Coconut Oil: is there anything it can't do?

I'm turning into the father in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," except instead of using Windex as a cure-all, I'm using coconut oil. I swear to you, if the only two beauty products I could use for the rest of my life were Dr. Bronner's Liquid Castile Soap & coconut oil, I'd be all set. Oh and maybe mascara, 'cause it makes my eyes pop.

[We use this kind for Flynn, found here]

I already blogged about it being one of the awesome ingredients in Flynn's homemade formula, and it's also become a popular substitute for other oils & butter in cooking recently. The banana bread recipe I make calls for 1/2 cup of canola oil, but I use 1/2 cup coconut oil instead and it tastes great. At room temperature, coconut oil is not a liquid. Don't let this throw you off. If you need it to be a liquid, microwave it for 10 seconds or let it sit on the oven as you preheat it. 

Apparently there are well over 100 uses for coconut oil, according to this website. So far, I cook & bake with it, add it to fruit smoothies, use it as lip balm and on dry skin, and last night I slathered my face with it because my adult acne (ugh) is back with a vengeance. Pregnancy hormones were kind to me and my face was flawless for 9 months. Not anymore.

[We buy this kind for everyday use, available at most grocery stores]

Here are some of the amazing ways coconut oil can be used. I can't wait to try them!

• The base for a homemade body scrub
• Nutritious addition to dog or cat food
• Apply to your underarms as a natural deodorant
• Use in place of shaving cream
• Make-up remover
• Apply to cuts/burns to speed healing
• Use on baby's diaper rash & cradle cap
• Mix with baking soda & use as a natural "goo gone"
• Use instead of WD-40
• Eating a few spoonfuls a day will help: increase milk flow in nursing moms, digestion, overall immune function, thyroid function, boost energy
• Guitar string lubricant (gotta tell my husband, who just joined a new band)
• Helps pimples & acne (uh, yes please!)
• Mix with baking soda as a facial scrub
• Lice treatment (hope I don't have to deal with this for a few more years)
• Prevents stretchmarks during pregnancy
• Massage into scalp for a dandruff treatment
• Non-toxic flea treatment
• Ear infections: add a few drops in the ear at the first sign
• Soothes pink eye infections
• Use it to clean the inside of your dogs ears (trying this ASAP! Indy's ears are always dirty)

[You're going to put WHAT in my ears?]

This wasn't on the list, but I think it would make a great nipple butter for nursing moms. It's soothing and it's a natural anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal (thrush!). I have to remember that next time around.

Do you use coconut oil? If so, what's your favorite use for this tropical wonder?

How we do it: Making & Storing Baby Food

I always slightly dread the next stage in Flynn’s development because:

1) I fear change 

2) I like routines and 

3) I feel like if I have anything else to accomplish in one day, my brain is going to have a nuclear meltdown.

But then once that stage arrives, and I accommodate it for a few days, it’s no big deal. Two months ago, I was not looking forward to Flynn eating solids. I mean, I was excited to have him try new foods, but I had the nursing/bottle routine down and now I’d have to deal with baby food, also?! Ahh! But like all the other stages that have come and gone, it’s really not a big deal at all.

In fact, it’s pretty fun to make baby food. And did I mention it’s SUPER easy? Especially since their diet consists of one ingredient purees to start. Peel it & mash it. Steam it & blend it. Roast it & puree it. 2 steps! Maybe 3 if you include washing & cutting up produce. And buying it. OKAY 4, but let’s not get too technical…

[There is a newer version available here]

This book has been my go-to source for the recipes I’ve made so far, but it’s mainly inspirational because once you make a few of them, you’re like, “Wait, I needed a book for this?” That’s how simple it is. Pick pretty much any fruit or vegetable; decide how to make it soft enough to be pureed and just do that. Want pear puree? Core pears & cut into quarters. Steam until soft (7-9 min), remove skins and toss flesh into a food processor or blender. 30 seconds later, boom, done. Want apple/carrot/sweet potato/pea/green bean puree? Do virtually the same thing. Cook until soft, puree.

The recipes get more complex for older babies and start to incorporate multiple ingredients and spices, but you’ll already be a pro because you started out with one-ingredient meals.

In my opinion, the hardest part was figuring out how to store the food so that it was also easy to transport to my Mom’s house (Flynn's "day care"). There are lots of baby food storage containers on the market but I just went with ice cube trays that I already owned. They're probably not BPA-free, but I'm only using them for a short period of time & I'm not heating them up, so I couldn't justify buying special trays.

