Kefir
 

I bought my kefir grains from Cultures For Health, and have been making kefir every day since last week. It is so easy!

Needless to say I am so hooked! Cannot do without my cup of kefir in the morning and at the end of day. It appeared a great substitution for milk with bran cereal, and I am no longer craving sugar.

Now, the 'tough' part. What do I do with all the leftover kefir? Sometimes my kids would drink it all, but sometimes they 'forget', so I need to figure out a good way of turning it into other goodies.

The simplest thing I figured out so far is straining it through a linen or cotton towel for a few hours to make sour cream (smetana). So fresh, creamy, and tasty!

I am thinking I can also make some ricotta or cottage cheese from it.

Any other ideas? What else do you use your kefir for?

Tania,

I LOVE kefir. I responded to your other post about it. I don't make my own though. Maybe when I am off from work this summer I will try it. I actually cook and bake with leftover kefir.

This is from the wiki cookbook online, it describes it better than i could:
Kefir as leavening agent
Kefir can be used as a [URL="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Leavening_Agent"]leavening agent[/URL] when baking [URL="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Bread"]bread[/URL], because it contains active yeasts and bacteria. It can be used directly in a recipe, by replacing the yeast and half the water with kefir. Recipes that specify [URL="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Buttermilk"]buttermilk[/URL] or [URL="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Yogurt"]yoghurt[/URL] can be made just as well (or better!) with kefir.
Alternatively, kefir can be used to create a [URL="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Sourdough_Starter"]sourdough starter[/URL]. Add ½ teaspoonful of kefir to ½ cup flour and ½ cup water, mix well, and set aside to ferment for 12 - 24 hours.

I also use kefir in muffin mix. You can google "kefir muffin recipe" for some good ideas.

And here is a link with some good cooking with kefir recipes, I tried the raspberry coffee cake one and it is good:
[URL]http://www.royalkefir.com/cooking-and-baking[/URL]

Here is some useful tips, I am going to try it: [url]http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir_cheese.html#leban[/url]

Use it to marinate meat, bake bread. Make ranch dressing.

I put my grains in heavy cream instead of milk once to culture. Sweetened with powdered sugar. Heaven as a strawberry dip!

Someone offered to send me some on another forum a while ago-I wish I would've taken them up on it. I still don't know all that much about it, though. I pretty do more research.