Peppermint Shortbread Cookies-Christmas in July

I admit it. This is the only time I've ever done Christmas in July. Whatever that means. Loved it! Thanks FishMama for having a christmas themed URS this week. I got to have all the good and none of the bad of Christmas today! If you need a little holiday spirit in the midst of your summer pop over to the LifeAsMom "it's not christmas without" recipe swap.

I'm fickle when it comes to Christmas.

Christmas lights-love it
Christmas music-love it
christmas shopping-hate it
christmas traffic-hate it
picking out a great gift for a loved one-love it
getting too many gifts we can't use/don't need-hate it
having too many to people to buy for, too little cash and not enough time to shop thoughtfully-hate it
christmas baking-love it
christmas cleaning up after baking-hate it
christmas parties-love it
having too many parties to go to in a 2 week period-hate it
Having too many viruses to attend any of the parties-hate it
Family visits at christmas-love it
so many family visits at christmas that the kids get whacked out on too much sugar, too little sleep, too much consumerism and entirely too much indoor grown-up visiting time-hate it
Eating christmas food-love it
Pants getting too tight before santa even arrives-hate it.

One day. One recipe. The gift of family time together (with sugar included). Perfect Christmas. We even got the audio CD of grinch who stole christmas out and listened to that. Would have been better to watch it, but I'm not complaining.

I posted this peppermint shortbread cookie recipe in December. This cookie defines Christmas for me. And hubby. Big boo's favorite candy is peppermint, I suppose that's linked to his over-consumption of candy canes one year around the holidays. He'd found a stash in the closet and was munching them in secret while watching morning cartoons. Who knows how long he had this habit before I found him out. I suspect that one day in a few years I'll come to learn that this is big boo's favorite holiday cookie too. One day little boo will have had enough Christmas's to declare his favorite Christmas cookie. Kids are fun!

I love it's simplicity. A shortbread base with with only four ingredients. I even made them by hand this time, no getting out the heavy mixer from atop the fridge. The topping is a simple powdered sugar glaze with crushed peppermints. The crumble of the shortbread and the crunch of the set glaze and candy topping is party in your mouth. And they're so pretty. Small. Cute. Pink. Perfect.

The boys loved bashing up the peppermint candies with a rolling pin.

And sifting the powdered sugar

And spreading on the icing and topping with candy.

I am so loving that they are both old enough and able to help me bake. I cherish all the memories I have baking with my parents, and grandma's.

I had an uh-oh moment when I made them. I had my butter and sugar creamed and uh-oh. Where's my new bag of white flour? No where. No time to run to the store for more flour. It was white wheat short bread or no Christmas in July. Short bread is one cookie I had no intention of wholesomeing them up. I probably only had a cup of white flour left, so my short bread was about 2/3 white wheat. They are far better than I thought. I was sure I'd have to toss them after I photographed them for the recipe swap. Not so. They are slightly less amazing than the tender crumbly white flour short-bread, but still mighty tasty. I didn't really notice until I was on cookie number 5. I won't even tell you how many I've eaten since we finished icing them this morning. Cannot. Resist. Peppermint. Cookies.

Peppermint Shortbread Cookies

Dough
1 c. softened butter (salted)
½ c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 ½ cup flour

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add flour and mix on low until incorporated. Chill for one hour (or overnight). Roll cookies into 1/2 inch balls and place on cookie sheet. Flatten top with palm of your hand. These cookies don't really spread or rise. Bake at 350˚ for 12-15 minutes. Don’t over bake. They shouldn’t be more than light brown when you take them out of the oven. Let cool on sheet for 2 minutes then place on rack, or paper sack to cool.

Icing
1 ½ c powdered sugar, sifted
A few TBS of water.

Crushed peppermint candy in a shallow bowl or plate.

Put powdered sugar in blender and add one TBS of water at a time, mixing thoroughly each time. Keep adding water until glaze is the right consistency. You want it pretty thick or the peppermints will ooze off over the edge of cookies. If it’s too thin, no worries, just add more powdered sugar until desired consistency.

Unwrap candy canes, star brights, or other peppermint hard candies and place in a double zip lock back. You need about one package per recipe. Bash them with heavy kitchen utensil (I use a parmesan cheese grater, a meat tenderizer or rolling pin would be ideal). Make the candy pieces very small, close to a dust, it’s too hard to eat big chunks on top of the cookies. If you live in a humid climate, don’t crush the candy too far in advance, it gets too clumpy to decorate. Spread crushed peppermint in a wide bowl.

Let cookies cool thoroughly before icing. Spread a little icing on top. The icing is just a glue. Turn cookie over and press into the crushed candy. Let cookies dry very well on wax paper or paper bag before storing in airtight container. These cookies preserve pretty well. This is a small recipe, so if you’re gifting any or entertaining with them, you might want to double the recipe.

If you're making them for the first time, please use white flour! I don't want you to miss any of their amazingness. Just wanted to share with other white wheat bakers that it is indeed possible to make white wheat shortbread cookies and not sacrifice taste or crumble completely.

The boys crushed entirely too much peppermint. I debated what to do with the extra. So I went to the baby center Cooking For Your Family board for ideas. Love getting ideas from that group! Mix into brownies? Sprinkle on top of chocolate waffles? Toss some into my cup of coffee? Sprinkle on top of ice cream? Add to milkshake? Make peppermint bark? I had some chocolate I needed to use up, so I made bark.

Don't forget to enter the give away for NasoPure. Only three people have entered and I have four prizes to give away, odds are in your favor at this point!

And you? "It's not Christmas without....."

Chocolate Waffles - Whole Grain

It was Friday. I was hungry and trolling around reading blogs, recipes to be specific. And I came across an enterprising lady who to keep her un air-conditioned home cool and still eat brownies, dumped her batter in her waffle iron. That sounded way good to me, then I got busy with dinner and kids and forgot about the waffle brownies until I crawled into bed. Drat. Too late to for chocolate fix.

I woke up Saturday still thinking about chocolate waffles cursing myself for having not made some in secret after the boys went to bed the night before. I really really wanted chocolate waffles. So I started googling chocolate waffle recipes, remembering that Alton Brown made them on a Good Eats episode. Several recipes later and the consensus was to replace 1/2 of the flour in a waffle recipe with cocoa et voila! Chocolate waffles. Yup, I made chocolate waffles for breakfast on Saturday. I couldn't very well be the healthy food queen AND serve brownies for breakfast, but chocolate whole grain waffles met my nutritional requirements. Beta-glucan (oats) and gobs of antioxidants (chocolate) to start the day, I couldn't ask for more.

