Whipped "Dairy-Free" Coconut Cream

Strawberries are on sale all over!

So, grab a can of coconut milk and stick it in your fridge overnight.

The next day the "cream" will have risen to the top so scoop it out into a bowl.

Save the "water" for a later use, such as a smoothie.

You may add a bit of sweetener if you wish or some people like it plain.

Beat it until it reaches a whipped consistency.

Add strawberries and enjoy!

Don't forget to enter our giveaway HERE to win free coconut oil and coconut flour! Giveaway ends March 14th, 2011.

For more Slightly Indulgent Tuesday go HERE!
For more Gluten-Free Wednesday go HERE!
For more Real Food Wednesday go HERE!

**ENDED**Review & Giveaway: Tropical Traditions!

**THIS CONTEST IS OVER**

We get a lot of emails asking us where we purchase our coconut oil and coconut flour. We've tried a lot of different brands over the years but finally settled on Tropical Traditions, for a lot of reasons but the main one was because they have excellent customer service. They really do go above and beyond to make sure their customers are satisfied and their products are amazing and affordable. Plus they have a strong commitment to family farming and organic standards! 

We use their coconut oil as our main cooking and baking oil, the taste is amazing! We also use it as a lotion and hair conditioner, it's a great household product to have on hand. Their coconut flour is wonderful and perfect for all our baking needs!

They also have a TON of gluten-free recipes on their site; excellent, kitchen-tested recipes! We've tried quite a few of them, it's so nice to have such a large resource for experimenting in the kitchen. In fact, this weekend Little Chef helped Momma Chef whip up some Chocolate Chip Cookies using THIS recipe and they were really yummy!

Since we are such big fans of Tropical Traditions, we are pleased to be able to offer a giveaway!! That's right, one lucky reader will win a jar of their Gold Label Coconut Oil and a bag of their Coconut Flour!

 

Win it!

Tropical Traditions is giving one Junior *Gluten-Free* Chefs reader a 32 oz jar of Gold Label Coconut Oil and a 2.2lb bag of Coconut Flour!

Mandatory: Subscribe to Tropical Traditions email Sales Newsletter. Once you have done this or if you are already a subscriber, leave a comment telling us what product looks the most interesting to you, your comment will be entered into the contest.  

Giveaway ends on 3/14/2011. I will use random.org to choose a wining comment. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to their winning notification before another winner is chosen. Open to US and Canadian residents. Tropical Traditions is not responsible for customs or duties that Canada may charge if you decide to participate in this Tropical Traditions sponsored blog giveaway.

Optional bonus entries: 

May be completed after the mandatory entry. Leave a comment for each task completed.

*Follow Junior GF Chefs on Google Friend Connect (1 entry)

*"Like" Tropical Traditions on Facebook (1 entry)

*"Like" Junior GF Chefs on Facebook (1 entry)

*Follow @TropTraditions on Twitter (1 entry)

*Follow @JuniorGFChefs on Twitter(1 entry)

*Retweet the following: I entered to #win @Troptraditions Coconut Oil & #GF Flour #giveaway!! http://tinyurl.com/4qkmb6r  (1 entry per day)

*Subscribe to Junior GF Chefs via reader. (1 entry)

*Blog this giveaway (5 comments and leave link)

*Post this giveaway on your facebook (5 comments and leave link)

*Posy this giveaway on any giveaway site ( 5 comments and leave link)

Good Luck!!

ALSO: if you ever decide to place an order at Tropical Traditions you can receive a free copy of their Virgin Coconut Oil book! When you checkout and choose “Referred by a Friend” and enter our
User ID: 6683520 on your first online order, the book will be automatically added to your order!
(When you fill in your account information, there is a place to choose "How did you hear of us?" In the drop down menu, you will choose "Referred by a friend." Underneath this will be a place that says: "Referred by (User ID):" with a place to type in our Tropical Traditions user ID, which is: 6683520) 


Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided us with free samples of these products to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

OMG Cookies!!!

There are no other words to describe these cookies except OMG!!!

We stumbled upon THIS blog the other day and saw their RECIPE for some amazing grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free cookies and decided to test them out.

BEST. Decision. Ever!

Seriously. Go make some. Now. 

They tasted the same, no better, than any "normal" cookie we've ever had. No one would be able to tell the difference. No one!

We used coconut sap instead of maple syrup but otherwise followed it exactly.

Everyone said we should make these at least once a week, if not more. :-p

Oh and stay tuned because next week we will have TWO awesome giveaways!!! Fun!

Review: Mini Pops Popped Sorghum!

We gave up on popcorn a while back, not only because Brother Chef and Momma Chef are sensitive to corn but because we could not stand those little hulls that got stuck in our teeth! In fact Little Chef once ended up with a really infected gum from a popcorn hull! :-/

Movie night however, just hasn't been the same.  There is just something about that salty snack that makes the experience so much more entertaining.  We've been on the lookout for a good replacement, with not a lot of luck, until a friend sent us a link to a site that offers popped sorghum. We were really intrigued! We did not know you could pop this grain, acutally we had never thought of it being a grain. In fact we hadn't really thought of it at all. We just knew that it was a sweetener, similar to molasses, that is good on biscuits. (That would be our southern blood showing through...)

We were really excited about this product, called Mini Pops, because not only are they corn-free and gluten-free but they are also organic, non-gmo, and farmed in the USA. The best part though is that they have no hulls to get stuck in your gums!!

We'll let Ari, creator of MiniPops, explain the product in more detail.


