Carol- You can make naturally-fermented bread with kefir - no sourdough starter necessary (you'll find a recipe at the link below. Maybe use half kefir and half warm water. It will help tenderize the crumb. Check the recipes for using kefir at the link below for more choices for you. I just finished fermenting a quart of kefir today and one yesterday so I was looking at these recipes for some inspiration. Perhaps it was our day to have a "deep psychic kefir bond". ;-) Happy Independence Day back at ya! -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Kefir Recipes

"Healthier" is so subjective....so you'll have to define that for yourself. Yep, you can use coconut oil. I use it all the time in baked goods. Without a peek at the entire recipe you could probably start with reducing the amount by 25%. When I first started using coconut oil (in the 90's) the label suggested you could generally reduce the amount of vegetable oil in a recipe by 25% if you substituted it with coconut oil, and get the same results. If a quick bread recipe calls for 1 cup of fat/oil I'll generally reduce it by 50%, but more reduction than that and I may need to add something like flaxmeal, chia seeds or chia seed gel, unsweetened applesauce, agave nectar, or kefir/yogurt/buttermilk, to help maintain moistness. Low-fat or fat-free baked goods tend to dry more rapidly. Your other option is to choose low-fat recipes. ZUCCHINI LEMON BREAD (Note: I have also used this recipe for muffins and reduce the baking time.) 1 c. all-purpose flour (I substitute freshly-milled spelt) 1-1/3 c. whole wheat flour 2 t. baking powder 1/2 t. baking soda 1/4 t. salt 1/4 t. ground ginger 1/4 t. ground nutmeg 2 large eggs 3 T. vegetable oil 1 c. sugar (I use 3/4 c. palm sugar or 1/3 c. agave nectar) 2 T. lemon juice 1 c. packed shredded zucchini (1 med. zucchini) 1 T. grated lemon peel 1. Heat the oven to 350-degrees F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. 2. In a large bowl, mix both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. 3. In a medium-size bowl, beat the eggs, oil, sugar, and lemon juice until well blended. Stir in the zucchini and lemon peel. 4. Add the zucchini mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. 5. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Turn the bread out onto the rack and cool completely. Makes 16 slices. Per slice: 148 cal, 3g pro, 26g carb, 4g fat, 27mg chol, 143mg sodium. I make this recipe a lot in the summer when zucchini are plentiful. MICROWAVE ZUCCHINI BREAD RING (source: Pillsbury \- Summer\-Sational Side Dishes) 2 T. dry bread crumbs (I use almond flour.) 3/4 c. Pillsbury's BEST All Purpose or Unbleached Flour (I use spelt) 3/4 c. Pillsbury's BEST Whole Wheat Flour 3/4 c. sugar (I use palm sugar or 1/4 c. agave nectar) 1 t. baking soda 1 t. cinnamon 1 t. salt 1/4 t. nutmeg 1/8 t. cloves 1/2 c. milk 1/2 c. margarine or butter, softened (I use 1/4 c. coconut oil) 1\-1/2 c. (1 medium) shredded zucchini\* 2 eggs Grease 6\-cup microwave\-safe ring mold.\*\* Sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In medium bowl, combine flour and all remaining ingredients. Blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Pour into greased and crumb\-coated ring mold. Place in microwave oven on inverted microwave\-safe plate. Microwave on MEDIUM for 10 minutes, rotating 1/2 turn halfway through cooking. Rotate pan 1/4 turn. Microwave on HIGH for 2 to 5 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean and bread begins to pull away from sides of ring mold. Set stand directly on counter top 5 minutes; unmold onto serving plate. 16\-servings TIPS: \*If zucchini is very moist, drain on paper towels before using. \*\*A 2\-quart microwave\-safe casserole can be substituted for ring mold. Place heavy\-bottom drinking glass, 2 to 2\-1/2 inches in diameter, in center of casserole. Nutrition: 150 calories, protein\-3g, carbohydrates\-19g, fat\-7g, cholesterol\-27mg, sodium\-190mg, potassium\-80mg Hope that helps you out... :\-) \-Grainlady