The surprise was, only little boo and I really liked them. Seriously, who wouldn't love any excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast?

Hubby is not a big a dark chocolate fan as I am so they didn't appeal to him. He said they'd be perfect as dessert waffles served with ice cream and chocolate syrup on top. He's also not a lover of breakfast griddle items (see what I have to live with, hehehe). His opinion really doesn't count for me. Not sure what was up with big boo. He usually loves all things chocolate, even dark chocolate. And waffles. His displeasure was a mystery.

A warning to those who are not in. love. with. dark. chocolate. You either want to top this with copious amounts of whipped cream, ice cream, raspberry jelly OR sub only 1/4 cup of cocoa.

I just used my whole grain waffle recipe with oats, subbed 1/2 cup of the flour for cocoa and topped with butter and a generous amount of powdered sugar and they were so. good. yum. Best part? Since big boo and hubby weren't big fans, there were left overs, which went into the freezer. Oh look. One just popped up from the toaster and I am eating it now. Are you jealous?

Dark Chocolate Waffles (based on recipe from eatingwell.com)
2 cups buttermilk (or milk with a little lemon)
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
5/6 cup white wheat flour (use your 1/2 and 1/3 cup to get 5/6)
1/2 cup cocoa (I used green and black's organic)
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ or cornmeal or flax seed meal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon coconut oil (or grapeseed, or canola)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Mix buttermilk and oats in a medium bowl; let stand for 15 minutes.

Whisk flour cocoa, wheat germ (or cornmeal or flaxseed meal), baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Stir eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla into the oat mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix with a rubber spatula just until moistened. Do not over-stir!

Gluten Free Chocolate Waffle Recipe
For a gluten free version using coconut flour and coconut oil and a bunch of eggs (protein boost) check out Carla's Chocolate Brownie Waffle recipe here.  She blogs at Oh, The Food!

NasoPure Giveaway-Is your kid’s nose clean?

I hope you don’t mind if I take a short break from healthy food tips and recipes and blog about nasal health for a while. I guess it's no surprise that I look for natrual healing options in addition to natural food choices. Nasal washing is something my allergy and asthma family has done for many years, and something I wanted to share with my readers. I reached out to Dr. Hana, creator of the NasoPure nasal washing solution to see if I could review her product and offer some to readers. To my surprise she agreed. I gave away a set at the first of the year to the winner of the Recovering Picky Eater Challenge, and I’ve still got four sets left!

Winners will receive:

One small nasal wash bottle- Sample Kit (includes saline solution)

AND

One large nasal wash bottle-Sample Kit (includes saline solution)

I’ve always found that the best way to create habits with the boys is to do the habit along with them, so whether that’s eating nutritious food, brushing teeth, or keeping noses snot free, I join in. Winners will get an adult size and kid size bottle to start keeping noses clean. You can show them how it’s done and keep your nose clean too.

I love a clean nose! I had never regularly cleaned my nose before getting my NasoPure bottles. I never want to experience a virus without it again. Great insurance against swine flu! Won’t keep you from getting it, but can make the symptoms less painful to deal with. I think every mom is coming to terms with the reality that back to school this year is going to mean the threat of swine flu. (In case this helps, big boo had it and the congestion that followed was a bigger deal than the one day of fever/headache).

If you’re wondering what nasal washing is, maybe you caught Oprah’s Dr Oz episode where he had a guest come up and use a neti pot (a teapot looking gizmo) to flush the nasal passages with a saline solution. NasoPure is the same concept, but more kid friendly, as it doesn’t require head tilting. The plastic is flexible so the kids can squeeze the bottle themselves to get the saline solution in and the snot out.

Nasal washing has been a big help to big boo.

In a perfect world (one where I'm technically savvy) I would have embedded a video of big boo cleaning his nose to demonstrate how even young kids can manage nasal washing. But I couldn’t figure out how to embed a video in blogger, so all I have for you is a few pictures.

Even a severe virus will only knock big boo out for a day, but the congestion it causes can linger in his head for weeks, and at it’s worst, causing hearing loss (build-up from fluid in ear canal), secondary infections and a mild wheeze. The more compliant he is with regular nasal washing the faster he recovers from the lingering congestion and the less secondary infections and asthma/allergy medications he needs.

Nasal washing with NasoPure was part of our virus, allergy, asthma treatment since big boo was 2 ½. When he was 3 ½ he could use the nose wash himself with supervision. He’s 5 now and it’s been a part of our morning routine for a good while along with teeth brushing, hair combing, he does it all on his own. Little boo, who’s three, still needs my help. Sure they complain sometimes (who wouldn’t approach nasal washing with less enthusiasm than eating a cookie) but no more so than other daily hygiene routines.

I keep mine in the shower and clean my nose daily. My allergies are mild and I’m able to live comfortably without medications as long as I wash my nose regularly. They also help with severe congestion when I catch a bug from the kids. I can easily get off to sleep after cleaning my nose. The bottles are dishwasher safe! Love that. Anyone cooking for a family every day is always running the dishwasher. No special cleaning methods for this hygeine tool.

Here is more information about the benefits of nose washing, and how NasoPure is superior to the neti pot for kiddos. Dr. Hana, thank you for the generous box of goodies for the Food With Kid Appeal readers! My apologies for the delay in the review of your amazing product.

For any new readers who need a feel for what this blog is about when I'm not giving stuff away, check out some of these kid friendly recipes. Most recipes include a relevant Kid Appeal Tip to help you get your family eating more nutritious foods. I used to be a picky eater, so I know it's possible to turn around even the most finicky eaters. With love. Good food. And lots of practice!

Rice Salad

Ants on a Log

Scrambled Eggs with veggies

Green Mac N Cheese

Chicken Salad Wraps

Yogurt Bowls

Soft Tacos

Egg Toast

Three ways to win

1. Leave a comment and let me know why you want a cleaner nose for you and/or kidlet.

2. For a second chance to win, sign up for the Food with Kid Appeal RSS feed or email updates to blog posts, and mention in your comment that you signed up. If you’re already a subscriber, mention that in your comment and you’ll get two entries.

