A summer photo series: Each week during our summer vacation I will be posting a photo summary. I will include photos that capture the mood of our days and how we're spending them. 

This post is a little late. July has been zooming by at record pace. Our calendar has been a series of "what's next?" moments! I turned 40 years old on Monday (more on that soon) and we had family visiting most of the week.

This week (last week) we...

…enjoyed early morning sunshine while the Delta breeze was still blowing and the sun hadn't yet started to cook:





…took a weekend camping trip to Stampede Reservoir that started with setting up a tent in total darkness (other than the light from our lantern) and ended with some very dirty teddy bears and children:

A while back, I was sent a sample of avocado oil to review and I am finally getting around to sharing my experience with you! Avocado oil is a light, neutral-flavored oil like canola or grapeseed. It contains mostly monounsaturated fat and is said to help reduce inflammation and promote good health by fighting free radicals in the body. It has a high smoke point which means it can be used to cook at high temperatures (up to 500 degrees fahrenheit) without smoking. It a great choice for grilling, frying, or stir-frying foods but is also really nice for salad dressings.

Did you know…? When heated beyond its smoke point, oil can begin to hydrogenate, creating trans fats and oxidize, creating disease-promoting free radicals?

I first tried this oil in salad dressing and I liked the light flavor. I think it would go especially well in a salad like my bulgar taco salad with cilantro lime dressing. This weekend, I had family in town for my birthday and my step mom made some great tempeh tacos! We used the avocado oil to brown the tortillas. It worked very well but we discovered an even better use in the process- it is an incredible moisturizer!

I read an article once about Giada de Laurentiis where she mentioned that she uses olive oil to moisturize her hands and make her nails shiny on camera. Obviously you can't apply hand lotion to protect your hands while you're cooking, so I thought that using oil instead was brilliant! For Christmas last year, I made a batch of homemade body butter to share with teachers and friends. I will definitely try using avocado oil in the next batch!

You can find Chosen Foods avocado oil at some Costco stores as well as online, here.