http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2012/08/are-you-gutsy-enough-to-be-the-weirdo.html
A young coconut is not one of those brown woody shells with the hard meat. That is a mature coconut. A young coconut is cream-colored and is slightly spongy on the outside. Inside it has a clear-ish liquid and a soft jelly like consistency for the meat.
The young coconut juice/water is filled with electrolytes and minerals. Young coconuts contain quite a bit of calcium and a ton of potassium! They are easier to digest than mature coconuts too. The sugar content in young coconut is medium to high, so you will taste sweetness. Though, this makes it a great base for feeding the cultures when fermenting!
If you have problems with sweet things on the GAPS diet, I would recommend fermenting the water and meat (coconut yogurt!)
Sometimes when I open mine up, the young meat is very jelly and sometimes it is a little harder. If it is not spoiled, then both are good, just different textures, that all! I like to categorize my young coconuts into a few categories.***
Baby coconuts: Very jelly texture (falling apart and very thin).
Child coconuts: Firm jelly texture (this is a common one and its stage in my pictures).
Teenage coconut: Harder texture (but not nearly as hard as the mature coconut, I can still press my finger into it).
This just shows you that each coconut is unique! Any stage in my young coconut family works for my recipes.
Look for one with a smooth outer layer without any big brown bruises or moldy spots
Organic is always best, but I cannot even find organic ones at my coop, so I just get the regular ones.
The outer layer should be slightly spongy but still firm
Shake it..do you hear liquid? If you do that is a good sign! If you don’t it probably still has liquid in it.
If your young coconut water is pink when you drain it out, then it is bad. Sorry you will have to dump the whole thing. Bring it back to your store and get a refund (I have had to do this many times).
If the young meat is pink or brown, then it is bad. The meat should be a bright white color
If it smells weird..toss it! I should smell like fresh coconut.
*Warning: this is a little dangerous because you are whacking a coconut with a knife, so make sure no little ones do this please!
1 young coconut
1. Cut off the bottom (I use a serrated knife in a sawing motion) until you can see a small soft whitish spot (feel around with your thumb). You might have to do a bit of sawing.
2. Once you see the soft spot, stick the point of your knife into it and the knife should go through the hole. Make as big of a hole as you can with your knife. If you are pressing too hard, then you did not find the coconut’s soft spot. Keep searching!
3. Drain out the young coconut water into a cup or jar and save for later. It should be a yellowish/clear color. I like to use mine for young coconut water kefir! Or just drink it plain or add it to smoothies.
4. Now to take off the coconut “lid”. To get the meat out, flip the coconut upright. Use a butcher knife for this step. Very carefully stab (keep your fingers out of the way) around the point to create a square with the bottom point of your butcher knife. You should hear “crack” once you got through. It might take a few whacks to get the knife to go through. BE VERY CAERFUL! Some force is required for this step.
5. Whewf! You are past the hard part! 🙂 Now you have the “lid” off, so scoup out the soft meat with a regular kitchen spoon.
6. Place the young meat into a bowl and set aside or eat!
Yeah!! You did it…that wasn’t that hard, was it?
Drink plain!
Ferment with water kefir grains or non-dairy culture starter
Freeze into ice cube trays and add to cold drinks or smoothies
Store extra in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Store it in a glass container or jar for up to 1 week in the fridge.
Freeze it and just deforest it before using it.
Add it frozen into smoothies..yumm!
Who does’t love biting into a fresh juicy peach on a hot summer day. Or better yet, berry picking and nibbling along the way. Have you ever swam with a watermelon and then cracked it open? I have. It is so fun bobbing the melon up and down, you have to try it :). Mmmm these are the tastes of…..
I don’t know about you, but I always make sure that my fruits and veggies are organic. This is because of toxins and pesticides..if pesticides are meant to kill little critters, then what do you think they will do to your body? Um..I personally don’t want to find out, so that is why I stick with organic.
If you can’t buy all organic, then at least by local at your farmers market, or go stick to the clean 15 rule. Just make sure any un-organic produce is not GMO, ick!
Recently I received a box of organic produce from Melissa’s. Opening the box was like Christmas in July! I got 5 lb of pickling cucumbers, 10 green apples, and lots of cranberries. They were all organic too. 🙂
I got busy right away and made some yummy food to share with you all. I will get the recipes up soon! I didn’t want to waste one piece of the produce they sent me. Melissa’a organic produce is so fresh and they offer an AMAZNIG variety!!
Ok ok, I will stop temping you. Sorry about that. But I guess now you have something to look forward to for this week 🙂
Melissa’s produce is going to offer one lucky winner a box of organic seasonal produce. It will be a combination of their best fruits in season, so it should be REALLY good!
