coconut

Strawberry Coconut Cream Pie

April 26, 2017 By Anya 8 Comments

Strawberry season happens much earlier in Florida than in most places, and it’s already come and gone. Thankfully, I have a friend who shares my enthusiasm for getting my paws on some really good local berries, and is always willing to come along on the hour plus drive to an organic strawberry farm in the area. Something aligned this year, and the strawberry harvest was like nothing we’ve ever seen before. The berries were small, but absolutely explosive in taste – almost unnaturally sweet and as though artificial from the intensity of their strawberry flavor. It was hard to believe that something like that could be produced by the earth and sun alone. We were so astounded by the radioactive berries that we took the journey to the farm twice, since we underestimated the rarity of the situation and didn’t gather enough the first time around. I froze a bunch of the berries, but also went wild with strawberry recipes for the blog. I’m going to spread them out a bit throughout the spring/summer, since I know the season happens later for most of you, but hope you guys won’t mind the impending strawberry recipe series.
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Hydrating Fennel, Mango and Avocado Smoothie

April 16, 2017 By Anya 2 Comments

I’m generally one of those people that won’t eat ice cream or drink smoothies when it’s cold outside, but as soon as spring hits, I start dreaming of smoothies. I’m in that phase right now – the warmer air and blossoming trees are making me crave refreshing foods, and I can honestly imagine myself drinking a smoothie for every meal. This year, I’m trying to be a bit more experimental with my smoothies and to get out of my usual routine. My general go-to recipe is swampy in color, full of greens, berries, a frozen banana, and whatever superpowders I have lying around. It’s good, but also gets repetitive after a while, as well as too sweet. I’m striving to use less bananas and more fruit/veg other than berries and kale.
In today’s smoothie, I combined a bunch of ingredients I’ve been craving lately, specifically fresh fennel, mango and avocado. I then figured that a bit of ginger, mint and lime would go really well with all those things, and splurged on raw coconut water to use instead of regular water. The smoothie turned out so insanely refreshing, hydrating, and barely sweet (in a good way), that I knew I was onto something and had to share the recipe here. I honestly cannot wait until tomorrow morning, when I can make it again.
I’m pretty certain that this smoothie will still turn out great if you use regular water instead of the coconut kind (maybe add a bit more lime juice in this case), and I also think you can skip the mint if you don’t have any. Hope you give it a try.
There are some great links below that we’ve collected over this past week. Enjoy your Sunday :)

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No Bake Coconut Lemon Bars

April 5, 2017 By Anya 12 Comments

I’ve been dreaming about making no-bake lemon bars for a while now and finally got around to the idea a few weeks ago. The goal was to have absolutely no oven time required for both the crust and the lemon filling, while having solid bars that stay together nicely and, of course, taste delicious. The idea to include coconut in the mix came about naturally, since I knew that I would have to use coconut milk for the creamy lemon mousse anyway. I decided to take it one step further and incorporate dried coconut flakes into the crust, and I loved the way all of the flavors came together. I’ve made these bars three times within the past couple of weeks, and each time they disappeared before I knew it. Definitely a universal crowd pleaser.
We’ve got another step-by-step video for you today, which shows the fairly simple and very fun process of making these lemon bars. We are kind of addicted to the whole video-making thing now, so there are many more to come.

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Blueberry Cheesecake Truffles

February 26, 2017 By Anya 4 Comments

These cheesecake truffles are another fun recipe I developed for Nuts.com. Chocolate truffles full of healthful ingredients are everywhere these days, but that’s not so much the case with white chocolate, since it is admittedly more difficult to reinvent into a high-vibe and wholesome treat. It is possible, though, and the two ingredients perfect for the job are coconut and cacao butters, both of which happen to be really good for you, loaded with healthy fats and all. If you’ve never heard of coconut butter before, it’s a product made of the entire contents of the coconut – meat and oil – and you will most likely be amazed by how rich and delicious it is upon your first taste. I love having a jar of it in the kitchen, and since a little of the butter goes a long way, the jar lasts a pretty long time, while I add it to desserts, hot drinks, porridges, smoothies, and even slather it on toast. Cacao butter is another entirely natural ingredient that’s amazingly luxurious, so it goes without saying that these vegan cheesecake truffles are as decadent as they get. The sweetness comes from your choice of maple syrup or honey, and the characteristic, tart cheesecake flavor is brought out with the addition of fresh lemon juice and zest. The texture is soft, airy and very cheesecake-like – you could technically eat these truffles with a fork if you wanted, but I recommend biting. Indulging in these feels good, since all the ingredients are real foods, which is not generally the case with white chocolate truffles.
There are some links below, a lot of really good ones this week. Enjoy your Sunday!

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