Healthy Cooking by design

When you think “healthy peanut butter”, be honest, do you think of a gritty, unappealing mass that will tear bread if you attempt to spread it?  You’re not alone.  Let me point you to a couple of really great tasting, healthy peanut butters so you don’t have to compromise the flavor or texture you love.

My first favorite is from Trader Joe’s (Think of them as the Aldi’s of Whole Foods - their own brands, lower prices, great tasting healthy food, with a helpful staff.).  Trader Joe’s Roasted, Salted Peanut Butter has the smooth creaminess and flavor of any kid-friendly “Jiff-type” peanut butter.  Its very delicious and only about $1.79 for the regular 16 oz. jar.  Another one that I just tried that has the same consistency, delicious taste, and a similar low price is Kroger’s Natural Creamy Peanut Butter.

My next favorite is a little more pricey, but I bring a jar home whenever I go to Trader Joe’s.  It is their Valencia Peanut Butter with Roasted Flaxseeeds.  It is about $4.99 for the 16 oz. jar.  But, holy cow, I’ve never tasted anything like it.  I buy the crunchy, salted one.  They have all their varieties in unsalted, if you prefer.  I also splurge on their Almond Butter.  It is also about $4.99 for the 16 oz. jar.  I buy the raw, salted variety.  It does have a little texture, but is very soft and spreadable and really delicious.  Its really a great deal because most almond butter is $12.00-$15.00 a jar.  But, back to peanut butter.

My next favorite is available at Publix, Kroger, and Walmart.  Its Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter.  I buy the creamy, salted variety.  This one does have a little texture, but is still very spreadable (and its very far from gritty).  I have seen it as high at $3.16 and as low as $2.23, depending on the store.

All of these are appealing to me because when looking for a healthy peanut butter, I want:

• just peanuts (with the peanut oil) and salt (no hydrogenated oils added)
• flavorful peanut taste (not the taste of other oils and sugars)
• creamy and spreadable texture (not gritty and dry)
• reasonable price (I have a large family and live on a budget)

And to get all of those, I don’t mind the monthly trip to Trader Joe’s to stock up (on peanut butter and other things), or the minute or two it takes me to stir peanut butter to recombine the oil that first time before I stick it in the refrigerator (I think of it as exercise).  But if the stirring bothers you, go here to buy a lid with a built in crank and paddle (designed to screw onto natural peanut butter jars).  Then you could even have a child stir it without making a mess.

*Special photo thanks to Crystala at Stock.xchng

P.S. After putting up this post, a reader contacted me and suggested I try the Publix brand natural peanut butter.  So I tried their crunchy variety and thought it was delicious.  Its ingredients are simply peanuts and salt.  I’m sure there are many other natural peanut butters out there that are delicious and won’t break the bank, so get brave and try some.  Thanks for the suggestion!

I use a variety of fats in cooking.  In fact I regularly use olive oil, canola oil, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, pecan oil, and butter, not to mention good fat in things like peanut butter and avocados.  Anyway, several companies are blending butter with different oils to make them easily spreadable straight from the fridge.  So I started sampling.

I made my own “spreadable butter” using equal parts of butter and olive oil.  It has 110 calories per tablespoon, but my family thought the olive oil taste was a bit strong.  Then I tried Land O Lakes Spreadable Butter with Canola Oil. It has 100 calories per tablespoon, and my family thinks it tastes just like butter.  My next try was Olivio Spreadable Butter with Canola and Olive Oil.   Unlike some of their other soft spreads, this one is only butter, canola, olive and flaxseed oil.  It has 80 calories per Tablespoon.

Here is how a tablespoon of each product compares:
(My beautiful chart went to this squished jumble, so until I figure out a better way, you’ll just have to read the line across the top telling you the what’s in that “column” (ha, ha) and follow the numbers in order. I give you the product name, the number of calories per Tablespoon, the % of total fat, the % of saturated fat, % of trans fats, grams of polyunsaturated fat, grams of monounsaturated fat, and % of total cholesterol. As you can imagine, it was very helpful in chart form…)

Calories–Total Fat–Sat. Fat–Trans Fats–Polyunsat.–Monounsat.–Cholest.

Butter–100–17 %–36 %–0 g–0 g–0 g–10 %

homemade Butter/Olive mix–110–20 %–23 %–0  g–1 g–5 g–5 %

Land O Lakes Sprd. Butter–100–17 %–23 %–0 g–1.5 g–5 g–7 %

Olivio Sprd. Butter–80–14 %–17 %–0 g–2 g–5 g–7 %

My favorite is the Olivio Spreadable Butter.  The lower calories and total fat are appealing to me.  We all know we need less saturated fat and cholesterol and this delivers.  As for the heart healthy monounsaturated fats, again, it delivers.  So how does it taste?  Really delicious.  This one gets a place in my fridge and in my cooking.

Now, I never make decisions on calories or fat content alone - otherwise I would never eat an avocado.  I try to use fats and oils that are minimally processed and use them in moderation.  I avoid all hydrogenated oils, no matter what the advertisement claims.  With so much evidence that hydrogenated fats are harmful to your health, here is an easy option to avoid using them - Olivio Spreadable Butter.  I buy mine at Publix in a little rectangular carton.  Just make sure you check the label because Olivio makes several completely different spreadable products.

I get asked that question all the time.  I try to be very cautious when answering questions like, “Is (fill-in-the-blank) healthy?”  Because everyone from doctors and nutritionists to your average home cook has a different view of what is healthy.  And with so much research available, it is hard to process it all and form an opinion.  So I will tell you what I think and why, and you can decide what you believe.

I use butter.  There, I’ve said it.  Now, let me tell you some of the good things about butter and why I use it.

• Distinct flavor.  On top of oatmeal, to saute asparagus or mushrooms, or on a baked potato, butter is the only flavor that works for me.  And honestly, those are about the only times I use it.
• It is natural.  I think our bodies process natural foods far better than foods born in laboratories.

Now, here are some things to be aware of about butter.  I won’t say they are bad things about it, just things to be aware of.

• I has 102 calories per tablespoon which is 18% of your total recommended fat for the day.  It contains 36% of your recommended saturated fat as well as 10% of your recommended cholesterol for the day.  What that says to me is “use it sparingly.”  I would never use more than a tablespoon on something I’m eating, and will gladly use less if it gives me the flavor I’m wanting.  And I will thoroughly enjoy every bite.  (To put it in perspective, 2 cubes of cheddar cheese from a snack tray have the identical fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol of butter with 36 more calories.)

Consequences follow our choices and I don’t believe we can short circuit that process of cause and effect.  Can we engineer some buttery tasting spread in a laboratory that has all of the good qualities of butter with none of the bad?  I don’t think so.  Because when we ingest chemicals, that causes a different set of consequences.

So when people ask me if butter is healthy, I usually ask, “How much butter?”  While one tablespoon is a fine addition to a meal, three or four is definitely not.  As always, I believe a healthy diet is one with great variety and wise moderation.  So for certain foods I unashamedly say, “Please pass me the butter.”

Special thanks for the photo to booleansplit on Flickr.