Eating healthy fats is something that I try to do daily. One of the healthiest fats out there is coconut oil, because of it’s medium chain fatty acids.  I think I may have hit the jackpot as far as quality goes!

Tropical Traditions offers three different kinds of coconut oil, and I got to try them all.  We enjoyed the nutty, rich flavor of the Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, and the Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil.  They are both excellent for baking and things like granola bars.  I’ve used the Organic Virgin Coconut Oil for baking bread, and it gave a very nice flavor.

I think my favorite is the Expeller-Pressed Coconut Oil.  It has no flavor at all, and is excellent for sauteing foods, and in anything that you don’t want to have a coconut flavor.  I’ve been looking for something like this for a while.

One of my favorite uses for any type of Tropical Traditions coconut oil is as an eye makeup remover!  It’s the best thing I’ve ever used, and it has the added bonus of moisturizing as well, while having no harmful chemicals.

Tropical Traditions has a lot of excellent information about the benefits of coconut oil on their website, as well as the process that is used to extract their coconut oil.  No chemicals are used in the extraction process, and they use the strictest standards to provide the highest quality product.  Not all coconut oil is created equal!

You may find this video interesting:

{heart} It

• One quart of Gold Label Coconut Oil is currently $29.50
• Tropical Traditions regularly offers sales, and they also sell in large quantities, for even more savings.

She {hearts} Freebies

Tropical Traditions would like to offer one She {hearts} It reader a quart of their coconut oil.

To Enter:

Please subscribe to the Tropical Traditions newsletter.  Then come back here and leave a comment letting us know that you have completed your entry.

Additional Entries: Leave an additional comment for each entry you complete.

• Subscribe to our feed via RSS or EMAIL (be sure to click the verification link).
• Become a Fan of She {Hearts} It.
• Become a fan of Tropical Traditions.
• Tweet about this giveaway.

Congrats to Pixie, the winner of the giveaway!

Please see our Giveaway Rules for further details.

Product Sample Provided

The links in this post are part of a referral program.  If you purchase

using this link, I will receive credit.

I was supposed to be making meatballs and homemade mashed potatoes (debated in the paleo community) for dinner, but I didn’t feel like it. It’s my fault. I had pancakes for breakfast and crashed all day. They were delicious, but within a couple of bites I couldn’t even keep my head up. I’m waiting on some almonds so that I can make almond flour pancakes. My body definitely cannot tolerate white flour (a paleo no no, but I was craving). There’s about a cup of it left, once it’s gone, it’s gone. On a related note, I made Dairy-Free Strawberry Ice Cream. Check it out!

Oh, and after spending some time on Pinterest and going a little wild with my very first jar of Mod Podge, I’m feeling inspired. More on those projects a little later :).

#febphotoaday

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This week, I decided to do something a little different to take my usual homemade turkey burgers to another level. Instead of making burger patties, I made loose meat and ditched forgot the caramelized onions. Loose meat burgers are perfect for those times when you want a burger, but the meat is still frozen. They are messier, but so are sloppy joes. If you can survive a sloppy joe, then you can certainly survive a loose meat turkey burger.

This recipe makes about 5-6 burgers to be served on regular toasted sandwich bread.

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
4 chopped green onions
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 tbs vegetable oil

Brown ground turkey. Add green onions and spices when turkey is halfway brown. Drain when fully cooked and add vegetable oil. Continue cooking until meat starts to crisp. Serve on toasted sandwich bread (or buns) with your favorite toppings!

Finger licking good?

This post was sponsored by Viva Towels. For fun, fork-free recipes – including videos – and snappy entertaining ideas, get over to the VIVA® Diva Café!

Last Sunday, Pizza Hut treated us to their new Tuscani Lasagna. Although we had heard good things about it, we didn’t know what to expect and even had low expectations due to the last time we ordered from Pizza Hut. A little while back, we ordered the Pizza Mia pizzas from Pizza Hut and they were very disappointing. We don’t know if it was the particular Pizza Hut that we ordered from or just the ingredients used, but they tasted like warmed up Lunchables. So let’s see how the Tuscani fared with us:

Sheena’s opinion: It was delicious, so unexpectedly flavorful, like something I would make! What made it better were the 5 bread sticks that came with the meal (I LOVE LOVE LOVE breadsticks)! We all enjoyed, even Boogie couldn’t get enough! Pastas, meats, and cheese are his favorites. I had been dying for a cheesy lasagna and this definitely hit the spot. My only suggestion would be to go easy on the salt.

