Milk Kefir Uses

So I was getting a bit bored with just drinking the plain milk kefir with some vanilla in it.  Aaron and I had went out form the WECSA dinner and they had a kefir dip which was a ranch style dip made with milk kefir using cream instead of a lower fat milk.  We got to thinking about other ways to make and eat the milk kefir.  I purchased a yogurt cheese maker for Aaron for Christmas and decided to give it to him early.

    

We used it to make kefir cheese!  It is smooth and delicious!  I add a bit of flavouring such as  extract, fruit and/or sugar/honey and the kids even like it.  I have not experimented with different recipes much yet but plan on getting creative.

I zipped up approximately 1/4c. frozen raspberries and 1/4c. of frozen strawberries with 1c. kefir milk and 1c. kefir yogurt and a tablespoon or 2 of honey (depending on your sweet preference).   It was fantastic.  We have some frozen blueberries that we had picked fresh this summer that I will whip up in a day or two.

I think if I had made it will 2cups of the yogurt kefir instead of half milk and half yogurt it would have been thicker and smoother.  It was good just the way I made it as well but I will experiment and change it up regularly.     


Then with the left over whey from the yogurt... I bring it to a boil and it separates and once I strain it I have a kefir cheese for on top of salads or in pasta dishes!  I have been using it as a replacement for feta on my greek salads.  The kefir cheese is more crumbly... a texture and taste  is somewhere between feta and ricotta.  The taste is bland until you add a pinch of salt which makes it is quite good.  We are going to try to get enough kefir cheese to make a lasagna with... I think it will be fantastic!