Coconut Peanut Butter Giveaway + Coconut Granola

After such a wonderful giveaway last week, my friends at Tropical Traditions, decided to host another one! Today I have a 16 oz jar of delicious coconut peanut butter to giveaway to one lucky reader. Tropical Traditions was kind enough to send me a jar of their all natural Coconut Peanut Butter to try and it is delicious. It's only got two ingredients, coconut and peanuts! I love all nut butters, but I try to stick to the all natural varieties for my snacking, and the fewer ingredients the better, so I was delighted to see only two on their label. It's amazingly smooth and creamy for a natural peanut butter and unlike most natural nut butters, you don't have to keep it in the fridge. It's very temperature sensitive, in fact when drizzled on ice cream, it forms a shell coating, like magic shell (do you remember that stuff? Yum!), it also melts beautifully. It's delicious on a PB&J plus I used it to whip up a batch of delicious Coconut Granola (I also used Tropical Tradition's Coconut Oil in this recipe too). You can order your own jar here, if you don't win the giveaway. Good Luck!

This Giveaway will be open until Wednesday, September 14th. This giveaway is open to people in the US only.

First: Like me on Facebook, follow me on twitter, or subscribe to blog (if you already do so that counts too)

Second: Follow Tropical Traditions by one of the following 3 options
Subscribe to our email Sales Newsletter here: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/subscribe_for_special_sales.cfm
follow us on Twitter @troptraditions
“Like” Tropical Traditions on Facebook (Please no, “I was sent by…” posts or posting a link to your blog, they will be removed)

Finally: Just post a comment here letting me know that you completed steps one and two and your entered.

Good Luck! My recipe for Coconut Granola is below, plus you can check out more great ways to use the peanut butter on Tropical Tradition's Recipe Page.

Coconut Granola:
1 1/2 cups of rolled oats
1/4 cup of quinoa
1/4 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup of almonds
1 tsp of cinnamon
2 tbsps of Tropical Traditions Coconut Peanut Butter
1 tbsp of Virgin Coconut OIl
1 tbsp of honey

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium size bowl, mix together the oats, quinoa, coconut, almonds, and cinnamon. In a small bowl put peanut butter, oil, and honey, microwave for 30 seconds, then stir together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil, and spray with non stick. Spread the granola over the sheet and bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 2 1/2 cups of granola.

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product. I was under no obligation to review it, nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.

Happy Eating.

Maple Coconut Cookies and a Giveaway

It's Give Away time!!! I am so excited to be hosting a giveaway for one of my favorite products, Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil. Tropical Traditions has generously offered to give a 32 oz jar to one of my lucky readers. I first tried this amazing oil back in March, when Tropical Traditions sent me a bottle, and I promptly whipped up a Coconut Chicken Stir-Fry. Since then, it's been a savory and sweet love affair. The oil isn't sweet at all, but has such a wonderful coconut aroma and a subtle tropical flavor, it makes it perfect for sweet and savory concoctions. I use it all the time and I particularly love baking with it. Swapping about half the butter in these cookies for the coconut oil really gave them a flavor punch, while incorporating some healthy fats in the cookies. So enjoy the recipe and now onto how to win, which I know is what you are all waiting to find out. This Give away will be open until next Friday, and the winner will be randomly selected. This giveaway is open to people in the US only.

First: Like me on Facebook, follow me on twitter, or subscribe to blog (if you already do so that counts too)

Second: Follow Tropical Traditions by one of the following 3 options
Subscribe to our email Sales Newsletter here: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/subscribe_for_special_sales.cfm
follow us on Twitter @troptraditions
“Like” Tropical Traditions on Facebook (Please no, “I was sent by…” posts or posting a link to your blog, they will be removed)

Finally: Just post a comment here letting me know that you completed steps one and two and your entered.

Good Luck! You can check out more great ways to use the oil on Tropical Tradition's Recipe Page.

Maple Coconut Cookies:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats oatmeal
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded desiccated coconut
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
5 tbsp of butter, melted
1/4 cup of Virgin Coconut Oil, melted
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
2 tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp boiling water
1/2 cup of almonds

Pre heat the oven to 300 degrees position racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven. In a medium bowl mix oats, coconut, flour, and salt, and sugar. In a large bowl, combine the butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, and golden syrup while butter and oil are still hot. In a small bowl, combine the baking soda with the boiling water. Immediately stir this mixture into the melted butter until combined. Stir in the the oat mixture. Fold in almonds. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and grease lightly. Form balls, by heaping tablespoon and space evenly on a cookie sheet. Press down on the balls to flatten to about 1/4 inch thick. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes, rotating trays halfway through. (adapted from Martha)

Happy Eating.

Coconut Shrimp

I don't know why, maybe it was the marathon of Diner, Drive Ins, and Dives I watched, but I could not stop thinking about fried food. Fried anything, I just had to have it. Unfortunately we are in the middle (hopefully at the tale end) of a ridiculous heat wave and it is just too hot to cook anything on the stove top/in the oven. So I decided to see if I could turn my plain old gas grill (ok, so it's a little bit fancier than a plain old grill) into a range. Apparently, if you have an oven safe pan, and constantly remind yourself not to touch the handle, the answer is yes. I used my Wok, which doesn't have any melty-plastic parts, but any kind of oven safe pan would work. So if you live any where in the majority of the country, where it is currently too hot to cook inside, try using your grill in new and inventive ways. If not, this recipe would work just as easily indoors.

Coconut Shrimp:
1 lb of shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 egg whites
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut, shredded
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
1/4 tsp of chili powder
Coconut Oil for frying (about 1/4-1/2 cup)
1/4 cup of mayonnaise
1 tbsp of Sriracha, or to taste

In a large wok or frying pan heat 2 tablespoons of oil. In a bowl beat the egg whites until frothy then add shrimp and stir until all shrimp are coated. On a small plate mix together the breadcrumbs, coconut, salt, pepper, and chili powder. Working with a few shrimp at a time, add the shrimp to the breadcrumbs, and roll them around to coat completely. Put breaded shrimp in hot oil, do not overcrowd the pan. Cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side, until shrimp are firm and golden. Repeat breading and frying until all shrimp are cooked. Add more oil as necessary, as the level gets to low, the oil should generously coat the bottom of the pan. I needed 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons. To make sauce, stir together mayonnaise and Sriracha. Enjoy!

Happy Eating.