A Day of Coconut Bliss

Exam time has come for us students, which means study time occupies (or should occupy) the majority of our time and effort. Seven tests coming up in the next two weeks for Coconut Crumpet, such joy. I'm not even sure my brain has the capacity to hold four full courses worth of information at one time. And to add to my troubles, I have been feeling sick for two days now. Congested nose, headaches, fatigue... It seems like viruses and bacteria happen to only love me during test times.

Coconut Pancakes

To relieve some of this stress and pressure, I decided to allow myself to enjoy a fancy Sunday morning breakfast. Surely I can use some time to appreciate the most important meal of the day before studying for another few hours. After watching Leaftv's drool-enducing video, my mind has been set to make these pancakes. The time has come for Coconut Crumpet to do so. Although my pancake-making skills are still lacking, I thoroughly enjoyed my coconut pancakes. Get the recipe at A Cozy Kitchen and make these filling pancakes! Using my silver dollar pancake pan, half the recipe yielded me exactly 4 pancakes. My new found way to eat my pancakes is with a generous dollop of yogurt and a drizzle of honey. In this case, with the best coconut yogurt I've encountered so far, Liberte's coconut yogurt. Yes it's fruit bottom (meaning lots of sugar) and almost 9% milk fat, but everything in moderation is okay~

Coconut Bliss 'Ice Cream' in Naked Coconut

So far my weekend has consisted of eating, or studying. A pile of physics review, social studies vocabulary and 410 Mandarin vocabulary words sit on my table longing for my attention. Since studying requires a lot of brainpower, and the majority of calories are burned to function the brain, it's important to fuel the body when doing some serious studying! When my tummy started asking for food again, I went to grab my newly bought tub of Coconut Bliss. You can read about my first experience with this genius masterpiece here. Eating this just alleviates some stress and brings me to bliss~ I can't wait to eat more of it over the course of the upcoming summer season. That is, if I live to see the end of June..

Sunday is the day that passes by much too quickly; church in the morning then afternoon and evening zooms by. Before I can fully recover, is Monday again. A funny quote I saw a while back said "Why is Monday so far from Friday and Friday so near to Monday?" I wholeheartedly agree. To some, summer is right around the corner. For me, summer is so distant, it's almost unattainable. To help me get through busy times, I tend treat my tongue to some of my favourite foods, like coconut. How do you keep yourself motivated during a hard time?


Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Quick and Easy Cream of Broccoli Soup

This quick and easy broccoli soup has quickly become a family staple at the Coconut's Home. My mom has already made this soup at least three times in the last 2 weeks already. It came be put together in less than half an hour. Serve a big bowl of this thick green goodness along with some bread and you've got yourself a meal!

It all started when we snagged an awesome deal of two or three dollars for a massive bag of ready-to-eat broccoli florets at our local supermarket. I looked to my folder of recipes on my computer to search for ways to use all the broccoli in time. One should aim to have a serving of dark green vegetables (and orange too!) per day and broccoli is one of the best ways to meet that rule of thumb. Broccoli is packed with nutrients like fibre, calcium, and iron. This soup makes it easy to have a large intake of broccoli in one sitting, yum~ 

This healthy and basic recipe would make great base for any other vegetable puree soups. Swap out the broccoli for another vegetable like carrots and viola! another soup. 

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Adapted From Cooking Light

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• Oil for pan frying 
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 4 generous cups of broccoli florets
• 2 ½ cups milk
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Heat oil a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. 
2. Add broth and broccoli. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.
3. Combine milk and flour, stirring until no lumps remain. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Season with freshly ground black pepper.
4. Puree soup with an immersion blender until desired consistency.

P.S. The flower over the soup in the photo was drawn on with photoshop. It seemed awkwardly blank without something on top. A bit of decoration on top really helps with presentation if serving guests. 

 Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

Coconut Crumpet's 'To Die For' Meyer Lemon Coconut Loaf

Coconut Crumpet's 'To Die For' Meyer Lemon Coconut Loaf

As I was searching the internet for baking inspiration, I came across the To Die For Lemon Loaf. The description made me drool: "organic coconut, organic millet, coconut milk and the juice of fresh organic lemons", totally a loaf made in heaven for Coconut Crumpet! Hunting down a slice on my next trip Downtown was immediately put on my to-do list, but I can't wait that long and had to formulate one for myself.

This recipe was created by me, based on a bajillion different lemon loaf recipes I researched. Many lemon loaf recipes call for a mere 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Nononono, that's not enough lemon-ness for me! In my recipe, I added a heaping third cup of lemon juice; that should do the 'lemon' part of its name justice. Also, being Coconut Crumpet, it's important that the coconut flavour shines through too. Coconut oil adds a fabulous aroma, but doesn't contribute much to the tastebuds' experience. Shredded coconut also doesn't add flavour, but gives texture and fragrance (if it's been toasted!) The coconut flavour comes mainly from the rich and thick coconut milk. Not the kind that you get in tetra boxes that substitutes cow's milk in your cereal bowl every morning. The kind that comes in a can. It's much too heavy in calories to drink, but it works wonders to enrich cooking. I recommend you use one similar to Rooster Brand's Gold Label Coconut Milk. 

This recipe is definitely Rachel-ified since it's low in sugar and only made with a small amount of healthy fats. Don't worry, it won't sabotage your diet. I'm very thankful that this loaf actually worked; the loaf came out tall and cooked in the time I predicted. Besides the fact I overdid it with maybe more than 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds and my splash of vanilla was slightly too much, the flavour and texture of the resulting loaf is wonderful! Not too sweet, prominent meyer lemon taste, a bit of a crunch from the toasted coconut shreds and poppy seeds, richness from the coconut milk, and even moistness throughout the loaf...mmm~ It was the perfect way to use up the last three meyer lemons sitting my fridge. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my taste test of this loaf during school today. Once I get a hold of a real slice of To Die For Lemon Loaf, I shall make necessary adjustments to make this even better. So...without further ado, I proudly present to you (that rhymed!), Coconut Crumpet's interpretation of the To Die For Lemon Loaf! 

Coconut Crumpet's 'To Die For' Meyer Lemon Coconut Loaf

By Coconut Crumpet and inspired by Erin Ireland's To Die For Lemon Loaf

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup all purpose flour
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• Zest of 2 meyer lemons
• 5 tbsp coconut oil, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ½ cup coconut milk
• ⅓ cup meyer lemon juice
• 1 ½ tbsp poppy seeds
• ¼ cup unsweetened medium shredded coconut, toasted
• Large flaked shredded coconut

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
3. In a custard cup, gently toss lemon zest in sugar to draw the oils from the peel out.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, cream together coconut oil and sugar until combined. Add egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.
5. Add coconut milk,lemon juice, and poppy seeds to wet mixture and stir until well combined.
6. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and fold until halfway combined. Add toasted coconut and continue to fold until just combined. 
7. Pour into prepared pan and top with large flaked coconut.
8. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until toothpick check comes out with moist crumbs. Broil on high heat for about 3 minutes at the end to achieve a golden brown top crust. 

 Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