Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Ode to Coconut Oil

We love coconut oil at our house. For a snack last night, we had a craving for popcorn. I haven't made popcorn in such a long time, the only oil that I have in the house is coconut, so I gave it a shot. I was a little concerned at the beginning because I didn't hear any kernels popping for so long. I told Jake, "This is not working!" and I started to smell some burning. All of a sudden, all of those little kernels were exploding against the lid of the pan and it sounded like hail in the house. We had a nice full pot of beautiful white popcorn. I dumped it into my retro white bowl with black polka dots, and then the decision to add butter was upon us. Since I don't do low fat, and since popcorn slathered in butter is one of my most favorite comfort foods, I typically melt butter all over the popcorn We tasted it before I started to melt butter, and it was so delicious we aborted that mission. Tossed some sea salt all over the bowl and we were off to watch the news. Whooppee!I highly recommend popcorn in the coconut oil! Instructions:
A few globs of coconut oil in a 2 quart or larger pot with lid
Start to melt the coconut oil on semi-medium to medium heat and shake the kernels into the melted coconut oil, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Don't let the kernels lie on each other, they need their own room to be heated. Cover the pan with lid, and shake occasionally. You can peak a couple of times after you hear kernels popping, and when they start to slow down, you are getting close. I pull the pan off of the heat, and then let the rest pop while I get my bowl. Toss with sea salt, and Viola! We kept commenting to each other how fabulous this popcorn was and *munch munch* can you believe this is in coconut oil? This is so delicious! So this really wasn't a true ode...I will have to come up with one later.We had some Oh Boy! waffles on the menu for this morning, and since the coconut oil popcorn was such a hit last night, it was time to try coconut oil waffles. They were out of this world! Jake and I can ration away the popcorn and the waffles when we use the coconut oil, because we know we are definitely getting our 2-3 tablespoons per day. The waffles were so fluffy and moist. We like soggy, springy waffles cooked "rare" instead of those flaking cardboard waffles that scrape the roof of your mouth. Ick! Hopefully we will turn out like the svelte cows who were fed coconut oil.Iain was so excited to see the waffles cooking this morning when he woke up. He was pointing and calling attention to the fact that he wanted one while he was shivering. So the normal moaning was through chattering teeth. Jake grabbed a hat for him to wear wile he still had his pajamas on, and some football slippers. I thought he was excited to have waffles, but of course it turned out to be the excitement of a kitchen appliance chirping. He wouldn't eat anything today. He normally will eat at least his vitamins, and I had to put those back in the jar. He merely wanted to play with the empty tape dispenser that is on a wrist band. I have no idea where he found it, but he feels that he should wear it most of the day and during meals is no exception. After breakfast was over, Iain decided that potato chips and fig newtons would be better for breakfast. We had a full meltdown over the "No" on both accounts, be he has survived.
He is probably just having some growing pains since yesterday was the 20 month mark. Yesterday, as a tribute to Iain's Sicilian heritage and Columbus Day he had pasta with 1/2 marinara and 1/2 Alfredo sauce (thank you Erika!) and he loved it! We have successfully made the switch to the whole wheat pasta, and he doesn't seem to mind. Fiona is much happier when she is sitting by herself. She is sitting up for longer periods of time when we prop her up. She by no means is pushing herself into the sitting position. Her latest trick is to throw her body out of the Bobby chair. So Iain has been helping coral her by sitting next to her while he works on his calculator.

1 comment:

Deborah said...

I resonate with the comment regarding svelte cows... definitely love the coconut oil at our house. We should buy stock in it.