The first UltraVeggie Exchange is in the books. There were 4 of us out for a great 2 hour evening trail run with a recovery smoothie and samples of Andy's coconut butter based endurance fuel waiting for us at the finish line. If you need packable energy for your long runs, this is a great recipe for some homemade fuel. Thanks for sharing, Andy.
Andy's Powerful Coconut Butter Recipe of Ultimate Power
Ingredients
- One 400g bag of unsweetened shredded coconut
- 8-10 pitted dates
- About 3 tbsp coconut oil
Preparation
Turning the shredded coconut into coconut butter is quick and easy. Dump the coconut into your blender (I think you'll need a high powered blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec although I've heard of some food processors working as well.) and blast it on the highest setting for about one minute. First the coconut turns into a thick, dry looking substance but then soon transforms into a nice smooth liquid. You might want to add the coconut oil as it blends to help it along into the liquid stage. Once you've got coconut butter attained, drop in the dates. The amount of date blending is personal preference. Sometimes I like the dates to be a bit chunky and sometimes I like them to be part of the liquid.
In cool weather, coconut butter will solidify so I like to pour it into an ice cube tray. Once it sets I have single serve Coconut Cubes of Power to take with me on my run. Or sometimes I pour it onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Once it sets you can bust it up and have bite sized Coconut Power Wafers. When the weather is hot, the cubes and/or wafers tend to melt in my pocket so I mash a couple up and jam them in a gel flask with a wide mouth (I've had success with a 3oz. GoToob from MEC)... Voila! Coconut Power Gel!
Andy's samples looked like white chocolate when we enjoyed them after our run and they were delicious too. The picture below displays the result I attained in my not so high powered blender and food processor. The squares still taste good they just lack a certain smoothness. Maybe I should have started with the melted coconut oil and gradually added the shredded coconut. I will keep experimenting with it.
UltraVeggie Exchange Recovery Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp chia seeds (soak in 1/3 cup of water for about 15 min)
- 1 cup coconut water
- 1 cup frozen pineapple
- 1/2 cup frozen mango
- 1 banana (fresh or frozen)
- 1 handful of spinach
- 2 Tbsp shredded unsulphured coconut
- 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds
- 1 cm grated ginger
- 1 Tsp vanilla extract
Preparation
- Soak the chia seeds in a bowl for about 15 min
- Cut fruit, grate ginger and grind flax seeds if necessary
- Blend all ingredients until smooth