I started using coconut oil not too long ago on my hair, and putting it into my coffee in the morning. yes, it floats on the top of the coffee, but surprisingly, it doesn't leave a greasy taste in your mouth when you drink it. My hair has never been so soft! I don't even use conditioner anymore. I just put a dab on my hands (not much, you may have to experiment) and rub it on and let it sit for a few minutes to soak in, then comb it through really well. Even blow drying my hair doesn't make it frizzy with the coconut oil on. Once a week, I put it on and let my hair dry naturally, so it can soak it all up. It makes your skin so smooth! I tried using it on my face, but I have adult acne, and it broke it out. But I did add a couple of drops to my moisturizer at night, and it didn't break me out that way. Anyway, my skin is much smoother, on my face and everywhere else I use it.

As a long time user of coconut oil, you use the same techniques making pastry with coconut oil that you would any other fat, and you can often use up to 25% less and get the same results for a lower fat pastry. Coconut oil can be used either as liquid for an oil crust recipe, or you can refrigerate or freeze coconut oil to make it solid and use it as you would a solid fat. If you use a food processor, be sure to freeze the coconut oil in 1 teaspoon portions, and blend it in short pulses. If you are using it as a liquid fat, follow an oil crust recipe for best results. When using it as a solid fat, add half of the fat to the flour mixture and blend until it is well distributed. This portion of the fat will coat the flour. Where fat coats the flour, the liquid can't penetrate and less gluten will form - hence the term short-crust pastry. The fat shortens the strands of gluten. This also is the tenderizer. Since a good pastry is a combination of tenderness and flakiness, the second half of the fat should be hard and solid when added. Grate hard refrigerated or frozen coconut oil on the big holes of a box grater and add it last to the pastry mixture. Work quickly if you have a kitchen temperature 75-degrees F or warmer. Mix the second addition lightly, leaving some larger chunks of the fat. This fat will create the layers of flakiness. Where there are large chunks of fat, the fat will melt and turn into steam in the oven. The steam lifts the layers of pastry to create flakiness. Now add the liquid. This same technique works with any hard fat. Any hard fat can be melted and used in an oil crust pastry. However, oil crust pastry tend to be tender and mealy, rather than flaky. Be sure to refrigerate the pastry before rolling it out so the fat hardens and the gluten relaxes. This time of the year my coconut oil is very soft/mushy due to the warm ambient temperature (coconut oil becomes liquid at 77-degrees F), while in the winter it's completely hard in my 62-degree kitchen. If you have LouAna brand coconut oil available (I can get it at Wal-Mart and my Kroger-associated Dillons store), it has NO coconut flavor, so it works well for applications you don't want that slight coconut flavor. Congratulations on your coconut oil adventure. I've been using it for about 20-years now and haven't had shortening or cooking oil in my home for even longer than that. -Grainlady

We sold coconut oil from NOW foods while I was still married to the ex. He still carries it, it's $5.99 for a 12 oz. bottle. It's more expensive than butter, and certainly more expensive than shortening, but not more expensive than walnut oil or hazelnut oil or even good olive oil and it's much healthier for your heart, IMO, than butter. They all have about the same amount of fat and calories, but all fats are not created equally in a nutritional sense. Ashley likes apples sauteed in a bit of coconut oil in lieu of butter, and says they don't need as much sugar either, because the coconut oil adds some flavor of its own. I use it in some baked goods, but find that things like shortbread are somewhat the worse in taste and texture for the substitution. Of course, I make shortbread about twice a year, so it's an occasional splurge anyway. It's all a matter of what you like, and I find that I have to experiment and try things to determine whether its a good sub for certain other fats. I can also say that I'm in my 50s and have extremely low blood pressure, my glucose levels are excellent and the only reason I have high cholesterol is my genetics, it's an inherited trait from my mother's side and has nothing to do with my diet. I eat sugar when I like (Michigan beet sugar, grown and made locally), butter in moderation, use regular old flour off the shelf. However, I grow my own organic garden, my own grass fed beef, my own free range chickens and eggs and then I can and preserve those things myself. I try to avoid the hydrogenated fats and remember what my old doc told me: "If it wasn't a food 50 years ago, it's not a food today". Of course, he also told me that if you're over 40 and you get up in the morning and nothing hurts, you've died in your sleep. In spite of that, I have no discernable aches and pains and can still do a cartwheel on Makayla's lawn, spend 10 hours digging post holes without giving out and outrun the grandkids, so I must be doing SOMETHING right. Annie

Thanks for all the ideas! I would love a T&T recipe for ice cream using coconut oil. I've made coconut ice cream, but never with oil, and I've eaten olive oil ice cream but didn't make it myself. Terri - you are absolutely right. I used it yesterday and while it smelled like a tropical drink in my shower, it was much milder after a few minutes dry. It did smell really good in the shower! I may use the scented stuff in the shower from now on mixed with raw sugar for a scrub. Arley, while we are not shrimp eaters, I can think of some other stir frys that would work, and maybe I'll try it in some rice too. And thanks GL, I never would have thought of mixing it with peanut butter. That's a great idea for my kids; I'm always trying to pack healthy fats into their diet since they are so slim. My middle kid in particular has a hard time maintaining a healthy weight, so this will be great on his cinnamon bread in the mornings for a quick breakfast. The kids and DH aren't big coconut fans, so I'll use it sparingly in baking. I'm going to try the vegan cookie recipes since I'm always looking for non-dairy desserts. Thanks! AM