Herbal Kombucha

Tonight my friend gifted me a kombucha mother.  I have never made kombucha before, so it's a whole new world!

I looked online for recipes, and this is what I ended up doing:

Step one.  Find 1/2 gallon jar.

Step two. Boil 1/2 gallon worth of water

Step three.  Use 4 teabags or 4 tsp of loose tea and 1/2 cup of sugar (I used a mixture of herbs -- alfalfa, spearmint and calendula)

Step four. Let the tea dissolve the sugar and sit with the herbs until the water cools.

Step five.  Once the tea is cool pour into half gallon jar

Step six.  Add 1/2 cup of the kombucha liquid to the jar

Step seven.  Add the mother to the jar.

Step eight.  Cover with a cloth and an elastic and let sit for two weeks

Step nine.  Try it :)

For more tips:

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-kombucha-tea-at-home-173858

Tomorrow I'll be preparing food for a potluck, I'm bringing veg biryani and an Indian curry, most likely veg tikka masala.

Recipes to come :)

On the go

I've been working in the field and in the lab more than usual past couple of days, so it's been busy.  I haven't had a lot of time in the kitchen, so my days have been looking like:

1/4 cup of chia seeds soaked in 'milk' or water.  Mixed with micropinch of stevia and 1 tsp cocoa
This is a really quick bfast, I ran out of fruit.. so .. limits the full bfast a bit.

or, I grab some natures path "mesa sunrise" cereal with almond milk.  Pretty quick.

For a to go sandwich, I have been toasting bread, and then lathering it with peanut butter, and sprinkling raisins on the inside.  Once I put it together, wrap it up and eat it later for lunch.. somehow because it was hot when I wrapped it up.. the texture of the bread is pretty amazing.  It's kinda weird.. but I have been enjoying the peanut butter raisin sandwiches.

I've also been bringing snap peas and mini bell peppers to snack on.

Today I brought a raspberry chia kombucha drink, which was an awesome snack time drink :)

Sometimes I am so into kombucha and I want them all of the time, maybe it has to do with the weather getting warmer?

When I got home from work I had a raspberry lemononade popsicle. amazing. I am pretty sure it's been about 7 years since I last had a popsicle.. okay maybe closer to 2 :)

Some friends invited us over for dinner, and they made a quinoa and broccoli salad, it was amazing, it seems like they had used a lot of kale for it too and grilled it prior? It was delicious, and there were pumpkin seeds for garnish.  They had also made a really pretty red cabbage salad, just red cabbage maybe balsamic vinegar and seasonings? Not sure but very simple and very good.

For an appetizer they grilled bread, if I remember right, it was ciabatta bread and first they lathered the bread with oil and seasonings, there was a basil spread and tomatoes sliced, to go on top. It was so delicious!

For dessert vegan chocolate cupcakes!  Red velvet :) made with beets! wow they were incredible.  My friend mentioned that she has a blog so I will be posting a link to the recipe soooon :)

I was also gifted a Kombucha Mother, tonight I decided to make a batch. In the next blog I'll note the process :)