Quick Tip: Butter

I don't use margarine. It's not because of too many other reasons than the fact that cooking with butter makes everything turn out better. Sure butter is more expensive, but a little of it can go a long way!

• Butter makes cookies melt in your mouth; Margarine makes them rubbery and hard.
  
• Butter makes pancakes crispy around the edges; Margarine makes them soggy and tough.
  
• Butter makes cinnamon rolls flaky and taste like toffee on the inside; Margarine makes them tough (for lack of a better word)!
• Butter makes banana bread light and fluffy and melt-in-your-mouth yummy!; Margarine makes it more dense and chewy.

The list goes on. Butter is just better. I make no claims to be a dairy lover. Quite the opposite, in fact. But butter is 'better for you' than margarine, regardless (think hydrogenated oils and chemicals all over the place!) and just gives you that added edge to make your baked goods (and anything else you use it for) win that gold medal!!

Quick Tip: Oil

I thought since I'm so focused on cooking from scratch, I'd mention a few of the things that I've learned in all my endeavors for the past 7 or so years. I'll put up some sort of 'quick tip' with every post.

So, my first quick tip is about oils.

In the first place, oil is NOT bad! Contrary to popular belief, eating foods with oil in it is NOT bad for you. What's bad, is eating things with HYDROGENATED oils, otherwise processed oils, or deep frying with the wrong type of oil! Otherwise, if you're doing all your own cooking, don't stress about using oil. If you're going 'all natural', even if you use a gallon of Canola oil in 6 months, you'll still be using a SUBSTANTIAL amount less than you would eating processed and pre-made foods. Your body also NEEDS to have some oil. So, use it, love it, but don't abuse it!

Some things to know:

*Use Olive Oil when sauteeing or baking. It will keep your foods moist. If you use or Canola oil or vegetable oil, it will make it more dry and smell different (less appealing).

*Don't use Olive Oil to deep fry. When Olive Oil becomes super heated, it can be toxic! (Besides being uber expensive to do!)

*If you have to choose between Vegetable Oil and Canola Oil, use Canola Oil.

*For non-stick, I don't like to use aerosol sprays. Too many free radicals and stuff. I use the Pampered Chef spritzer. I know that you can find spritzer things like this at other places, too. I found one once at Target. Unfortunately, the one I bought happened to be defective and didn't work! But I'm sure someone else will have better luck! :)

For more information than you really wanted to know about oils, see Wikipedia! :)