3. For a third chance to win, tweet about the giveaway and include link to this post. Let me know in your comment that you tweeted.

Make sure I have a way to contact you if you win! If you’re not a blogger and I can’t track you down online, leave your email in this format: jenna AT foodwithkidappeal DOT com. Contest closes at midnight CST on Aug 7th. A winner will be chosen using Random.org. Winners will be contacted via email, prizes will be mailed via USPS.

Poached Egg Rocket Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

As the third and final recipe for salad week, I hope you enjoy another of my inspirations from a summer spent in France during college (Check out French Rice Salad in case you missed it last month). Hubby adores this dish, he says it’s the best tasting dish he’s had anywhere, including restaurants. What a great compliment considering how few ingredients this dish has, and how simple it is to bring it together. It’s a meatless meal tonight, so I’ll serve cheesy toast as a side item and we’ll finish off with a colossal serving of watermelon.


Not enough salad's for you to pick from here? No worrries, stop on by LifeAsMom to see all the recipes she's rounded up in this week's ultimate recipe swap. In case you missed these posted by yours truly earlier in the week, here they are again.

Tomatillo and Summer Veggie Brown Rice Salad

Herb, Veggie and Bean Mediterranean Salad

It had been an age since I made this, until arugula (also know as rocket) started showing up in my central city co-op veggie share every few weeks. The whole family all about soft cooked egg yolks (like in egg toast), and chef’s salad (greens, veggies and hard boiled eggs), so this salad wasn’t too much of a stretch for the kids. Yes, I admit it. I let my kids eat soft cooked egg yolks. I’m not particularly scared of germs. I don’t ever soft cook an egg that has past its sell-by date and that’s as far as my practical-odds-beating persona goes to avoid bacteria contamination. Phew, I’m glad that cat is out of the bag. Now you all know the truth about my kids and the eggs they eat.

I'm taking some time off from my regular co-op shares so I was happy to find Arugula triple washed at HEB, a Central Market Organics product.

I’ve made this a handful of times for the family and they gobble up the egg, eat a couple leaves and complain vigorously about the vinaigrette. Anything that isn’t ranch pretty much isn’t accepted, although big boo is beginning to branch out. After a recent ranch run out, he accepted a sun dried tomato vinaigrette, and ate it. I know eventually they’ll grow out of their salad dressing tunnel vision, and it’s really not too much trouble for me to leave some of the greens undressed so they can top as they like. Five years old is actually quite a good year for big boo’s taste buds. He recently ate veggie and pork dumplings (including make your own pepper, ginger, soy dipping sauce) with glee and was sad when they were all gone!

Arugula is a peppery green, and if not mixed with other greens can be a little over-powering in a salad. Not so when you plop a poached egg on top and serve with zippy mustard vinaigrette. This salad is so simple, elegant, sophisticated and down right tasty, I won’t say another thing about it.

Mustard Vinaigrette (to dress 4 oz of greens)

2 TBS olive oil

Juice and zest of half a lemon (best to use organic)*

1 tsp of dijon mustard

1 tsp white wine (or other mild) vinegar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix to combine oil, juice, mustard, salt and pepper. Toss rinsed and dried greens with dressing. No Arugula? No worries. Any greens will do.

Poached Eggs

After some research I’ve come to learn there are as many ways to poach an egg as there are to rear a child, so here’s a post from Mr. Breakfast that describes a few egg poaching methods. I personally would avoid the method using saran wrap, as I prefer not to cook in plastic, even if it provides an nice round poached egg. My method involves more than one egg at a time, and vinegar in the water.

Plating

Place a nest of the dressed greens on a plate. Have that ready, table set, and family ready to eat. Drop (gently) the eggs to poach. Let kids watch the eggs cook, it’s a neat to watch the whites turn white and see the little ghosty tails bubble around in the water. Remove eggs from cooking water with slotted spoon and use paper towel to dry gently. Place egg gently on top of greens, top with a little salt and pepper (if desired) and devour immediately, being sure to get a bit of white, yolk, and greens in every blissful bite. When finished hop up and cook another egg to devour. Hubby will often eat three!

If you've never poached eggs before and your first (dozen) attempts come off unsightly, don't fret. They'll still taste good. Apparently there is an art to poached eggs, which I have yet to master. Practice. Practice Practice...

Kid Appeal Tip I imagine most parents have trouble getting kids to adopt new dips, sauces and dressings. Ask most kids who have only eaten brown gravy their whole life to try cream gravy and they’ll probably hide under the table. Once a kid gets attached to a particular dip, or sauce or dressing it may be hard to get them to adopt a variety of flavors, but I do think it’s worth giving it a shot. I’m not saying don’t offer Ranch dressing every time you make a salad, but encourage them to taste new things so they don’t choose to opt out of salad (or chicken) when it’s presented at a guest’s house, or restaurant in way that’s not their own. I ask my kids to taste everything the way I prepare it, and if they choose to top it with ketchup or ranch, so be it. Ranch was my favorite growing up, and still has a warm spot in my heart, but I am so glad I like many other kinds of salad dressings now. Do a taste test between the beloved dip and the new one. Ask your child to taste the cherished one and describe the flavors they taste. Then have him taste the new dip/sauce/dressing and describe the flavors. Ask them which one they prefer. Sure they’ll probably pick their old stand by, but over time they’ll warm to new flavors. The hardest part is often getting them to taste it. Having them focus on describing what they taste, and not the negative self talk running through their head i.e. “that looks gross” or “that smells funny” or “I’m not going to like that” or “I feel sick when I look at that” etc could be just enough distraction to get a new taste on their tongue.

Earthbound Farm Organic Promotion-Win $500 Savings Bond for College

Kids say the cutest things right? Earthbound Farms is promoting their switch to post consumer recycled plastic (PCR) in their packaging by offering to quote your kiddo on their new labels. The winners also get a $500 savings bond to use for education and a $500 donation in their name to a choice of environmental nonprofit. 4 winners will be chosen in July and another winner will be chosen each month for the remainder of 2009.

Here's a link with all the details for the Earthbound Farm's giveaway including entry rules, prizes and entry form. What you need to do is get you kiddo to complete this sentence "Thank you for choosing Organic, it matters to me because......"

