Lately, I've been all about coconut oil. I'm not completely sure why. I've been using it for almost 2 years, but the past 3 months I've been gung ho using it for everything! If you aren't familiar with coconut oil, seriously check it out. Up until the past couple months, I have only cooked with it. Then I started seeing how great it is for your skin. Well, this winter took it's toll on my hands. Seriously not pretty. Cracked, bleeding knuckles and ripped open cuticles. It was painful and ugly. One day, I just scooped some coconut oil up and rubbed it in. My hands instantly started feeling better. After just a day of coconut oil, my hands looked so much better! I started to get excited. What else could this stuff do? I read about oil pulling. Turns out this is definitely not for me. My gag reflex won't allow it. Then I moved on to coconut oil in the coffee. I'm digging it. It makes my lips super soft if nothing else. Then I read how it's great for hair conditioning. I found an easy pin on how to make a hair mask. One Sunday, I told everyone I needed time, and I did it. Complete fail. The getting it in my hair was fine. The waiting and heating it was fine. When it came time to rinse it out is when the fail part came in. It wouldn't rinse out. Not kidding. My hair was basically glued together with oil. I tried everything. Finally, I just had to shampoo my hair 4, yes 4, times. Needless to say, my hair did not have the sleek shine and soft touch like it was supposed to. But I wouldn't give up. I'm glad I didn't. I just bought new mascara. This stuff is heavy duty waterproof. Apparently it is also soap proof. First day I used it, it wouldn't come off. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and finally got it, but it was a pain. Then I found a pin about using coconut oil to take off eye makeup. What did I have to lose, right? This stuff already didn't come off. I tried it, and the mascara came off first try! It wasn't a fluke. I've been using it for about a month now and it works perfectly every time. So with that going well, I decided to delve even further into cooking with it. I've only done one recipe with it so far, and it was a total fail. I tried to make Coconut Caramel Popcorn. It was way too sweet for us. Had nothing to do with the coconut oil and everything to do with the honey. Still, it was even too sweet for my kids. I've got a few more fun recipes to try out as soon as there are some additional hours added to the day...
I am the first to admit, I can't stand doing gift bags or birthday treats for school. I also admit, I can't stand planning themed parties where activities actually have to take place. This year, however, I found a cute, simple snack to make and take into school (and yes, I changed it up to make it even more simple for myself). I didn't want to do cookies and preschool teachers really appreciate it if you don't do cupcakes. That's why I thought this idea was the perfect balance. Animal crackers and little tub of frosting for dipping. My special treat to Sunshine's friends? Red 40. That's right, I threw caution to the wind and just let her pick out the brightest, pinkest, sweetest frosting. Kids were only getting a tiny bit of it, so I didn't feel bad at all. Sunshine helped make the snack by sprinkling the extra sugar (because, of course, there had to be MORE sugar) on top of the frosting and counting out all the animal crackers in each bag. It turned out pretty cute and she loved it. The best part for me was that it was simple and I didn't feel like I was overloading on the sugar.