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Friday, April 13, 2012

Trying Coconut Oil & a Giveaway



In my traditional foods journey lately, I've been reading about what "fats" are good for you to use in your cooking, and which ones are not. I've been using butter and ghee since that's what I had on hand, with our wonderful dairy cows, (both of which are great to use) but was wanting something else to use at times...especially in the lean butter months, if we are getting low on butter.

Since I already knew that coconut oil was good to add to your beauty products, from making my own soaps and body butters, and even tooth paste...all of which I've done...and having heard for several years about the health benefits of coconut oil, I decided I should try using it in the kitchen, not just my medicine cabinet or soap.

When I was looking around, trying to find the best source for a GOOD coconut oil, (one that didn't use chemicals to process it) I heard that Tropical Traditions coconut oil was one of the best out there, with their Gold label coconut oil being the best of the best. So I bookmarked them, signed up for their newsletter and decided when I could I was going to try some of theirs.

Their Gold Label coconut oil, being the least processed, is the one I would choose to use whenever possible, although it does still have the coconut flavor, which in some things isn't something I want. So, for those dishes, when I don't want so much coconut flavor, I may try their expeller pressed coconut oil, as it's processed more, so the flavor is gone, yet no chemicals are used in the processing...which is important to me too.

I got the chance to receive a free sample of their Gold Label coconut oil the other day, so I jumped on it!


Raw Chocolate macaroon.

The first thing I tried with their coconut oil happened to be these raw chocolate macaroons. I did use the sweetened coconut like she did, simply because that's all I had...but when my unsweetened coconut gets here from Azure I'll have to try them with that, cause I think it would be healthier that way...without the extra sugar.

They are yummy! I'm going to slowly try more recipe's with my coconut oil, as I find the time to, and get the ingredients for them, but for a first time use of coconut oil in food, this was a great choice! :)

I also cooked some chicken breast in coconut oil for supper the other night. I browned it in a cast iron skillet, then made sure there was still some oil in the pan, put a cast iron lid on the skillet and slipped it in the oven to finish cooking.
It was a lot better than I thought it would be...I didn't think the coconut taste would be to my liking at all, on meat...but it wasn't to strong, and actually quite good!

There is more information about coconut oil on the tropical Traditions site if you would like to read up on it. I've found several helpful pages about coconut oil at the links below.

What is Virgin Coconut Oil
How to use coconut oil
Coconut Buying Guide






Today, courtesy of Tropical Traditions, I'm having a giveaway for a quart of their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil!!! If you to have been wanting to try it, or just want the chance to win a free quart of yummy coconut oil, feel free to enter below! Giveaway open to US and Canada residents only.

You MUST sign up for their newsletter (here) to win though, so if I draw a winner and announce it...and then later find out you didn't sign up, I will have to redraw...so make sure you sign up for their newsletter if you want to win! :)



a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you would like a 2nd chance to win, don't forget to leave a comment below (after saying you did in the form above) with a link to your favorite recipe using coconut oil...or if you haven't used coconut oil before, leave a link to a recipe you would like to try, using coconut oil!

The Giveaway will end April 20th, so be sure and enter as soon as possible so you don't forget! I will announce the winner on the 23rd (least that's my plans now) so be sure and come back to see if you won!

I have to say, for my first time of using coconut oil in food I'm really happy about how it turned out and tasted! I was so sure I wouldn't like the taste of it in some dishes (especially meats) but thankfully I think I could stand to use the virgin oil in more dishes than I first thought I would.

Now I get to go have more fun finding ways to use it...least till my quart jar of it is gone...think I'm going to HAVE to find the money to buy a gallon tub of it as soon as possible, so I have plenty of it to play with! LOL

P.S...If you have trouble with the rafflecopter form, let me know...it's my first time using it, so I'm having a little trouble with getting it on here myself, but think I may have finally figured it out...once I updated my blogger editor. LOL

Post linked to: Fat Tuesday, & Allergy Free Wednesdays

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Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.


