Coconut Oil

A few weeks ago I won a big ol' jar of virgin coconut oil from Jen's Favorite Cookies.  Sahweet!  (BTW, check out Jen's site.  It's chock-full of yummy goodness.)

Unfortunately, the oil arrived right in the middle of all our potty training drama, and then Dane came to visit, and then life got in the way, so I didn't get to open it up until yesterday when I decided it was time to make some granola. 

Here's the coconut oil.  I told you it was a big ol' jar!  Having never used coconut oil before, I can't say whether or not Tropical Traditions is better than their competitors.  That said, this was some pretty heavenly stuff, so if you're in the market you won't go wrong with this brand!

This is what it looks like in the jar.  Coconut oil is kind of solid at room temperature.  It has a light coconut aroma (imagine that!) and a light coconut taste (will wonders never cease?).  Yes, I did taste the oil by itself.  I'm not saying I'd eat it by the spoonful, but it was pretty tasty.  Not sweet - just coconutty.  (Yes, that's a word.)  ((No, no it's not.))

I've never really used a tried and true recipe for granola; I always just kinda wing it and use whatever is in my kitchen.  I found a recipe online that specifically used coconut oil just to compare measurements, but all of them seemed to use a ton of the stuff.  Even though coconut oil is supposed to be healthier for you than other oils, I didn't want greasy granola.  So if you decide to make some, I used around 3-4 TBL of coconut oil per batch.

Had I remembered it, I would have used Jen's granola recipe.  But I didn't. Dang.

I tasted the granola before it went into the oven (of course), and I swear I could taste the coconut oil.  It wasn't strong or overpowering, but it was certainly present.

While it baked, Tess decided to empty the contents of one kitchen drawer and stuff them all into the drawer under the oven.  Good job, Tess.

I swear, for a child who doesn't crawl, she sure gets around.  And always on the sly.  I never actually see her scooting and rolling, but I leave her in one spot, turn my back for 10 seconds, and then she's across the room. I'm pretty sure she has a portal gun or something. (Hmm... maybe I need to make her a onesie that says "Now you're thinking with portals!")

While the granola baked there was a lovely coconutty aroma in the kitchen.  Mmmm... coconutty.

And here's the finished product.  Surprisingly, it doesn't really taste like coconut.  Well, the coconut pieces do, obviously, but the rest of it doesn't.  I was kind of surprised and bummed about this, because coconut-flavored granola could only be a good thing.

No matter, I still lurve me some granola.  I've even convinced the kiddos to eat it by telling them it's just smooshed granola bars. 

This did not end my coconut oil adventures for the day.  I had heard that coconut was really good for dry and damaged hair, so I heated up a couple of tablespoons, rubbed it all over my hair, put on my oh-so-attractive shower cap, and let it sit for an hour before shampooing it out.  (Some sites said that you should wear the oil in your hair overnight and not bother ever washing it out.  These sites are crazy.)  My hair is definitely softer today, and even a bit better behaved.  (I still desperately need a haircut, though.  Bah!  I hate growing out my hair!)  I could definitely see myself using the oil on my hair a few times a month.  As long as I have some left over for granola.