“the box will contain the summer best in Organics (like peaches, plums, grapes, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes)” ~Melissa’s produce
Your summer is not complete until you eat the best fruit of the season 🙂
~Stay Gutsy, Caroline
Can you believe tomorrow is August 1?
…actually it is my favorite month of the year 🙂
July is the month when day light and sunshine take over. The water is warm, people are happier (they get more vitamin D), and freckles decide to say hello!
I have an exciting recipe to share with everyone today! Let me introduce to you, GAPS banana blueberry bread! I have been experimenting with almond and coconut flour to reach the perfect consistency for a banana bread recipe. Whatever I did worked! Yipee. This one is for sure a keeper.
Every since I was little, my mom used to make banana blueberry bread. She had 1 recipe, and at that time we considered it to be SUPER healthy. It had whole wheat organic flour, honey, banana’s, butter, and, all the other stuff you put into banana bread. It is pretty healthy, other than the whole wheat flour. I am not saying that wheat is bad, but if you are on GAPS, then it would not be a good idea. Sometimes she would even put in chocolate chips or blueberries (my favorite!). Whenever she used to put blueberries into the bread I would always pick them out 🙂
Things have changed, and now that we are on GAPS, whole wheat is no longer an option. My brother and sister who are not on GAPS have a wheat allergy, and eating it makes my brother act grumpy so my mom tries to keep it away from him. I bet he needs some repairing of the gut too, but he first had to go off of wheat and sugar. One step at a time. I don’t see any wheat coming into our kitchen for a while because I also have a SUPER sensitivity to it. My body has an allergic reaction to floating flour in the air. I have not really discussed my health problems a lot yet, but I plan on sharing them here in the future.
To make my long story short, if I get exposed to a crumb of wheat (I have never gotten tested for celiac, because I would do the same things anyways) I will swell up and lose my coordination. The gluten affects my cortex of my brain so I have a hard time walking without tripping over myself. It is quite unusual, especially because corn and potato do the same thing to me. The molecules are so similar to gluten that my body just recognizes the shape as the same.
Ok, I think I got a little side tracked there, don’t you think? Lets get on with the part you have all been waiting for….GAPS banana bread! Oh, by the way you can switch out the blueberries for cranberries (really good), GAPS chocolate drops, soaked/dehydrated nuts, or anything that is yummy to you in banana bread. To make it easy on you, I separated the ingredients into wet, dry, and egg whites. You will need 3 bowls for this bread.
You may be wondering why I put apple cider vinegar (ACV) and baking soda into it. The ACV and baking soda react when they come together to produce more air bubbles = a lighter banana bread. The egg whites whipped also help fluff up the bread. Once you have everything combined, act quick so the batter does not “fall”. If you cannot do baking soda on GAPS, then just skip it. But still keep the ACV in for flavor (it just enhances the banana flavor).
wet:
3 medium very brown bananas
3 egg yolks
3 TBS melted coconut oil or ghee
1/4 cup real maple syrup or honey or vanilla honey
2 tsp ACV
10-20 drops of stevia (optional if you like your bread a little sweeter)
2 tsp of vanilla extract
dry:
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 1/2 cups of almond flour (I use Honeyville)
2 TBS of coconut flour
2 tsp of cinnamon (add a few extra tsp if you want cinnamon banana bread)
egg whites: 3 egg whites
**I have gotten some comments that this bread is too wet. Remember, your ingredients and oven are not the same as mine. If the batter seems too runny, add another TBS of coconut flour. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Grease your 2 small or 1 big bread pan with coconut oil generously (I used a pastry brush, but your fingers work too). Measure and cut the parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper 
3. Smash bananas in a mixing bowl. I used my hands..but you can use a fork or potato masher.
4. Add in all your wet ingredients into the smashed banana bowl and mix. 
5. In another bowl combine your dry ingredients
6. In another bowl whip your egg whites into stiff peaks with beaters. 
7. Swiftly add your wet ingredients int your dryingredients (or other way around, which ever bowl is bigger). Don’t over stir, but make sure it is all combined. 
8. Fold in your egg whites until fully combined.
9. Mix in your blueberries! I used 1 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries 
10. Pour your batter into your bread pan. 
11.
12. Carefully run a knife or mini spatula around the edges so it comes out clean. I do this many times to ensure that it won’t stick to the sides when I go and flip it out. Place a plate onto of your bread pan and hold it in place with your hand. Carefully flip the bread and plate upside-down so the plate is on the bottom. Lift up the bread pan to release the bread. Flip the bread back over onto another plate or cutting board. This is how I take bread out of a pan, If you have a better way, feel free to do that instead.
13. Cut into it with a bread knife, and Eat! It is good warm, or cold. Keep leftovers (if you have any..my bother ate 1/2 the loaf when I made it!) in the fridge.