15 comments:

  1. Click on the title of the post, if you want to see the whole post...not sure WHY it's not showing up without that, but...on my comuter it shows up that way. *sigh*

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:19 AM

    Hi Deb!
    I already receive the Tropical Traditions Newsletter, so that probably makes me ineligible for a second chance. I love using coconut oil in my Homemade Beauty Products, which I sell under Heartsong Botanicals, as well as in cooking. Thanks for the opportunity to win! I also can't link to any recipes because I just use my own, but I can tell you that I make an incredibly delicious protein bar to have after my work outs or while I am hiking and I use coconut oil in all of my soaps, lotions, body balms, butters and salves.
    Hugs From Laurie AKA Idgie
    idgiescottage@msn.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Idgie!! I didn't realize you made your own soap too, how cool!! You sure can enter to win, if you get their newsletter...doesn't matter if you are a new subscriber or old, just make sure you enter through the form above, not just by posting a comment here. :) That's how I'm going to choose a winner...through that form, so you have to click through it too.

      If it doesn't work to well for me this time around, I don't think I'll use it again (if I have another giveaway anytime) but thought I'd try it out this time, since I've seen it quite a lot lately on other blogs. :)

      Delete
  3. I use coconut oil as a moisturizer. It works better than expensive creams. I get complemented all the time about my skin, I owe it all to coconut oil!

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  4. I'd love to bake brownies with it...have a very bad sweet tooth :)

    Also, I've heard it can help with stretch marks so I'd try that too!

    danielleaknapp at gmail dot com

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  5. There are so many things i like to make with coconut oil...it is my go-to fat now! here is a really easy, incredibly tasty treat:
    http://www.tessadomesticdiva.com/2011/04/omg-peanutbutter-cups.html

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  6. There is something so different about eating coconut right from the actual (is it a fruit or not?) - versus eating it from the bag. Either way - getting past that point has always been my weakness. But you make it sound like the oil can be worth getting past that! I've had coconut shrimp before. I'm wondering if your chicken breasts had that same pleasant taste. If so - it can be addictive!

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  7. Anna W.7:40 AM

    i love to make chocolate bars/fudge with cocoa powder, agave and coconut oil!!

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  8. Anonymous10:29 AM

    My favorite way to use coconut oil is to take 1 tablespoon every morning for extra energy and to help with thyroid issues.

    ReplyDelete
  9. TheCrunchyChemist2:12 PM

    I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to put coconut oil on my toast in the morning!!! It's way better than butter any day. We're almost out of coconut oil, so I hope I win!

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  10. It's certainly marvelous stuff, if you live in the USA, but their oil goes round the world from the Philippines then back round the world to where I live in Perth, West Australia.

    Do you think that makes it cheaper? Of course not, so I get mine wholesale from the site mentioned in
    http://pertholiveandcoconutwholesaleoil.ikmca.info/coconut-oil-benfits/

    I use about ten tablespoons (150ml) each day so I can only afford the refined oil, which still has most of the benefits.

    Here's how I make my own chocolate. It's very healthy. Ordinary chocolate is mostly sugar with cocoa powder to give it color and flavor and a bit of fat (cocoa butter is too expensive to use) to bind it all together.

    Cocoa is healthy and makes you feel good and stops you feeling hungry.
    Coconut oil has many health benefits. Refined coconut oil doesn't conflict with cocoa for flavor, because the oil has no flavor.
    Stevia (I buy mine by the 5 lb bag from iHerb) is a herbal sweetener that is actually healthy for you.

    I take 300 ml of coconut oil, and stir in 30 gm of stevia powder, and 170 gm of Dutch cocoa powder that I buy in bulk locally.

    There is no magic to the quantities, they just happen to add up to enough for me to fill two "ice cube" trays to put in the freezer. They're not cubes, because it might be difficult to tap out the finished chocolates. They are hemispheres, so it's easy to tap out the finished chocolates.

    You can't store them at the normal room temperatures in Perth because they would melt, so I put them in the fridge.

    You'll lose weight if you eat one of my chocolates each time you feel hungry, because you'll eat less carbohydrates.

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  11. I love using coconut oil to make delicious popcorn.

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  12. Anonymous1:30 AM

    I want to try and make almond joy bars:

    http://www.tessadomesticdiva.com/2011/11/almond-joy-bars.html

    They sound delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  13. i use coconut oil for a lot of my cooking, but my favorite use at the moment is for deodorant! http://selfreliancebyjamie.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-made-deodorant.html
    baking soda, cornstarch and coconut oil. it is the best natural deodorant i've tried so far.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm already signed up for TT's newsletter, and I use coconut oil just about all the time! My favorite use is for oil pulling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_pulling I do it every morning with coconut oil and have definitely noticed my teeth getting whiter :)

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