butter
(although when I am doing Weight Watchers it is "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.")

Butter for special dishes, trans fat free Becel for everyday.

butter

butterbutterbutter

BUTTER!

yay butter

Butter for cooking and baking, Promise Light for spreading.

I haven't had margarine in our house for a couple decades. I would use nothing before using margarine. There are beneficial micro-nutrients in butter that we can't get in other foods.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Why Butter is Better

Butter! Nothing but butter.

Lynn

butter and butter only

Butter...but I do have a stick or so of margerine in the freezer for the occasion when I need to make something that's semi kosher....like a crab and spinach quiche! LOL!
Linda C

Butter, unsalted.

I do use mar-parve (non dairy margarine) when I need to make something that requires butter/marg to go along with a meat dish for Nathan who keeps kosher. But he's not home all that often so it's rare.

Butta cuz buttas betta :)

I can honestly say the only time in my life I bought margarine was last December - to make Caramel Cheetos. Since then what remained has sat in my fridge. I don't know what to do with it other than to make another batch of Caramel Cheetos.

"although when I am doing Weight Watchers it is "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" - hey Sherry, isn't Weight Watchers supposed to be a lifestyle, not a diet?! That's what it says here on the subway ads! ;)

Margarine is NOT allowed in my house! I use unsalted exclusively, except for toast.

I buy unsalted butter only, but then I don't use very much of it. I tried Smart Balance once, but only once. For the small amount I use, it doesn't make sense to buy margarine.

Lars

Butter!!! It's been many years since I've had any plastic stuff in the house.

Nancy

Butter here, my fat is top quality!

Unsalted butter.

terra pots...lol lol

Butter when I can, margarine when I can't (kosher)!

I make my own lower calorie, lower cholesterol, & lower salt butter spread. I've borrowed ideas from Better Baking.com, Laurel's Kitchen, Tammy's Recipes.com, & a Recipe Link.com contribution called Gloria Marie's Better Butter. It has a true butter taste because of the real butter, no artificial flavorings or additives. I think it's much better than any soft margarine spread. It makes a perfect spread and can be used for topping freshly cooked vegetables. I've even used it when frying or scrambling eggs in a non-stick skillet.

Even Better Butter

1 pound butter
(Notes: I use 2 sticks salted & 2 sticks unsalted, resulting in an extremely lightly salted finished product. People who aren't on a salt restricted diet can use just regular salted butter.)
1 cup vegetable oil of choice (a light flavored oil works best)
1/2 cup water (room temperature)
4 tbsp. dry skimmed milk (optional)
1 tsp. liquid lecithin (optional)

Using electric mixer, whip softened butter until fluffy. While still beating, dribble in the oil. Dribble in lecithin & beat. Stop every once in a while to push down mixture with rubber spatula. Dissolve dried milk powder in water. While still beating, dribble in the water mixture. Stop every once in a while to push down mixture with rubber spatula. The mixture will be very fluffy.

Transfer mixture to a container and freeze for about 20 minutes to firm it up. Then keep refrigerated. Do not leave at room temperature for very long, because it might break down & separate.

Here is a link that might be useful: Please, DON'T Pass the Salt!

We've got 5 things around here:

butter (for certain things; with hubby's cardio problems, it's going to be in the freezer for a long time)

regular tub margarine (for the youngest daughter)

light tub margarine (for me)

spray margarine (for us all on bread and rolls)

Stick margarine (for very light baking when butter is not needed and is not going to be consumed by cardio patient)

DonnaR/CA

Only butter. I've not had margarine in years. And I leave the butter out on the counter.

Only butter, and I usually have salted and unsalted on hand.

I'm pretty sure it was in our marriage vows that margerine was not to ever enter the house.

Same as Sharon. Plus butter is what I bake with.

Ann

Margarine never touches these lips. I'd rather go without. Don't mean to offend anyone, but to me it's like eating yellow crisco. And it's soooooo bad for you!

Everything in moderation, I'll take butter any old time.

Linda

I use unsalted butter, almost exclusively, though I usually have a tub of soft spread (I Can't Believe It's Not Butter) in case there's no soft butter on the counter for toast or the kids are over. No stick margarine for years and years - now that we know how unhealthy it is.

BUTTER BUTTER BUTTER
It may take a few mins to read but well worth it!!

PASS THE BUTTER

This is interesting.

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys.

When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back.

It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it?

They have come out with some clever new flavorings

DO YOU KNOW...The difference between margarine and butter?

Read on to the end...gets very interesting!

Both have the same amount of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of Butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

And now, for Margarine..

Very high in Trans fatty acids.

Triple risk of coronary heart disease.

Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)

Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.

Lowers quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And here's the most disturbing fact.... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC.

This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).
You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area; within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:

No flies, not even those pesky Fruit flies will go near it that should tell you something)

It does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow.

Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt
your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Eat BUTTER!!!

Linda P

Linda there's a lot there that's disputable.
Check this out---

Here is a link that might be useful: Snopes...

Butter, unsalted, on the counter, rain or shine, cold or hot outside.

And I have about 20 pounds, yes 20, in the freezer. With 2 shoppers in the house, we lost sight. Butter is now banned for the grocery cart. I don't care if it is only .99/pound this week!

I use olive oil for cooking and drizzling on vegetables and potatoes more often than butter. I use a little butter on toast but have also used Flora margarine for some things. Apparently FLORA is the name of BECEL here in Europe. And PROMISE is the name of BECEL in USA.

Becel is the spread recommended by Canadian heart specialists and both my parents used it for years, as does my brother, also in Canada.

Here are some bits of information:

Becel (Wikipedia)

Becel, Flora

Promise

SharonCb

Butter and only butter. (Unless it's extra virgin olive oil)

The only fats in out kitchen are salted butter, pure olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, peanut oil and lard.

Butter or occasionally oil (especially olive).

Butter!!!!!!!!! I won't use anything else. Diana55

Friends use Country Crock, and I like it when I'm over there, so I got some.

Unfortunately, I forgot that margerine contains a LOT of water, and when you spread it on toast, it gets soggy as all get out.

So, I'm using the Country Crock for items that are either cold or where the moisture won't matter, and real butter for toast.

Butter.

Margarine tastes like plastic to me.

I can't remember how long ago I switched to butter only but its been a few years.
I'm surprised to see all the Unsalted only's here. Does butter have that much salt? Should I be concerned?
And I like the idea of that spread recipe Shambo - what are the dry milk and lechitin for? If you leave them out what happens? And can you use olive oil for vegetable oil? Or, if not, which is the healthiest/tastiest vegetable oil?
Mary

Mary, I don't think anything really happens if the dry milk and/or lecithin are omitted. I'm assuming that the dry milk powder adds some body to the butter spread and the lecithin helps emulsify & stabilize the spread a bit. The Better Baking.com recipe didn't have either ingredient and used one full cup of water, but it got many positive reviews.

Regarding lecithin's properties, according to Pleasant Hill Grain.com, "As a 100% natural emulsifier, lecithin improves moisture tolerance and uniform suspension of ingredients and shortens mixing times. Bread texture and elasticity are improved, and crusts are more tender. Fats and oils are stabilized, reducing rancidity and prolonging freshness."

I've also included a link to the Bob's Red Mill fact sheet about lecithin.

In the past, I've used a light flavored olive oil for the spread. I would hesitate using Extra Virgin only because of the strong flavor. It probably would taste great on vegetables but would be weird spread on toast with jam.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bob's Red Mill Lecithin Fact Sheet