Helpful Tip

1 cube = 1 oz. (or 2 tablespoons)

Every other week, I make 2 different purees (usually a fruit for breakfast, to eat alone or to mix with the Earth’s Best baby oatmeal he so loves, and a veggie for lunch). I fill up my ice cube trays with the purees and pop them in the freezer overnight. Then, I dump out the cubes and put 2 cubes each in plastic snack baggies. Everything is pre-portioned and ready to bring to my Mom’s house along with Flynn’s milk for the day. I can’t tell you how convenient it is to just grab a bag of this and a bag of that from the freezer in the morning. It keeps me slightly more sane.

To thaw, either put the cubes in a bowl and let them soften slowly in the fridge or give them a 30 second zap in the microwave and stir, stir, stir to get it all to the same baby-friendly temperature. If necessary, add a little water/breast milk/formula to thin out the puree. To thicken a puree (like pears, which tend to be watery) I add a little oatmeal.

[Flynn's first avocado experience]

There are foods baby’s love that don’t need to be cooked at all, like bananas & avocados. Flynn loves mashed avocado with a pinch of salt, and we often mix in banana with his oatmeal.

Learn from my mistake: When I first made apple puree for Flynn, I used Granny Smith apples because that’s what I like to eat. You should have seen his face - it was like I gave him a sour apple blow pop. Oops! A little cinnamon warmed him up to it though.

As far as baby-proof dinnerware is concerned, I haven’t bought any yet. My sis-in-law gave me a bunch of Gerber baby spoons, and I serve Flynn his food in small, ceramic ramekins. When he starts feeding himself, I’ll obviously need some kind of unbreakable bowls and plates that are BPA-free/Phthalate-free/Latex-free/PVC-free made of rainbows & sunshine. My mom has this cute bowl for feeding Flynn and she loves it because you can just mash & mix whatever you want right in the bowl and serve.

There are lots of pre-made baby foods available, but the freshest and most cost-effective way to feed your baby is to get in the kitchen and make your own. If you're an ingredient control-freak like me, it’s the best way to go.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t completely object to pre-made baby food. It definitely has it's perks! During our summer vacation in July, I say bring on the convenience of organic fruit in a pouch & disposable diapers! Everyone needs a break once in a while.

[Asparagus. Not a fan.]

What were your baby's favorite first foods? Do you have your own baby food making/storing routine? 

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

I found this yummy and simple recipe for Whole Wheat and Honey Pizza Dough on allrecipes.com and tried it out last night. It was my first time making pizza dough, so I was surprised how good it was!

After I rolled out the dough (note: use A LOT of extra flour to do this!) I topped it with marinara, baby spinach, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese and a little sprinkling of salt & pepper. I was planning on using feta cheese, but after Flynn's grocery store meltdown on Sunday night, causing me to take him home & leaving Tim to do all the shopping by himself, it never found it's way into the cart. (It wasn't on the list... not your fault, sweetie!)


Baked it at 350 for 12 minutes and cut it in four pieces - the perfect amount for Tim and I. You could easily make 2 pizzas at the same time or make a few extra balls of dough to freeze.


I used to buy premade Boboli pizza crust, but I won't be doing that anymore. Let's do one of my favorite things.... an ingredient comparison!


Boboli Whole Wheat Pizza Crust: Whole wheat flour, water, palm oil, polydextrose, yeast, wheat gluten, molasses, milk casein, salt, mozzarella cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt and enzymes), sugar, preservatives (calcium propionate, sorbic acid), fumaric acid, modified food starch, sodium phosphate, whey, monoglycerides, lactic acid, natural flavor, garlic, artificial color. 


Whole Wheat and Honey Pizza Dough:Whole wheat flour, wheat germ, water, active dry yeast, salt, honey.

Which one would you rather eat? Yeah... not to mention the cost savings is significant. A Boboli crust is $3.79 at my grocery store and using what few math skills I've retained since high school, I figured out that this pizza dough costs $1.42 to make, giving me a cost savings of 63%. Not bad!

I'm afraid figuring out the cost of all the toppings would make my head hurt, so that one's on you. Have you ever made your own pizza dough before? Does everyone already do this and I'm late to the party? I'd love to hear your thoughts (and recipes!)

