Almond butter

Coconut Heaven

/ Wyndsong Magickal Arts / 3 Comments
Coconut (halved)

Coconut (halved) (Photo credit: SingChan)

I must confess – this last month has seen me become very obsessed with coconut. I don’t just mean coconuts themselves (although I’m sure they are great – just a little hard to crack into!), but everything that has to do with coconut.

It started out simply enough. When I began my Paleo journey, I realized that the easiest and most economical oil for me to cook with was going to be coconut oil. Ever since that realization, I have only used coconut oil to fry or saute, and olive oil for other things.

Then I met coconut butter, and I began my obsession with that. I made a few batches of that to eat when I get hungry at work, but I got sick of it pretty quickly.

Now my latest obsession is coconut milk. When I first began Paleo, I tried to drink my coffee with the So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk, but I couldn’t stand the stuff. I had thought that anything was better than drinking my coffee black, but I was wrong. I drink it black every day now with no problem whatsoever. I also made a realization about coconut milk: if it doesn’t have the fat in it, it just isn’t as good. I get the canned coconut milk now, which I usually find in the international food section of the grocery store. I try to get the brand that has the least amount of ingredients in it. I have taken to making all kinds of smoothies with coconut milk. My favorite right now is strawberry and almond butter. I just pour a can of coconut milk into the blender, add plenty of strawberries, a few tablespoons of almond butter, and some unsweetened coconut flakes (coconut flakes work as a thickener, I have found). I got very excited today when I realized that peach season is right around the corner. I have been waiting rather impatiently for peach season for about a month now, but I forgot all about it recently with everything that I have going on. I can’t wait to make my first peach smoothie! I have also made a rather delicious smoothie with coconut milk, coffee, hazelnut flour, and coconut flakes. The first one of these that I made was really good, but I made one last week that wasn’t as great. I don’t think I used enough coffee.

Oddly enough, the only coconut product that I haven’t really cared for is coconut water. I bought a single-serving pack of coconut water at EarthFare when I went to buy some coconut one time, and I found it to be quite nasty. However, I am probably going to give it another shot sometime soon because I hadn’t refrigerated it first. I have heard, through my dabbling in CrossFit, that coconut water is supposed to be an awesome after-workout drink. That would be great for me right now. I went to the gym last Tuesday and did my workout, including my squats, and I was so worn out on Wednesday that I refused to go to the gym on Thursday because I didn’t want to be worn out on Friday. I wonder if drinking coconut water after my workout will help with that. I will have to conduct an experiment based on that question soon.

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Look What I Found!

/ Wyndsong Magickal Arts / 2 Comments

I am a huge fan of the Paleo blogosphere, and since I am trying to recommit myself to strict Paleo, as well as exercise, I have been bouncing around the net, trying to find new recipes and things to experiment with. Today I am making 5-Spice Slow-Cooker Pork Ribs, although I am quite frustrated about all of the time I took going through EarthFare to get coconut aminos, only to arrive back home with a bunch of other stuff – coconut aminos were not in my bag, because I forgot all about them. I ended up using soy sauce (gasp) in  the ribs…. my shame is tremendous.

The reason why I forgot the coconut aminos is because I became excited about trying another recipe I found – coconut butter. As I was telling a friend, think peanut butter without the peanuts. I am not all that crazy about almonds, so almond butter isn’t all that appealing to me. There seems to be a bitter aftertaste with almonds that I don’t like, and that aftertaste is a lot more noticeable in almond butter. But I am a HUGE fan of coconut, and when I found the coconut butter recipe and realized how simple it is, I HAD to try it.

Let me just say that I haven’t been able to stay away from the stuff since I made it last night. I am probably going to have to get something better to make it with than my cheapy little food processor, though, because I had to add a lot more coconut oil to get it to paste up than the recipe calls for. Plus, I think I made the crunchy version because my little food processor didn’t do a great job. However, what I did end up with came out quite tasty and I may have to stop by the store to get some more coconut very soon!

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