misconception that low-fat or non-fat milk is good for you – but that is a whole post in and of itself.

That being said Nancy’s Organic Kefir is still one of the best for you kefirs I have found in stores and I’ll certainly buy it again – now if they made a full fat grass fed naturally sweetened variety I’d have to say it would be the perfect kefir.

This post shared on Fight Back Friday

I was just perusing Amazon’s special offers this morning (if you’ve ever bought anything on Amazon you’ll know those offers spring up like a batch of dandelions) most dealing with a timely nudge to be green for Earth Day when my attention was grabbed by the roots by the number one selling book on Amazon – All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.

Since everything is starting to green in our yard I’ve had the itch to start a garden, nothing fancy maybe just a little patch in the corner, but I’m a terrible procrastinator (like right now I should be writing the rest of this post yet I am going off on a tangent about procrastinating) Now where was I?

Oh, yah this intriguing book that has been on the Amazon top 100 book list for over 3 years! That’s what caught my attention – next was how does a gardening book stay in the top 100 for 3 years not to mention who knows how long at number one.

Looking at Square Foot Gardening I can see why – it is a super simple method to gardening that claims 100% of the yield with 20% of the space – which fits right in with my plan for a little back yard garden. Not only that but Mel reveals his secret soil mix for perfect growing conditions (and never a need for fertilizer): 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 agricultural grade vermiculite spread out in a 4ft by 4ft box. (oops did I just ruin the secret?)

This new version of Square Foot Gardening called All New Square Foot Gardening (pretty original title huh?) Reveals 10 new and improved methods to make the whole process more efficient, easier, and well, garden-tastic. Take a peek at the video and see if you are as excited to get outside as I am – in fact I’m outa here the sunshine is calling…

One last note though, Mel has also written a delightfully delicious book called All New Square Foot Gardening Cookbook (he’s got a good thing going with his naming so why change it I guess) that looks to be as savory as the fresh herbs and veggies coming out of the garden.

What are you planting in your square foot garden this Spring? (and when can I come over for dinner?)

This post shared on Fight Back Fridays

Someone asked me the other day “can you dehydrate green smoothies?” It got me thinking and the answer is of course you can. The easiest way to dehydrate green smoothies is to calculate the coefficient of friction by dividing the volume of smoothie in Liters by the Square Root of Pi… well ok it might be even easier than that (and more fun if advanced math gives you the willies).

Just take your favorite green smoothie recipe (you can try our favorite green smoothie recipe if you don’t have one yet) but use less water so the constancy of the smoothie is thicker. Spread that out on a non-stick dehydrator sheet or some waxed paper in your dehydrator (or use a new fangled Excalibur food dehydrator with the mesh screens) and twiddle your thumbs until it looks nice and chewy. Roll that baby up and take it to go.

The beauty of dehydrated green smoothies is that you retain all that healthy raw food goodness but don’t have to lug around a big vat of smoothie – plus you don’t get the “what are you DRINKING!” comments from that one skeptical guy at work who always scoffs at you from trying to eat healthy at work.

When I was growing up we went through a few dehydrators, in fact my dad even made one himself that was mighty cool – and big! We had so much fun thinking of dehydrator recipes – I just wish back then I knew about green smoothies, I would have whipped up a batch in no time. Now that I have the urge to experiment again I’ll have to pick one up.

If you don’t have a food dehydrator yet either, the creme de la creme in food dehydrators among raw foodists (especially for smoothie leathers) is the Excalibur 3900 Deluxe Series 9 Tray Food Dehydrator. Usually on sale at Amazon for $219.95. You can also get highly rated dehydrators from Nesco for around $50 depending on what features you are looking for. But many have said drying fruit leathers is inefficient and messy with the round style dehydrators, and you can’t dry bulky items like flowers or granola because the space between trays is limited.

Have you tried dehydrating green smoothies? What is your favorite smoothie recipe to dehydrate?

This post shared on Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday.

Are you looking for more natural egg dyeing tips or recipes this Easter? Just look in your back yard or even refrigerator! Natural dyes made from roots, nuts, flowers and berries have been used for ages before we had the unfriendly red dye number whatever. Plus it is much more fun to experiment with a handful of red cabbage from your fridge than using chemically made dyes – kids love to be creative and they will love collecting these natural ingredients from your own yard or pantry.