And because it's still salad week on Food With Kid Appeal, here's a shout out to @TwinToddlersDad and his Turkish Bulgar Salad recipe. This recipe is similar to one of my faves, tabuleh. He reminds me that it's easy to prepare and I shouldn't always hold off until we eat out to get my tabuleh fix.

Bloggers, contact me via twitter - @kidappeal - if you want to help Earthbound Farm Organic spread the word about this promotion.

Good Luck!

Mediterranean Bean, Herb and Tomato Salad

Salad week continues with this vegetarian main meal salad, also from Jill Nussinow’s cookbook, Vegetables Get The Royal Treatment. Beans are full of protein and make a great meat substitute without resorting to something more commonly associated with “fake meat” like tofu. I don’t know about your house, but hubby gets suspicious when I replace meat with something else. If I just leave meat out of a bean meal, he doesn’t complain. Click here in case you missed Jill’s other main meal Tomatillo rice salad I posted earlier this week. It was divine, there were no leftovers!

In case you’re wondering, I got flighty when pondering LifeAsMom’s URS “salad” theme this week. I couldn’t decide which recipe to enter, so I decided to have a salad week, and enter more than one…..Stay tuned to Thursday for the ultimate salad recipe and the third installment of salad week here on Kid Appeal.

I love herbs in a green salad, and Mediterranean is in my top two ethnic food styles. Like rice, I made double batches of beans and freeze leftovers, or use them in another dish a couple nights later. This salad is a great way to use up that other half of a pot o beans, and when done that way, will be a meatless, cookless meal! Any salad that is a vehicle for olives gets an A in my book. Serve with crusty bread if you like.

I loved this salad. I'm sure a lot of the love was the heirloom tomatoes, so if you're tempted to try it, use the absolute best tomatoes you can get your hands on. The bean, marinade, veggie, herb mixture would make a good dipper for bread.

What’s all the fuss about fresh herbs?

One: they taste great. This salad call for three fresh herbs, use all or some, or others, whatever you have. If you don’t have an herb garden, buying 3 herbs at the store in small bunches can get pricey, so pick one or two to cut costs. Fresh herbs have some amazing nutrients in them, so if they are in the budget start adding them to everything you make. Once you get started with fresh herbs you’ll come to love how they can brighten up any dish both in flavor and color. They have an intense flavor which allows you to use less salt and still produce a great tasting dish. I’ve never had an herb-gone-wrong application, so don’t be afraid to substitute one herb for another in a recipe.

Two: They’re good for ya! Dave Grotto states in 101 Foods that Could Save Your Life that “parsley has potent phytoestrogenic activity suggesting possible cancer-preventative properties…..contains many volatile oils and flavonoid phytochemicals in parsley, all having cancer protective properties. A Turkish study (on rats) showed subjects who were given parsley experienced lowered blood glucose while GHS (cell protector) increased.” And on basil Dave says “it contains strong antioxidant properties, flavonoids that protect cells from damage, and volatile oils that have antibacterial properties. “One tablespoon of oregano,” he says, “contains the same antioxidant strength as an apple, banana, a cup of string beans, or half a cup of steamed carrots!”

Three: Fresh herbs are veggies too! As little as 1 TBS can be a serving of veggies when it comes to fresh herbs. I wish I’d looked at fresh herbs this way when I was making baby food for both the boys! What a great way to introduce the flavor of fresh herbs, and pack in tons of nutrients on the spoon.

Kid Appeal Tip Do you have trouble getting kids to eat fresh herbs? Me too. My kiddos eat fresh herbs in cooked food all the time, but they pick over them when I sprinkle them on top of a dish, or add them to a salad. They’ll eat pesto (add cheese, nuts and salt to anything and they’ll eat it…), but I’m still working on fresh herbs. I encourage them by going gaga over the smell of fresh herbs when I buying them, or prepping them for a dish. I also talk them up a lot when I’m eating it remarking on how amazing the dish tastes with the fresh herb in it. I ask them to give me their herb bits so I can get all the antioxidants and antibacterial goodness in my body. Sometimes this encourages them to taste them, but they aren’t universally accepted yet. Yet. I stress yet. I know that over time, they’ll come to eat them just as they have mushrooms, onions, most green veggies and many other typical toddler refusals. I know that with repeated exposure, enthusiasm and making it relevant (what it does for their body), they will eventually eat it. An herb garden would go a long way as well. Getting kids to help grow something (and herbs can be grown in small pots indoors in most places) can make the food more easily adopted when it shows up in dinner.

Mediterranean Bean, Herb and Tomato Salad (from Jill Nussinow’s Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment)

6 cups young greens (I don’t have any co-op greens this week, so I’m using commercial organic baby greens)

2 cups cooked white beans-rinsed (cannellini, great northern, etc. cans are fine, drain off half the liquid.)

1.5 lbs fresh tomatoes (I’m using the heirlooms I bought at central city co-op)

1 cup sliced cucumber sliced in half moon shapes

12 pitted kalamata olives

2 TBS chopped fresh basil

1 TBS chopped fresh oregano (I’m leaving this out, don’t have any)

2 TBS chopped fresh parsley

½ tsp lemon zest (I’m using lime, still got a few rouge limes to use up)

2 TBS fresh lemon juice

3 TBS extra virgin olive oil

¼ tsp salt, freshly ground pepper to taste.

Combine lemon juice and zest, oil, salt and pepper and pour over the drained beans. Let this mixture marinate for at least 25 minutes. Then add the olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, chopped basil, oregano and parsley to the beans. Arrange the greens on four plates and top them with ¼ of the bean, veggie, herb mixture. Note: Jill cooks her beans with 3-4 springs of fresh savory herbs like thyme.

QOTD (question of the day) What is your favorite dish at a mediterranean restaurant? I can't pick just one. Hummus, Tabuleh, fried cauli.

Tomatillo and Summer Veggie Rice Salad

When I rewind back to March 09 it’s hard to believe how many balls I dropped. I can’t recall a time in my life when I’ve ever been so over-extended (and that includes the months before I married hubby, still green to a new and high stakes job, buying our first house, planning a wedding and seeing hubby through the last year of a demanding fine arts education.) Even the first year of little boo’s life didn’t create as many loose ends that for many many many months went untied. As an experienced mom I guess I knew that chasing a 2 year old, nurturing an infant and keeping my business afloat was all I could do in that year, and I just said no to anything else. But back in January I got stupid and for some reason the over-achiever in me thought I could parent, run my business (which involved taking on a new demanding role), maintain a high level of nutrition in our daily meals, continue teaching nutrition classes, grow this blog, and volunteer at the preschool. Hahahahaha. Big joke. Balls. Crashing. Down. All. Around. Me. Everywhere.

