This is tropical perfection in a cup! While working with fresh young Thai coconuts may be intimidating, it is quite easy, and the health benefits of coconuts are an amazing addition to your morning smoothie. Coconut water is a great source of potassium (as much as 4 bananas) and is chock full of minerals that your body needs to function optimally. The white ‘meat’ of the coconut is a great source of fiber and medium chain fatty acids (healthy fats), which your body uses for energy, healthy skin and proper brain function!

For this creation, you will need…

• Fresh young Thai coconut
• 2 cups of organic baby spinach
• 4-5 pitted dates
• 1 Tbsp organic vanilla extract
• handful of ice
• 1 tsp organic cinnamon

First you need to crack open the coconut. It’s not as hard as it sounds, but it does take some getting used to. Find the largest, sharpest knife in the kitchen (assuming you don’t have a machete handy). Start at the point and cut away the white part until you uncover the entire top of the brown nut inside.

At this point be CAREFUL NOT TO LOSE YOUR FINGERS and take the bottom corner of the knife and drive it into the base of the top a few times (careful not to spill out the water once you break into it). Once you get a good crack, you can wedge your knife in and pop the top right off like a lid (coconuts completely amaze me).
Carefully pour the coconut water into your vitamix or blender (maybe drink a few sips along the way because it is delicious stuff). Take a large spoon and then scoop out the white ‘meat’ from the inside of the coconut. Scoop it all out into your blender. Add in spinach, vanilla, cinnamon, dates (to sweeten), and ice.

Blend on high speed until completely pureed. I like to add in our Wild Orange flavored liquid Omega 3s (these are critical for my little ones) and pour them into fun cups. (The omegas will change the flavor into more of an orange creamsicle, so those can be omitted if you don’t want that flavor.) One lucky kid gets the smoothie served back out of the coconut shell. There is nothing better than the taste of fresh coconut to start out your morning feeling happy and healthy! Let me know if you try this, or have any questions!