We're Going Coconuts

Last year on New Year's Day we got a great juicer.  And this year we invested in a great blender - the VitaMix Professional Series 500.  It's a beast!  I love it!

We've eaten at New York's Pure Food & Wine restaurant several times, which is amazing by the way, and finally got one of their great cook books.

So we were inspired to try out new ingredients too.  First up are Thai young coconuts.  We had to get a new cleaver to crack into these guys, but I was excited.  We have a cool supermarket here that specializes in asian and south american foods so the produce and prices are amazing.

We cracked open two coconuts and got over 3 cups of coconut water - which is a great natural source of electrolytes (much better than something like Gatorade!). Both are young but you can see their at different meat stages.  The very young one has the soft purplish meat while the second was more mature and firm.  What's cool is it comes out almost in one piece.  I had a delicious bit with chocolate for dessert.

We saved both the water and meat which can be used in a bunch of different recipes.  We added some to a fruit smoothie for breakfast today.  I usually get hungry around 10am but I've lasted until noon.  Lots of good energy!

If you want a laugh, check out the coconut opening process!