Over the Weekend...

Some highlights from the weekend, which mainly consisted of doing things around the house, errands & trying to stay cool without A/C. 

We have A/C... I'm just very stubborn about using it :-)

["Sleeping" in on Saturday morning]

[One hundred apples + one thousand hours in the crock pot = homemade apple butter]

[Mastering the art of sitting]

[Indy climbing on the couch like a cat]

[Flynn's toys, officially relocated to the living room for easy access]

Now on to another work week (with Wednesday off, thank goodness).

Precious Weekends

Tim and I treasure our weekends, especially these last few, precious, child-free weekends. I mean, Baby A is always along for the ride in my stomach, but this is the most laid back and maintenance free that he'll ever be.

Don't get us wrong, we can't wait to meet the little guy and dote on him 24/7, but we're slowly realizing that being able to say "Hey, let's go out to dinner" is a luxury.

On Friday night, we enjoyed a yummy slow cooker meal of beef & vegetable soup (recipe coming this week). I have a feeling that crock pot is going to be reaaaaal tired after this winter.

I woke up Saturday morning with a hankering for apple cider donuts. They are a local favorite that always symbolize the transition into fall and make the end of summer a tad more bearable. We brought Indy along for the ride and he enjoyed hanging his head out the window the whole way. The colder the better as far as he's concerned.

Then I got serenaded by this fine gentleman, to whom I happen to be married to.

After cleaning the bejesus out of our house while Tim took the pup on a long walk, we ran errands which included a stop at my favorite store - Christmas Tree Shops. Tim always says the same thing when we're in there. "There is so much random crap here." Yep, and that's why I love it! You go in there needing nothing and walk out with a huge bag of stuff that you only paid $15 for. What's not to love? I actually DID need a few things and this is one of them.

You see a placemat. I see a clutch purse. More on that later.

Just call me the Queen of Suspense.

We went out to possibly THE BEST Indian restaurant on Saturday night. Star of India, West Chester, Pennsylvania, Planet Earth... look it up. Anyways, we've been into Indian food for about the last year or so and I keep saying I'm going to learn how to cook it, but so far we've only made some chicken marinated in Indian spices on the grill. In time...

I never thought I was a spicy food kinda gal, but that's because I was associating anything spicy with how hot wings set my mouth on fire, and Indian spices are so not evil like that. They are spicy in an "ooh, that's got a kick to it!" way.

Their garlic naan was fresh baked and amazing. We're taking our friends Rachael & Dave there next weekend as well, because they've been wanting to try Indian food and we need another night out before baby!

37 weeks

This is the current state of my stomach. It really accents my double chin nicely, don't you think? Haha. I really shouldn't complain. I've had an easy breezy pregnancy and this isn't even a maternity dress! Forever 21, I think. And my favorite boots are back in action. I'm gonna wear the crap out of them again this winter, especially since I'll be living in tights & leggings.

Tim snapped this as we were headed out to the baby shower his Mom threw for me on Sunday. It was lovely to catch up with his aunts & cousins - including one that is also expecting! Needless to say, Baby Annan is totally set on adorable clothes, books, stuffed animals & cozy blankets. He'll definitely be dressed better than me for the first 6 months of his lucky little life!

Frittata. Fun to say. More fun to eat.

This meal is great for when you're standing in front of your fridge after a long day thinking, "What the $%&# are we going to eat?!" Also excellent for entertaining guests over brunch. You can completely customize it to your tastes and it's pretty hard to screw up. If you can scramble an egg, you can make a frittata. It looks and tastes way more impressive than scrambled eggs, too.

So throw on your apron and let's get crackin'! Literally. Because you need to crack a lot of eggs.

Here is what went into my frittata last night.

Ingredients:
10 eggs
1/2 c. whole milk
1 T. butter
1/2 of a small yellow onion, diced
6 strips of uncured bacon, chopped into bite size pieces
1 large tomato, diced
Handful of fresh spinach, chopped
Shredded cheddar cheese
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk eggs & milk together, season with salt & pepper, set aside.
- In a saute pan, cook your chopped onion & bacon together until soft/crispy, drain on a towel and set aside.
- In a deep saute pan (or an "everyday pan"), melt your butter, then pour in your egg mixture.
- Add everything else into the eggs: onion, bacon, tomatoes & spinach. Top with a generous amount of cheese and let everything cook on the stovetop for 5 minutes.
- After the sides have set, put the whole pan in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the center is firm.
- I opted to add more cheese in the final few minutes of cooking. Because I really like cheese.
- DIG IN!

