Taste Test Tuesday: The Cooking Spray Quandary

Smart Balance Omega Nonstick Cooking Spray

First of all, let me just say that for the past year I have made it a point to stop using those cans of nonstick cooking sprays. They are so very convenient, but I feel terrible when it comes time to dump them in the recycling bin because I don't know for sure if they are actually recycled; and even still, recycling uses energy and the idea is to not generate any waste. I've been meaning to buy one of those re-usable oil sprayers that are man/woman powered (you pump it with your hands and then spray) rather than propellant powered since the one I had for years seems to have reached the end it its lifecycle, but I just haven't had the chance.

Meanwhile I've been using a silicon pastry brush to coat the pots and pans with canola or olive oil as needed. This has worked well most of the time but there are two problems with the non-cooking-spray technique:

• This doesn't work well when coating the hot, outdoor grill before barbequing your food (my husband, our chief BBQ-er has been complaining about there not being a can of cooking spray around)
• This doesn't work well when trying to add a thin layer of oil to food that is coated with flour or crumbs (the pastry brush takes off the flour or crumb mixture when it touches it)

I promised my husband I would purchase another can of cooking spray to tide us over until I locate a good re-usable oil sprayer (it's summer and BBQ season after all), and I found this new Smart Balance Omega nonstick cooking spray. A quick glance at the ingredient label told me that they use a combination of canola, soy and olive oils and a non-chlorofluorocarbon as the propellant.

The confusing part to a consumer might be the conflicting advertising banners on the label:

• Zero fat and calories
• Ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3

If there is an ideal ratio of omeg-6 to omega-3 fats (which means you are getting some amount of fat) than how can it be zero fat and calories? The answer is that it's a 1/3 second spray that is worth zero calories and fat. I don't even know how to measure anything less than 1 second! I'm guessing my sprays are about 1 to 2 seconds.

According to the nutrition information label, each second your finger is on the trigger of the cooking spray can, you are getting about 10 calories and 1.5 grams of total fat - .5 grams of which are polyunsaturated and .5 grams of which are monounsaturated. Okay, I know it's been a while since I was in a math class but I'm getting a total of 1 gram of fat (.5 + .5) when the total grams is 1.5. Where is the other .5 gram coming from? The label says 0 for saturated and trans fat. According to the company, this missing amount of fat is due to the rounding of numbers on the nutrition label.

As far as taste-testing purposes, this product performed very well!

My family is trying to generate less waste in general, so we are using the silicon brush more and the cooking spray can less. (I put it on the highest shelf in my kitchen cabinet so I really have to think about it before I grab it.) The other option is to buy a re-usable oil sprayer (Pampered Chef makes a pretty good one last I checked), buy a desirable oil (it could even be Smart Balance), and use it to to fill your sprayer!

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• The Recipe Doctor's Top 12 Healthy Cooking Gadgets
• Healthy Cooking with Elaine Magee, RD
• Healthy Cooking Newsletter - recipes, kitchen and shopping advice in your inbox

8 Ways to Go "Green" in Your Kitchen

8 things you can do today to make your kitchen "green"!

Every kitchen in America has the potential of either helping make our planet greener and more energy and waste efficient or adding to the environmental load. More people are bringing those re-usable canvas bags with them to the grocery store than ever before and almost every home in my city has a recycling-garbage can near their driveway. You know you are doing something right when your recycling can is filled at the end of the week and your garbage can is half empty.

When it comes to conserving and eliminating waste, things are definitely going green in some parts of the country. We can all help keep things moving in that positive direction.

Here are 8 ways to go GREEN in your kitchen, starting today!

You can also take a quiz or two on "eating green" on the Center for Science in the Public Interest website:

• Tour the Food Supply
• Eating Green Calculator

What are you doing to make your kitchen greener?

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• Green Cleaning Spruces Up Environment
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• Healthy Cooking Newsletter - recipes, kitchen & shopping advice in your inbox!

Frugal Friday: 3 Tips to Save Energy (and Money)

Saving energy can mean saving money. Here are a few ways to save in your kitchen.

The Best Way To Heat Food.
If you need to warm up or defrost small amounts of food, use a microwave instead of the stove to save energy. Microwave ovens use around 50 percent less energy than conventional ovens do. For large meals, however, the stove is usually more efficient. But in the summer, using a microwave causes less heat to be released into the kitchen, which might save money on air conditioning.

Do The Dollar Bill Test.
Don't keep the refrigerator door open any longer than you need to. Close it to keep the cold air inside! Also, make sure the door closes securely. There is a rubber-like seal around the door that you can test. Just close the door on a dollar bill, and then see how easy it is to pull out. If the dollar slides out easily, the door is probably leaking cold air from inside.

Got A Second Refrigerator?
Is there an old refrigerator sitting in the garage or someplace else at home? Old refrigerators are real energy hogs! An old refrigerator could be costing your family as much as $120 a year to operate. Consider taking it out of commission if you don't really need this extra refrigerator or keep in mind that one large refrigerator is cheaper to run than two smaller ones.

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• Make the Switch!
• Spring-Clean Your Refrigerator and Freezer
• Healthy Cooking Newsletter - recipes, kitchen & shopping advice in your inbox!

Is the NEW "Green Pan" ™ Worth Trying?

Photo Credit: Elaine Magee

With the amount of cooking I do, I've blown through quite a few nonstick frying pans in my day. So, the new grey colored non-stick frying pan, called the "Green Pan" caught my eye on a recent shopping trek to Target.

The packaging states that these pans use "THERMOLON" nonstick coating which is PTFE-Free and is manufactured PFOA-free - two chemicals the planet is better off without. It proudly states that it will significantly reduce your carbon footprint! As many things these days, it is made in China but was designed by teams in Belgium and the US.

The first few weeks I was using the GreenPan I was a happy camper (or cooker) but I know enough to know a cook and her pan needs to get past the "honeymoon phase," as I like to call it, to really know if a non-stick pan is going to work out in the long run. I did notice that food seemed to cook faster with the Green Pan which helps cut down on energy use I would think (another way the pan is "green.")

I did some homework on the product website and noticed they did not recommend using cooking sprays, due to the tendency to leave a residue on the pan, so I used a little bit of canola or olive oil (straight from the bottle) when using the pan. Nothing stuck to the surface the first few weeks, but ironically I found the pan really needs a bit of oil to keep the surface "nonstick." As I was going into the second month with the green pan, I noticed that little bits of food started sticking to the pan. Cleaning the pan involved an increasing amount of soaking time and elbow grease and a light brown residue had permanently attached itself to my formerly beautiful and appealing light grey pan.

At this point, a slightly frustrated Elaine combed their product website (www.green-pan.com) for information on cleaning the residue or preventing the residue but came up short. If there was a phone number I would have called it (even if it went to Belgium) anxiously hoping for advice. I really wanted to love this new light grey colored "green" pan!

On the up side, it appears to be recyclable! I will continue to use this pan and see how much farther I get with it but I'm hoping future generations of the "green pan" will have figured out how to resist residue and to stay as nonstick as it did those first glorious few weeks!

Related Topics:

• 8 Ways to Go 'Green' in Your Kitchen
• Going Green: Eco-Friendly Tips & Advice