Melon and Mint Breakfast Bowl with Toasted Coconut Recipe

What Is Melon and Mint Breakfast Bowl with Toasted Coconut?

This is a fruit bowl built the way a good salad is built, with a real dressing instead of a splash of juice poured over at the end. Two melons and blueberries get tossed in a quick lime and honey dressing, then finished with mint ribbons and coconut toasted to gold. It is a light, no-cook way to start a summer morning.

What Makes This Recipe Anti-Inflammatory?

Cantaloupe is unusually dense in beta-carotene for a fruit, and honeydew brings its own supply of vitamin C and potassium, so pairing the two covers more ground than either melon does alone. Blueberries add anthocyanins, among the most studied antioxidant pigments in food, which is most of why this bowl looks the way it does before you even add the coconut.

Mint carries rosmarinic acid, and the coconut flakes contribute medium-chain fats that make the fruit more satiating than it would be alone, which matters in a bowl with no protein in it.

Every ingredient is compliant with the AIP elimination phase. There are no grains, legumes, nightshades, dairy, eggs, nuts, seeds or seed-based spices, honey stands in for refined sugar, and coconut counts as a fruit rather than a nut in this framework.

Ingredients

• 2 cups cantaloupe, cut into bite-size chunks
• 2 cups honeydew melon, cut into bite-size chunks
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 1 teaspoon honey

Directions

Step 1

Toast the coconut flakes in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring the whole time. They go from golden to burnt in about 30 seconds, and tip them onto a plate the moment they color, since the hot pan keeps cooking them even off the heat.

Step 2

Whisk the lime juice, lime zest and honey together in a small bowl until the honey loosens into the juice and the dressing looks even.

Step 3

Use cold cantaloupe and honeydew straight from the fridge, since cold fruit holds the dressing better and the bowl is meant to be eaten cold. Toss the melon chunks and blueberries with the dressing in a large bowl until every piece is coated.

Step 4

Slice the mint into thin ribbons and fold them in only just before serving. Cut mint darkens and loses its lift within minutes, so this is not a step to do ahead.

Step 5

Divide the fruit between two bowls and scatter the toasted coconut over the top rather than mixing it in, so it stays crunchy instead of soaking into the juices underneath.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

InflammaScore

1 Good! Very low inflammation potential

Q&A

Q1: Is this recipe suitable for the AIP elimination phase?
A1: Yes. Cantaloupe, honeydew, blueberries, coconut flakes, mint, lime and honey are all permitted during elimination. Honey is allowed even though refined sugar is not, and coconut is treated as a fruit rather than a nut, so it does not fall under the nut and seed exclusion.

Q2: How do I pick a ripe melon?
A2: Pick one up. A ripe melon feels heavy for its size, and it should smell sweet at the blossom end, the spot opposite the stem. For cantaloupe, look under the netting for rind that has turned from green to tan, since green skin there means it was picked too early.

Q3: Can I make this ahead?
A3: You can cut the melon up to 2 days ahead and keep it covered in the fridge. Hold off on the dressing, mint and coconut until serving, since dressed melon weeps liquid as it sits and the coconut goes soft the moment it touches juice.

Q4: What other fruit works in this bowl?
A4: Watermelon, ripe peaches and nectarines all work well here, following the same dressing and the same order of operations. Swap in whatever is ripest that week rather than forcing cantaloupe and honeydew when neither is in season.

Q5: How do I make this a fuller breakfast?
A5: Spoon a layer of plain coconut yogurt into the bottom of each bowl before adding the fruit, which turns it into something closer to a parfait. Or serve the bowl alongside a savory plate instead of eating it alone, so breakfast has more than fruit sugar carrying it.