Sometimes It's The Simple Things...


My family came over for dinner last night. They devoured two large pans of homemade lasagna, salad, and a huge loaf of focaccia bread (purchased at the Czech Bakery in West, Texas this past weekend). My family loves my lasagna; the near empty pans at the end of the meal proved that out.

However, I have to say that the hit of the evening seemed to be the whipped cream that I served with a simple combination of strawberries and blueberries for dessert. Yes, that's REAL whipped cream -- whipped in a chilled bowl, with a chilled beater, enough sugar to make it interesting and a capful of vanilla. Not hard, in fact very simple and very good.

My family came over for dinner last night. They devoured two large pans of homemade lasagna, salad, and a huge loaf of focaccia bread (purchased at the Czech Bakery in West, Texas this past weekend). My family loves my lasagna; the near empty pans at the end of the meal proved that out.

However, I have to say that the hit of the evening seemed to be the whipped cream that I served with a simple combination of strawberries and blueberries for dessert. Yes, that's REAL whipped cream -- whipped in a chilled bowl, with a chilled beater, enough sugar to make it interesting and a capful of vanilla. Not hard, in fact very simple and very good.

My brother's friend, Paul, who joined us for dinner commented that he had never eaten real whipped cream before, only Cool Whip. Consider the difference:

Homemade Whipped Cream:
Real Cream
Sugar
Vanilla
A few moments in the kitchen

Cool Whip: (taken directly from the Kraft Food site)
Ingredients: WATER, CORN SYRUP, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICAL FLAVOR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS, POLYSORBATE 60, POLYSORBATE 65, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE BETA CAROTENE (COLOR).

There are so many things wrong with that ingredient list that I'm not sure where to begin. For starters, I'll pass on anything that lists an ingredient that includes a number in the name.

I bet Paul's not alone in his "never had real whipped cream" experience. It seems our society has become slaves to Cool Whip convenience. When was the last time you opted to whip up real cream rather than stop by the freezer section for a tub of -- what is Cool Whip anyways?!! Whipped up vegetable oil? Ick.

I've said for years that I don't understand why Americans would prefer to eat something manufactured that "tastes" like butter. Why not just eat real butter? But I diverge.

When it comes to whipped cream (and many other things in life) sometimes simple is just plain better and better for you.

Posted: Wed - June 22, 2005 at 09:10 PM          

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