Kefir with Chia Seeds, Oats, and Raspberries

Last week I posted about making milk kefir at home. I make about a cup a day to keep my kefir grains active, healthy and multiplying. It usually rotates among the four of us in our family. Some days it will be someone's breakfast, on other days it will be someone else's afternoon snack or dessert.

Milk Kefir is consumed as a drink but I usually let it fement until I get a thicker consistency, that's the way I like it. It works well as a smoothie base or with a muesli base. Add any fruit, nuts, and seeds and have yourself a healthy treat to start your day or for any time of the day.

Kefir with Chia Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Goji Berries, and Blueberries

What a find! Pocky is a childhood treat from Japan. The original flavor came in milk chocolate and that's what I grew up with. Ezaki Glico produced the first Pocky sticks in Japan back in 1966 and they are popular in other Asian countires.

In the U.S., they are easily found throughout the Asian grocery stores. I just found out that Pocky is sold under the name of Mikado in France since 1982. I had no idea, and here I am in Paris running to the Asian grocery store on rue St. Anne paying twice as much for it when I could have just picked up a box from the local supermarket around the corner. The only thing is that they are limited in flavors. I have only seen Mikado in milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and chocolate with almond coating.

Pocky has since evolved from just offering milk chocolate, milk chocolate with almond coating, strawberry, and dark chocolate as flavors. Now it offers chocolate banana, cookies and cream, matcha, sweet milk, melon (cantoloupe), mango, etc...just to name a few. Blueberry is my most recent find. What a great treat and fun snack!