Tag Archives: Coconut

Onward

April 15, 2012

The rope that tethers me to this place, this time, is growing thinner with each day approaching the big move (42, who’s counting).  Things feel different, everywhere. My running route, the struggle to find parking on campus, our favorite restaurants, the farmers market, even the beach. It’s as if my mind has begun the emotional preparations for a new normal by disassociating from the old. More frequently now I find myself caught in the ordinary moments with a feeling of being there, but not really there in the ways I once was.

I drive through parts of town and see the places I lost myself, the places I really found myself.  I see Shaun and I, younger, and the memories made in our relentless itch for growth and exploration. Everywhere there is a cacophony of light and dark, joy and pain, laughter and tears. It feels sorta supernatural. Hard to describe.

Standing at the edge of the shore this morning, I looked up to the clouds barreling across the sky after the good storm we had the past few days and felt an extraordinary sense of gratitude for the time, for the place — for all that it gave, for all that it took away. Four years have come and gone. I’m a different person now. I hope a better one. And it’s time. Time to let new faces and new seasons to teach me more about myself, more about the world.

The strawberries will be missed, California. But I’m so ready for new adventures.

Strawberry Basil Scones 
 
  • 2 ½ cups flour (I used a GF blend)
  • 2 tbsp turbinado sugar
  • 1 
tbsp baking powder
  • ¼ 
tsp salt
  • ½ cup cold coconut oil or butter, cut into chunks
  • 1 + cup chopped fresh strawberries
  • 2
 tbsp minced basil
  • ½ cup full fat coconut milk
  • 2 
eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl stir together the dry ingredients. Scoop out or cut in butter or coconut oil. Stir in minced basil and hulled, and quartered strawberries. In a medium bowl stir together eggs and the milk. (Cream, half and half, or regular milk would work here too.) Add egg mixture to flour mixture in one pour. Stir together until completely moistened, using your hands when necessary.

Turn out onto a parchment covered baking sheet. Press into a 1” thick circle. Cut into 8 wedges. Brush with extra milk and sprinkle with sugar. If you use butter instead of coconut oil, place baking sheet with cut wedges in the freezer for up to 20 minutes before baking. It will make them magically fluffier and more scone-y. Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending. Finish with a good dollop of local honey or clotted cream.

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Here and There, Surprises

September 13, 2011

You’re probably thinking, didn’t we just see a new post from this girl? Yes. Two posts in one week. They say the busier you get the more you get done, right? We created this video to help Megan at The Fresh Exchange celebrate the surprise announcement of her new creative venture (today! see more here).  Megan is awesome — someone I would like to call friend in real life sometime soon, she’s a young seeker too.

As I’ve shared in our “contact” drop down, before starting this blog I was admittedly anti social-media. People need people, not computers. Nothing replaces real human connection and relationships, but I’ve learned over the past year that social networks, blogs, and digital media actually do bring people closer together. This space has served as reinforcement to my fundamental belief that we are not alone; there are thousands of people who share similar passions, interests, and goals. Together, we can be better, do better, and inspire new ideas and new ways to look at the world.

If you’re a creative, blogger, or just looking for new friends, hop on over to The Fresh Exchange  for a bit of inspiration and the recipe to these sweet and spicy macaroons adapted from Rebecca Katz in the Cancer Fighting Kitchen.

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Books & Blackberry Brownies

August 21, 2011

Over the past few years I’ve been curating a short (but sadly growing) list of things I’m worried my (someday) kids will never get to see or experience in their lives. Although I am a pretty optimistic person, my heart does sink every now and then when I step back for too long and watch the great world spin before me. I tend to stumble upon these things gently, usually in nature where I am reassured that everything is going to be the way it should.

Alas, this has not been the case for my most recent fear. Books. The end of books. The real hold-it-in-your-hand, check-it-out-at-the-library, pass-it-to-a-friend, dog-ear-the-page, make-your-purse-heavy kind of books. The gutting of bookstores large and small across the nation is the beginning of what I fear will soon turn into a world entirely of e-readers and online textbooks. The idea that one day I might be able to say “when I was a kid, there used to be stores the size of supermarkets filled with just books” and get a response like, “no way!” is scary.

The Borders liquidation sale was a war-zone this past weekend — books falling off the shelves, on the floor. People were manically digging through stacks of movies and rows of greeting cards as if their lives depended on it. An ugly scene, to say the least. We left empty handed, and when I asked Shaun why we had even checked it out in the first place he responded, “to remember.” Gulp.

If you’ve checked out the recommended reading page, you’ll know that there is something very spiritual to me about having a house filled with good books. There is a Horace Mann quote that embraces my sentiments perfectly, “a house without books is like a room without windows.” It’s so true. They help develop our perspectives of the world, bringing us closer together without ever taking step out the front door. Even if that stack on your nightstand has gone untouched in the past six months, they still serve as physical reminders of our beliefs, our hopes, and our curiosities.

Pick out a good book from your stash and have a brownie. Cherish the pages.

Blackberry Brownies

Adapted from A Dash of Sass

  • 4 cups grated zucchini
  • 1 cup coconut oil
  • ½ cup brown rice syrup
  • ½ cup raw turbinado sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 1/2 cups gluten free flour blend
  • 1 cup vegan cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 2 cups whole blackberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking pan with a tsp of coconut oil and set aside. Grate zucchini into a strainer, press with a towel to remove excess moisture.

In a large bowl, mix together coconut oil, eggs, brown rice syrup, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in the dried, pressed zucchini. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture slowly, stirring to combine. Add the blackberries last, stirring together gently.

Bake for 40-45 minutes and let cool for 20-30 minutes, if you can resist temptation.

