Healthy Recipes with Butter—Say What?

There's no reason to banish butter from your diet! Here are three reasons why: 1) In Small Amounts, It's Perfectly Healthy For You: Check out the photo above: It's a schmear of "B-U-T-T-A" using less than a single serving tablespoon of some store-bought whipped butter! That's certainly enough butter to cover your toast, and it will only set you back 60 calories. In the new dietary guidelines for 2011, the Department of Health recommends that you eat less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fats.  So, based on their percentages, it's perfectly acceptable to treat yourself every once in a while. Just practice moderation— Eat low-calorie, low-fat foods 90 percent of the time, and the other 10 percent, you can indulge with a little bit of butter. Try and also treat your recipes the same way— If you keep 90 percent of the ingredients healthy and nutritious, you can indulge with the other 10 percent. 2) It Tastes Great, So It Keeps You Full And Satisfied: It's important to eat foods that taste delicious, especially if you are on a diet, because enjoying your food is one way to keep you from overeating. A little bit of butter adds a lot of flavor and richness to a dish, and the satisfaction of savoring every bite will keep you from craving more. As Heidi Swanson so eloquently puts on her blog 101 Cookbooks: "... [butter] melts on the back of your tongue and its nutty milky flavor dances up into your nose, comforting all your senses." 3) There's No Real Substitute: Nothing beats pancakes with warm butter and maple syrup, or a slice of homemade, buttery baked garlic bread. Desserts, from cobblers to coffee cakes, just don't taste the same without butter. And, come on, how healthy is margarine really? Check out these healthy recipes below...They use butter "in moderation" and contain all-natural ingredients:

Cheesy Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes Recipe These cheesy mashed potatoes pictured above are a combination of cauliflower and potatoes, roasted garlic and onions, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese—All finished together in the broiler until golden brown and bubbly on top! Unlike most recipes for mashed potatoes, this one is flavor-packed without adding lots a butta! Homemade Butter When you think of making homemade butter, do you picture yourself churning a huge barrel of butter at an Amish farm in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Erase that image from your had right away!  Did you know that you can make fresh, tasty butter right in your own kitchen with a little help from Emeril Lagasse. BAM, that's good! Sweet Potato & Turnip Mash with Sage Butter These colorful mashed potatoes feature a whole bunch of healthy ingredients, including fresh sage, sweet potatoes, and turnips -- And, a little bit of butter! Corn with Cilantro Butter This is a great summer recipe to look forward to that requires only three simple ingredients: Fresh corn, butter and fresh cilantro. If you get really good sweet corn, then you wont need to coat it with a slab a butter. Also, corn is rich in vitamins A and C, so you are also getting important nutrients. For more uses and recipes with corn, check out the book "Crazy for Corn" by Betty Fussel. Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp with Way Less Butter This recipe for apple crisp is delicious, even with way less butter. A good trick to apply to desserts that don't depend on exact ingredients, like crisps and cobblers, is to just cut the amount of butter in the recipe and add more fresh fruit and spices. Butter-Toasted Hazelnut Recipe These hazelnuts are roasted and then finished in a big skillet with fresh thyme, citrus zest, a bit of salt, and a touch of brown butter. This makes a great party snack with some ice cold beer! Buying Tip: When you buy butter, make sure it's organic. This sweet cream butter pictured below is "organic" and "grass-fed", which means that it's free of hormones and antibiotics. (7 grams of fat and 60 calories per 1 single-serving tablespoon). Enjoy all that B-U-T-T-A!