Butter and nutrition (and desserts!)

Butter is kind of a symbol to me of how crazy the world is when it comes to health.

It used to be, in certain cultures, butter was just what you had. You had a cow, you milked her, you skimmed off the cream and made butter. It was the fat you had around and you used it. And it tasted good! No one worried about nutrition facts or saturated fat or the differences between butter and other fats for cooking.

Then butter became evil, according to health experts. And they told everyone to stop eating butter, so they ate margarine instead. Of course, it turned out that margarine wasn't so nutritious either, so a lot of people have gone back to butter - after all, it tastes better, and it's more natural.

Other experts say that we should be using oils, like olive oil, or flaxseed oil (but don't cook with it!), or even coconut oil, which is supposed to be very good for you.

But you know what? Butter tastes good. Especially in desserts. And it doesn't even take much - but a cookie with some butter in it tastes a million times better than something made with a butter replacement. And I love olive oil, but not in a cookie.

Nutrition is such a complicated thing.

So I like to use butter in moderation. (Good nutrition is all about moderation.) For savoury things, a lot of the time I'll use half butter and half olive oil, which I think is a way to get the best of both worlds. And in baking I use butter but sometimes I'll use some oil, or some applesauce or banana and just less butter. Desserts are better with butter, so you know what? Just eat less, and enjoy it.

What do you think about butter and nutrition? What fats do you use to cook?

Healthy dessert cookbooks I want to buy

I'm a cookbook junkie - I could spend all day browsing through Amazon or in a cookbook store. But I can't buy them all! One thing I love is cookbooks that focus on healthy desserts. It's amazing how many tricks there are for making dessert recipes healthier. One thing I do, for instance, is I almost always reduce the sugar in a recipe. Even if you cut out only 1/4 of the sugar, think of how much less sugar that would be over a year!

I was just looking through Amazon again today (so far I haven't spent anything, I'm being good!) and here are some of the cookbooks I've put on my wish list:

Don't they all look good? A couple are vegan - not that I'm a vegan, but I like to experiment with different techniques, and they get pretty creative when they can't use dairy or eggs. That fruit desserts recipe book looks to die for - I'm sure it would be pretty enough to put on the coffee table, even if you didn't make anything out of it (but how could you resist?). I like the book of bite-sized desserts because you can make really decadent dessert recipes in small portions and that way it's a healthy indulgence.

What are your favourite healthy dessert cookbooks?

Healthy recipes to make with peaches

I love fresh peaches, and there are so many good ones this time of year. I won't buy peaches in the winter, they just aren't the same. But do you find that you buy too many and all the peaches get ripe at the same time? That means either you're eating 10 peaches a day or you have to throw them out, which is kind of tragic.

So instead, save some to eat fresh and cook up the rest to make something delicious. There are so many things you can cook with peaches and they don't all have to be fattening desserts! (I also like to put sliced peaches on a salad - yes, with vegetables - try it, you'll like it!) You can make lighter recipes and healthy ones, too. Here are some I've found that I want to try.

Dolce Pesca (Sweet Peaches)

These are soaked in a lot of alcohol, so you have to like wine and brandy to like the recipe! I would probably reduce the sugar, peaches are sweet enough.

Peach Salsa

I love this idea! You can serve it with fish or meat, or I would even serve it on crackers with some goat cheese.

Fuzzy Navel Smoothie

This recipe is so simple and sounds so good! Just bananas, peaches and orange juice.

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

This is a healthy version of a cobbler. I like that it cut out some of the butter but not all - you have to have some butter for flavour. Peaches taste so good with blueberries!

Peach Ricotta Pancakes

Do you not want to make this recipe right now? Click through, they're so pretty. You add peach slices to each pancake after you put them in the pan.

Peach Bourbon Hand Pies

Have a light dinner before you eat these to balance out the calories. But they look so good!

White Peach, Cassis and Champagne Floats

What a fun dessert for a party!

What are your favourite things to cook with peaches? Do you have any peach recipes to share?