Coconut oil

I have been naughty, naughty, naughty this week. I haven't ran since Sunday...I feel so guilty lol
My knees just weren't healing up the way I would like so I decided that until I get new shoes I'm not hitting the pavement, hopefully next week i'll be back in the saddle. I have plenty of time until my race so i'm not too concerned training wise, but my pride hurts a bit.

Coconut oil, do you use it? If not, you should. Stuff is amazing, for everything. It's the holy grail amongst my crunchy mommy friends. I use it as a moisturizer on my face, lotion for the kids (works especially well on Kason's eczema spots), diaper rash cream (I can't use store stuff on my cloth diapers as it ruins them), butter or oil substitute in cooking, smoothies...you name it, I use it! You can get a jug of it at Costco for $20. Go get some and thank me later. Here's a link for some more awesomeness about CO.

http://wellnessmama.com/5734/101-uses-for-coconut-oil/

A friend of mine posted a recipe a few days ago for a chocolate treat that is gluten free AND dairy free. I have a lot of mommy friends that have gluten intolerances or they are breast feeding and baby has a hard time with dairy. If you've ever looked at your food labels, dairy and gluten is in EVERYTHING. So a lot of mommies give up the guilty pleasure foods for their babes. When this recipe popped up there was a collective "hooray" from all of us.

Here's the recipe:

1/2c of coconut oil
1/2c of cocoa powder
1/2c of almond butter (if you can't find almond butter, regular peanut butter is fine. I get my AB from Trader Joe's)
1/4c raw honey

Melt your coconut oil on the stove, low heat for just a few minutes. CO turns liquid at temps less than 72 (?, I think). Put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth. Pour into a muffin tin or silicone muffin liners and pop them in the freezer for about 15 minutes or until set. Pop 'em out and store them in the freezer. Because of the CO in them they get soft pretty quick so just keep them frozen until you need a treat.

As far as variations of this recipe you can add whatever you like! People have reported good results with some milk chocolate chips melted down and thrown in, any sort of nut, vanilla extract, mint extract (or any extract of your choice!) or even a little sugar thrown in to up the sweetness factor. The original recipe is a very cocnutty and dark chocolate taste, so if you like your chocolate a little sweeter I suggest adding a bit of sugar.

These are DELICIOUS and satisfying and they give you a great dose of  healthy fats. Enjoy!