The not funny part of that were the commitments I’d made to other bloggers for guest posts, and to a couple products reviews and giveaways. Sheepishly, I am back on the blogging wagon and trying to make good (albeit very very late) on those commitments.

One of those product reviews is Jill Nussinow’s (MS, RD) a.k.a "The Veggie Queen" cook book, Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment. Jill, my sincere apologies for the delay in the review! I’ve been reading her cookbook and found some good salad recipes. This recipe was a big hit with hubby, who normally snubs his nose at any rice dish, especially cold rice! The boys and I are already fond of rice salads, and I’ve wanted to find another rice salad recipe to use up left-over rice (I always make double batch to economize on rice cooking time/energy). Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for a review of Jill’s book and a chance to win a free copy. If her other recipes are anything like this one, a rave review it could be. I am all about any recipe that gets hubby to eat rice (for some reason he is morally opposed to starchy food).

I’d never prepared tomatillos before, so that was fun. I was pleasantly surprised how tart and crunchy they are. I was also surprised at how good the salad tasted without oil in the dressing. I nearly added some, thinking salad dressing couldn’t be complete without oil, but I’m glad I resisted. For anyone avoiding oil on a quest to lose or maintain weight, this salad packs a lot of flavor and has no added fat! Not that I condone low fat diets, moderate amounts of healthy fat is just fine for weight maintenance and weight loss.

The boos weren’t too fond of the cilantro, but as they were already fans of green beans and the corn, rice combo they were brave enough to give this new recipe a try. When big boo picked out a tomatillo and popped it in his mouth, his eyes opened wide. He chewed, swallowed then paused. He declared “this is my twelfth favorite food.” His seriatim of favorite foods was news to me, but I’m glad it made the favorite list and not the dislike list.

I love the green and white of the salad, and the crunch of all the veggies. I opted out of the red pepper (no recovering picky eater badge for me today-although I did add roasted pureed red peppers to my chicken cheese enchilada mixture last week, that counts right?) and used a second ear of corn instead. The corn I got was white instead of yellow; I subbed brown rice for wild rice, so my salad ended up being green and white. I already know the red, white, green, yellow rice salad looks great too, since that’s how French rice salad turns out. Either way you make this dish, the colors will be eye candy. I think it would be good with an avocado in there too. I love any vehicle for an avocado.

And this recipe used up six more of little boo’s key limes!

Tomatillo, Summer Vegetable and Brown Rice Salad (adapted from Jill Nussinow in Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment)

2 cups cooked brown rice (or wild brown rice mix)

¼ pound string beans, chopped in ¼ inch pieces.

2 ears of corn, kernels removed (or one ear of corn and one red bell pepper diced), or one cup corn kernels

¾ pound (about six) tomatillos

2 green onions (or one spring onion, or a bit of diced any-kind-of-onion)

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 clove garlic, crushed or minced

2 TBS lime juice or mild vinegar.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Steam the corn kernels and green beans for 5 minutes* Chop half the tomatillos in bite size pieces and add them to the salad bowl. Put the other half with the lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper in the food processor and whiz up until nearly smooth. Add the rice, steamed veggies, onion, and chopped cilantro to the salad bowl. Pour the dressing over top, stir and serve room temperature (or warm if you made fresh rice).

*Note that Jill cooks her rice, removes from heat, places corn and green beans on top of rice, closes lid and steams them there for 5 minutes-I like that method, saves a dish, takes advantage of the heat already produced from cooking the rice, and leaves all the nutrients from veggies with the rice to be consumed!

Sub other veggies for this dish like tomatoes or squash.

QOTD (question of the day) What do you like best about trying a new recipe? How must I entice you to come and comment on the blog? I so enjoy reading your comments....

Whole Orange Cake with Fudge Icing

LifeAsMom is having a birthday cake roundup this week on URS. She's also marked down her cake decorating ebook Pretty Cool Cakes for the occasion, so if you're an aspiring cake decorator check it out.

Chocolate and orange make a nice pairing, which is why I’ve finally found an occasion for Passion4Eating’s Blood Orange Cake. As traditional for my dad’s birthday, he’s getting yellow cake with fudge icing, his favorite from childhood. Only this year both the cake and the icing will have a twist. I ate yellow cake/chocolate icing cake souped up with a little orange flavor at a birthday party and loved it. I was very pregnant at the time and ate three pieces of it before leaving the party. Or was it four. Don’t judge! I didn’t steal any cake from the kids. I couldn’t drink wine with the other grown-ups so I over-indulged in cake. I added OJ to my dad’s cake one year and it was good.

When I saw this recipe for blood orange cake calling for a pureed whole orange, I knew I had to try it. Not only would it be the cake I already loved, in a wholesome new dimension, it would be a health food cake as my dad calls it. Turns out the peel and inner white pulp of the orange has some important nutrients you miss when you consume only the juice. If you are going to be using the peel or (zest) in a recipe choose an organic orange. And from my earlier posts on chocolate, we all know that's good for ya. Yes dad, you still have to eat cake in moderation, even if it's one of my health food cakes.

I’m making a modification of the recipe, subbing coconut oil for the olive oil (I don’t like exposing olive oil to high heat; it has a low smoke point). And since the cake will have the coconut note in it, the fudge icing will too. Much to my dad’s dismay, I am not a candy maker. I tried Ma’s (his mama) fudge icing two years in a row with dismal results. I do not get along with candy thermometers. Candy making requires too much precision for this recipe loathing girl. I can live with this deficiency. But not on my dad’s birthday. I was in denial the last couple years and make chocolate butter cream frosting. He never complained, and eagerly ate my labor of love, but I know it must have missed the mark just a little. This year I decided to hunt around for fudge icing recipes that didn’t require a candy thermometer, and to my surprise I found many. I even found some using coconut oil in place of butter, so guess what note we’ll taste in the chocolate frosting?? I know the orange chocolate pairing is a winner, as is chocolate coconut, but I wasn't sure about coconut orange.

