Coconut Flour–How to Make Coconut Flour

Coconut Flour- How to Make Coconut Flour

Coconut Flour- How to Make Coconut Flour

 

I love the taste and smell of coconut flour, but anyone who has ever cooked or baked with coconut flour knows that it can be a real pita to work with. Mainly because coconut flour is super absorbent. It soaks up every ounce of moisture that you put into it.  It’s so absorbent that when I cook with it,  I add it to mixtures one  tablespoon at a time, and I wait in between tablespoons to see if I need to add more moisture back in.  I don’t know of any other alternative flour that requires that much attention.  But I’m not really a baker.  The issue is not necessarily the coconut flour, it’s the processing of coconut flour, which makes it so absorbent.  During processing, the coconut looses much of its fat and oil.  Making coconut flour in this way retains most of the oil, which makes it easier to bake and cook with.  If you make coconut flour this way, you will not have to add extra moisture, the moisture will already be there in the form of coconut oil. which makes it less drying.

 

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Ingredients:

The meat from 2 large coconuts (about 1cup)

Directions:  Pre-heat the oven to 150F. Spread the coconut meat evenly out on bake sheet or a dehydrator sheet.

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Place the sheet in the oven and allow to dehydrate for 6 hours or until the coconut is dry and crisp.  Transfer dehydrated coconut flakes to a spice grinder or blender and blend until it reaches the consistency that you like.

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Transfer the flour to an airtight container until ready to use.

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Crispy Smelt with a Lemon Parsley Vinaigrette

Crispy Smelt with Parsley Lemon Vinaigrette

Crispy Smelt with Parsley Lemon Vinaigrette

I LOVE Smelt, LOVE them. In fact I love them so much I wish that I could eat them year round.  If you’ve never tried smelt, then after you read this blog, stop by your grocery store, and get some! They are rich in omega-3 fatty acid, so not only are they delicious, but they’re great for you. Smelt are small boned fish, like anchovies, so you can eat them whole, even the head. if you’re so inclined. If you’re really lucky, like I have been thus far, you’ll find them fresh at your grocer.  I’m told that most grocers sell them frozen in bags.  Fresh is best, but these are so good that I would imagine they would still be good even after they’ve been frozen and defrosted. But if you have a choice, why not choose fresh?

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Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound of Smelt (cleaned)

1/2 cup of coconut flour

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

1/4-1/2 cup of coconut oil

Ingredients for Parsley Lemon Vinaigrette

1/4 cup of fresh organic flat leaf parsley finely chopped

5 tablespoons of Lemon juice

3 Tablespoons of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic grated

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions: Melt the coconut oil in a cast iron skillet, and bring up to temperature. Season the smelt with sea salt and pepper:

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Dredge through the coconut flour, coating all sides of the fish with the flour:

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Carefully add the fish to the hot oil and fry until golden brown on all sides, about 5-7 minutes:

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 Add the ingredients for the parsley lemon vinaigrette to a bowl and whisk until well combined, spoon over the fish and enjoy!

These make a great appetizer at a party, just make sure that you buy enough, because no one can eat just one of these! Like this recipe? Then you’ll love my video recipes, subscribe to my Lazy Girl Dinners Youtube channel for quick do it yourself and how to cook videos.

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Gluten free Fried Chicken

I don’t fry chicken very often maybe once or twice a year. Fried chicken really isn’t something I want to make a main stay in my family’s daily diet, if you know what I mean. If I have a craving for fried chicken I usually make my “Tofu fried chicken”.  However, anyone who’s ever had fried chicken, (is there anyone who hasn’t?), knows how delicious and addicting real fried chicken can be. When we travel outside the United Staes, it’s always interesting to see the sheer number of fast food fried chicken restaurants there are. Besides McDonalds, KFC and Churches chicken seem to have a solid hold on the worlds fast food dollars, and they seem to be everywhere! Is there a healthy way to fry chicken, um…probably not! But there are ways to make fried chicken healthier. Baking fried chicken, is one option, but then again that’s not really “fried chicken.” Removing the skin is another option, but I have to admit it’s one of my favorite parts of fried chicken, a crispy skin is everything! This particular recipe has no skin, it’s gluten free, and Paleo because I use coconut flour, and it’s super duper yummy. Frying it in coconut oil adds another delicious flavor profile, trust me when I say that you want to try this recipe. It is beyond delicious!  My daughter isn’t a big meat eater, but one bite of one of these golden nuggets and she was a chicken convert. She kept asking for, more, and more, and “more of that chi-ken.”

Here’s what you need:
1lb of boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2 inch chunks
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
1/2 cup of Coconut flour
1/2 cup of coconut oil

Directions:
Heat coconut oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add coconut flour to a small bowl. Season chicken with sea salt and black pepper:

Dredge the chicken in the coconut flour:

Add Chicken to the hot coconut oil. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, flipping the chicken half way through, to brown on both sides:


Once chicken is cooked through, Remove from the oil and place on paper towels to absorb any extra oil, then enjoy!

Have you ever fried chicken in something other than vegetable or canola oil? How did it turn out?
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Salmon cakes with a yogurt lime sauce

This is one my favorite meals. It’s super easy to make, and it is so delicious. I’ve made this with canned salmon, several times, and it always turns out yummy. However, when I make this with fresh salmon, as I did tonight, it is over the top amazing!! If you want to make this with fresh salmon, it will add about 10-15 minutes to your cooking time. But it’s worth it! This recipe is gluten free, I use coconut flour, but feel free to use any flour that you’d like.

Here’s what you need:
1lb of fresh Salmon, or 16 ounces of canned wild caught Salmon, drained completely.
2 Tbsp of fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp of fresh parsley
2 eggs
1/2 cup of sliced green onions/ or 1/2 of one small onion chopped finely
2-4 cloves garlic, minced I used 4…we love garlic
1 tsp sea salt 
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3-5 TBS coconut flour This is a grain-free flour. You could also use 1/4-1/2 cup bread crumbs.
Olive oil/ butter/ safflower oil for browning the cakes

For the yogurt sauce you need
1 6 ounce cup of plain yogurt.  You can substitute with creme fraiche, or sour cream. 
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
juice of 1 lime
1/4 tsp coarse salt

Directions:
Lightly season the salmon fillet and bake in the oven @ 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. It doesn’t have to be completely cooked through because you’re going to brown it on the stove later. Remove from oven and let cool until you can handle it without burning your self.

While your Salmon is cooling, in a small bowl add yogurt, chopped cilantro, lime juice, and minced garlic clove. Mix together, and refrigerate until, your ready to use it:
Once cooled, remove the skin from the Salmon and flake:


Add cumin, cilantro, parsley, garlic, onion, red pepper flakes, and salt to the salmon:



In a separate bowl beat eggs, then add them to the Salmon and herbs:


Mix well, then add coconut flour one tablespoon at a time. You may not need all 5 tablespoons, just depends on how moist your eggs are, so stop once the mixture comes together. If your using canned Salmon you will probably only need 4 tablespoons. If your mixture is too wet to form patties, then add more flour. should look like this:


Now your ready to form patties:


Heat your skillet and add oil. Place cakes into skillet and let brown, about 3-4 minutes on each side.

Remove from skillet and serve with a nice dollop of the yogurt sauce and enjoy!


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