Buttery Goodness: A “Spread" Out Review

Earth Balance, Smart Balance, Fleischmann’s, oh my!

I figured in a world without milk, butter would be a nightmare from hell.  You’d pick up something made from the wool of a sullen yak and have to use that to wave magically over your food containers hoping that a flying unicorn would come by, spitting magical no-dairy butter at your foods.  But, alas, I’m still awaiting on the dairy-spitting, Skittles powered unicorn to come my way...

Instead, we have picked out and used three non-dairy butter alternatives.  I suppose, at this point, I’d have to start referring to non-dairy butter truly as a margarine, seeing as it’s all alternatives.  But, I digress (you usually do.  -Chrissy).

The very first non-dairy butter that we tried was from the Smart Balance company.

I suppose the smartest way to do this review is going to be follow the format of texture, flavor and usefulness in cooking.

Smart Balance Light

Texture: Smart Balance light’s texture is pretty soft right out of the refrigerator, but not so soft as to be runny.  As for mouth feel, it’s a very smooth product, but seems to leave almost a “film” feeling inside your mouth after you eat it.  As for flavor, this is where we start to have issues.  It has this strange backend taste that I just can’t quite put my finger on.  I suppose it’s the oils that make up the product, seeing as it has a number of different oils that make up the spread.  The BIGGEST issue, by far, with this particular product is that it is absolutely NOT TO BE USED in baking of any sort.  Even worse than that, when it melts, it has this awful tendency to have its flavors become even more pungent than when not melted and it leaves everything with this strange paper/metal/“I’ve just licked concrete" flavor.  Use as a last resort if the store doesn’t have anything else.

My Moo Rating: 2/5

Fleischmann’s Light Spread

Fleischmann’s Light Spread was actually the last of the spreads that we tried in conjunction with this article.  We were relatively pleased with the texture of the product, though it is incredibly soft.  You remove it from the refrigerator and it already has the solidity of “softened butter.” You can basically put a finger right through the entire tub contents, though I wouldn’t suggest that unless you’ve done a surgical scrub down of your digits as no one will want to touch the product afterwards.  Although, I suppose, if you are claiming it for yourself (“I do hereby claim this buttery spread in the name of _______!”) it’s not a problem.  The flavor is very good, nice and salty with just that hint of sweetness that you expect from a buttermilk product.  Cooking with it works well, too.  Though, if you are needing a very solid product, this is not the place to look.  It doesn’t turn colors when cooked or give off a horrible smell or flavor after it is heated, and that is a huge plus in the non-dairy spread area.
My Moo Rating: 4/5

Earth Balance Soy-Free
Even though we didn’t try this product last, I’m reviewing it last because it’s my favorite of the three, and momma always said, “save the best for last.”  This spread has a texture more firm than the other two products, which seems to make it a more natural candidate when you are needing to work with unsoftened butter for a recipe.  The flavor is very nice.  Though there is a slight aftertaste, it is not at all objectionable and actually has a nutty quality about it.  It’s as useful in cooking as the Fleischmann’s, too.  It melts beautifully and doesn’t seem to separate into its constituent parts, retains its buttery flavor and just seems to work well.  We chose the soy free as I’m still researching the overall effects of soy’s natural estrogen on children and adults.  This is definitely our favorite, in case you missed me saying that before.
My Moo Rating: 5/5

So, overall, you can do it!  You can go butter free and not feel like you have to wave a yak.  Happy eating!

Helping Hamburger

Both the boys had water day today at school, so we decided something easy was in order for dinner.  That seems to be a recurring theme.  It’s also the theme that is missing from most dairy-free cook books, but we’ll return to that when we have a book deal.  We decided that it would be great if we could have helper for our hamburger, even if we can’t have the brand name one since it’s chock full of milk products.  

It’s not super healthy out of a box, but in this recipe, it’s not nearly as bad for you. Maybe not the healthiest, but it's quick, easy and the boys like how it tastes.  

Here’s what we did.