I couldn't wait to taste it Thursday night so we made a wee cake to sample tonight. Plus I needed an excuse to use this tiny pan I got in a set and don't have much use for.

The cake is very tasty (no bells and whistles on the taster cake).

Kristen, thanks for sharing such a wholesome, nutritious and delicious cake recipe! I bet it tastes good with the olive oil, I wish olive oil was better suited for high heat cooking.

I don’t dress birthday cakes up much. I did not get the decorator gene from my mom. I do take care to make a yummy cake considering the preferences of the recipient, with wholesome ingredients, and whip up a little icing that I can personalize the cake with the guest of honor’s name. Love is in the details, I just choose to focus on recipe vs appearance. Plus both the boys help me bake and ice, so by the time the cake is assembled and marked with a name, I’ve had about all the cake with kids I can handle! I usually hand over the piping bag to the boys and let them decorate.

Kid Appeal Tip If you need help getting your kid to eat cake, you’ve come to the wrong blog. Kidding. Seriously though, sometimes kids aren’t partial to candy, ice cream, cake, and other sweets. You know what I say about that? So be it. The longer their organs can avoid processing obscene amounts of sugar, the better. I always scratch my head at birthday parties when I see parents spoon feeding their toddler cake and ice cream. If kiddo doesn't finish (and most toddlers/ preschoolers don’t) what was served to them, there is no need to help wee ones finish off servings of sweets. If they stop eating and want to go play, let them! I’m sure that even most kids who don’t show a lot of interest in sweets will eventually get turned on to them at school, parties, gatherings etc. Don’t fret, your tot will at some point develop a sweet tooth and won’t have to miss out on a life time of sublime desserts.

Blood Orange Cake (based on Kristen's recipe at Passion4Eating)

2 blood oranges, or other oranges on the small side (No blood oranges to be found so I chose thin skinned juicing oranges)
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cups unrefined granulated sugar, divided (I reduced by 1/4 cup since I'm icing it....)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
4 eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

For instructions, see Kristen's post. I won't pretend I' m a better writer than she....The only thing I'll say is that it took longer than expected to beat the egg, sugar, vanilla mixture to "thick and creamy."

Fudge Icing (posted on grist.org by april mcgregor)

1/4 cup virgin organic coconut oil (I'm using Garden of Life)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened organic cocoa powder (I'm using Green & Black's)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup milk (her recipe was vegan and called for coconut milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt oil in pan and add sugar, salt and cocoa powder. Stir in milk and bring to a boil. Bring heat down so you have a steady boil and cook stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Take icing off heat and add vanilla. Let cool for 20 minutes. After cooling, beat with wooden spoon, approximately 20 beats and spread it over the cake (do not be tempted to beat more than 20 times, I was!). This is a fudge recipe so it will set up fast. Have your cake/layers ready to ice and watch the clock. Move quickly so the fudge doesn't set before you finish icing. Let fudge set before decorating.

Cupcake Modifications: I turned these into cupcakes using my freezer stash of whole tangerine puree. Substitute the whole pureed orange + juice of one orange, for 1/2 cup of tangerine puree and 1/4 cup orange juice. Fill lined cupcake tray with batter 3/4 full and bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Happy birthday dad!

A Bag of Key Limes

My menu plan often gets hijacked when I buy something at the market that I'm not exactly sure how I'll use. I love the challenge of integrating an unplanned item in the weekly menu plan, but sometimes I get carried away. I have a feeling my whole week will be spent trying to use up a these limes! Good thing I just started six weeks of staycation and have plenty of time to menu plan.

Little boo insisted on a bag of key limes when we shopped together earlier this week. They already made it into key lime french toast, and I've got my mind on a simple lime syrup that can be used to make "special drinks" for the boys, or I could always juice them and make pineapple-lime ice cubes to put in dry champagne. (hmm special drinks for the boys or special drinks for me, tough call)

I am a huge key lime pie fan, but I've got a birthday cake for my dad in the works and two fancy desserts in one week is far too ambitious (unless anyone has simple key lime pie recipe...).

On URS this week I saw a honey lime chicken crock pot recipe that I hope will make it to the table one night, ah yes, maybe as the main meal for my dad's birthday meal?? Perfect.

But, unless I juice them for the ice cubes or simple syrup, I still need something to do with my limes. So, peanut gallery, I put it to you. What would you do with key limes?

Key Lime French Toast

Before the boys were born we used to entertain a lot. One of my favorite parties to throw was a brunch with a few close friends. Orange French Toast is a recipe we adopted from one of those early brunches and it made it's way back to our table to share with the kids, only recast with another member of the citrus family. As I was cooking bacon and getting the egg batter ready for french toast, hubby says, "do you think lime butter would taste good." For this key lime pie lovin' girl, my vote was yes.

I enjoy hubby in the kitchen with me. He can attend to some of the details you let slip when it's just you the stove and two kids. Details like fancy butter and a bit of zest in the egg batter. Details that turn yummy big breakfast into special amazing big breakfast. It was so good, we didn't have any leftovers. I'm stuffed. And happy.

And a small miracle happened on this citrus occasion. I always serve powdered sugar with french toast. And in my quest to keep our sugar rations somewhat modest, I don't offer syrup AND powdered sugar. It's either or for me and the boys. Hubby was simply not having any of that sweet topping rationing business on his griddle items, which obviously caused a stir when dad joins us for breakfast. In case you've tried, you know it's not possible to deny your kid syrup and powdered sugar when dad is having both. In the case of key lime french toast, hubby was able to part with his double topping preference. Apparently when you add a teensy bit of sugar to butter, and brighten it up with citrus juice and zest, then sprinkle with powdered sugar, he doesn't also require syrup. Hubby got the syrup out and put it on the table like a security blanket, but he didn't touch it.... Hoorah! His evolution was 5 years in the making. Let's pray not all his bad eating habits take as long to break.

So if you've got a citrus fruit hanging around and you want to make your batch of french toast special, here's how.

Key Lime Butter
3 TBS softened butter
1 TBS powdered sugar
zest of one key lime
juice of one key lime

Add sugar, lime juice and zest to butter and mix. Serve on top french toast, or other breakfast griddle item. Substitute lemon or orange for lime. Serves family of 4.