I'll dry any kind of tomato I happen to be growing, but I generally only grow small varieties of tomatoes. The more "meaty" varieties of tomatoes are preferred for drying. You can dry both ripe or green tomatoes. Rehydrate those green tomato slices in boiling water, dredge them and fry in melted butter in skillet. Fried Green Tomatoes for New Year's Day along with those Black-eyed Peas. ;-) It's amazing how many dried tomatoes you can stuff into a quart jar. You can also remove the skin and seeds and blend the tomatoes in a blender, add a little Fruit Fresh, and dry it on the Fruit Leather Sheets. Cut the sheets into squares and you'll find they add a lot of flavor to soups and stews as they incorporate into the liquid. You can also make tomato paste or tomato sauce by adding the tomato leather to hot water. Make a quick pasta sauce. How to: Peel tomatoes by dipping in boiling water for 1-minute, then in cold water for 1 minute. Slip off skins and cut out cores, or just the stem end - your choice. Cut into 1/8-inch slices, the seeds will generally fall out during drying. I also cut them into 1/4-inch cubes to dry. Drain them well before drying. It will help cut drying time down. I'll give the tomato cubes a gentle spin in my salad spinner to extract both moisture and seeds. I dry tomatoes in a dehydrator. It gets too humid here for good drying outdoors. Make sure your "old window screen" ISN'T galvanized, which is coated with cadmium or zinc. These metals can oxidize and leave harmful residue on the food. Also avoid copper and aluminum screening. Copper destroys vitamin C and increases oxidation. Aluminum tends to discolor and corrode. Use stainless steel, teflon-coated fiberglass and plastic screening. Sun drying isn't recommended for vegetables (other than vine-dried beans). Vegetables are low in sugar and acid, which increases the risks for food spoilage. Favorable conditions for drying outdoors - minimum temperature of 85-degrees F (with higher temperatures being better) and humidity below 60%. Be sure to bring them in overnight. The cooler night temperatures can cause condensation and add moisture back into the food and slow the drying process. This can contribute to bacteria growth (Salmonella and E. Coli). Raise the screens off the ground (saw horses) and place them over concrete when possible (or over a sheet of aluminum - the reflection of the sun on the metal increases the drying temperature). Screens placed close to the ground can actually cause the food to absorb moisture from the grass and ground. Add a fan if possible. This will help keep insects off the food, and air circulation is as important as the temperature. Food dried outdoors also has an increased chance for insects. All food dried outdoors needs to be pasteurized and cooled to room temperature before placing it into storage. To pasteurize the food, place it in a preheated 160-degree F oven for 30-minutes. An alternative is to freeze the food for 48-hours to kill any eggs from possible insect contamination. TWO screens are suggested for drying food outdoors. One screen holds the food and the other one to protect the food from "critters". Home dehydrated foods are not considered "long-storage" foods. You can extend the storage time by placing it in canning jars and vacuum-sealing the jars with a FoodSaver, or adding an oxygen absorber. You can also freeze the dehydrated food for longer storage. Recommended storage times for home dehydrated foods range from 4-months to 1-year. The food quality is affected by heat, light and storage temperature. Most dried fruits can be stored for one year at 60-degrees F, six months at 80-degrees F. Vegetables have about half the shelf-life of fruits. Vacuum-seal fruits or vegetables and keep it in the dark in a cool storage temperature and you can double the shelf-life. Remember to package your dehydrated food in small containers. Each time you open a container of food, it will draw moisture in from the air and that can cause the food to rehydrate and even mold. I package slices of dried apples in small snack-size storage bags, then place them in a 1/2-gallon jar and vacuum-seal it for storage. When it's moved from storage to the pantry, I replace the canning lid with a Universal Lid (which is easy to open and re-close). Now when I want sliced apples for a snack or for adding to muffins, I can quickly get one or two packets without the moisture getting to the entire contents of the jar. Not all foods dry properly at one temperature, that's why an electric dehydrator with a thermostat and a fan is a better choice for home dehydrating. You'll have a safer product than using the sun. The link below has a LOT of great information. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: New Home Drying Recommendations

Yes...(about powdered eggs). This is information I received via e-mail from Honeyville Grain just the other day. "As many of you know we have been out of stock on our #10 cans of Powdered Whole Eggs and Egg Whites for about 3 months. This has been as a result of working with the USDA on plant and label approval with new stricter requirements with respect to eggs. We've endured numerous delays and setbacks throughout the process. About a week ago we had received approval to begin Production. We did so and even had product on UPS trailers ready to be picked up. We got a call from the USDA stating that they had put us through the wrong process and we would have to start over again. We had to pull all of the outbound orders and go back into a holding pattern. At this point we are moving through the process but have no idea when we'll be back in business with the canned eggs. It is a frustrating situation with one of our best sellers and we apologize for the delay. Just as soon as we have product ready to ship we will send out an email to all of our great Honeyville Customers. We appreciate your patience." Kefir - I only use powdered milk products - period. I don't purchase store-bought milk. We use a whey-based milk substitute - Morning Moo's - for drinking and cooking. I store another brand, Country Cream, and use it for my kefir - http://www.grandmascountryfoods.com/. The Country Cream seems to work better than the whey-based product for kefir, unfortunately it's more expensive than Morning Moo's. I've never tried it with store-brand powdered milk. If you do let me know how it works - just out of curiosity. I've made it with fresh goat milk, but I don't have a source for it anymore. Do you know you can place your grains in a jar of milk and "rest" them in the refrigerator (for 7-10-days, or so)? I usually keep 1/3 to 1/2-cup of grains going, and place mine in 1-cup of milk in a pint jar and rest them for 5-7-days before making kefir. I usually have 4-6 cups of kefir in the refrigerator at any one time, and when I get that much I'll rest my grains until I need to make more. When I want to use them again I'll remove the grains from the milk and place them in 2 to 2-1/2-cups of milk in a quart jar. You can leave the pint jar of milk the grains were resting in sitting out at room temperature and it will have enough kefir in from the grains to ferment into kefir. My new favorite... I make kefir using coconut milk. I use coconut milk powder (reconstituted) but you can use canned coconut milk. You might try it when your grains get bigger and you need to divide them and have some extra grains. Once I used them in coconut milk, I store them in coconut milk and only use them with coconut milk. We love it added to pineapple/orange juice smoothie for a great pina colada taste - or just plain instead of yogurt, or topped with homemade granola. I use kefir as a replacement for buttermilk, and I use it in my bread. I never thought about it rising better because of it. But then, that's what I've always used in my bread recipe ;-) -Grainlady