Ari was kind enough to mail us a box of Mini Pops so we could see for ourselves what all the fuss was about! We were so excited when we learned this because the website looked so cool, it was hard to wait for the box to arrive! While we waited we read every page on the website, lots of good information! As soon as Little Chef saw "Little Poppy" on the site he laughed and yelled "Who is that? I love him! I want him!" We think that's a great idea, to be so kid friendly. Because of our allergies we don't get to eat all those little packs of foods in stores that have bright colors and cute mascots. We love Momma Chef's homemade treats but... sometimes we just want a fun, store bought snack like everyone else. And they have lots of fun flavors that look so amazing: Petite Plain, Baby White Cheddar, Hot n’ Chilly Chili, Itsy Bitsy Chili Cheese, Subatomic Sea Salt, Little Lemon Pepper, Itty Bitty Butter, Teeny Tiny Kettle Pops and Cutie Caramel!

Today was the big day! As soon as we got home from school and saw the box sitting on our table we begged Momma Chef to let us open it right away!!

Little Chef was just bursting with glee! He saw what was inside and screamed "It's LITTLE POPPY!!!"

In the box were THREE bags of Mini Pops!!  "Yay" we yelled  "One bag for each of us!!" We each picked a bag and here it what we thought.

Sister Chef: I chose the White Cheddar, I'm the only Junior Chef not sensitive to dairy, and it was really good! They were really crunchy and had a great flavor. I ate and ate while watching the movie but never ran out as they fit a LOT in those bags. They taste just like popcorn but are tiny. I loved that nothing got stuck in my teeth, I hate it when that happens. I think this product should be sold in movie theaters so kids with corn allergies can have a nice treat too.

Brother Chef: I ate the Subatomic Sea Salt. It was great! I ate a bunch and still had half a bag left so I am taking it to school tomorrow. It made me thirsty but that is good because popcorn is supposed to do that. It made my movie really fun and I liked the bag. I would like Momma Chef to keep it on hand.

Little Chef: Mine is Itty Bitty Butter!!!! Because I like butter!! Look at them, they are so tiny, I love them, they are little popcorn babies! Listen when I put them in my mouth...CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH... hahaha! It is very, very good. Look at the bag...that's Little Poppy! Say "hi" to him, the site said to tell him "hi" every time you see him... "hi", "hi", "HI!". I see him every bite I take, HI LITTLE POPPY!!

Aren't they adorable?  And their website assures us that they are gluten-free: "Mini Pops' ingredients do not contain gluten, a protein that is commonly found in rye, wheat and barley. We regularly send out Mini Pops samples to be laboratory gluten tested so that we can be confident that gluten levels are deemed 'Undetectable' which translates to gluten levels less than 5 parts per million (<5ppm). Because we get our ingredients from vendors who don't necessarily manufacture in gluten-free facilities, we take the extra step to ensure a gluten-free product. Also, Mini Pops doesn't contain corn gluten or zein, two allergens that people avoid who are allergic to corn."

If you would like to purchase your own bags of Mini Pops you can do so HERE!  A 3oz bag is only $2.98 so that makes them a very affordable gluten-free snack. They also have 6oz and 16 oz bags or you can order a sampler pack if you would like to try a variety of flavors. Since they offer both USPS and UPS, shipping is very reasonable too!

Thank you Mini Pops for sharing your fun snack with us! We hope every child with corn allergies finds your product so they can enjoy popped treats again!

~This item was sent to us for review purposes, the opinions written here are ours. We did not receive any monetary compensation for this post & were not under any obligation to give a positive review of the product.~

Picky Eater Strategy: Skewer It!

The grocery store was passing out free samples of ham and pineapple on little wooden sticks.
Little Chefs hates both so we were surprised when he ran up to them screaming "I want that! It's on a stick! Hahaha, I like food on a stick!"

Momma Chef quickly found the shelf with the wooden skewers and threw them in her cart. :-)

And by golly, so far it's been working like a charm at every meal! As long as it will stay on a skewer... Little Chef will gobble it down!

Photo Tutorial: How to make a No Sew weighted blanket for Sensory Processing Disorder

No, this is not edible. :-)

However, I know that a lot of our readers also have children with SPD, Aspergers, Autism etc and might find this helpful.

Brother Chef struggles a lot with sensory overload so we've been working with his therapy team to come up with ways to help him cope. (That's him in the photo with his new noise canceling headphones, another tool that he has really been enjoying.) One of the suggestions was "heavy work" or the use of heavy objects to calm him. Rice socks, deep pressure massage, weighted blankets, and a dentist's x-ray apron were all tools that were mentioned.

Brother Chef liked the idea of a huge, heavy blanket to wrap around his body so I looked into that option. There seemed to be two ways of attaining a weighted blanket:

1. Buy one
2. Sew one yourself

I wasn't fond of either because,
1. They cost hundreds of dollars. (Obviously, if this is something he needs to help him cope we will gladly purchase one, but first we wanted to know for sure he would actually enjoy it. )
2. I don't know how to sew... I know how to cook. :-)

So. I decided to make another option.

3. Make one without a needle and thread!

I was pleasantly surprised that it acutally worked! And it was less than $30 to make.

Quick Tip: Corn-Free Popcorn!

If you can't eat corn but can handle rice....you can still have a bowl of "popcorn" while you watch a movie!

It's simple. Take rice cakes, crumble them up, add melted butter and salt, and enjoy!

Or, if you prefer a more realistic "popcorn" snack you must check out Mini Pops!  This is a corn-free popped snack, it is a popped grain called sorghum. You can read our review of this amazing product and see our photos HERE! Yum!