If you like Pina Coladas...

This post has been a long time coming... in that I have been prepared for this post for a long time now, but life went crazy and I never found any time to sit down and write it out!

Today's topic is Coconut Water.

Please read that again.... Coconut Water. Not coconut milk or creme de coconut.

 You can find it at HEB!- they have little one serving bottles, or you can get a big 32oz-er.

I received a little bottle of Coconut Water at the Capital 10k back in March, but didn't actually break into it until sometime in April. Honestly, I couldn't really picture myself sipping it- the color was a cloudy water color, and it looked thicker than water, which, to be honest, weirded me out a little.

But I didn't want it to go to waste- I remembered the people who were passing it out saying that it was the perfect after-workout drink, it was super hydrating and delicious....okay, but what the hell is Coconut Water??

Research time.

Coconut water is the liquid that comes from the center of the coconut when it is still green. Remember in Castaway when he cracks the first coconut and spills all the liquid in his mouth? Yea, that stuff.

Digging a little further into what it is and why it's good for me, I found this article. From the getgo my interest is peaked. It states that coconut water is low in carbs, low in sugars and 99% fat free! Woohoo!

"It's a natural isotonic beverage, with the same level of electrolytic balance as we have in our blood. It's the

fluid of life, so to speak." In fact, during the Pacific War of 1941-45, both sides in the conflict regularly used

coconut water siphoned directly from the nut to give emergency plasma transfusions to wounded soldiers.--(IV drips)This might be one of my favorite parts- not only because it's a fun history fact that you'd never learn in the classroom, but it shows just how hydrating this stuff is.That it was used to replace plasma in the blood makes total sense to me- it's consistency when I did drink it straight out of the bottle was much the same as plasma....which also meant that while I was drinking it I was picturing my bottled plasma from when I used to donate it for some extra cash and it made it hard to drink :-/

There is so much good information on this web-site, it would take me days to regurgitate it here on my blog, so please please please just go read it for yourself. But one last thing that I thought was important to share was why they were saying it was the "perfect after-workout drink".

"Coconut water is the very stuff of Nature, biologically Pure, full of Natural Sugars, Salts, and Vitamins to ward off fatigue and is the next wave of energy drinks BUT natural", according to Mortin Satin, Chief of the United Nation's Food & Agriculture Organization.

• Coconut water contains more potassium (at about 294 mg) than most sports drinks (117 mg) and most energy drinks.

• Coconut water has less sodium (25mg) where sports drinks have around 41mg and energy drinks have about 200 mg.

• Coconut water has 5mg of Natural Sugars where sports and energy drinks range from 10-25mg of Altered Sugars.

• Coconut water is very high in Chloride at 118mg, compared to sports drinks at about 39mg.

btw: the amount of potassium in a serving of coconut water would be about the same as eating two bananas.

please know that my research is not based on this one page, there were many many others: this one-huffington post, this one-healthmad.com, this one-hubpages.com, & this one- Squidoo. I'm sure there were more, there was one weekend afternoon that I killed my Nook battery over the course of a few hours because I was on a coconut water knowledge mission.

OKAY, so if drinking the coconut water out of the bottle was texturally disturbing....how the flip do you use it?

PROTEIN SHAKES!

Pina Colada Protein Shake-
AKA the most delicious recovery shake &/or dessert/snack you've ever had!

-1 scoop of vanilla protein powder- check to make sure it's low carb/sugar!

-8-10oz of coconut water- depending on how thik/thin you want your shake

-a handfull of frozen pineapple chunks- please don't used canned....ever. it's gross.

Blend together until smoooooooth. I wont blame you if you cannot wait to get it in a cup and you drink it right out of the blender!

Here's another tasty recipe to use your coconut water in! It's Breakfast time!
(obviously, this is not my picture, but it's a good example)

Coconut Pineapple Pancakes (made with Oatmeal)

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup rice flour- I used brown rice flour
  
• 1/4 cup unsweetened dried shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup milk- HEB's MOOtopia milk has more protein and less sugar than the regular stuff!
  
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice *(!!Susan says use fresh pineapple, chop it in the blender/food processor and add in some coconut water to replace the liquid from the canned crap)*

Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 30 mins

1. 1 In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oats, coconut, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. 2 In separate bowl, mix the eggs and milk with the pineapple pieces and their juice. (I didn't have crushed pineapple, so I threw a 20 oz can of chunks into the blender and pulsed a few times. It came out just fine.).
3. 3 Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in the melted butter. Let the batter sit a couple minutes before using. The batter is ready when the magic of chemistry has made everything thick and bubbly!
4. 4 Heat your griddle or fry pan to medium-low. (These pancakes need to cook a while to set up properly.) When a drop of water sizzles on the surface, the griddle or pan is ready to go. Put a pat of butter on a paper towel, swirl it around your pan to coat, then dollop the batter in 1/4 cup amounts for each pancake.
5. 5 In about two minutes, when the edges look dry and the surface is covered with bubbles, flip the pancakes. Cook the other side about two minutes more - until golden brown.
6. 6 Serve right away with or without maple syrup. Surprisingly, I liked mine even better without.

I topped mine with fresh banana slices, it was tasty!!


*I found this on http://www.food.com/ it is not mine, sadly :-( but it is delicious!
okay.....now I'm hungry...
:-)