How To Make A Healthy Spread or Margarine Using Coconut Oil and Canola Oil

This is a quick, healthy recipe.  I don't know if it's unique to me; I doubt it, because it's a real no-brainer-cinch. 

My wife said, "What does it taste like?"  I said, "A bit like margarine with a hint of coconut, I suppose."  And she thought that might be a bit peculiar.  However I spread some on her home-baked bread and she liked the taste, so I thought it's worth blogging about.  Here's the recipe; don't blink or you'll miss it. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of rapeseed (canola) oil
1 tablespoon of coconut oil

Method:

Put both ingredients into a small dish and gently heat them until the coconut oil melts. Virgin coconut oil melts at 76 °F (24 °C), so you don't need to damage it by overheating.

Stir them together and let it cool.  Refrigerate.

The Healthiest Possible Salad Cream Ever Created By Me So Far

Healthy Scottish Shortbread Made With Quinoa Flour Xylitol and Coconut Oil

 This is an experiment with healthy ingredients that worked first time.  It'll fill the base of an 8½”/21.5cm baking tin. 

Ingredients:

4 heaped tablespoons of quinoa flour
3 heaped tablespoons of Xylitol sweetener
4 tablespoons of melted coconut oil

A soft sticky dough - but healthy

Method:

Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl.  Don't overheat the coconut oil to melt it; it melts at 76 °F (24 °C).  You’ll get soft dough, which you can just flatten evenly down into a greased and floured baking tray. 

You can mark out the wedge shapes with a knife and crimp or use a fork to decorate the edges. 

Bake for about 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 200°. 

To check if it’s cooked you can put a knife or fork into the dough at the centre of the baking tray and if it comes out clean (no uncooked, moist dough sticking to it) the shortbread is cooked. 

Let it cool and settle for a few hours to get the traditional hard, crumbly shortbread texture. 

The Healthy option for Scottish shortbread

Most people who Google this sort of blog up onto their screen will already know that the three ingredients in the blog's title are known for their health benefits, i.e. quinoa flour, Xylitol sweetener and coconut oil.  Although, I’m not convinced about coconut oil, there’s no official (government, for what that’s worth) advice that coconut oil is any healthier than other saturated fats, like butter.  There’s plenty of information on the web about the different kinds of fatty acids and why the saturated fat in coconut oil is healthier than animal fat (it’s something to do with the length of them). I won’t try to BS you that I know anything much about that, but here’s an article I found on the web.


http://www.thevirgincoconutoil.com/articleitem.php?articleid=163
http://hubpages.com/hub/coconut-oil-for-cooking

The traditional Scottish Shortbread is made with butter, but if you believe the guff about coconut oil being healthier, then coconut oil does the job. 

Here's some guff about quinoa:

Quinoa has the nine essential amino acids the body needs for muscle building protein, and fibre for a healthy colon. Quinoa has minerals like magnesium for relaxing your muscles and blood vessels, manganese and copper antioxidants, which protect against cancer, and it has more calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, iron, copper, manganese, and zinc than wheat, barley, or corn.

Health gurus recommend whole grains nowadays, but quinoa isn't really a grain; it's a seed. It's more nutritious than grains, with: amino acids, fibre, vitamins and minerals, enzymes, phytonutrients and antioxidants.

Here are some articles about quinoa:

http://hubpages.com/hub/GetSomeQuinoaInYa
http://www.suite101.com/content/nutritional-benefits-of-quinoa-a189657

Xylitol is a natural sugar substitute - they make it from birch tree bark and often, corn.  It attacks the bacteria that cause the plaque, which is the cause of tooth cavities - whilst, as we all know, sugar rots teeth and gums.  It also has a low GI (glycemic index), which means that diabetics can use it safely.  It's much lower in calories too. 

So with Xylitol, you're a winner all round, as long as you're not a dog.  IT KILLS DOGS!  However, I know you're not a dog; otherwise, you'd be in the circus - being, as you are, able to read this, and work a computer. 

Here’s some guff about Xylitol:

http://www.xylitol.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol

Apple Crumble Made With Quinoa Flour, Xylitol and Coconut Oil

Apple Crumble Made With Quinoa Flour, Xylitol and Coconut Oil

My wife (tha-boss-o-tha-hoose) said she fancied something sweet with fruit in it, so I've put together an apple crumble made with all the healthiest ingredients.

To spare you the preamble, I'll get straight to the recipe, and maybe I'll make a quick account of the health benefits of the ingredients.  However, the internet is teaming with such info, so I won't go on too much.

Stewed apples ingredients:

1 Bramley apple (1 cooking apple)
1 tablespoon of water
1 knob of coconut oil
1 heaped tablespoon of  Xylitol (natural sweetener)

Method:

Core and chop the apple into inch cubes (don't bother to peel it unless you're a sissy).  Bring it to the boil in a saucepan with the water, Xylitol and coconut oil.  As soon as it boils, turn the heat right down as far as you can and let it simmer. It'll take about 10 minutes for the apple to mush. Put it into an oven proof dish.

Crumble topping ingredients:

1 heaped tablespoon of Quinoa flour
1 dessertspoon sized knob of coconut oil (keep it cool so it doesn't melt)
1 heaped dessertspoon of Xylitol

Throw these three ingredients into a mixing bowl and rub in the coconut oil until you get a gritty, crumbly consistency.  Don't handle it too much, coconut oil melts at 76 °F (24 °C). 

Cover the stewed apples with the crumble topping, and bake until it's brown on top.

Here's some guff about Xylitol (sweetener):

http://hubpages.com/hub/XYLITOL-the-New-Natural-Sweetener

Here's some guff about Quinoa:

http://hubpages.com/hub/GetSomeQuinoaInYa
http://hubpages.com/hub/Introduction-to-Quinoa

Guff about coconut oil:

http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html
http://hubpages.com/hub/Coconut-Oil-For-Healthier-Skin-and-Glow#img_url_4692906

I'm not convinced about the health benefits of coconut oil.  I did some Googling some time ago to see if there's anything concrete regarding the health benefits, and I wasn't too convinced because there's no official (government) endorsement of the stuff.  (Not that I'm all that convinced about government info either).

Ya' pays yar money and ya' takes yar choice.