Green Your Mom Giveaway Hop and Two Mother's Day Gifts with Coconut Oil

 

Welcome to the Green Your Mom Giveaway Hop, hosted by Happy Mothering, Eco-Crazy Mom and Simple City Life. Each of the participating blogs has a prize package worth at least $20 that will help you Green Your Mom for Mother's Day. After you enter my giveaway, be sure to visit all of the other fabulous blogs listed below the Rafflecopter form. Thank you and good luck!

Win 1 quart of  Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil!

Tropical Traditions is America's source for coconut oil. Their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on their website: What is Virgin Coconut Oil? You can also watch the video they produced about Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil:

Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit their website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil, and to read about all the  advantages of buying coconut oil online. Since the FDA does not want us to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.

Tropical Traditions is generously offering one Garden Me reader their very own 1 quart size Gold Label organic virgin coconut oil!  Your can read my product review here (its good stuff!). And just in case you are scratching you head over coconut oil for Mother's Day, I'll show you some lovely things you (or your mom!) can do with it: Cocoa Cherry Energy Bites and Tropical Brown Sugar Scrub.

Cocoa Cherry Energy Bites

Rich with dark chocolate flavor and tart from dried cherries, these bites are filled with healthy fats, omega-3 from the walnuts, antioxidants, and fiber. All that, and no added refined sugars! With the exception of the coconut oil and cocoa, I bought all the ingredients from the bulk section at our local natural food store, Green Hut. Next time I will replace the peanuts with almonds or macadamia nuts to bring out chocolate and cherry even more. Adding cinnamon would add some depth, too. So many yummy permutations!

• 2/3 cup walnuts
• 1/3 cup peanuts
• 2/3 cup dried cherries
• 1/3 cup date pieces
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa
• 1 Tablespoon virgin coconut oil

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until almost smooth. Form into a rectangle and cut into bite size pieces. Roll in dessicated, unsweetened coconut. Yield: 30 1-inch balls.

Tropical Brown Sugar Scrub

 Making your own sugar scrub is such a frugal and easy gift! My friend Janice made a heavenly one with lavender and rosemary essential oils--perfect for a relaxing foot scrub! But maybe you don't know what scents your recipient likes, or they are sensitive to strong scents like my mom is. This brown sugar scrub smells sweet with light coconut and a hint of citrus. It tastes so good I occasionally scrub my tongue face with it. The large crystals of the brown sugar are perfect for exfoliating feet and the coconut oil is soothing and nourishing. (Unsolicited advice: use a basin or a no-slip mat since all types of scrubs will make the bath slippery.)

• Fill a small jar with brown sugar
• Pour melted coconut oil over the sugar a little at a time, stirring to make a paste. I think this is a 2 cup jar and I used about 3 Tablespoons.
• Stir in 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 Tablespoon of lime juice. I used bottled from concentrate.

And you're done! I modified this recipe from HealthyGreenKitchen


To enter the giveaway,  just fill out the Rafflecopter form below (it may take a moment to load). The only mandatory entry is to sign up for the Tropical Traditions email, which will let you know what's on sale, give links to new recipes, and (my favorite) give a link to a list of ongoing giveaways of TT products.

This contest is open to US and Canadian residents age 18 and over. I will email the winner who will have 48 hours to respond or another will be drawn.

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