I ran into Dollar Tree with the kids last week to pick up a few things for Jesse’s birthday (yes, we’ re all extravagant like that! ;))
I hadn’t been in that Dollar Tree yet since we’d moved and decided to peruse the aisles to see what they had available. Imagine my absolutely delight when I rounded the corner of one aisle and saw an end cap completely stocked with Nature’s Own bread for $1 per loaf!
My family loves this bread for sandwich bread and it made me feel so very much at home to discover that Dollar Tree in TN carries Nature’s Own bread just like our Dollar Trees in Kansas did.
Our freezer is now well-stocked with sandwich bread for the next few weeks! It’s often the little things that can make a new city feel like home.
I also picked up a spray bottle for some homemade cleaner I wanted to make, some sandwich bags that were marked down to $0.50, and some brown rice.
Also pictured: my coconut flour that I ordered from Amazon using some of my Swagbucks credit. I’m excited to try it out in some new recipes.
Have any of you used Coconut Flour before? Have any recipe recommendations or tips on how to use it?
Hi Cristal,
What I heard loudest from your post is that finding something familiar after moving can be such a relief – like going home. I had the same experience several months after moving from Royal Oak, MI to Maumee, OH.
I am a loyal ALDI shopper and am fortunate to now have three stores within a reasonable distance. However, when I shopped for the first time at the store south of me I immediately felt at home – the store was arranged exactly like my old ALDI in MI – I walked in and knew exactly where to find my purchases.
Amazing how little things can make such a difference. – Marilyn
I like the coconut flour but my kids don’t seem to like the taste or texture. I’m hoping to use my almond flour with it and mix it in.
So if you have it locally , wont they always carry it? I mean if it out of stock, they would not get any back? why 10 packs? Just curious.
That way, I can stick a bunch in the freezer and don’t have to mess with making a trip there until we run out again. 🙂
All of my favorite coconut flour treats have come from paleo websites or cookbooks. Enjoy!
I always buy Nature’s Own bread. It’s always $2.something at Walmart…I’ll have to check out Dollar Tree and stock up. Thanks!
Coconut flour can get old really quick (as in ‘i am tired of this texture!’). It tends to be rather chewy, so I often use recipes that mix it with almond flour. both are available at our costco right now (and have been for 6 months or so). the chocolate doughnuts in the nourished kitchen’s baking book (in the healthy living bundle) are delicious. Danielle walker’s against all grain cookbooks have yummmy recipes, and the comfybelly.com blog has quite a few tasty recipes, too!
I use the coconut flour to make muffins. Tropical Traditions has a good recipe that uses bananas as a sweetner. Delicious!
When I first started using coconut flour I found the recipes on the Tropical Traditions website recipe index REALLY helpful. However, it’s not well categorized so you do have to scroll through quite a bit. http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com/index.cfm/Recipes%20Blog
Ok, not to be a party pooper, but…Nature’s own bread has several unhealthy chemicals and GMO’s. This bread also includes mono- and diglycerides, azodicarbonamide (“yoga mat” chemical), DATEM, and the soy (soybean oil, soy lecithin, soy grits) and corn grits it contains are most likely genetically modified (GMOs). I understand that it is “cheap” but if you use it daily, you may want to just make your own, or eat in really small moderation. 🙂
http://naturallysavvy.com/eat/scary-ingredients-used-in-bread-manufacturing
It’s definitely not the healthiest bread on the market, but it’s a much healthier option for sandwich bread than many that are out there, as far as I’ve researched. And it’s a great option for sandwich bread for families like mine who don’t like homemade bread for sandwich bread. 😉
I would have been thrilled to find it too for all the same reasons. In a perfect world we’d all love the flavor and texture of sprouted grain bread and we’d have all the money to spend on it. We all try to make the healthiest choices that are still livable. I wish my dollar tree had it!
wondering if you (Kris) can recommend a healthier substitute. No sense me doing the work if you have already. Always looking for one reasonable in price though.
Sprouted grain breads are healthy. Organic wheat breads are are good because the wheat is what gets sprayed the most with pesticides and equals the GMO.
Food for life’s Ezekiel line is good and has no preservatives. It is usually found in the freezer section of the grocery. My husband likes the low sodium version but I do not care for it ;-).
Dave’s bread is the one I eat the most and the one my preschooler will eat :-).
