For the Fun of Fat

It's fun to try new foods, especially when you're getting into different uses for a healthy and satisfying ingredient.  To help clarify options when avoiding food "aggravators" when necessary while using a Total Body Analysis remedy, I blogged about wheat and flour alternatives.  I highlighted coconut flour as being excellent in baked goods without the potential consequences of gluten and as having healthy fat as its energy source.   I regularly enjoy "good" fats, not only because they diversify my diet so that I'm not relying too much on grains and other carbohydrates all day, but also because they taste awesome, keep me feeling full (I have a mind that's constantly looking for an excuse to eat again), and are fun.  Fun, like dark chocolate topped with goat cheese for breakfast fun.  And as with most forms of "fun," sometimes I just don't know when to draw the line.

I was hungry after the kids went to bed last night and wanted something simple and guilt-free.  So I made a "baby cereal" out of plain coconut flour, water, and cinnamon.  With enough water, it went down like Gerber rice and filled me up 'til morning...noon...afternoon.  Something had gone wrong in the digestion-elimination process.  Nothing was moving out and wicked, painful gas bubbles erupted up my back and through my chest like in an unburped baby.  I then decided to research eating uncooked coconut flour (when I'd eaten the "cereal" I had no idea if it was digestible in that form or even safe to eat), and I found that coco flo is used "raw" to thicken smoothies and puddings.  One or two tablespoons are usually mixed in to create a more viscous concoction, but I straight up ate about 1/3 cup of flour.  So, as I sit waiting for some sign of eliminatory life in my gut (mercifully, the gas bubbles have ceased), I can only fantasize that the umpteen grams of insoluble fiber I so cavalierly consumed are slowly sweeping out all the rotting remnants of high school chicken finger subs and raw cookie dough from my intestinal tract.

On that note, I will not provide you with a recipe for coconut flour, but rather one using another favorite form of plant-derived fat:  Coconut cream.  No one in my house had the opportunity to overindulge in this creation since I had (a little selfishly) rationed it out for the kids and myself (breakfast and snack!) and left the rest for my husband.  I didn't expect Mike to more than tolerate the cheesecake because of his picky nature, but I will quote him here:  "That cheesecake was awesome.  Incredible, Mojo."

"Awesome & Incredible" No Bake Cheesecake

  (grain and gluten free)

Recipe by Maureen Hann

For the crust:
2 1/4 cups almond meal

1/2 cup sugar (or ground sucanat or honey)
1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons melted coconut oil or butter

Pulse dry ingredients in food processor until combined.  Add oil and pulse until well mixed. 
Press mixture into a 9-inch tart or springform pan.  Chill or freeze until set.

For the filling:

8 oz. cultured organic cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup honey (raw, if you have it)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup coconut cream

   (Refrigerate a can of full fat coconut milk to separate cream from water.  Flip can over and remove bottom.  Pour off water and reserve for another use. What you have left is the coconut cream.)

Beat cream cheese, honey and vanilla.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, whip cold coconut cream until light and whipped cream-y.  Fold coconut cream into cream cheese mixture.  Pour filling into crust and refrigerate at least three hours. Done!