Key Lime French Toast
One recipe of frugal whole grain french toast
Add zest of one key lime to your egg batter. (substitute lemon or orange)

Kid Appeal Tip Ever have problems getting the kids to try a familiar food with a twist? Food is associated with pleasure center in the brain which means sometimes kids and and adults have attachments to food, especially a familiar or favorite food. Alter the attachment and you may meet with resistance. To make the twist of the old standby go over more smoothly build it up. Talk up this really special thing you're going to do to make XYZ even better and special. Talk up how you can't wait to taste the twist. Ask them what they think it will taste like. That should be enough to get them to taste it. If they complain it's not the way they love it, let that be OK. For now. Responding with "So you like your mashed potatoes without parsley in it better, right?" Then tell them the story of what they thought about mashed potatoes before they loved them. Often their favorites started out as something they liked a little, and over time came to love. The same could be true of the favorite with a twist. Over time they may come to love the adaptation.

How do you like your french toast? Come on, click through. You know you want to click through, comment and make me smile!

Pasta with Chicken, Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

LifeAsMom is celebrating the chicken this week, so stop by and check out some fowl recipes. Ha. HaHa. Get it? Fowl recipes.

One thing being a food network junkie will get you is a whole bunch of new recipes to wow your palate with. And it makes you think bigger than you did as a kid. Before catching Giada’s show a handful of times I had the misconception that pasta sauce was either red or white. Little did I know that with some veggies, chicken stock and pasta water you can make some pretty amazing pasta dishes. This is the first time I did the pasta, goat cheese pasta with mushrooms and spinach and it turned out pretty good. I love the tangy creamy contrast of the cheese with the pasta, mmm. Little boo helped me shop this week and spotted a low display of giant portabellas on sale. He eagerly selected two large ones.

This pasta dish a great way to use up left over chicken, you can really stretch a breast (for family of 4) or the pickings from roaster chicken in a pasta dish. I don’t mind left overs, but I like to optimize my cooking time by re-creating a new dish using something already prepared on night two. For example tonight I wilted a huge head of spinach, I knew it was too much for the pasta dish, and instead of cooking half, I cooked it all, pureed half and put it in the fridge. I’ll add the spinach into spaghetti sauce which I have in the freezer for tomorrow night. That way I won’t forget about the fresh spinach in the fridge, pretending like I’m going to add it into a salad only to find it mushy in the fridge next week.

Mushrooms are one of the newer “hot” health foods. They are packed with antioxidants and something called beta-glucan. According to Dave Grotto in 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life, beta-glucans can enhance the immune system by helping it recognize and devour abnormal cells that cause disease. Big boo picked out all the pasta and chicken bits and left the rest. When I asked him to eat his veggies, this was the dialog:

Big Boo: But I don’t like mushrooms
Me: You haven’t tried them yet, how do you know?
Big Boo: They’re black.
Me: Oh, you think you don’t like black food, that’s why you don’t want to taste them.
Big Boo: Uh huh.
Me: I get it. You don’t like to eat black food.
Little Boo: Mama, what mushrooms do for your body?
Me: Let me get the book and see. (I explain beta glucans)
Big Boo: (makes a bizarre face) Did you see my face?
Me: Yes. What did that mean?
Big Boo: It said I loved it.
Me: Loved what?
Big Boo: the Mushroom.
Me: You ate a mushroom? A black mushroom? And your head didn’t explode? Awesome. Sllluuuup.
Big Boo: What was that?
Me: That was a beta-glucan devouring a yucky cell in your body trying to make you sick.

Kid Appeal Tip Do your kids protest at certain colors, textures, categories of food? Try to hear what is disconcerting to them about the food. It may well be that they have a misconception about the food (black food tastes bad), and once you acknowledge their concern they may realize on their own with absolutely no lecture from you their thinking is off, and give it a go. Avoid labeling a food as a “food they don’t like.” Instead refer to it as a food they haven’t decided to try yet (because it’s black, it’s yucky, it smells weird). Keep offering it. The label, food-they-haven’t-decided-to-try-yet, gives them permission to try it later. Ask them to try it, if they decline, they will have another opportunity later.

Pasta with Chicken, Veggies and Goat Cheese (Inspired by technique learned on Giada's show, but not by a particular recipe seen there)

1 TBS oil
1 large onion diced
2 TBS butter
3 cloves minced garlic
½ bunch of fresh spinach (or a half bag of baby spinach)
1-2 cooked chicken breasts, cubed (dark meat works too)
2 large portabella mushrooms, sliced in bite sized pieces
½ box of cooked whole wheat pasta (I used shells)
1 4oz package of fresh goat cheese
3-5 ladles of pasta water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oil in skillet. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add butter and mushrooms until mushrooms cook down. Meanwhile cook the pasta according to directions. Add minced garlic and spinach and heat until spinach wilts. Add 3-5 ladles of pasta water to the pan, you’ll end up with a mushroom broth. The starch in the water thickens the sauce a little. Using half chicken stock for the liquid will add flavor, although the dish doesn’t need it. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drain pasta and add it to the pan with the sauce and stir to coat the pasta. You won’t see much sauce left, the pasta absorbs most of it. If using bagged baby spinach you may want to hold off and add the spinach when you add the pasta, the heat from the sauce/pasta will be enough to wilt the spinach. Remove the goat cheese from the wrapper and try to cut it/spoon it into chunks. Add ½ the chunks to the pan, then transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish the pasta in the bowl with the other half of the cheese.

This dish is so versatile. Leaving the onion, garlic, pasta water intact, I often make this with whatever fresh veggie is on sale or in season. Broccoli, squash, tomatoes, green beans, asparagus, etc. This is great with bacon crumbles on top, but I rarely go to the trouble to fry bacon for dinner. It can be a meatless meal too, skip the chicken if you want to serve it on meatless Monday. If you stir the cheese in when the pasta is still hot it will melt and coat the pasta. I don’t like to serve it this way because it makes the dish look unappealing, but I mix it up on my plate so I get a bit of tangy creamy goat cheese in every bite.

And for those of you using up greens every week from your CSA or organic veggie co-op, goat cheese is great with sautéed/wilted greens. Just cook greens, add goat cheese chunks and stir. The tangy creamy of the cheese cuts some of the bitter flavor of the greens. I got this delish idea from my co-op group leader.