Here are a few household and backyard natural egg dyeing recipes to try - Just boil your eggs in water with a bit of vinegar and one of these ingredients below, then let simmer for at least 15 minutes (The longer the egg soaks, the deeper the final color will be):

• Purple grape juice or blueberries (for lavender)
• Red cabbage (for blue)
• Spinach or Red Pine needles (for green)
• Carrot greens, Tumeric or lemon peels (for yellow)
• Coffee or black walnut shells (for brown)
• Yellow onion skins or carrots (for orange)
• Beets or cranberries (for pink)
• Crab apple bark or Rose hips (for red)

Dyeing tips:
• Before dyeing the eggs, draw shapes or pictures on them with crayons or a piece of wax. The wax won’t absorb the color so the designs will show through.
• Wrap the eggs in rubber bands to make tie-dyed eggs.
• Wash eggs in warm soapy water to remove oily residue that may impede color from adhering to the eggs.
• After dyeing – for a textured look, dab the still wet egg with a sponge.
• After the eggs are dry, you can rub the eggs with coconut oil to give them a soft sheen.

For a very extensive list of egg dying tips and recipes here is a great article on natural plant dyes from Pioneer Thinking. These natural dyeing tips are more geared toward fabric dyeing but they will work just fine for egg dyeing as well – because after all I don’t think the Easter bunny had Paas egg dying kits a thousand years ago – he must have used a dash of Tumeric and a cluster of lavender, with some fresh bunches of red cabbage to make his best eggs.

If you’ve used natural dyes for dyeing your Easter eggs please share your favorite dyeing recipes we’d love hear what has worked for you.

I was reading the latest issue of Natural Health Magazine and was grabbed by a rubber duck. Well he kinda flapped me in the face with his BPA laden wing but you get the picture. Or maybe you don’t, but if you check out the book Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things you’ll get the picture fast. Last Summer I went to a seminar on environmental toxins (see Benzine Cloud Terrorizes Households) and was shocked by the amount of chemicals we are exposed to every day without even knowing.

Well, back to the rubber duck. For one week authors Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie who normally use all natural organic products as good eco-geeks try to do, switched to the every day products that the rest of us use – shampoo, dish soap, toothpaste etc…

As you might guess at the end of this little experiment – their levels of toxic chemicals jumped significantly and Smith’s BPA levels jumped 7 times higher than before – this is after one week! You might make the argument that their levels of these toxins were pretty low because of their conscious effort to buy non-toxic products regularly so a seven fold jump might not be that much but how many of us use only all natural products every day?

Ever since I went to that seminar we’ve been switching to as many all natural products as possible, but it can be hard to tell what products are actually all natural and which one’s just say they are. I am always amazed when I see advertisements in natural health magazines for products only to read the label to find ingredients that are on the no no list. Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things gives you the means to tell which products are safe.

Without trying to sound like I’m standing on the street corner with a sign board screaming about the dangers of everyday products – if you care about your health and the health of those you love give Slow Death by Rubber Duck a good look over. And don’t let his BPA laden wing slap you in the face again.

As one reader states: “I always considered myself to be rather savvy when it comes to where I come into contact with carcinogens on a daily basis. I have known about phthalates and BPA and fire-retardants now for many years, but I had no idea the extent to which the chemical companies have infused their questionable chemicals into every crevice of our daily lives. It is shocking and appalling and completely reckless. The only way we can turn this tide around is to arm ourselves with knowledge and demand change. Read this book! If you’re not angry after reading it, you weren’t paying attention!”

Yah, What they said.

If you’ve read my green smoothie inspiration you’ll know our recent adventure into the world of green smoothies has begun with a splash. And true to our kitchen creative nature we had to do some tinkering with the basic green smoothie recipe from the video.

We’ve discovered the fun and versatility of making green smoothies, and to my surprise we now have kids who can’t wait to eat their green leafy vegetables – who would have thunk.

So here it is folks, drum roll please… our first green smoothie recipe dubbed by our 4 year old…

The Smoothie You Can Chew

1 Mango (minus what you sample while cutting – so probably a half mango)
1 Banana
3 Strawberries
3 Broccoli florets
Handful of fresh Spinach leaves
2-3 Green Kale leaves
1-2 basil leaves
1 Tbsp Flax seed
Splash of Pomegranate Kefir
10-12 ounces of water or to desired thickness

Blend that baby up and enjoy some vibrant green goodness – Don’t worry you don’t really need to chew it.

This post shared on Fight Back Friday