I finally conquered a coconut!

Well actually TWO!

We received them in our bountiful baskets last week.

I use coconut a lot, but any time I've ever had one, I can NOT figure out how to easy get at the meat.
I've pounded and pounded and pried at that shell and only ever hurt myself!
Seriously - I've been injured in the act of opening a coconut.
I dread them.

Today, I cam a cross a video.

I thought - "I can do that!"

I used my trusty thermometer to poke through the soft eye.
I drained the juice.  Each one had about a cup of coconut water!

I then, put them in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or so.
They cracked. Just like in the video!

When they came out, I hit them with the hammer and they cracked right open.
WOOHOO!
What didn't pop right out of the shell, I used the flat head screwdriver separated it.
Easy Peasy!

I peeled the brown skin off with a vegetable peeler and put it all in my Ninja.

I added about 4 cups of near boiling water.  Not quite boiling though - you don't want to kill all the good coconutty enzymes.

I gave it a whirl and it made 4 cups of delicious coconut milk.
I strained it in cheese cloth and put it in a jar.

The pulp left, I dried out in the oven at about 200 degrees.

SO EASY!!!!!

I also cooked up about 6 cups of acorn squash and 10 cups of pumpkin!
Looks like some baking in my future!

We finished the lazy day with dinner at HuHot.
Have you ever been?
It's delicious!!!

Did you Halloween?

So, after all the debate on whether to Halloween or not Halloween,
we did it. 
We didn't focus at all on the yucky, scary aspect,
but we didn't have kids that missed out, either.

A few days ago, we carved pumpkins.
Lexi did a cross with Jesus carved into it, and Dylan did a pacman chasing a ghost guy.

The kids put costumes together of things they already had.
I did, though, make Lexi a cloak.
She'd been wanting one to go over her dress up dresses for a long time.

Dylan just wore his favorite mask.

We had a few families over
ate lots of good food
let the kiddos roam around the neighborhood

gave out glow bracelets and gospel tracts
the baby had so uch fun greeting everyone
 

It was nice and relaxing!

Here's what I made:

Paleo Pumpkin Chili

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip

We also had pizza, goodies contributed by others, and hot apple cider :)

Now on to Thanksgiving - and holiday truly worth the effort!

Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins....

I love fall.
Especially when we have beautiful fall weather and NOT snow.
This year, we have had a blizzard already.
Last night it snowed again.  Though nothing too substantial.
Blessed that it will be gone by the weekend.

Today, I decided to roast up 2 of the four baking pumpkins
I bought this year.
Nothing like fresh roasted pumpkin to use in your recipes.
(Although I did buy a case or organic puree from Azure!)
I'll share more of what recipes I'm making with it soon....

Here's how you roast them -
in case your a novice....

Cut and scoop out.
DO NOT throw out those yummy seeds!
If they are small, you can just cut each half in half again.
If they are larger, you may want to third or quarter them.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it.
This is just for ease of cleanup, and not necessity.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour and a half.
This will depend on the size and thickness.
You'll know they are done when the skin is wrinkled and
your fork or knife goes right in without resistance.

Take out and let cool.
Scoop out of the skin into a food processor.
Blend until smooth - adding a bit of water if you need.

My two pumpkins gave me about 4 cups of puree.  YUM!

Now, the seeds....
They are SO good for you and easy to roast.
I don't rinse mine.
some do.
I don't dry mine.
some do.
I just toss with olive oil and salt.
Spread on a sheet
Roast at 350 for about 45 minutes or so.