Coconut Oil In Coffee

Coconut Oil has many, many benefits. One of them is helping produce better breastmilk. Awhile back I saw a post in one of my Facebook groups where a mom put coconut oil in her morning coffee. I've also heard of people putting it in smoothies, or eating it right off the spoon. I tried the smoothies, and while that is great I usually don't eat many smoothies during the cold months and eating it off the spoon is too gross for me (I don't like the texture). So I decided coffee it is...

Fun Facts About Coconut Oil
Regular consumption of coconut oil can help boost metabolism, speed up weight loss, helps with mental alertness during the day, works as a sleep aid at night, helps allergy symptoms, helps absorption of calcium and magnesium. Take a tablespoon before each meal to aid digestion.

For further reading check out this post on Organic Facts about the health benefits of coconut oil.

Back to the coffee...

Start with a hot cup of coffee and spoon out about a tablespoon of coconut oil.

 

Add it to your coffee. It will begin to melt right away as you can see above.

Stir or let it sit a few minutes in the coffee. It will melt pretty fast on its own.

This is the coconut oil I like to use for eating (I have a different brand I use for baking). Carrington Farms. Pure, unfreined, cold Pressed Coconut Oil. 100% Organic Extra Virgin.

 

Stir in your favorite creamer and you're good to go!

I usually drink the first cup pretty quick so the coconut oil doesn't have time to return to is solid stage and then fix myself a cup of regular coffee with no CO in it.

Starting Baby on Solid Foods

Long before my baby was born I knew I wanted to breastfeed for as long as possible before introducing solids. I have food allergies, and hubby has a milk intolerance so I figured I would do my best to give our little one a shot at not having food allergies or not having as many as I have.

From what I was able to read before hand, and what Little C's doctor said after he was born I knew we would not be introducing solids before 6 months old. I was able to stick to this goal and solids were not introduced until a week shy of 7 months, due to hubby's urging (he has come a long way, but didn't fully understand that babies don't really need anything except breastmilk for the first year of their lives).

As it turned out, our son really wasn't interested in solids. We started with a jar of banana baby food (I know, not crunchy!). Little C took a few bites, like three, and was done. I mixed it up and offered him some peas (also jar food cuz I didn't know any better then), those didn't go over at ALL! I tried feeding him bites of the jar bananas at least once a day for about four days and finally told hubby that Little C just wasn't interested in foods yet.

Around 8 months hubby urged me to try foods again... so out came a jar of bananas. This round went a little better with Little C eating about half a jar after being nursed before hand (I always nursed first because I knew breastmilk was more important than solids at this age). So, for most days Little C ate about half a jar of baby food.

Between 8 and 9 months we also introduced the jar blend blueberries and apples. That quickly became Little C's favorite food. We tried peas again and they were a no go, just like before. Carrots were one of the next foods we tried. I waited a full week before introducing any new foods as I have an allergy to carrots and wanted to make sure Little C's eczema didn't flare up with the introduction of this new food. Sweet Potatoes were introduced during this time as well. The very next day my poor Little C had a rash on his butt where the sweet potato poop had been when I got him up in the morning, and he had splotches of eczema all over his chest, back and arms. That food, though it was well liked by Little C, was not given again for almost a month. (He was also teething at the time so I wanted to try them after the eczema had cleared to make sure that it was the food and not something else that had caused the outbreak.

Around 10 months I introduced sweet potatoes again. This time they seemed not to bother him. About a week later, after eating them several times through the week, I realized his eczema was coming back again. We stopped sweet potatoes completely and will try again when he is older.

One jar blend that we tried was banana, apple, strawberry. Since we had already introduced apples and bananas without an issue I figured a triple blend would be okay since I would easily know if the strawberries were a trigger food. And they were. Horrible red rash on his bum and eczema flared up right away. Strawberries are another food we have avoided all together.

At some point between 9 and 10 months I learned about making your own baby puree's. I had heard about Baby Led Weaning from moms in a crunchy Facebook group I follow, but after further reading, and discussing it with hubby we decided that was not for us at this time (hubby was especially worried about Little C choking on foods).

I started buying, and mashing bananas myself to feed Little C. He loved it! (I had given him a few bites of mashed banana when he was around 8 months, but hadn't thought to feed him those instead of the jar foods). He eats almost a whole banana for breakfast most days of the week now. As he has started getting his top teeth in and learning to chew (he has had his bottom teeth since around 6 months) I haven't been mashing the banana quite so much so he can learn to mash the 'chunks' himself. He is doing beautifully with it!

Remember my Apples post? I made all that apple sauce to feed to Little C for some breakfasts so he didn't always eat bananas. As it turns out he isn't a fan of the chunkier texture of the homemade applesauce. I think I may need to run some through a food processor to make it more smooth. I think he just might eat it like that.

I have 'made' several other mashed, homemade foods for Little C and he has enjoyed most of them. At Thanksgiving I blended some potatoes with breastmilk and some grassfed butter... he was not a fan of their texture either (he was about 11 months then).