Update: I just noticed a link to a recipe I posted on the forum from Joy In My Kitchen for pasta, chicken, mushroom, cheese combination. This recipe was not conciously in my head when I put together this dish, but the combo of ingredients must have been inspired by reading this recipe. How funny is that? Yet another yummy pasta chicken dish to tempt your tastebuds!

Would your kiddo vote no-way or yes-please to mushrooms?

4th Party Food

As requested here are some photos of the Red White and Blue Watermelon boat salad. In case you missed the recipe for nutty fruit salad earlier this week, here it is. This is what it looked like in all it's glory. Hubby decided to add bananas and strawberries to the salad. I preferred the way it looked before the strawberries and bananas went in, and in the future I would not add them. The coconut in the salad was tasty. Hubby's family was happy to have the coconut in the salad, and it conjured up coconut cracking memories from yesteryear.

Watermelon salad produces copious amounts of fruit salad which is difficult even at a holiday party to consume in one sitting. The strawberries and bananas were already mushy by the evening.

Quite by accident I conjured up a way to make cabbage and slaw salad even better. On grocery day, (read: nothing left in the fridge) I used up a 1/4 head of cabbage and one carrot for slaw, and found a partial container of raw sunflower seeds. I roasted the seeds and added a little salt and served in a dish along with the slaw. An enterprising guest added the seeds to the salad, and everyone else followed suit. Roasted sunflower seeds make this colorful slaw so much yummier!

We had a great 4th. We stayed cool by heading to the pool, then after a late nap walked to the miller outdoor theater's symphony and fireworks from SILs house. It's so nice to have the flexibility with the kids schedules that we can stay up entirely too late on rare occasions and have it be fun for all.

Did you enjoy your holiday?

Nutty 4th of July Fruit Salad

Got any festive 4th of July foods you want to share with the world? Join LifeAsMom's Ultimate Recipe Swap today!

I love the magic of discovering something new about your spouse even after more than a decade together. “Firsts” have the same magic, so this is a tale of a family first and a new discovery about an old friend, and it all started with a trip to the market with the kids.

I told big boo he could pick out any fruit he wanted at the store and his eyes honed in on a coconut. I admit, I tried to steer him away from the coconut, being neither a nut fan nor an experienced coconut preparer. But I’d said he could pick whatever he wanted, and I’m always up for a culinary challenge, so I told him we’d have a fun project that week trying to figure out how to eat a raw coconut. His eyes sparkled and in the basket went the coconut.

One afternoon we spent some time watching utube videos of how to open a coconut; a daunting task it seemed. All the videos we found were of young green coconuts being hacked open with a large knife. The boys excitedly shook the coconut and listened to the sloshing coconut “juice,” eager to suck it out with a straw, as we’d seen in the videos. Being infinitely confident in my set of Cutco knives to handle all forms of cutting, slicing and hacking, we set to work hacking away at our hairy stony brown mature coconut. I hacked and hacked and hacked and hacked and bits of brown stone coating were slowly chipping off the exterior near the top by the eyes. We never progressed to seeing any white flesh despite a deep gouge in the hard covering, and a counter littered with coconut shrapnel. I faced two sad faces and said we had a job my knives couldn’t handle.

Big boo was fertile with zillions of coconut opening solutions using hubby’s tools including saws, hammers, and power tools. I agreed that we likely needed some of these tools to liberate the coconut “juice.” Big boo was especially frustrated with the news that we’d have to wait for hubby to come home from work to open the coconut.

Later hubby confidently strolls in and immediately knows exactly how to open a mature coconut such that one can drink the juice AND harvest the nut meat; we needed a large nail and a hammer. While he set to work, piercing two of the eyes with the large nail with his willing assistants he told us stories of coconut cracking, milk drinking, nut meat harvesting, and fancy fruit salad in a watermelon boat with coconut. I’m still perplexed at how hubby and I could have experienced more than a decade of 4^th of July’s without ever cracking a coconut? Hubby was giddy sharing coconut with the boys. Little boo liked the milk and the nut meat. Big boo tried both with enthusiasm but didn’t care for either. If you recall, I’m not a nut eater, but I thought the nut meat was alright. I put some in a fruit and yogurt smoothie, and prefer to eat mine this way.

For our family BBQ on Saturday I plan on making a red (watermelon) white (coconut) and blue (blueberries) fancy watermelon salad, complete with watermelon boat as a serving dish. Another first for me. I love how white the nut meat is, and can’t wait to see how it brightens up the fruit salad.

Nutty 4^th of July Red, White and Blue Fruit Salad

Nut meat from half a fresh coconut-in chunks.

Watermelon balls from half (or more if needed) a large watermelon

1-2 pints of rinsed fresh blueberries (or blackberries, which ever is in season)

Carve watermelon an interesting shape, leaving bottom half boat shaped to hold the fruit. Using a melon baller, remove half the watermelon in the remaining boat shape. Remove the rest in chunks and reserve. Return the melon balls to the empty watermelon rind add the blueberry and coconut pieces, stir to combine. (I used a butter knife to pry off small pieces of coconut from the rind, then a paring knife to slice off any bits of brown “skin”).

Coconut is high in fiber, but its most plentiful nutrient is fat, the oil that accounts for 85 percent of the calories in coconut meat. Coconut oil which is 89 percent saturated fatty acids, is the most highly saturated dietary fat. Like other nuts, coconut has B vitamins, plus iron and zinc. Coconut oil is high in lauric acid which is anti viral, anti-fungal and antibacterial.

Sound scary? Usually saturated fatty acids are things we try to avoid but new research shows that coconut oil might be a good choice for the "good fats" that should be a part of a wholesome diet. For more on the possible health benefits of coconut oil see this article. Those who follow me know I'm a fan of WHFoods.org, and George isn't jumping on the bandwagon yet. He concedes that it is probably healthful, but that not enough research is available to be conclusive. My take on it? It is a plant based food so it has to be good for the body. But it's high in fat, so eat it in moderation. Eat small portions as you would any nut, use the milk occasionally in rice or desserts, and if you do any high heat cooking (baking, roasting, etc.) it's a good alternative to olive oil and other "healthy" oils that don't do well at high heats. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it makes sense to consume multiple servings of coconut nut meat, milk and oil every day, which is what some of the current research is suggesting.

While I haven't adopted coconut oil for roasting (I don't like the sweetness it adds to green veggies and potatoes) I LOVE it on popcorn.