Help getting kids on kefir & yogurt!

[Dace]

I need to get my whole family eating yogurt (not the pre-sweetened stuff) and kefir.

Last night my 7 yr old had a tummy ache as usual, so having being frustrated I made her drink a little bit (really little) of kombucha and made her drink a couple oz of kefir. I blended up a couple strawberries and added them to it for sweetness. She went to bed right after that so I really don't know if they helped.

Am I better off to just let them eat the little commercial cups? I mean is that better than nothing? Or do you all have some tricks on getting it into them?

Yocheese was a slight success, gotta work on some more flavor variations.

 

[big brown horse]

Poor little thing! Does she get tummy aches often?

Dace, you probably already do this, but I make a smoothie out of kefir for my daughter with frozen sliced bananas and raw honey. It is sooo yummy that way. Strawberries would be great in it too. The frozen bananas make it thick like a frozen shake.

(She loves smoothies so I'm lucky there.) Plus (at home) I don't allow her to drink anything but water, milk or (sometimes) juice, so drinking something different like kombucha or smoothies makes it a real treat for her.

 

[Dace]

We pretty much do only water or milk....although pasteurized milk has fallen out of favor in my eyes and $10 a gallon for raw is pretty steep so I have not added that yet. Every once in a while we will buy Vitamin Water or Gatorade, but I am officially banning those now.
I do plan to try some of the other beverages in NT.....hopefully I can find something decent for them to drink.

I have tried many smoothie combos and not really winning anyone over here. I may just have to insist :/ I think I have the most stubborn children ever made.

And yes, she has a tummy ache to varying degrees pretty much daily.

PS....finally doing nuts....soaked some walnuts and have them drying in the oven now. Baby steps

 

[big brown horse]

It all started with nuts (almonds) for me!

I used to mix the "all fruit" jams in my plain yogurts...YUM!!! My daughter loves the bing cherry jam mixed in her kefir...I had some old granola bars that she polished off by crushing them and then topping her yogurt/kefir.

Yeah the raw milk is not cheap here either, seems like we pay about the same. I try to give her a NT-type breakfast before school with a small glass of raw milk, fresh laid eggs and some cheese, sometimes sourdough toast with cream cheese. She makes a typical lunch for herself, sandwhich (50% of the time with my homemade sourdough, the other 50% is storebought wheat), pretzels, carrots and cold water. (You never know if they eat the food they take or not.) Then for dinner I make a NT-ish dinner, usually soup, chili, omelettes and a salad. (Dinner is when she eats the most veggies.)

When she was young I used to put the veggies on the table as our first course, then I would bring out our "main" course. Veggies had to be eaten first or the "waiter" wouldn't know when to bring out the main course...she was easy to trick. hee hee

 

[Dace]

Hahahaha...I love that trick. You are very clever.

Big problem here is that I have never been a veggie eater, so I really never taught my kids well.

New Years goal...everyone eats salad every night! Wish me luck. Maye it will be salad first and serve a plate of dinner. I like the way you think.

I guess I just need to make the kefir/ yogurt consumption a project. i am sure I can find ways to get it in them.

 

[big brown horse]

That trick came about when she began to eat solid food, she was always a hungry child so I put out the cooked veggies so she would not go looking for a snack while the rest of dinner was finishing off.

I have some "cidered" kombucha that I'm trying to figure out how to turn it into some sort of dressing at the moment. :/

 

[Dace]

What do you mean 'cidered'? extra vinegary? If so i have some too....I guess I let it go too long. This new batch I wrote down the date so that I can keep a closer eye on it. I prefer it to be just a hint on the sweeter side. This last batch is hard to choke down.

Edited to add, try mixing it with EVOO and some fresh herbs. Should work as your acid. Great idea BTW!

 

[big brown horse]

Yup, I got lazy and let it go too long. Thanks for the tip Dace! I never was very good at making my own dressings.

I have my scoby soaking (resting?) in fresh water while I'm letting my fresh tea cool down. I'm using very little "starter" tea so it wont make my new batch too vinegary. I've had to do this once before.

 

[me&thegals]

My kids adored yogurt for the first month I made it from scratch, and then they decided that they actually hated it. Arrrggghhh!

Sometimes mixing in jam works. Sometimes topping with granola and honey works. But the only guaranteed way to get it into my family is to make smoothies.

Here's a winner at our house, but we have about 1000 smoothie variations:

1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup grapejuice
1 cup yogurt/kefir
honey to taste
about 6-8 ice cubes

I usually sneak in 2 T of wheat germ and ground flax also.



As for sneaking things to kids, how about when they are really, really hungry? I can't remember your kids' ages, but it works sometimes. We started having salads be the first course. Our kids like them, but they get too full on other things if we don't serve them first.

Better yet, how about a veggies and dip made from kefir/yogurt? (evil laugh)

 

[me&thegals]

One more idea. I'm often running out of things and end up using substitutes.

For example, how about a dab of yogurt with mayo when making chicken or tuna salad? Or a bit of yogurt/kefir when making veggie dip with sour cream? Stuff like that.

Another winner smoothie here:

2-3 cups frozen strawberries
1 cup buttermilk (good bugs!)/kefir/yogurt
ice
sweetener to taste

I forget the exact recipe, but basically frozen strawberries, a probiotic product and (if wanted) honey or other sweetener.