We've gone nuts ...

... coconuts that is! Last week, when we did a family "outing" to Sunflower Market, I found a fresh coconut for $1.89! The kids have never seen a real coconut and only know them as great "bombs" from the Disney classic, Swiss Family Robinson. I figured for $1.89 I could give them a bit of an adventure. Sunday night was the great night!

I still had my library copy of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon (which I am trying to talk dh into letting me own!) and checked in there. Yep, she had just how to prep a coconut ... with lots of good things to say about coconuts, coconut oil, coconut milk and dried coconut!

So we popped it open, drained out all the water and then the fun began -- cleaning the coconut from it's shell. Since none of our knives seem sharp, it took a while -- maybe 15-20 minutes to clean out the shell and chop up the meat. A quick whir in the food processor, a bit of warm water and another whir "till fluffy" and we had a lovely, white pulpy something....

Draining this pulpy glop thru cheesecloth yielded the most luxuriously white, creamy substance known as coconut milk -- absolutely sensational on granola (which I have had the last two mornings) or on icecream (which the kids have had the last two nights). The left over processed coconut meat was quickly dried in the oven (Fallon suggested sweetening with maple syrup but since we didn't have any, I just dried the coconut) and that has also been used on the icecream and sprinkled on my granola.

So, for $1.89, we not only got a cup of coconut milk, about 16 oz of dried coconut (that's not all sickly sweet like you get from the store!), and two coconut shells that the kids are fighting over ("I want to make a doll cradle", "a bird nest", "the sound of a horse", etc) ... we also now have a lifetime memory of trying and ENJOYING something a bit exotic.... Pretty good for $1.89!

What a joy it is to find such a wonderful food source and be able to give the kids such an experience!