Peaches and Cream. . .

Summer just isn't summer unless you devour enjoy a few ripe, juicy, sweet peaches!  We love peaches at our house, and I just couldn't let the summer pass without canning a few quarts for winter.  To me, there is nothing better than homemade bread and a big bowl of home canned peaches for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

One of my favorite  memories as a child was going to Utah to buy fresh off the tree peaches.  With 5 children to feed, my mother would buy 3 or 4 bushel so we would have plenty of canned peaches for winter. Now, Utah comes to us. When I go to town, there are trucks and stands set up on many corners selling, Utah peaches.  Things certainly have changed in the last 50 years!

Can you see the jars behind my peaches? The jar covered with cloth is my sourdough start, and the jar with milk in it is my Kefir, sitting out, fermenting, so we can enjoy a kefir smoothy for breakfast.  Kefir has become one of my favorite drinks, it's so full of natural probiotics, and we all know we need lots of those as we go into the cold and flu season.

This jar of kefir is ready to be strained and put in the refrigerator.  You can see how the fermentation has caused the milk to separate and become thick and delicious.  It tastes very similar to buttermilk, it's not soured or spoiled, it's fermented, so it is tart, but also has a very light yeasty taste . . . yeasty in a very good way.

You make, kefir, with kefir grains, they kind of look like tiny heads of cauliflower.  In this picture they are covered with milk so it's hard to tell exactly what they look like.  You put the grains  in a clean quart jar, fill it with milk (I use whole milk), cover it loosely with a lid, and let it sit for 24 hours in a warm spot.  I usually put mine in the cupboard overnight, take it out in the morning, shake it, and then sit it on the counter for the day before I strain it in the evening.  Kefir is a wonderful, creamy drink that is full of  probiotics, vitamins and minerals. The kefir grains live off of the lactos in the milk, so some people who are lactos intolerant may be able to drink kefir.  The kefir grains multiply as you use and take care of them, so you can divide them and give some to a friend, so they can make their own kefir!  I got my grains from my daughter, she and her husband have 4 children, they all love kefir and drink it everyday.

This is what it looks like after it has been strained . . . thick and delicious!  I love this stuff, and feel so much better when I drink it at least twice a day.

The sunsets here have been so pretty, and you know how I love myself a beautiful sunset!

It's raining right now, and the sound of the rain on the roof is like music to my ears, we are so dry here in Idaho . . . let it rain!

I can hardly believe that tomorrow is Friday, where did the week go?  It's suppose to get cold tonight, the weatherman says we may even have frost . . . hello autumn, I've been waiting for you!!

Hugs and Love,

Barb