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It’s Good to Be Three

April 11, 2011

During times of inordinate stress, pressure, or change, I find that more than any amount of yoga or breathing, the best meditative practice is simply the act of remembering. Remembering is an act of the heart. It gathers the images and energy of the people we associate with the past experience, and we cannot help to feel a pang of gratitude that we were there to share that specific moment in time together. It’s a practice we can do anywhere, anytime. Driving home from work, checking out books from the library, making the bed… you get the idea. We bring these memories into focus and suddenly the many worries and preoccupations of our day fade to the background. The wisdom of friends, family, and strangers who occupy these memories should remind us that the love and admiration we feel for them is reciprocal – they love and believe in us just the same.

Some of the most powerful memories we can access, especially during times of self-doubt or criticism, are the ones of our younger and enthusiastic selves. As children, we were not buried deep in worry, restraint, or stress. Our full time jobs were to explore a world in its limitless intricacies. We were constantly seeking, questioning, creating, laughing, and enjoying.

When I think of myself at three or four years old I see a little girl who was uninhibited, and free. She beamed with light and exuberance, and felt blissfully content to be who she was. The words “you can’t” were not in her vocabulary yet and she was assured that the entire world was at her fingertips.

I remember that girl. She was amazing. I remember her smile, her confidence, and certainty. But then I realize… hey, that girl is me! That same spirit and lightheartedness still lives inside of me. I can still be free like her; and so can you. We should remember the energy and lightness of our childhood and give ourselves permission to cultivate it in our seemingly constrained lives. Conjuring the memory of such a lightness and warmth can even be enough to push you up the hill on a hard day.

Carrot cake is a dessert that brings together the best memories of my both my childhood and of my mother. All twenty-one of my birthdays  (which is actually in December) have been celebrated with an original carrot cake recipe that she has saved from the 80s. When I emailed her asking for the recipe last week I think she was probably expecting me to completely transform it into a fat-free sugar-free relative. But I couldn’t – memories associated with this keepsake are of an auspicious nature, and I needed to (mostly) maintain its integrity if for no ones sake but my own. A few tweaks to the icing and oils, but otherwise pretty darn accurate. For me, carrot cake celebrates life, love, remembrance, and the many more memories to be made in the future. May it bring you a moment of lightness and tenderness in the way it did for me this weekend.

For the cake:

  • 3/4 cups raw sugar
  • 2 cups gluten free all purpose baking flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2/3 cup melted coconut oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla
  • 2 1/2 heaping cups grated carrots
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 1/2 cups crushed pineapple, strained
  • (optional) 1 cup of raisins

For the glaze: (adapted from Roost blog)

  • 1 cup reduced fat coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup brown rice syrup
  • shredded unsweetened coconut

Preheat the oven to 350′. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a larger bowl, beat the eggs and add the sugar. Slowly beat in the coconut oil, vanilla, and pineapple. Add the flower mixture and stir gently with a rubber spatula until just incorporated. Finally, stir in the carrots and walnuts. I decided to make these in mini loaf molds, but it would also work in large loaf or round pans. Depending on your preference, grease your pan(s) and fill to 3/4 full with cake batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes.Remove from oven and let cool before drizzling with coconut glaze

For the icing, mix together melted coconut oil, coconut milk and brown rice syrup until it forms an even consistency. Pour into a small glass container and freeze for 45 min to an hour. Enjoy over hot cake and a happy heart. I titled this dessert, but who am I kidding… Shaun and I ate it for dinner… (smile)

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Girl Scout Cookie Renovation

February 25, 2011

The Girl Scouts have taken over. I can’t go anywhere these days without seeing adorable eight and nine year-old girls waving colorful boxes of cookies and alluring the sugar-addicted masses to support their (worthy and important) programs. I take a deep breath before I write this, because I don’t want to come off as a total cynic, but have you taken a peek at the nutrition labels on those bad boys lately? Yikes! How do those tiny treats pack such a harsh punch? Here’s what I found on the Girl Scouts website for the Samoas variety:

140 calories per serving, 70 calories from fat. Total fat 7g, Saturated fat 5g. Sugar 10g. Ingredients: Sugar, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil and cottonseed oil, soybean and palm oil, enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), coconut, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk, cocoa, sorbitol, glycerin, invert sugar, cocoa processed with alkali, cornstarch, salt, carmelized sugar, dextrose, soy lecithin, carrageenan, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate, natural and artificial flavor.

Red flag! Cottonseed Oil! Last year I read an excerpt from Dr. Andrew Weil’s Eight Weeks to Optimum Health that asked readers to go through their pantry and throw out anything made with cottonseed oil. He considers it “unhealthy because it’s too high in saturated fat, but even more, it is notorious for containing natural toxins and unacceptably high levels of pesticide residues… cotton is not actually classified as a food crop, and farmers use many agrichemicals when growing it.” But cottonseed oil isn’t the only offender, try artificial food dyes, hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, GMO Soy products, GMO corn products, and artificial flavors to boot.

There are ways to enjoy a little coconut-y chocolate-y goodness without all the processed gunk. It’s been a while since I’ve consumed an original Girl Scout confection but from what I’ve heard “on the street,”  cookie season just leaves people feeling guilty and unhappy. A cookie is still a cookie… it’s pretty hard to turn it into a “health” food, but we can strip it of unnecessary additives and use wholesome ingredients that treat your body with the tenderness and respect it deserves!

Try this renovation on the classic Samoas and I dare you to tell me it’s not heavenly…

Visit Sprouted Kitchen for the full recipe of “Dark Chocolate Dipped Macaroons.”

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