ALL:

Yesterday, I was explaining to a lady about "how" I had gotten
SICK of the way I had been eating, drinking, etc. I was going
somewhere and drinking 2-3 glasses of coke with my meal, etc.
Anyway, I just got over the WORST cold I've probably ever had.
It "weakened" me even after it had gone.

I told this lady that, about 5 months ago, I had been making
and drinking smoothies of frozen strawberries, a frozen banana,
yogurt, etc., daily and felt SO MUCH BETTER. She was healthy
looking but said she recently had to have an operation and so they
drew some of her blood before the operation to replace any that she
might need. Then, they called her and told her that her blood would
NOT do - it didn't have enough IRON in it.

She was upset until they said, "Just go out and buy some raisins
and we'll take some more blood." She did and the next day her
blood had plenty of iron. It went THAT QUICKLY into her blood
stream!!!

I told the lady that, when I lived in Mississippi a few years ago, we
had the very best cook!!! It ALL tasted SOO GOOD, but, one day
I went back in the kitchen and saw Callie Mae cutting up a piece of
bacon into VERY small pieces. She'd probably been doing that
forever. All it did was to melt down the fat and put it into the butter
bean or pea, and, without knowing it, you got a LOT of "pig" inside
you - the WORST part of the pig.

My nephew was also living in the same house and he "noticed" before
me that he just did NOT feel good after continuously eating these meals.
He started bringing a Subway sandwich to the table (a subliminal "type"
of message). I now know what was going on.

In the last month I got a physical and told my doctor that I had just
about stopped eating "pig". He said that was good.

My smoothie:

Take a large, 24 oz., plastic, picnic cup. Fill up the cup almost half way
with strawberries (sometimes I'll cut them in half). Break up about one
whole banana on top of this and the cup should be almost full (probably
not quite). On top of this, I put 3 tablespoons of non-fat dry milk, and
(optionally), I put 2 tablespoons of sugar (you could put a sugar substitute
if you like). Take a piece of plastic wrap over the cup and put it in the
freezer.

When this is frozen and you are ready to make your smoothie, take it
out and pour 3-4 ounces of water (a small glass) into the plastic cup.
Let it sit for a few seconds to help un-stick the frozen pieces from the
inside of the cup. Dump ALL into a blender. Add a nice portion of
yogurt, possibly some apple sauce and possibly some blueberries to
the mix and blend together.

You can buy and add the strawberry or banana smoothie mix if you
want and it will make it taste better. It costs about a dollar so, if you
want, just use half of this per blend. This makes a HUGE amount that
will fill you up with VERY GOOD STUFF and it TASTES GREAT!!!!

ENJOY~~~~~~~~~~~~

Calvin

PS:

The lady I spoke to said she ADDS raisins to her Raisin Bran.

Calvin, thanks for the recipe. My favorite smoothie is about a 1/2 to 1 cup of crushed ice, a cup of juice and a scoop of fruit flavored Spiru-Tein (available at Sprouts and health food stores) with fresh fruit in the blender. The Spiro-Tein is a mixture of Soy, vitamins and minerals. Comes in many different flavors.

After seeing the food video my sister brought over Sunday, I am now a vegetarian except for Tuna and Salmon. In the slaughter house the workers who were cutting up the pigs got terrible infections to the point that their fingernails came off. Horrible. The eating of hogs was forbidden for a reason- dirty.

Texas Sue:

THANKS, that sounds like some good stuff!!!

I'm not REALLY very much into the "health" thing, yet. My
daughter in law recommended a protein powder made from
egg whites. Even though there is a LOT of good stuff in the
smoothie, it really needs MORE protein to be a MORE complete
meal. I found the Spiru-Tein in Strawberry Banana. I NEED TO
GET SOME OF THIS!!!!!!!! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spiru-Tein Strawberry Banana

LINK

Thank you for sharing on this Calvin and great reminder on the raisins!

We love smoothies also, and this last year have begun making them with a Kefir base. Kefir is said to be a much more potent probiotic than yogurt. We got a batch of Kefir from a friend who had begun making it for her husband who had several physical woe's. They look like little pieces of cauliflower. As you use them over and over in the process, they continue to grow to the point that you can start a new separate batch, or give the extra Kefir "grains" to friends. (None of this may make sense unless and until you start doing it).

It is very simple to do once you find a way to get quality Kefir grains. You can find out more about it online if interested, but basically we use the larger canning jars in which you add either whole or like 2% milk (from natural food store) to cover the Kefir. It sits out on the counter for a day, then I put it in the fridge till ready to use. At that point you strain the Kefir out, put the grains into a new jar, cover with new milk and let sit out again. You use the strained Kefir liquid for the smoothie in which, and like you, we add frozen fruit (banana's, kiwi, grapes etc) also, honey, dab of lime,...and any fresh fruit...

We buy the huge packages of blueberries and strawberries at Costco, which, for the amount you get is very reasonable.

Just tho't I would add on about Kefir in case you like to try new things. Blessings on your continued health!

That Spiru-tein comes in so many flavors that you can't get bored with it. Raspberry is my favorite but I also really like the Strawberry-Banana and the Orange-Banana. There are also flavors that you can mix with milk like a milk shake - Chocolate, Chocolate-Malt, Cookies -N- Cream, etc.

We have a grocery chain here called "Sprouts" with a lot of natural supplements, free-range eggs, and poultry, organic vegetables and fruits which is a great little store. The produce there is about 1/3 less in cost than in the big chains with chemically treated veggies and fruits.

Yes! Sprouts and Sunflower are great natural food stores!!!

I love kefir...drink it all the time..I get it from Trader Joes.