Greg’s opinion: Sex in a box! That about sums up the Tuscani pasta! It was THAT good! Although lasagnas already have cheese, I usually like to add in a little Parmesan cheese for some extra flavor. But since the Tuscani lasagna already comes with Parmesan cheese, it needed no extra flavor at all. It was perfect. I can’t describe it any other way than deliciously delicious. Contrary to what Sheena said above, it was better than anything she ever made! Now if only they could just make a pizza out of this, they’d make a fortune!

We may have had bad luck with Pizza Hut’s Pizza Mia pizzas, but the Tuscani Lasagna gets our seal of approval!

Hungry? Get layers of lasagna noodles and real ricotta, Parmesan and Romano cheeses smothered in Italian-seasoned meat sauce and freshly oven-baked with a layer of melted cheese, plus 5 breadsticks delivered right to your door for only $14.99 at Pizza Hut.

Growing up, I used to drive my mother insane with not eating…when she wanted me to. I would eat whenever I was ready and only what I liked. It wasn’t something alarming to my doctor but of course being a mother, she was always concerned. If Boogie decides to repeat history, I’m happy to know there are more and more drinks to help fill in nutritional gaps sure as BOOST Kid Essentials Drink.

BOOST Kid Essentials Drink is the only nutritionally complete drink that provides kids ages 1 through 13 with immune-strengthening probiotics plus complete, balanced nutrition. Just one daily serving of the probiotic found in the BOOST Kid Essentials Drink straw has been clinically shown to help strengthen the immune system. BOOST Kid Essentials Drink is perfect for children who are below growth percentiles, having trouble gaining weight, resisting eating enough nutritious foods, or needing extra nutrition to help maintain an active lifestyle. BOOST Kid Essentials Drink is available in Strawberry, Chocolate, and Vanilla flavors and contains no lactose, gluten, or high fructose corn syrup.

BOOST Kid Essentials sent Boogie some Vanilla BOOST Kid Essentials Drink to try. As you can see it is yum. Since he’s almost 12 months, I let him cheat. Greg and I both got a taste as well, it’s really good!

It is a goal of mine to bring money saving tips and freebies your way. I am no way near expert status, but I figure if continue to seek deals and freebies for blog content, I’ll get better at saving as well. So here’s my first “frugal find” of what I hope to become a regular feature here at Mommy Daddy Blog.

Earth’s Best introduced “Celebrate the Firsts”, a receipt redemption program where parents can save money on organic baby products including formula, jar foods, juices, cereal, teething biscuits and pastina by sending in receipts for the Earth’s Best products they purchase through 3/31/09. The rewards consist of $5 in coupons and bib for receipts totaling $25, $10 in coupons plus travel size Jason Organic baby body care for $50 worth of receipts, and $15 in coupons plus Fisher Price Tubtime Friends for $100 worth of receipts.

There is also a sweepstakes giving parents the chance to win free Earth’s Best products and Fisher Price toys and baby gear. Now some of you may know about the play yard incident, I am disappointed about the recall, but that doesn’t make me anti-Fisher Price. Click here to enter the Celebrate the Firsts Sweepstakes!

In addition, Earth’s Best wants to give one Mommy Daddy Blog reader their First Foods Gift Pack (a $30 value)!

The Earth’s Best First Foods Gift Pack includes:

• 4 jars each of 2.5 oz First Foods Apples, Pears, Peas, Bananas, Sweet Potatoes and Carrots (a total of 24 jars)
• 4 jars each of 4 oz Apple Juice & Pear Juice (a total of 8 jars)
• 1 box each of 8 oz infant Rice Cereal, Multi-Grain Cereal & Oatmeal Cereal (a total of 3 boxes)
• A delightful Earth’s Best Cereal Bowl and Bib
• As an added bonus, the much loved children’s book, “Guess How Much I Love You” written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram.

To enter:
What was your child’s first food? Boogie’s was bananas and carrots! Does your baby eat Earth’s Best foods? What are some of his/her favorites? Boogie practically begs for the pears and teething biscuits! Feel free to enter once a day after answering any of the questions! One winner of the United States will be chosen January 31st 7PM CST.

For extra entries:
1 extra entry – Stumble the giveaway.
1 extra entry – Tweet the giveaway.

