Tropical Green Monster

Hello there! Yes, it's been a while. I unintentionally stepped back from this space over the past month, and I think I know why. I feel like I get into cooking ruts, especially at the beginning of each season (well, except for maybe fall and winter...soup is my jam). Over the past few weeks, I've tried to simplify what I cook and how we eat, not to mention try to eat healthier whole foods. That's not to say I won't be baking this summer (I have a batch of these in the freezer for when my sweet tooth kicks in), but I am trying to cut back on sugar, and the more fruits and vegetables I eat, the easier that is to do.  Expect some healthy veggie-full recipes in the near future!

I've been obsessing over smoothies this summer, averaging at least four a week! Strawberry banana is my fave when I want an all fruit smoothie, but this one is probably my favorite green one. Green smoothies aren't new to me or probably many of you, but this one is worth sharing. I got my inspiration from a recipe I saw on here on Eat Live Run, which I also recommend. SO good! Like all smoothies, the proportions and ingredients are up to you, so use this as inspiration! The measurements below are rough measurements. I hope you enjoy this green treat as much as I do! :)

Tropical Green Monster

Ingredients

A handful of fresh spinach

Roughly one cup chopped frozen mango

1 banana 

1/2 cup light coconut milk

Squeeze of lime juice

Water (or coconut water), if needed to thin it out to desired consistency 

Other add-in ideas: 

Frozen pineapple (omg so good!)

Chia Seeds

Fresh mint

Fresh ginger

Directions 

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Serve immediately.

Coconut Sheet Cake

This cake seems to be one of my mom's favorites. In the few times I've visited home over the past two years, this cake has made an appearance twice, this past weekend being the second, and I was the one to make it. The cake is ultra moist, and topped with a thick slab of coconut-cream cheese frosting. Be warned, there is a lot of frosting. Some people are frosting people, but I am not one of them. Though this frosting is exquisite, I will probably half the amount next time. My mom also adds a little coconut extract to the cake batter for extra coconut goodness. I'll have to add some next time as well! Mom knows best.

From start to finish, this cake comes together in no time, so there's no excuse for not making it immediately. Enjoy this southern classic!

 

Coconut Sheet Cake

Ingredients

3 large eggs

1 (8-ounce) container sour cream

1/3 cup water

1 (8.5 ounce) can cream of coconut

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (18.5-ounce) package white cake mix

Coconut-cream cheese frosting (recipe below)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and flour a 13x9-inch baking pan.

Beat eggs on high speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add sour cream, water, and next two ingredients, beating well after each addition. Add cake mix, beating at low speed just until blended. Beat at high speed for two minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake in a pan on a wire rack. Cover pan with plastic wrap, and freeze 30 minutes. Remove cake from freezer.

Spread coconut-cream cheese frosting on top of chilled cake. Cover and store in the refrigerator.

Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting   

Ingredients

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted

1 (7-ounce) package sweetened flaked coconut

Directions

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixture until creamy. Add milk and vanilla, beating well. Gradually add sugar, beating until smooth. Stir in coconut. 

This frosting is very thick and rich.

Recipe Source: adapted from Southern Living: Our Readers Top-Rated Recipes

Chocolate Walnut Coconut Granola

I've mentioned this before, but I love making granola, though I wish I thought to make it more often! Weekly would be ideal. It's way cheaper than buying cereal and you have total control over what goes in it! There's not much I can say about this granola other then it's probably one of the best I've made, and my friend Erin seemed to love it as well! 

The technique is a bit more involved then granola I have made in the past, but well worth the extra effort. See, you actually toast nearly all the ingredients on the stove first. Then, only bake for 15 minutes! I much prefer this method as opposed to baking all the ingredients, especially when there is coconut in the granola. By toasting the coconut separately, then adding it at the end, you can ensure there is no burnt coconut. Trust me, if the coconut burns, the whole batch is trash. I still have a batch from this fall where I slightly overbaked the coconut. Have I touched it? Nope. It's going in the garbage real soon.

As with all granola recipes, make it work with what you have! I know I can't afford dried cherries like the original recipe (would love to try it though!), and I only had walnuts on hand. It was still awesome, especially with a sliced banana on top. Get creative, and enjoy your homemade cereal!

Chocolate Walnut Coconut Granola

Ingredients

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/8 cup ground flaxseed

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (I love the Trader Joe's 72%!)

Directions 

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

In a large bowl, combine honey, brown sugar, flaxseed, cinnamon, and salt. Mixture will be thick, but will thin a lot once the hot oat mixture is added later on.

Place a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the coconut to the pan in an even layer and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned and toasted.  Transfer to a small bowl and wipe out the pan.  Return the pan to the heat and add the chopped walnuts. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 3-4 minutes.  Stir in the oats and olive oil and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the oats are lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.

