I’m not sure if there’s something about being a mother that makes you particularly scrappy but I will say that when I looked around this week for ingredients to turn into snacks for myself, the couple of bananas I found in the back of the freezer, remnants of coconut in the pantry and few chips left in the bag after making chocolate chip cookies were enough to inspire something all new; these 4-Ingredient Coco-Nana Macaroons were born.
This recipe doesn’t need much introduction; it couldn’t be easier, or use fewer ingredients. It’s so straightforward, and so unfuckable infact that your toddlers could make it for you while you do other things. (But somehow putting them to work to make your snacks sounds a bit criminal.) Without eggs, or flour, these cookies are astonishingly nourishing, and highly suitable to the smallest people in your life…but it would also be criminal to squirrel them away someplace for your own enjoyment (though, you will want to!)
As if you needed more encouragement to give this one a try, coconut is the star of the show and there are so so many reasons to incorporate this super ingredient into your repertoire this summer.
Ayurvedically speaking, coconuts are cooling, oily and grounding – all qualities that make them remarkably nutritive. But unlike other foods with these qualities, coconut supports the thyroid and improves metabolism, instead of depressing it. Coconut oil, coconut flakes and coconut butter all contain healthy fats and fatty acids that are quickly and easily absorbed, digested, metabolized and utilized by your body, which is ideal for bodies that are constantly on the go, taxing their mental, emotional and physical systems (that’s us!)
When we run our lives hot, as athletes and over-achievers tend to do, our livers – the house cleaners of our systems – typically pay the price. As they strive to detox and eliminate excess heat we create in the body just by moving and being, they tend to become rigid, overworked and inflexibly (making them less effective at cleaning up our mess.) Coconut has a luxuriant richness that feeds you and your liver. By nature an ambitious organ, the liver falls victim to intense, hot blooded emotions and pitta internal heat conditions. Coconut replenishes a liver deficient in fats, and has special cooling properties to soothe an overheated liver.
By now you may know that all foods we consume have biological benefits that are evident in the flavors our tongues perceive when we put something in our mouths. But did you also know that all foods have an energetic benefit as well, either serving to cool or warm the body? Coconut is an exceptional swamp-cooler of sorts, serving to remove excess pitta and heat from the body, and reducing inflammation at large.
There are SO many ways to enjoy this incredible food; in shreds, flakes, as oil and also as coconut butter. Coconut butter may seem like a luxurious purchase, but it’s one of the most versatile ingredients you can have in your kitchen. I love to use it as a substitute for almond butter here, as a filling for these trail treats, a substitute for butter here and as a straight-up slather on toast. If you don’t feel like springing for a jar you can always make your own, as our friends over at Minimalist Baker do.
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