Outstanding Coconut Recipe Collection
The Complete Coconut Cookbook (Amazon link) may as well have been written with me in mine – I love coconut that much. My undying devotion to coconut extends outside of the kitchen with coconut-scented lotions, bath gel, conditioner, candles, etc… but it’s in the kitchen where the real magic happens.
When I was contacted about reviewing a cookbook devoted entirely to coconut recipes, you can imagine how quickly I jumped on the idea. There’s just something about the wonderful, unmistakable flavor of coconut – ESPECIALLY during the summer. Obviously, I eat and cook with coconut, coconut oil, coconut sugar, and coconut milk all year, but in the summer I think I love it even more.
After all, it tastes like summer and smells like summer.
The Complete Coconut Cookbook (Amazon link) is a beautiful paperback cookbook with 200 excellent, easy recipes and packed with gorgeous photos. I am honestly tempted to buy a copy for the photos alone. They’d be so beautiful framed and grouped on a wall.
I love that the recipes are gluten-free and grain-free and anyone with nut allergies will appreciate that they’re nut-free as well.
Book Description:
Coconut is a “hot” ingredient among foodies, primarily for its rediscovered healthy impact.
Always a delicious ingredient and often a decadent treat, coconut is now embraced with a new enthusiasm that borders on obsession. Its rich, smooth and creamy textures add to the compelling and considerable health and nutrition benefits of pure coconut products.
Despite the mounting evidence supporting the health benefits of coconut and the ever-increasing number of coconut products in supermarkets, comprehensive guidance on how to use such products lags behind. The Complete Coconut Cookbook offers home cooks the delicious, convenient coconut using its entire range of special ingredients.
Everyone, from hardcore health-foodies to recreational cooks and everyone in between, will enjoy these all-natural, high-energy, top-notch coconut recipes which can all be made with ease and flair. The 200 innovative recipes cover a broad spectrum of fresh flavors and textures and provide delicious and dependable results. Perhaps most importantly, there is a complete nutritional analysis for every recipe.
Camilla Saulsbury includes coconut recipes for virtually every occasion and every time of the day: Breakfast, Breads and Muffins, Beverages, Salads, Vegetable Sides, Soups and Stews, Main Dishes, Cookies and Cakes and Desserts.
For example a nutritious start is Coconut Waffles, a late afternoon snack is Coconut Flour Zucchini Bread, and a sit-down hearty dinner is Southwestern Sweet Potato and Poblano Soup.
An unusual feature is a comprehensive section on the science of coconut nutrition along with a survey of user-friendly nutrition information about each coconut ingredient and “how-to” data for each coconut product. ~ From Amazon (link to the cookbook on Amazon)
Some of the wonderful recipes in The Complete Coconut Cookbook Include:
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- Sunflower, Pepita and Chia Granola
- Coconut Chia Breakfast Bowl
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Hot and Sour Coconut Soup
- Green Chile Chili
- Stuffed Portobellos
- Japanese Ginger “Noodle” Bowls
- Cauliflower “Rice”
- Coconut “Bacon”
- Crispy Coconut French Fries
- Steamed Broccoli with Tahini Coconut Sauce
- Sautéed Spinach
- Coconut Shortbread
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Coconut Butter
- No-Bake Lemon Coconut Bars
- Plus many, many more recipes (and did I mention the many gorgeous photos??!)
In addition to the wonderful recipes (they are certainly the main stars) and full-page gorgeous photos, I also love the wonderful section at the front of the book praising the health benefits of coconut and detailing the perfect “coconut pantry.” Great stuff.
Finally, I also love the extra health and nutritional information included about some of coconut’s co-stars:
- Cranberries are loaded with disease-fighting antioxidants and are a good source of vitamin C as well.
- Active compounds in ginger have anticancer properties and have actually been shown to DESTROY color, ovarian, and rectal cancer cells.
- The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin, an antioxidant that has been shown to fend off cancer growth.
- Turmeric is also good for your heart’s health.
- The book is filled with similar information… priceless information.
I whole-heartedly recommend adding The Complete Coconut Cookbook (Amazon link) to your cookbook library. You’ll be so glad you did… and you’ll know what to do with all that coconut flour, coconut milk, and coconut oil you’ve stocked up on! (oh wait, that’s me)
