Coconut Vanilla French Toast

Today I whipped up some yummy French toast. Usually I make French toast with two ingredients: bread and eggs. Afterwards, I season it with salt and pepper. So, savory is usually the way I go.

This time I was feeling like having sweet French toast. I added in some vanilla almond milk, stevia, and coconut butter. The almond milk and stevia sweetened it up, while the coconut butter lent it almost a tropical flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• egg whites
• vanilla almond milk
• stevia
• coconut butter 

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Mix the above ingredients together (no measurements - just add as much as suits your taste) and dunk the bread of your choice into the mix. I used Trader Joe's California Style Complete Protein. Cook bread in skillet until golden brown underneath, flip and repeat.

Delicious!

This was one of the first times I've eaten coconut butter. Coconut Butter is made from whole coconut meat which is ground into a creamy butter. It is a solid at room temperature and can be spread like butter. It's different from coconut oil which is an oil and can be used to saute and fry. The nutrition facts for pure (made from 100% pure coconut) coconut butter per two Tablespoons are: 153 fat cals (17g fat), 2g protein, 7g carbs, 5g of which is dietary fiber.

Coconut butter is interesting because the fat it contains is saturated fat, but the saturated fat in coconut is different from that of most other fats and oils. While most dietary fats are composed of long-chain fatty acids, coconut butter is composed of lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid.

Lauric acid can be absorbed directly into the body and even directly into the cells, undigested. Other fats and oils need to be broken down first. Due to it's quick absorption, lauric acid can serve as quick, no-sugar source of energy. Also, coconut butter is absolutely delicious! I enjoyed using it in this recipe so much that I'll be trying it a couple of different ways this week. :)

~ Susan