a little healthier: May 2011

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Butters

Coconut butter is ultra expensive. Like 8-16 bucks a jar. And, really, that's not affordable in my books. But I happened upon an amazing little tidbit. You can MAKE your own coconut butter! And it's so easy, I can't belieeeeeeve it's sold for SO much! All you need is

Unsweetened, shredded coconut

a drizzle of coconut oil

food processor

It should be a crime to charge what they do. Really!

So. This morning while bread was raising, I decided to make butters. I am SO excited at how they all turned out! SUPER yummmm! I'll probably never buy butters again.

Coconut Butter

Start with...... (click to buy @ amazon.com)

Process for about 5 minutes with a tablespoon or two of melted coconut oil. It's totally amazing to see the shredded coconut become a complete runny liquid!! You'll know it's done when it has the consistency of water.

Pour into jar and let harden at room temp..it took about 2 hours for mine to solidify completely. And that's IT. Nothing else needed.

While in the liquid phase I added 2 Tbsp cocoa and 1/3 cup melted dark chocolate ...I love Lindt dark cocoa

It just so happened to create this most amazing cocoa coconut butter....in the liquid phase my kids dipped graham crackers in it and I was almost convinced they'd eat the entire jar! After about 2 hours it hardened perfectly.

Super AMAZING!!

So, what would one USE coconut butter for? I read a blog where a lady mixed it with peppermint oil, formed it into patties, dipped it in chocolate and made peppermint patties! Craig's gonna slather it on toast. And pancakes. And muffins. My kids will eat the stuff with a spoon. And it can be blended with about anything! Vanilla extract and Saigon cinnamon, anyone?? YUM

Then, I had to give this Vanilla White Chocolate Peanut Butter a try...Check the link out for the recipe!

Our lunch today pretttttty much consisted of slathering graham crackers in vanilla peanut butter and dipping them in the cocoa coconut butter.......drooooooool!

Until the bread came out of the oven, of course, and then it was on to doing the same thing....with bread!

ENJOY!

( More incredible butter combination to come!! )

Friday, May 6, 2011

Guacamole Bruschetta

When I saw this recipe shared by a friend (thanks, Kaia, for the inspiration!), it took all my self control to not jump in my van that instant and buy some avocados. This morning, I loaded the kids into the stroller and walked to my local grocer to buy what I needed. I came home and got right to work. It took me all of 10 minutes to make. Super quick! Craig's take?

"Well..It sure don't lack flavor!!" It got his stamp of approval!!

I immediately forwarded the recipe and photo to my little sis to make for my parents.

My family is going to be in tastebud heaven tonight!!!

My changes:

It calls for french bread, but I used Pugliese.

I didn't rub my bread in garlic, I put a clove in the guac.

I minced everything pretty small instead of making it chunky.

I used roma tomato.

Guacamole Bruschetta

½ loaf French bread
1 clove garlic
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 tomatoes, medium chopped
2 avocados, medium chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
¼ cup chopped cilantro
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Slice the French bread on the diagonal into ½" rounds and place on a baking sheet.
Toast the sliced bread in the oven for 3 minutes, then flip each piece over and toast an additional 3 minutes.
Remove the toasted bread from the oven and immediately rub with the clove of garlic (it works best to first cut a small tip off the garlic clove so that the oils will seep out).
Brush the tops of the garlic-rubbed toasts with olive oil and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the chopped tomatoes, avocado, onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Mix together gently making sure the avocado is well coated in the lime juice.
Spoon a portion of the mixture onto each of the garlic toasts and serve.

Original Recipe Here