This giveaway is part of our Three Gs For The Holidays event. Visit the announcement post to get involved in other fun giveaways, get shopping ideas from our Gift Guide, and learn how you can help children in need this holiday season!

Not only does sporting festive pajamas for the holidays get me in the holiday spirit, but so does wearing vintage inspired aprons! There are so many great apron designers out there, but Boojiboo really pulled me in! Boojiboo’s handmade aprons are designed as if they were boutique clothing. I love the specific details and great use of colors and pattern combinations. If you look at each apron, the strings, belt line, and pockets, trim and layer the main fabrics with a distinctly different pattern. This technique pops out and defines the apron. As the Slice Rants & Raves blog says “Boojiboo’s vintage – inspired half apron will put even June Cleaver’s look to shame.” I couldn’t have said it any better!

I’m giving away a Boojiboo apron of your choice, and I’m throwing in a Pillsbury Savoring the Moment gift bag, which includes a free coupon for Savorings Flaky Pasty Bites, a wine bottle topper, wine glass charms, a bottle opener, a wine and food guide, stampable wine tags, and an appetizer plate that doubles as a wine glass holder!

How To Enter

There are a total of 5 ways you can enter this giveaway, and everyone is eligible! You can enter using as many methods listed below as you’d like. Each method of entry is worth 1 entry. Here is how you can enter:

1. Take a look around Boojiboo‘s Etsy shop, then come back here and leave a comment letting me know what apron you would like to win! Although not required, feel free to share with us your favorite Holiday party/gathering hosting tips!

2. Write a post on your blog about this giveaway. You can write whatever you’d like or you can copy and paste the text provided by us below. Be sure to let us know in the comments that you’ve done this by leaving a direct link to your post.

3. Put our Three Gs For The Holidays button in your blog’s sidebar. Be sure to let us know in the comments that you’ve done this.

<img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/sheeniebabie/mdbholidaygiftguidebutton.gif" border="0" alt="Three Gs For The Holidays At Mommy Daddy Blog!">

4. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter. You can write whatever you’d like or you can copy and paste the text provided by us below. Be sure to let us know in the comments that you’ve done this by including a direct link to your tweet (how to link directly to a tweet).

5. Subscribe to receive e-mail updates so we can keep you updated on future happenings here at Mommy Daddy Blog. All you have to do is enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe. Be sure to let us know that you’ve done this (or if you are already subscribed to receive e-mail updates from us) in the comments using the same e-mail address you subscribed with.

This giveaway, along with all other Three Gs For The Holidays giveaways, will end on December 8th 14th!

Special thanks to Boojiboo and Pillsbury for making this giveaway possible!

We’d like to help out those who are less fortunate this holiday season, so we’ll be donating some toys to Toys For Tots! But, since there’s only so much we can do, we encourage you to make a donation also. You can donate toys or cash to Toys For Tots, at your nearest Toys For Tots drop-off location. You can also donate a cash gift, online via credit/debit card by visiting the Toys For Tots Online Donation page, or by texting “TOY” to 90999 using your cell phone. With your help, there’s no limit to the amount of smiles we can put on childrens’ faces this year!

Not too long ago, Gerber introduced three new 2nd stage dinner purees fortified with DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). These dinners are beneficial to babies who aren’t receiving their daily dose of DHA, whether they are breastfed or not. It’s important for a breastfeeding mother to eat DHA rich foods to make sure her baby receives enough DHA through her breast milk. As a new and breastfeeding mother, I know that it can be rough trying to make sure to eat DHA rich foods with all the chaos a new baby in the household brings, so having a few Gerber’s 2nd FOODS® Purees with DHA around may come in handy. However, I’m working on “fixing” my diet.

Last week we introduced Boogie to the Spring Vegetable blend of Gerber’s 2nd FOODS® Purees with DHA and he loves it! It took him some time to get used to but after his second taste of it, he was gobbling it up trying to snatch the spoon!

Gerber has also relaunched its Organic Cereal varieties, providing parents with even more organic options for their babies from the very beginning. They’ve also added one new Organic dinner puree, Chicken with Country Vegetables & Rice. Boogie eats a lot of Gerber Organic foods, so I’m super excited about that. It would be awesome to see an organic alternative to the DHA fortified foods from Gerber. Maybe in the near future. And because a baby’s appetite can get expensive, I leave you all with some useful Gerber coupons!