Fat is not a four letter word foodies!!

I have been on a mission the past few years to take a much closer look at what I eat, what I buy for my children to eat and stick to certain personal guidelines for enjoying food. Some people are offended by meat processing factories, inhumane treatment of dairy and meat animals, polluted run- off that runs into our huge agricultural "plains", the deforestation of natural rainforest habitats, the use of steroids and other weirdness to make super large carrots...and I can understand and respect these issues.

My personal platform today is that there are certain food items that are just not good without the Fat and are not meant to be "remade" into a similar but less tasty item.

Examples:

Salad dressings- I love the simple olive oil or vinegar based dressings that are fresh and fat free. However, if they are cream based, the "fat free" kind (ranch, I'm talking to you babe) taste like craft glue with minced parsley thrown in. I use the full fat dressings in moderation, and do not sacrifice the enjoyment of flavor.

Turkey Bacon- even the name of it is a total lie. Bacon can never ever be turkey. It's not physically possible. They are both pretty gross (but strangely delicious), way to salty. But one is very low fat and has little cholesterol. Too bad it tastes like rubber and doesn't OINK.

Mayo- fat free or lite mayo is really gross. It doesn't taste the same when used in egg casseroles or other spreads. Avoid at any costs. Real mayo we use in high moderation but the taste is there. (a good alternative that I use alot is mustard - it's spicier, there's variety, and I use it on sandwiches instead of mayo anyway).

Lite Ice Cream - another LIE. Ice Cream is not supposed to be "lite". It's got the name CREAM in it. Frozen yogurt is really good these days, and I cannot tolerate much ice cream anyway, however the few times I've eaten the lite kind, there's grit, a fakeness to the flavor, and I felt like someone was trying to destroy my childhood. Traumatic!!

Well....I've gotta go pick up Dominick from school at 2:20. One great snack tip I got from my mother in law is that sour pickles (yummy!) are only 5 calories. Not that any of us are counting...

Ya'll be nice! Less snark, more nice.