You will find no butter (organic or otherwise) and certainly no crisco, or lard in my recipes! The nutritional reason for that I leave for others to explain fully, but for the purpose of this little tip, I will just simply say that I don’t use them because they contain saturated and/or transfats which are associated with increased risk of chronic disease.
Here is a fascinating interview with my husband, Dr David Katz by True Health Initiative Council member Dan Pardi: “Saturated Fat: What’s there real story?”
What you WILL find in my recipes are sources of fat from wholesome nutritious ingredients such as nuts and seeds and olives and avocados and even dark chocolate (unsweetened is best) that are abundant in the Mediterranean diet (Yum!) and are considered health promoting.
I like to use organic extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil and expeller-pressed organic canola oil with omega 3’s in my cooking and baking (click here for the health benefits of olive oil and here for those of canola oil, including the myths associated with it!). In spite of the hype about coconut oil, I do not use it much on Cuisinicity. I elaborate a little more on another post here.
I have lots of little tricks throughout my recipes to address the fat content of my dishes and as I come across them when I feature any recipe, I will come back and revisit this little tip post and explain why I did what I did! So, you can expect this page to grow….
I have updated this post here!
Helen Baker says
March 20, 2016 at 11:19 amI am confused. You say you like to use olive oil in cooking and baking, but your information on olive oil from red highlight, speaks of EVOO. Do you ever use OO as opposed to EVOO. I have used EVOO for many years in cooking. I never fry foods, oops, I do have the occasional omelette, and most certainly do not deep fry, but I do sauté food. If I sauté onion for example as the basis in soup making, and subsequently bring the soup with all ingredients added to a boil, am I exceeding the smoke point? I have always thought not. My soup certainly does not smoke! Please advise.
Catherine Katz says
March 20, 2016 at 11:30 amHi Helen,
I am so sorry for the confusion–my fault! I do use EVOO mostly if not always. The smoking point of extra virgin olive oil is somewhere between 380 and 410 degrees Fahrenheit,which is well above the temperature required for all but the highest-heat cooking. So, I am completely with you on this: Sautéing and heating in soup afterwards is absolutely fine, not to mention healthy and delicious, and of course I love the highest quality EVOO for my salad dressing. I hope this answered your question. 🙂