Tuesday, January 4, 2011

A winter break from local - lets go tropical!

There aren’t many local veggies out there these days, so the Big Baskets are taking a rare visit to the tropics and indulging in coconuts and pineapples, and both baskets get mangos and US kiwis. All are great in smoothies and together they make a nice fruit salad.

To open a coconut
If you haven’t used coconuts before, they are opened by poking a knife in the three circles on top. The shell is softer in one especially and you can make a hole to drain the coconut water into a container. There is usually up to 2 cups of coconut water which can be blended with the meat to make coconut milk. 
I then take my hammer to the nut and a few swift blows will crack it. The white coconut meat can be pried loose with a knife from the shell and the brown skin can be peeled off with a potato peeler.
Coconut is a delicious and healthy addition to both fruit and green smoothies. One coconut is enough to make a coconut cream pie (Google “coconut cream pie”). I am looking for good coconut recipes, so if you have a favorite, please email it to me!

Enjoy!
Marnie