Is It Worth It?

There are two kinds of people in this world.  Those that love it, and those that gag at the very mention of it.

Mayonnaise.

Which group are you in?

The reason I’m blogging about this is because today I had a wonderful lunch with the most delightful ladies, and we started talking about things we craved when we were pregnant.  One craved ice cream with her first, and baby dills with her second.  Another craved milk....2 gallons a day of whole milk a day, no less!  But the one that got me was the charming lady who told me that she wanted mayonnaise on EVERYTHING.  You name it, she wanted mayo on it.

Which make me shake my head a little, like this.  Because I’ve always held the belief that mayonnaise is good for one thing only, and that’s to hold stuff together.  Salads like tuna or chicken or dips like AJ’s sun-dried tomato mouthful of heaven.  So I have always bought fat free mayonnaise because I figure I’m mixing it into something that already tastes good.  When I need something spread-like for my sandwiches, I’m a mustard gal, the funkier the better.

Now who out there did I just lose?

Talk about your no-brainers for me.  What little taste I may have to give up is MORE than compensated by the SLAM DUNK WIN in the “saving unnecessary junk” game.  Have you looked at the nutrition facts for mayonnaise lately?  Go educate yourself.  I’m going to put this in perspective for you.... 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise has the same amount of fat grams as a whole 1/4 CUP of feta cheese.  (And that’s REAL feta cheese, not the reduced fat variety, which is pretty tasty, by the way.)  The day I choose mayo over feta cheese....well....come get me because clearly I’ve lost my mind.

You know where this is going, don’t you?  What I’m trying to do is light the fire in you to decide what’s worth it and what isn’t.  And to spark in you a curiosity to figure out just how much mayonnaise you spoon into your chicken salad or cole slaw...I would bet you it’s more than 2 T. (Ummm...that’s a whole HALF CUP of feta...just sayin’...)  These are things, once you know, you can never un-know.  And that’s a good thing.

So try this:  get you a jar of fat free mayonnaise and a jar of reduced fat.  (I’m assuming you already have the full lead kind in your fridge.  Experiment a little.  Figure out what’s best for your taste buds vs your health and keep a little tally sheet with two columns:  “this isn’t so bad” in one (these would be the surprises that you had when you used fat free or reduced fat mayo and couldn’t taste the difference) and then the other column, titled, “not worth eating without the real deal.” 

If you happen to live with a houseful of whiners and closed minded eaters, then either be slippery and figure out how to feed them your batch without their suspecting a thing, or make 2 batches of stuff.  I’ve done it; it’s not the end of the world. 

To LC--2 GALLONS?  Really???  That’s one for the “believe it or not” chapter!