Add the toasted oat mixture to honey mixture, and stir until evenly coated. Spread out onto the prepared baking sheet in an even layer.  Bake, stirring every few minutes, until the granola is light golden brown, about 15 minutes. 

Remove from oven and stir in the toasted coconut.  Move the granola to one side of the baking sheet and press gently into a thick slab.  Let cool to room temperature.  Break the dried and cooled granola into small clusters, mix in the chopped chocolate, and store in an airtight container.

Inspired by: Annie's Eats who got the original recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook

Raspberry Coconut Thumbprint Cookies

All semester I have been promising to bring some sort of baked good to work. Unfortunately I was swamped this semester, so that didn't happen until I was finished with finals (YAY!). I actually had something else in mind to bake, but I saw these little gems and couldn't resist. Is there anything better then toasted coconut? I'm not sure there is! These cookies were delightfully chewy and buttery, and I just loved the raspberry/coconut combination (raspberry zingers anyone??). I'm so excited to finally have a little more time to do some baking. Hooray for Christmas break!!

Raspberry Coconut Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut

Raspberry jam (supposedly apricot jam is tasty as well!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Cream together butter and sugar until they are just combined, then add the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour and salt, then slowly add to the creamed butter/sugar mixture. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and roll into a flat disc. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Roll the dough into 1 1/4 in balls. Dip each ball into the egg wash, then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet (I lined mine with parchment just to be safe), and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger, or use the back of a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon. Drop roughly a 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake 20-25 minutes,* until the coconut is golden brown. Cool and serve.

*Mine were done at 18 minutes, so check early just to be safe!

Recipe source: adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Coconut Oatmeal Chewies

Let me start out by saying I have been saving this recipe for months. I adore coconut, and was pretty miffed to see that a bag cost nearly $5 at the expat stores in China. I just couldn't make myself pay that much for it while I was there. So, I lived without. That's why during my first shopping trip in Cincinnati, I scooped up a bag ($1.60...heck...yes), with intentions of making these immediately. One month later (heh), I finally got around to it. Thank you Labor day weekend! :)

I'm so so happy that I finally made these, and am also pretty stoked that I froze a batch for later. They were ultra chewy and I loved the toasted coconut taste. Even Chris gobbled them up, and he supposedly hates coconut. I don't see how that's possible, but whatever. Bottom line: if you love coconut, make these. If you don't love coconut, make these. They may change your mind!

Oatmeal Coconut Chewies

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to cool room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
1 cup quick oats

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl cream together the sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased or lined (silpat or parchment) baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 9-11 minutes, until the cookies are set but not overly browned (bake a few minutes longer for a crispier version). Remove from oven, and let cool on the cookie sheet for three minutes, before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Recipe Source:  Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Magic Cookie Bars

Wow, have I already been home for five days? Time sure does fly when you're lazy and tired all the time. Trying to recover from a 14 hour time difference hasn't been totally easy. Today is the first day I actually feel a bit normal and a lot less tired, and last night was the first night I got a full night's sleep without the aid of naps during the day or a sleeping pill. Jetlag aside, it has been wonderful being back in America. I've enjoyed spending time with my family by watching movies, playing games, shopping (yay!), and of course eating. Boy have we been eating. My awesome mother has been saving a turkey for me since November and we had Christmas and Thanksgiving this past weekend. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade bread, stuffing..the works. I was too tired to really help much, and slept nearly the whole time the turkey was cooking, but the whole house smelled like the holidays when I woke up. It was wonderful. 

Last night after a day of shopping (boot sale!) my mom and I stopped by Kroger on the way home to pick up two ingredients we needed to make these bars. Of course we ended up getting more (it was apparently a day of sales). I remember my mom making these for me and my sister when we were little and for some reason I can't remember the last time I had them. It had to have been when we were living in southern Mississippi, which was at least 5 years ago. Because my mom made them, I think I just assumed it was her special recipe, and that this elusive recipe had to be found by searching old recipe card holders. Thankfully, that was not the case. My mom never used a recipe, because she just knew how to make them. I now understand why. These are seriously SO EASY to make. The hardest part is melting the butter and mixing it with the graham crackers. After that you just pour the milk, dump the ingredients on top and bake it. Half an hour later you are left with an amazingly decadent bar that you will not forget. Cut yourself a square and pour a glass of milk!

Magic Cookie Bars

Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups mini chocolate chips 

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut 

1/2 cup toffee bits

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

1 square unsweetened bakers chocolate, melted.

Directions

Heat oven to 350˚F (325˚F for glass dish) . Coat 13x9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and melted butter, and press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture, and gently spread with a rubber spatula. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with a spatula. 

Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Once out of the oven, drizzle with unsweetened chocolate. Cool, then cut into bars. Store covered at room temperature, or freeze for later.