Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil Review

I LOVE using coconut oil in my homemade beauty products. I have a hard time locating places to buy it in person, or even online. Then I started to hear a lot about Tropical Traditions, and their own gold label coconut oil. I was so thrilled when I got the chance to try out a jar of it, and review it on my blog.

When I got the awesome, 32 oz jar, I was anxious to find fun new ways to use it all. I was only familiar with using it for beauty products and toiletries. Then, I went to check out the Tropical Traditions food recipes, for other ways to use my jar of oil. I searched through the recipe blog to find not only the recipes that sounded yummy, but ones that were intended for use with mainly just the oil, since it was the product I had to review. I made quite a few dishes with it (and used a huge portion of the oil), most of which tasted amazing. One thing to keep in mind though, most of the recipes call for using the coconut oil as a cooking oil in place of your olive or vegetable oil. But, anything you cook in the oil is going to have that subtle yummy flavor.

I made...


Coconut Rice - (I made it without lime juice and added sweet coconut on top, made a great breakfast rice)

Coconut Mashed Potatoes - (I didn't have coconut milk so I used canned. I think it'd be better with coconut milk, but my son really loved them as they were)






**Forgot to photograph**

Three Cheese Tomato Garlic Grilled Cheese Sandwiches - (These were an amazingly delicious lunch for my son and I)




Cheesy Fried Rice - (This wasn't such a good mix to me, little too much coconut oil)

Coconut Oil Flour Tortillas - (I made these with the chicken below, for us and my sister and her two kids. Everyone gobbled them up)

Mexican Style Pepper Chicken - (I used bell peppers in three colors, and then cut up the chicken and made it a taco filler to go in the tortillas above)

Beauty Products I made

Deodorant
1 part coconut oil
1 part cornstarch
1 part baking soda

This deodorant caused my sensitive skin a little irritation at first, now I'm used to it and it smells great (Less baking soda might prevent the irritation). I have to reapply again during the day, now that's it's all hot and sweaty, but it's 100% natural and I love it.

Lip Balm
1 part coconut oil
1 part beeswax

Melt beeswax and coconut oil together. Pour into container (or old chapstick tube) and let cool.

I really love this lip balm because it never leaves a nasty thick white residue, and it stays on for a long time. The blend is simple and effective when warmer (like if you hold it on your lips a minute to melt the coconut oil) When it gets too cold (and the oil solidifies) it can be too hard to use. A really quick zap in the microwave will fix this.

Coconut Sugar Scrub
Mix sugar and coconut oil together until blended to favorable consistency. Tastes great, but try to use it in the shower for soft glowing skin.

Last but not least, using coconut oil as an all over body moisturizer feels and smells divine.

Overall, there are so many uses for coconut oil, these are just a few. (Check out these FAQ's) Tropical Traditions provides a clean, pure, virgin coconut oil for all the uses you can come up with, for a pretty reasonable price. The jar is made of glass which makes me feel better either to re-use or recycle it. And, compared to the places I have actually found coconut oil for sale, I honestly feel they offer an excellent price. Not only is it hard to find coconut oil, but most places will not offer you the large amounts that they. Say goodbye to puny 8 oz bottles, and say hello to 32 oz or even a gallon!

If you'd like to get your hands on some of this great stuff!...

Visit the Tropical Traditions website. When asked how you heard about them, check "referred by a friend" and then kindly add in ID number : 6412314 and you will receive a free copy of the virgin coconut oil book. Right now they have a promotion going that you can buy one pint and get one pint free!

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 in return 
for the free product.

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Raising Kids in This World

There is this one dilemma that I have thought of on numerous occasions. I spend quality time with my son, continuously teaching him to be kind, gentle, polite, and nice to everyone around him. We both take the time to enforce this, especially when it comes to his peers. I am proud of this, and my husband is right there by my side teaching the same principles. As hard as we do try to bring up a great, well behaved child, we are learning there is a certain negative factor that comes into play by doing this. Not one that would keep us from doing what we do, though. That is, many other people in this world do not have the same values as us, and are raising rude, punk kids.

Why is this such a problem for us? It becomes increasingly harder to find good friends for our son to play with, because he either gets beat up on, or gets his feelings hurt by them. Some might say our son is too sensitive, but I of course, will argue this because he is a sweet caring boy who shares love and joy in his life. When someone snatches that away from him, in one way or another, he cries. I understand because I too, have been sensitive like that. Most often the case is that people who's children act in such rude ways, are the type of parents that just don't care enough to teach and/or discipline their children.

So, with this I wonder, how can we teach our kids to have these principles and values, while still teaching them ways to defend themselves against the mean in this world? How can we feel that what we are doing with our children is vital to the future generations, when so many others are taking the opposite, and most often, negative road to behavior? Why have so many people given up on respect and the simple ways of life? Is this just an American thing? So many questions arise with this subject, these are just a few.



How do you handle bullying kids? Is your child a bully to others, and if so how do you handle that?

No judgment here, I'm just curious, and learning to raise a toddler.

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2 Kids, and Double the Work Load

The workload has gotten heavy around my house. I've been very happy since my daughter was born. I love doing a lot of chores to keep me busy, and I have also had a lot of time to myself and even alone with my husband. I will admit I haven't been sleeping as much, which is certainly starting to take it's toll. There have been quite a few days where the chores just seem to never end. This past weekend was a bad one.

We were getting ready to go camping with my dad for the weekend. I had my list of things that had to be done outside the house and inside. There are definitely levels of priority, and I tried my best to follow them. After eating out for lunch, which wasn't planned, we did our Target household shopping, went to the bank, and then came home. I left out the post office for stamps, the gym to renew, and Trader Joe's for laundry soap. At home I had a bunch to do and I ended up working and working and working to get it all done, but it never happened.

I'm not good at asking for help from the husband. I am an Aries, I want to get it all done myself and feel empowered that I could. I asked him for help though. I did as many of the most important chores as I could, but when they just kept coming I had to let it go. It is so hard for me, being a perfectionist and a control freak. I wanted everything to be done and clean so that I could just relax and settle down with the kids once we got back home. I started to get so stressed out I had to call it quits and just leave town for the weekend on a much deserved break. We left the house with dishes in the sink, laundry on the floor, our sons bed unmade (clean bedding sitting on it though) and the floor un-swept. This is something that has never happened in my adult life away from home. It was very hard, but I knew I had to let go. Camping was fantastic at helping me unwind after a very hard very busy 6 weeks. But will life with two kids always be this way?


What are your tips for chores and two kids?



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