The Coconut Skinny

I have been trying to think up ways to get healthy, cancer-fighting, fat-melting, heart and thyroid-loving coconut oil into my diet. I love the taste of coconuts but not particularly in my morning Omelet, my buffalo Chili or my garlicky Puttanesca sauce. It is, however, very compatible with the ingredients of Indian Curries, Stir-Fry’s, roasted Winter Squash and Baked Goods.

I have a girlfriend who always spends her winter months on one of the Caribbean Islands called San Lucia. She goes down every November a little frumpy and bloated and comes back every spring a total, lean machine, hard-body. Granted she does a lot of sweating and grunting creating trails and such for the Eco Park she is trying to build, but the main reason she comes back svelte, she says, is the diet she eats down there. She eats what the locals eat and the locals eat lots of fried food in coconut oil. Yummy!

I mocked this up the other night because I wanted to indulge my sweet tooth without eating tons of sugar. Apples are in season and I used three different kinds of apples. Using a combination of apples in a cooked apple dessert is the best way to improve the texture and depth of flavor of a baked apple dish, so I used my local Paonia-grown Golden Delicious, Jonathan’s and Fuji’s. Use what you have on hand; just try to get a little variety. Pears would also be a nice addition. Staying seasonal and local, I picked up a jug of Big B’s apple juice. A sweet, young family runs big B’s from Hotchkiss, Colorado. 

Apple Turnovers

5 mixed variety apples, semi-peeled and chunked
1-cup apple cider or juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 T butter
3 T coconut oil

1/2 box filo, at room temp
More cinnamon to shake

Put you apples into a saucepot with cinnamon and juice. Cook for about 35 minutes until apples are soft and juice has mostly evaporated. Mash with a wire whisk or a potato masher. Set aside.

Melt butter and coconut oil. Lying one sheet of Filo on a clean counter top brush w/ butter/oil and shake lightly w/ cinnamon. Sweet-tooth people can shake a little sugar w/ the cinnamon. Keep layering, buttering and shaking between each sheet until you count out 4 sheets. Cut in half lengthwise and put a good spoonful of apples in the left hand corner of one of you two long rectangles. Fold left-hand corner over filling towards right side until you have a triangle. Now keep folding up and over, maintaining your triangle shape until you are out of filo. Carry on making these little pies, placing them on a buttered baking tray as you go along. You should have about 6 when you are done, depending on the size of your apples. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Voilla.

I ate mine for dessert that night as is, the next morning I cut off a good wedge of cheese and had one for breakfast. I’ll let you know how much weight I lose!