Sarah - neat!
Another Kefir lover!

I love Smoothies...blueberry ones, yum!
The specialist I have been seeing has told me vitimin D everyday 1000 IU (he actually told me to take 2) and it helps keep your imune system strong.

YSIC
Brenz

Kolleen, can I pay you to send me some Kefir so I can make it myself?

Wow! Where do you live Darlene?

I have never mailed kefir but will check over the weekend to find out how.

Are you familiar with making kefir? If not, just search the web to learn the basics in the meantime. The sites I liked were the one's that were simple, clear, step-by-step, and had photo's. It is not hard, but there are steps to follow.

(Let me know if you find anything on shipping also)

(You w/not need to pay me as it was free to me)

Here is what I found on the web

Sarah

http://www.ehow.com/how_2161556_make-kefir.html



Step
1Fill a jar to within an inch of the top with milk or half-and-half. Milk is more commonly used, but I prefer the yogurt-like consistency of kefir made with half-and-half. Some people find it too rich.

Step
2Put about one tablespoon of kefir grains into the jar and screw on the lid. Leave the jar at room temperature. Swirl it once or twice a day to agitate the grains and expose fresh surface area to the milk.

Step
3Open the jar once a day and taste the milk. Depending on the temperature and the quantity of grains used, it will probably take one to three days for the kefir to develop. It will taste increasingly (but to most people, pleasantly) sour and will become thicker.

Step
4When the kefir has reached a level of acidity that you like, strain out the grains. Put the piece of mesh over the mouth of the second jar and secure it with the rubber band, leaving it sagging slightly into the jar. Fill the depression with kefir and press the liquid through the mesh with a spoon or your clean fingers. Remove the grains that remain on the surface of the mesh and set them aside. Repeat the straining process until the first jar is empty and you have a pile of grains.

Step
5Refrigerate your kefir and use the grains to make a new batch, starting over with Step 1. You may now drink or eat your kefir, which will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks.

Ugh! After having made kefir, these directions sound very cumbersome to me. Basically I:

* Take the refrigerated kefir out of fridge
* Pour new natural 2% or whole milk into glass jar (guessing about 1 1/2 to 2 cups)
* Add all the frozen I want into the blender
* Lay a quality plastic strainer over a glass bowl
* Pour in the kefir contents with liquid
* Use spatual to extract all kefir liquid
* Use same spatula to transfer kefir grains to new jar of milk
* Put lid on new jar but not tightly & set on counter for the day
* Pour the kefir liquid into the blender and blend.

It is important to keep the grains "healthy" and uncompromised, in as clean a state as possible, so I never insert anything into the jar for tasting, and I am very careful that the spatula remains in the strainer until I've transferred the kefir. If a piece of kefir drops onto the counter, I throw it away.

Sarah, I never ran across that site you mentioned, but I follow what I was shown from the friend I received it from, and from sites that more follow what I've listed.

Kolleen,,

I think my way is the easiest..

Trader Joes to the rescue LOL



But if I was going to make it, I would do it your way as it is a tried and true way. And you could help me..LOL

Love ya

Sarah

Definitely agree your Trader Joes is the easiest - but I'll bet be mine is cheaper

Love ya too!!

Can I use Goat's Milk? We are not buying Cow's Milk anymore because of all the hormones and antibiotics.

Gosh, I don't know why not. I'm not an expert on it, but I would think so.

The person we got it from even put an organic beet in with the kefir grains and milk, for added benefits.

I utilized what she gave me (minus the beets) and found much info online. You might google something like "kefir + goat's milk" and see what come's up. (Or any other wording that comes to your mind)

One other tho't, you might try googling your city or town + "buy kefir grains" and see if anyone is doing it near you.

One reason to find someone nearby is if something happens to your grains, you can get a new supply quickly from a nearby source. One time my roommate had bought 1% milk unbeknownst to me. I used it on the grains and just nothing was happening and it didn't look right.

When she told me finally, I tho't I remembered you could add a small amount of sweetner to give it a boost if needed. So I used some type of organic sugar we had. Needless to say it ruined all the grains, but it was so helpful to be able to get a new batch from our friend.

So, you might search kefir out for your area and see what you can find! The very best is to find someone who is already making it. (Please let me know Darlene if you find anything)

Email: inhisriverrv22@q.com

Darlene -
Goat's milk? Yes, you most certainly may. But only if it's raw

On the subject of sweetness - I can't imagine the need to make that which is sweet - fruit - more sweet.
But if I did, it would definitely not be table sugar.
However, worse yet, is sugar substitutes:

Oh, deadly aspartame -
the name of the game
in a package so neat,
is to change the name
to AminoSweet.

Yes, the pushers of poison have once again changed the name...

These are only my personal opinions, so take 'em w/ a grain of sugar...er salt -

I would not use any sugar substitute, including sucralose.

Raw honey, stevia - in moderaton - no problem.

Kman, in the part of your reply that refers to my comments on sugar...if you re-read, I used an organic sugar in a one time effort to try to save the kefir batch, based from a kefir site.

I would not try that again, and only in that sense did I mention sugar

I'm not promoting using sugars in the process of making kefir, as I don't use them at all with kefir, only in reference to the above.

In making the actual smoothies, we do use 100% pure and natural honey to taste.

Just clarifying my reference to sugar concerning your response.

Email: inhisriverrv22@q.com

Thank you Kman for your neat reply! I understand completely now where you were coming from. Isn't communication a wonderful thing!!!

And Rita affords us all such a great way of sharing, expression, and great fellowship 24/7. There is always something here for one and all in the family of God, that continues to draw us closer to one another, and to our Lord! Love you Rita!! And thanks again Kman!