Deb and Jen headed to Deb’s early this afternoon. We had a wonderful time experimenting with the coconuts, and we still managed to accomplish a few of the other things we had actually planned last time, like repairing a couple of quilts. Deb is the quilter; I have an aversion to all things sewing/needlework.
I am, however, trying to learn to do some basic needlework; I have just never liked it. Sewing, for example, has never moved me, at least when it comes to sewing clothing.
I see now, though, that there are some things for the house I’d like to be able to sew, such as pillows, tablecloths, etc. I’m trying to expand my horizons and try new things.
As for the coconut experience, I can honestly say that while it was interesting and amusing, I’ll be buying the finished products online in the future. That was just far too much hassle for my taste, as I just want to get to the business of putting it to use.
I have been warned that we will be doing it again at least once so Pat can participate. I can do that! I will have to be sure to mark Daniel’s and Ryan’s calendar for that week so they’re available to do all the “onerous manual labor.”
?? 
Actually cooking and/or baking with it was my favorite part. Okay, perhaps that was an overstatement: EATING the items we made was my favorite part! While I made the first evening’s dinner, Deb did the next two. So, I rounded out the meals by selecting the desserts using our coconuts.
Tuesday night, I selected a recipe for some healthy coconut lemon macaroons, which were to take about 30 minutes from start to finish. You can start laughing now, because they took about 2 hours! The problem we had was that Jen selected some fresh coconut that had not yet been dried to try to make our coconut cream. It went through 3 processors and well over an hour before we finally gave up and decided to use whatever we had.
Note for the future: do not try to make coconut cream out of fresh, undried coconut. While it might be doable, it just didn’t work out with the equipment we had.
The good news is the cookies baked up well and were a huge hit, even with the boys! They were wonderfully moist and chewy with a hint of lemon. According to Daniel and Ryan, that’s a recipe to keep and repeat. That pretty much says it all in my house. If I make them again, I will cook them until they have a light brown dusting on the coconut on top; I think it would make them completely divine.
Give them a try; I think you’re going to love them, too!
What was the worst part of the whole coconut fest? How little was left after we baked with it! I have far too many things I want to use the coconut with for so little coconut in my cabinet.
My answer? I’m hording my fresh, homemade coconut for eating right out of the bag, or on oatmeal, etc. I’ll just have to find a good source for the coconut I’ll use in my recipes.
All this talk about food has made me hungry, so I think I’ll whip up some dinner with the leftover tomato/strawberry salsa and acorn squash Deb left from last night’s dinner.
Have a wonderful evening!
Love,
Shari