Rudi’s organic, Alvarado St. Bakery and Ancient Grains are decent brands.
All of these can cost up to $6 a loaf! Not really a bargain… so I stopped using sandwiches in my husbands lunchbox and he takes dinner leftovers most of the time. I can get Dave’s and Ezekiel on random sales for 2 for $6 and I stock up and freeze them. I toss in the fridge and leave them in the fridge after frozen to keep them fresh. Costco carries Dave’s now and I can get a large loaf (about the size of 2 regular) for about $5.79.
If you live near an actual bakery, check and see what they have. Often it is preservative free and pretty healthy.
My reason for the initial comment was just to let people know. I had NO clue that certain breads were more processed than others and that even some “health” bread was full of preservatives. I just thought all bread was bread 🙂
I’m so jealous that your Dollar Tree has good bread. 🙁
All of you who stockpile bread and buns in your freezer….How do you keep them from getting hard on the edges when you thaw them back out? I’ve tried so many times and always end up part of the loaf all dried out and hard. It only happens to me with storebought bread; I freeze homemade with no problem.
I was about to ask the same question. How do you freeze bread successfully? I did not have good experience with it.
you can’t substitute coconut flour like you could with other flours, so don’t try…you’ll be super disappointed. it takes a little getting used to. coconut flour is super dense and needs more eggs or liquid than any other flour. find a recipe with good reviews and try it. i like recipes that use coconut flour with another flour (almond or sorghum). this will help; http://nourishedkitchen.com/baking-with-coconut-flour/
*balanced bites has a great pumpkin pancakes recipe that used a little coconut flour. *elana’s pantry has some fantastic recipes as well.
this is a fantastic pancake recipe;
*http://paleoincomparison.blogspot.com/2014/03/lauras-paleo-hotcakes.html.
and we love this chocolate sheet cake, it’s wonderful. we make it regularly for birthdays and potlucks. *http://www.unrefinedkitchen.com/2012/09/08/chocolate-sheet-cake/
I’ve done some baking with coconut flour, and it’s turned out pretty good. The one caution I will give you is not to go overboard in eating your coconut flour goodies all at once. I made some delicious coconut flour blueberry muffins, but if I ate more than one per sitting, my insides got really upset. (Too much coconut can have a rather unpleasant laxative effect.) =\
Not to be a downer, and hopefully this won’t happen to you, but I had the worst time with coconut flour. The amount of fiber in it put my gut in pain for days. I just couldn’t digest it. But I have gut problems, so hopefully it will work well for you! So I prefer other gluten alternatives like Namaste Perfect Flour Blend (it rocks my gluten free world).
It affects me in that way also. I tried multiple times, really wanting to like it, but the discomfort just isn’t worth it. Now I have a gigantic bag of flour in my freezer. 🙁
Eggs really help the texture of coconut flour recipes. Adding other flours helps too.
http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/06/chocolate-cupcakes-with-ganache.html for example, is delicious (though also full of chocolate), and a good example of the egg/coconut/other flour (cocoa!) ratio.
I love these date cookie bars – http://mommysgettingstrong.com/shortbread-date-bars/
They get all eaten up around my house in no time! I actually also really like the texture that the coconut flour adds to them.
BTW, we have started buying all our bread at Dollar Tree. Once a month I go shopping: hot dog/hamburger buns, english muffins, bagels, bagel thins, sliced bread! My freezer is stacked!
TRIPLE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS WITH BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
INGREDIENTS:
¼ cup coconut flour
5 tb cacao powder
3 eggs
¼ cup honey
2 tb butter
2 tb cocoa butter (melted)
¾ tsp vanilla
2 tb gelatin
3 tb chocolate chips
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:
2 tb butter (room temp- soft)
1.5 tb cocoa butter
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 tb honey
PROCESS:
1) In a bowl mix together coconut flour, cocoa powder, gelatin, salt & baking soda.
2) Melt butter, honey, and cocoa butter over low heat and add vanilla extract. Then pour and mix with flour mixture.
3) In a separate bowl crack eggs and beat using a fork.
4) Add eggs to batter and stir. Then add the chocolate chips. Batter may appear slightly thin but will thicken slightly.
5) Grease mini muffin tins with butter, or use mini-muffin liners.
6) Scoop about a tablespoon of batter into each cup.
7) Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Makes about 18 mini muffins.
FOR BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:
1) Melt cocoa butter ever so slightly (just liquid, not hot or warm). Add room temperature butter, honey and vanilla.
2) Mix with a hand mixer until combined. If the frosting won’t set up nicely, it’s probably too warm. Let cool for a few minutes in the fridge and try whipping again.
You’ve probably already read this, but don’t even try to sub coconut flour for other flours. Find coconut flour recipes. Wheat flour, or even other gluten free flours, cannot be used interchangeably with coconut flour. Coconut flour needs a lot more eggs/liquids since it is so dry.
empoweredsustenance.com has tips and recipes for coconut flour. I like her “paleo cornbread” coconut flour muffins. Type cornbread into her search box and it should come up first.
http://www.nourishingdays.com/2010/07/fluffy-coconut-flour-pancakes/
This is the best coconut flour pancake recipe I have tried, and I tried several before settling on this one.
There is an excellent pumpkin muffin recipe with coconut flour on kitchenstewardship.com. She has several other coc flour recipes, including biscuits. The muffins are really great. Also…I have never sifted it and always been fine. Maybe it depends on the brand?
We just tried our first gluten free pancakes made with coconut flour. the recipe had mini choc chips in it , too yum! 🙂 any pancake recipe would work, just less flour. Hope you have fun discovering new uses & are able to pass along 🙂
I’ll be curious to hear how you go with the coconut flour. So far I have yet to find any recipe that I really like…I’ve found I’m much more an “almond flour/meal” type of girl. Please keep us posted, because I’d love to find a recipe that I like too! 🙂
Texture is the main thing with coconut flour recipes that I could never get past. The flavor is good (slightly coconut) and the recipes normally turn out, but I never figured out how to “hide” the fact that the item was made differently. Also, it’s crazy how 1/4 cup of coconut flour will be enough for an entire batch of muffins!
Detoxonista has a yummy dessert recipe that uses coconut flour instead of powdered sugar. They are pb and chocolate no bakes. You can make them into bars in a baking pan or mold them into shapes ( ball or egg shape). It’s great during the fall and winter seasons when you have those yummy pb chocolate candies everywhere. Now you can make your own!! We love these. 🙂 You can find the recipe on her site or Pinterest.
These are pretty good. I made them with egg substitute due to an allergy and used regular sweetener (sugar I think) since paleo wasn’t my goal. Oh, I used about 1/2 the amount of lemon juice because 3 T seemed like a lot, and they were just lemony enough for me. http://cavegirlcuisine.com/2014/03/21/lemon-coconut-cookies/
Yes, coconut flour is used often here in the Paleo world! Here’s a link to one of my favorite recipes, coconut blueberry pound cupcakes:
http://glutenfreeeasily.com/coconut-blueberry-pound-cupcakes-gluten-free-grain-free-dairy-free-refined-sugar-free/
We love coconut flour pancakes (cheeseslave’s recipe) and bacon egg and cheese muffins made with coconut flour. It is SO filling.
I never put mine through a sieve. I just mix it well and it does fine.
Ooo, what’s your bacon egg and cheese muffin recipe? Sounds like something that could be made Whole30 approved pretty easily. I am bad at the breakfast ideas.
Coconut flour is much more absorbant than wheat flour, so you need much less. If you are trying to substitute into a traditional recipe start with just a quarter of the amount called for.
Don’t forget to sieve it or it will have lumps! I like to add it to your best Best Ever Chocolate Oatmeal Bars instead of other coconut. I replace flour in cookies with it or start with half to see.
Here is a great Coconut Pancake recipe.
– 5 eggs
– 1/2 cup greek yoghurt
– 1 T honey or xylitol (or more if you like it sweeter)
– 1/2 cup coconut flour (check consistency and add more if necessary – can replace some with flour to get into it gradually)
– Pinch salt
– Pinch cinnamon
– Pinch vanilla powder
– 1/2t baking powder (optional – still works fine without)
– 1/2t baking soda
1. Whisk wet ingredients together
2. Add dry (with a sieve) and whisk gently (add more flour if too runny – pancake shape should hold when you put it into the pan)
3. Leave to sit for a few minutes
4. Cook in coconut oil on medium heat till golden brown on each side
Blessings to your lovely family Crystal – you’re a blessing to us 🙂