Amber.pasternak

Bill Cosby wants you to vote for your favorite Cosby sweater because the universe is great.

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A rescue dog named Lucky survived a highway crash that killed two people in central Ohio and has been returned safely to his owner's family.

(760): I was wondering why he was in my phone as "Cat Guy", he seemed pretty normal. Then when we woke up he was wearing a shirt with a picture of his cat on it. The name stays.

Growing up, we didn’t keep butter in the refrigerator… we liked the spreadable texture of room temperature butter. A stick of salted butter was stored in a covered butter dish on the counter, available to anybody who wanted a smear on toast. It’s the old fashioned way, the way my grandma did it and her grandma before her. I’d spread it on my whole grain toast each morning (the way I usually start my day), watching that gorgeous yellow butter melt into the nooks and crannies of my golden slice of toast. Heaven.

When I got to college, I noticed that my friends all kept their butter in the refrigerator. I was perplexed. Why would you want to do that? Butter won’t spread straight from the fridge. It’s hard and cold, not soft and melty. They cited food safety as a concern– the refrigerator, they claimed, was safer for storing butter. I tried to jump on the chilled butter bandwagon, but it didn’t work for me. It was too hard, wouldn’t melt fast enough, and more often than not left a big chunk of semi-soft butter in the middle of my toast. Blech.

While searching for an alternative I transitioned to margarine, which was spreadable and salty and fine, but not as yummy as butter. I was willing to compromise– the “spreadable” factor was most important for me. Then I learned about the many health concerns attached to most margarines on the market. They’re heavily processed and many contain trans fat, which increases blood cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. Yuck. While butter substitutes are good for certain things, like cooking dairy-free or serving with a kosher meat meal, I vastly prefer the flavor of natural butter. Over time I found some healthier butter substitutes, like Organic Earth Balance Buttery Spread. Trouble is most of them contain soy, which negatively effects my hormones.

I yearned to take my good old fashioned butter back to room temperature for that easy spreading texture… and really, there’s no reason not to have it that way. Butter will last for about 3 weeks in a covered butter dish at room temperature before it turns rancid. Even after it turns rancid, the taste is bad, but it won’t make you sick (though honestly, who wants to eat anything with the adjective “rancid” attached to it?). I bought a covered butter dish from a local vintage market and returned to my roots, keeping my butter at room temperature again. Unfortunately I’m the only butter fan in my house, and sometimes the stick would go rancid before I had a chance to finish it.

 My little jade-colored chicken butter dish.

The solution came in the comments section of another website (for the life of me I can’t remember which one), where people were discussing this subject of room temperature butter. A woman claimed that she made her own spreadable chilled butter by combining room temperature butter, olive oil, and salt. The resulting butter was spreadable straight from the fridge. I loved the idea, so I gave it a try. The first batch wasn’t very successful– it tasted way too much like olive oil. I tried again with a smaller quantity of light olive oil (which is less olive-y tasting). The light olive oil was better in terms of flavor, but it’s really just processed olive oil, sometimes mixed with other vegetable oils. I decided to try it with grapeseed oil instead, which I often use for frying because it’s light, tasteless, and has no cholesterol.

Jackpot! I’d hit the spreadable butter motherload. Not only is this mixture perfectly textured straight from the fridge, it’s healthier for you than plain butter. Nutritionally speaking, this Homemade Spreadable Butter is lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than pure butter. You can adjust the saltiness (and thereby the sodium) to taste. It contains Vitamin E, a natural antioxidant. I prefer grapessed oil– it is a polyunsaturated oil, which is a rich source of Omega-6, unlike olive and canola oils. Adding it to your butter boosts the health benefits and reduces the negative ones. Light olive oil and canola oil will worktoo (regular olive oil will have too strong an “olive” taste to it– you’ve been warned!).

Now my butter dish sits on my kitchen shelf, a reminder of the good old days. Homemade Spreadable Butter for the win! How do you keep your butter– in the fridge, on the countertop, or not at all?

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Homemade Spreadable Butter

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (I prefer organic)
• 3/4 cup grapeseed oil (I prefer organic), light olive oil, or canola oil
• 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste

You will also need

• food processor

Prep Time: 5 Minutes Total Time: 1 Hour 35 Minutes Servings: About 2 cups spreadable butter Kosher Key: Dairy

• Let the butter slowly come to room temperature. To speed this process, cut the butter into small chunks and separate them from each other. Do not try to speed things up in the microwave, even at half power... you’ll change the texture of the butter.
• Place the room temperature butter into a food processor along with the grapeseed or light olive oil and salt.
• Process the butter, oil and salt for 1-2 minutes, scraping the sides of the processor periodically, till all lumps have disappeared and the mixture is smooth and soft. It will be quite liquid, but don't worry, it will firm up in the fridge.
• Pour the softened butter into a container that can be sealed airtight (like a Tupperware). Refrigerate for 1-2 hours till fully chilled and firm. This Homemade Spreadable Butter will last up to 3 months in the refrigerator. It is spreadable straight from the refrigerator. Do not leave the butter at room temperature too long or it will start to separate. If this happens, you can stir the oil back into the butter before refrigerating again.
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Let your chest do the talking.

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Think all those warnings about mixing certain foods with your medication are overblown? Not at all, doctors say. We need to pay attention to labels, and talk to our pharmacists to avoid unpredictable reactions.

The Choosing Wisely campaign, organized by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, has compiled a list of 135 medical tests, procedures and treatments patients and doctors should question. Find them at choosingwisely.org.

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