Two Things

Yesterday I called in sick....even though I wasn't sick.  I know, so irresponsible.  I sat on my bed trying really hard to be responsible by brainstorming "real" reasons for why its was okay to stay home and just sleep all day but I couldn't.  But I decided to do it anyways.  Please don't judge.

The good thing about this completely undeserved day off was that I got to make Kombucha and now I get tell you ALL about it! And I also get to talk way to much about what I made for lunch cause it was delicious :)

Sooo, I had kale for lunch yesterday!! Surprised? Im not.  But, it was especially good, so I thought I'd share.  Here it is:

I started with some lovely, delicious, incredible kale. 

Then, I added some other stuff.  Likeee....

Blue cheese and blueberries, yum! 

Leftover lime-baked tofu  (baked for about 30 min with cayenne powder, cumin, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lime juice/zest...so delicious!)

And radishes and red peppers which I left in lemon juice for a bit...try it, it tastes sooo good!

Toss them all together with some olive oil, salt, and pepper and you've got a delicious salad!

This is Nicco.  He ate all the red peppers. 

So, what's this kombucha business?? Well, kombucha is a delicious and totally awesome fermented tea.   The kombucha culture is known as a scoby which stands for "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast".  The tea is made by brewing tea with lots of sugar and letting it ferment with the scoby.  The resulting drink is a carbonated tea (because of the fermentation) that tastes a bit cidery.  It can take sometime to get used to the taste for some and for others it is delicious from the first sip! 

This is what the scoby looks like

This tea has been around for a super long time and has a variety of health benefits.  Even though, initially, it seems like it's made with a lot of sugar, most of it gets consumed by the culture.  During the fermentation, the scoby produces lots of vitamins, probiotics, enzymes, organic acids, and amino acids. 

To make the tea you will need a couple things:

A tea you want to brew....make sure its not black, I like to use a green tea

Sugar...about a cup

A very clean glass jar with a cloth (cheese cloth works beautifully) that will allow the tea to breathe 

And the scoby!

First boil the water on its own, then add the tea and sugar and let it boil some more....around 15-20 more minutes.  Then let the water cool down completely, you can cover the tea so that nothing falls inside.  After it is cool, transfer it to the jar with the scoby and keep it in a dark, room temp place (I use my closet but under your bed is good too!) for at least a week (the time varies on how strong and fermented you like the tea and how hot it is...the warmer the faster it ferments).  When handling the culture, make sure you wash your hands extremely well....seriously, lots of soap all the way to your elbow with hot water!

After a week or so, transfer it to seperate bottles, put it in the fridge to enjoy cold, and start your next batch! I started making my own kombucha a few weeks ago thanks to my awesome friend Melissa who shared her scoby with me.  With time, the scoby grows so you can increase your production of tea or be amazing like Melissa and spread the kombucha love to your friends.  Also, this tea can be really pricey at stores so once you start drinking it a lot you'll see why it's a smart idea to start making your own.  

Hope you like it! M

More Kombucha Info