Making Kefir, for Salad Dressing, Lassi, Cheese, Curried Pumpkin Soup

The latest exciting discovery around here is the awesome benefit of keeping a kefir culture going, drinking and doing stuff with it.  On the benefit subject, Bob has had stomach problems for over 20 years, taking Zantac, Prilosec, Tums, antacids, baking soda, etc. etc., daily, and still waking up at night with indigestion.  He has no more of that!  As a side note, he also says it has eliminated his sugar craving. Of course, this solution is of no monetary value to the drug industry.  Sorry you doctors out there, but I do think you should take your heads out of the drug basket, and have a look at other solutions. 

A client of his had mentioned making kefir in front of our grandson, who declared an interest in doing it himself, and was given some of the starter culture (pictured above).  Then, when the boy went off to camp last month, I agreed to babysit his new pet, and Bob started drinking kefir (the client had told him it was good for indigestion/acid reflux).  So, now we have our own culture going and his stomach thing is over.  Sleeping through the night and able to eat without constant indigestion.  An answer to prayer.

Curried Pumpkin Soup

 This soup, served cold or hot is a favorite of mine.  Especially when you have a really good pumpkin to begin with.  Bob found it lost in the weeds on a property he was inspecting.  It was so gnarly looking on the outside that I neglected to take a picture of the poor thing, supposing it would be too old once opened up.  But not at all, the color was vibrant and the taste intense and delicious.  Since the boy was also quite big, we had lots left after a simple dish of steamed pumpkin with butter and feta.   So, soup was next in line.

Now, I have to remember what all I added to this version of an old stand-by.  I started out by sauteing some curry leaves in ghee, which were removed when crispy and set aside on a paper towel.  An onion, was fried in a bit more of the ghee until soft, then minced ginger and some chili pepper was added, and cooked for a few minutes more before the dry spices went in.