It looks better in person.  Hi, Gabriel!

Help!  My Hamburger is Tasteless and it Can’t Get Up!

Ingredients:

1 box Road’s End Organics Organic Dairy-Free Mac & Chreese (Cheddar Flavor)

1 lb lean ground turkey

2 Tbps margarine

1/4C non-dairy milk

1/2C Daiya “cheese”

Items to taste: onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder

Directions:

Cook Mac & Chreese (yes, that’s really the name) as directed.  While the noodles are boiling, cook your turkey in a skillet and add onion, salt, pepper and garlic to taste.  We went heavy on the spices, knowing that without these, it wouldn’t be very good, as the M&C on its own doesn’t have a lot of flavor.  After draining your noodles and but before adding your cheese sauce, add your margarine and Daiya to the drained noodles.  Add your sauce and mix until incorporated.  

There you have it, a helper for hamburger that passes the kid test.  We served it with wilted spinach.  Here’s that recipe:

Easy-Peasy Wilted Spinach

Ingredients:

1 package of pre-washed spinach

2Tbps olive oil

2 intact slices from a large, sweet onion (1015, yellow or white)

To taste: minced garlic, pepper, salt

Directions:  Add the olive oil, garlic and onion to your skillet and cook over medium heat until the onions begin to look translucent.  Add your spinach and cook uncovered until they “wilt,” or about 5-10 minutes.  Their color will be very deep and rich.  Serve. 

How easy is that?  Overall, this entire meal took about 15 minutes to prepare, and gave us all some comfort food at the end of the day that nobody turned their nose up at.  

Sorbet Calories and “Houston, We Have a Hot Dog"

So, we have thoroughly enjoyed the sorbet that we made out of our few ingredients from my last post.  The great thing about the sorbets that we made is that you can even have them for breakfast.  My oldest son, Gabriel, is taking the STAAR test at school today (Go Gabriel!), and they told the children to make sure they ate a good breakfast.  So I made him eggs with just a touch of non-dairy margarine and then gave him a small bowl of our “ice cream” so that he could have some fruit with his breakfast.  He was in hog heaven.  I made sure to ask him, “How many of your friends do you think get to have ice cream for breakfast?”  His reply was, of course, none.  But that’s one of the awesome things about making your own foods, is that you know what goes into them and can judge for yourself whether or not to let your kids have a “super treat” at an odd time of day.

I did a rough calorie estimation for the banana ice cream this morning.  Assuming that each banana was 75 calories and a 1/2 cup of honey was 515 and there are eight servings total in the mix, it comes out to right at 130 calories PER CUP of our homemade sorbet.  Dieters, start your engines, this is a food for you.  OMG, I think I just did math.  In fact, it’s even worse, it’s one of those stupid word math questions like, “if person A you don’t give a crap about left Baltimore on a train going X miles per hour...” AAAHHHH!

Okay, let’s be done with math.  (shudders)


Hot Doggit

Last night, we decided that we wanted to have hot dogs, you know, the food of champions?  Well, the great news is, we can still have them.  So we bought some kosher hot dog links, which means there can be no milk ingredients in them, some non-dairy wheat buns and turkey chili.  Then, we put our favorite new “cheese” product on top, Daiya.  They were FANTASTIC.  Putting that cheese on there is SO much like going to a James Coney Island and having one of their dogs with the American cheese on top.  MMM, missed it so much until yesterday.  Sorry, James, your day in the sun is over, now we’re on to Hebrew National.  Not the healthiest dinner ever, but at least we had vegetables and fruit with dinner.

We continue to have good luck with almond, soy and coconut milks for dinner with the children, which is a positive, so they continue to get their vitamins that way.

Last, But Not Least...
We’re slowly, but surely, making our way up to having most of the kinds of foods that we had before we were thrown into non-dairy-land, level 1-1.  We do seem to see a gaping hole in the non-dairy recipe market for normal, everyday recipes that kids will actually want to eat.  Maybe there’s a cookbook in our future?