IMPORTANT: if your entire pan is stainless steel, you're fine. If your pan has a coated or plastic handle, wrap it very well in tinfoil before it goes in the oven. It's not a very high heat and it won't be in the oven for that long. There are also ways to cook a frittata where you cook it entirely in the oven in a casserole dish and skip the stovetop step. You'd have to google that though!


Everyday Pan - perfect for frittatas!

 Other yummy ingredients to add or substitute: mushrooms, sausage, salsa, feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, green pepper, ham. It's a great meal to clean out the fridge.

Recipe Wed: Curried Chicken

My husband and I have been spicing things up lately... in the kitchen!
Bow chicka bow wow.

Not only do certain spices make your meals taste amazing, they're also good for your health.

Turmeric (found in curry powder & mustard) is rich in antioxidants & fights inflammation.

Cumin is an excellent source of iron and helps digestion & bloating.

Cinnamon helps improve circulation, inflammation & has blood thinning properties.

Ginger contains antioxidants and helps with digestion, nausea & gas.

If you're like, "Golly gee, Meg, that sounds neat," you can read more about health & spices here.

My new favorite dinner helper is this little jar of curry paste above.

I  followed the handy recipe on the jar to make curried chicken . It was only for 2 people so I doubled it. We love our leftovers!

Unfortunately, my co-workers didn't feel the same when I reheated it at work the next day... it's pretty pungent.

It's also helpful for opening up the sinuses.
And it's supposedly the non-spicy "mild" kind. Yeah, right!

[Diced tomatoes, onion, water, curry paste & chicken.]

[It's traditionally served with rice, but we love our cous cous. Especially the plain Far East kind.]

You can find similar recipes on Patak's website.

Or just do what I did and read it right off of the jar!

This meal could become a new weekly staple. So so good.

 

Go Go Gadget

I just did that thing where you say a word aloud over and over again until it sounds like a foreign language. Gadget. Gadget. GADget. GadGET. GAD-GET.

I hate most gadgets. Like anything in Sharper Image. Meh, not interested. I don't care about having the latest cell phone, laptop, GPS, etc. We have a GPS. It's called Mapquest & a printer. My iPhone (version 1) is slowy mcslowersons. Whatever.

However, one type of gadget owns my heart.

K-I-T-C-H-E-N

Heaven to me looks like the looooong kitchen gadget aisle in Target. With Tim standing at the end, holding a beautiful array of colorful spatulas. And Bob Marley playing steel drums. Ron Burgundy is also in there somewhere.

Anyways, I was so pumped when I got my mail yesterday and found a rewards card from Macy's worth roughly $100. Apparently back when we were registering for wedding gifts, I signed up for some program where you get a % in cash back as a reward when people buy certain things off of your registry. Totally forgot about it!

I immediately went bananas on Macy's.com.

These beauties will be arriving shortly:

(And I didn't even mean to buy all Martha Stewart brand products. It just worked out like that!

She is greatest, you really can't blame me.)

Melamine Bowl Set

Magnetic Peelers, set of 3

Measuring Cups, stainless steel

Pastry Decorating Set

Flexi Prep Mats, set of 4

[Photo credits: Macys.com]

Most of them will replace cheap-o versions of a similar product I bought back in college at Dollar Tree. They'll be taking a trip to Goodwill or the dumpster!

I'll admit, some kitchen gadgets are just pointless.

I won't waste money on an avocado peeler. It's just as easy to use a knife & a spoon. I recently ditched my dish drainer, too. We have a dishwasher, and anything I wash by hand I just lay on a dish towel to dry (or dry by hand and put away immediately). No more unsightly rack gathering slime & taking up my valuable counter space! Strawberry stem remover, also dumb. I even saw a corn on the cob kernel scraper. Um, hi, it's called using a knife. We are even thinking about losing the tea kettle. Our new coffee maker has a hot water dispenser that is quite handy.

Wow, this post is making me want to re-evaluate my whole gadget drawer. It's jam packed and I'm thinking, do I really need 6 different wooden spoons? That is one area I struggle with keeping organized.

Instead of watching the State of the Union tonight (we already know, it's bad) I think I'll tackle that drawer!