Food News -- Fats, Weight Loss, and Fruit

Question: How do you replace butter with olive oil? Butter contains water and milk solids so you really don’t replace it 100% with the olive oil - add half of the amount of olive oil to replace all of the butter to start. Commercial butter is 80–82 percent milk fat, 16–17 percent water, and 1–2 percent milk.When cooking, I find that olive oil will stand in for butter for most of my applications (I am not really making beurre blanc or hollandaise in my kitchen). But for baking, I tend to go with a light margarine that is trans fat free.National Weight Loss RegistryThe National Weight Loss Registry just published 7 top tips from over 6000 people who have lost over 30 pounds and maintained it for a long time - more than a year with the average being about 5.5 years. You can read the National Weight Loss Registry update article for free online.One of our favorite tips was consistency - people who are successful with weight loss eat the same healthy diet over and over. They do not get side tracked with holidays, weekends and special occasions. We have made a menu that has the same menu that we make week after week - it is 9 of our favorite dishes. We change it out after a few weeks but we find nothing wrong with eating our favorite foods each week and we thought this is a great idea for people who are really busy.Menu Makeover: Favorite Menu Ideas From Our Test Kitchen with Recipe Links• Vegetarian Chili - cooked black beans, salt-free stewed diced tomatoes, cubed winter squash, sea- sonings.• Mediterranean Bean Soup• Tomato Basil Spaghetti• Pizza• Vegetarian Burritos• Ranch Beans/Chicken - baked chicken served with home-made pinto beans (use the beans the next day to make the burritos)• Kitchen Sink Pasta - we cook a variety of fresh veggies with garlic, basil and salt-free broth and toss with cooked pasta.• Chicken Cutlets - slice a chicken breast into thin cutlets and panfry, serve with mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and home-made apple sauce.• Light Lasagna - we make this in a large batch and freeze for busy days.Warmer fruit gets eaten fasterLeave grapes, tangerines and bananas out at room temperature. In our house they disappear much faster when left on the counter.Heat a grapefruit or orange in the microwave for 20-30 seconds and slice - it is delicious when warmed up as opposed to being eaten cold out of the refrigerator.Apples taste delicious when sliced and baked in a thin layer in the oven. Serve for breakfast, snacks and desserts.