Our most recent food introduction was Plum Organics, Plum Baby & Tots Super Greens (Spinach & Apple) Organic Super Puffs. Little C loves them so much I have to keep them hidden in a cabinet or he won't eat his other foods! I like this particular flavor because of the spinach in it since that adds iron to his diet which I've read is important for this age.

With the new top teeth almost in I am looking forward to introducing other real foods to Little C. I imagine it won't be long before he is enjoying all the wonderful things I like to cook and bake! :)

Taking Meals to New Parents

Something I love to do is take meals to families who have just had a baby. After going though that experience myself I have made it my mission to take meals to any of my mama friends when they have had a baby cuz that is truly a difficult time to get anything done and food is SO important in the recovery process!

A few things to keep in mind:
-Always ask about food allergies! You don't want to fix something they won't be able to eat!

-Make sure the food you prepare is something they like (not everyone likes pasta I have come to find out!).

-Fix enough food for more than just the initial meal for the entire family. (So, in other words, make sure there are leftovers! Doesn't have to be a lot, just enough to help mama out for a midnight snack.)

-Include something with chocolate for dessert! That is always a great thing for a new mama.

-Make the sides easy to prepare! New mama's aren't up in the kitchen yet so usually its daddy who is 'fixing' dinner. Keep it easy for him!

 

Prepare a main dish. Always grease the pan so its easy to reheat. If you know the family wont be eating it right away then also include a piece of foil to make the reheating process easier.

 

Texas Toast is a great side to most pasta dishes and is a great filler too.

Include a piece of foil to put over a cookie sheet so no extra dishes have to be washed!

 

Include a vegetable.

Green beans are a pretty safe vegetable since people tend to hate them less than peas!

(While I wouldn't typically buy these, they are great for dads who aren't used to cooking.)

Salads are also versatile, but take more prep time for you.

 

Chocolate Chip Brownies! A favorite recipe of mine... and also of many of my friends!

 Cut the brownies before they are completely cool or it might be impossible to do later.

Meals can be anything you want to fix! Most of my friends aren't crunchy so I fix meals I know they will enjoy. You can take this one step further and include paper plates and disposable utensils, but I usually just take the meal.

4 Ways To Have a More Natural Christmas

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. I have pulled out my Christmas scented candles and wax melts, our tree is up and decorated, most of the gifts are bought and wrapped, the wreath is on the door... This year I'm hoping to make some Christmas cloth napkins out of fabric I found last summer during garage sale season... Here are some ideas for celebrating Christmas a little more naturally:

1. buy a real tree.
Fake trees are pretty, but just wait til the smell of a real tree fills your house! It is the best smell of the season at our house. Since hubby & I have been married and on our own we have always bought a real tree. There are many places you can get one: Boy Scouts, a local tree farm, even some grocery stores sell them out front here in the mid-west! You can find trees for $20, sometimes even less.

2. make your own ornaments and decorations.
Get your kiddos involved decorating salt dough ornaments or enjoy cutting out shapes and baking in cinnamon dough. Cut out paper snowflakes to hang in front of the window or make outdoor decorations for the birds to enjoy too!

3. encourage your children to make homemade gifts.
From crocheting scarves, to making up brownie mixes in jars to give to extended family members, to DIY Gold Leaf Notebooks... if you are a Pinterest junkie, finding DIY gifts won't be hard!

4. bake cookies!
Here are some healthier options for the holidays: Organic Coconut Flour Cut Out Cookie Recipe. Here is a grain free, gluten free, paleo recipe Slice & Bake or Cut Out Cookies.

MERRY CHRISTMAS a little early!

Stockpiling Clothes for Littles

Clothes Little C is growing into are stored in boxes in the bottom of his closet.

I don't know about you, but I think little ones grow way too fast!

I have been picking up clothes for Little C every chance I get. I hit up a lot of garage sales over the summer and often am able to stuff Wal-Mart sacks full of clothes for $5 or less! I am always excited when I find these good deals and they have nice clothes to pick from.

I wash clothes I bring home, even if I buy them new at a store because I'm paranoid... but that's okay! I also like to know that when I get them out they are ready to go.

Once the clothes are washed I usually dump them in a pile on Little C's floor.

 

While folding, I sort into different piles for each size.

 

In some of the bigger sizes I only have a few things each so I put them in Wal-Mart sacks to keep them sorted before storing in a larger box.

 

Here is an example of a box with more than one size in it. I use regular masking tape and write all the sizes and then line them up like this. Once a size has enough for its own box I move it out of a mixed box. This usually happens when we get close the next size he will be in.

After Little C outgrows clothes I move them out of his closet and dresser and sort through them again. This time I take out anything I don't want to keep and the rest goes in a box and is stored in the basement. I have donated and sold Little C's old clothes to help pay for items we may not have been able to find in thriftier ways (B/S/T pages, thrift stores, yardsales, etc).

I love having bigger clothes on hand because it really helps save money and it's not stressful when I suddenly realize his shirts are really too small and we need bigger clothes!