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A visit to the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! test kitchen

Learning about ICBINB marketing and nutrition

After the cooking demo, we went into a meeting room and saw some of the older commercials with Fabio and the new “Turn the Tub Around” commercial with Megan Mullally. (See them for yourself at the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter YouTube video channel.) The new commercial is pretty silly, but entertaining in a Glee sort of way. However, it does get across the point that there are no transfats and no hydrogenated oils with their new formulation.

However, the commercials left out that ICBINB is perfect for healthy cooking and that their website has a great collection of healthy and yummy recipes. (I guess that’s where my fellow bloggers and I come in to share the news.)

Afterwards, ICBINB’s nutritionist told us about heart health and how their soft spread can help people lower the amount of saturated fat they consume. She showed a comparison between ICBINB, butter and Smart Balance:

A teaspoon of their original soft spread has 70% less saturated fat than butter. It’s cholesterol free and contains 460mg of omega-3 ALA per serving.

Afterwards, we had time for questions and answers about the product. Some of the women who had nutrition based businesses were concerned about ICBINB’s artificial ingredients. They preferred using and recommending a product like Earth Balance since it is non-dairy (ICBINB has a smidge of buttermilk in it), vegan, and has no artificial ingredients.

Frankly, I feel the same way even though I love the taste and affordability of ICBINB. (Earth Balance is twice the price and only one of their varieties is available at my local grocery store. Not all mainstream stores carry it.) However, if eating healthy is new to you – and you’ve been told that you need to reduce your saturated fat consumption because of high cholesterol – I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! is a delicious step in the right direction.

An ICBINB lunch and a hands on cooking activity

ICBINB lunch After the presentation, we had lunch. This was a great time to network with the other bloggers and try more fabulous dishes made with ICBINB like:

Then we got to cook up some Delicious One Bowl Chocolate Chip Cookies, which I snacked on my long trip home. My family and I ate the rest for, um, breakfast while I told them all about the trip.

I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to use the tub soft spread in baking. I had no problems measuring it and blending it into the flour. (Though I was impatient and used my hands to mix the dough.) It’s already soft so you don’t have to remember to take the tub out of the fridge a couple of hours before cooking. The cookie recipe was very versatile, too. I added coconut and dried cranberries in with my chocolate chips, which was a yummy and slightly healthier variation. You could experiment and try Splenda or agave nectar instead of sugar, too.

chocolate chip cookies After we cleaned up and packed up our cookies and gear, we stopped off at the Unilever employee shop, which featured some of my favorite brands like Suave, Bertolli and Knorr. I bought some Lipton tea and Vaseline lip balm for the kids and hopped on the bus back to the airport.

All in all it was a short but enlightening trip. Not only did I meet a terrific bunch of bloggers, I learned about a product that I’m now using in my own home. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! does make eating toast a whole lot more fun. Now if I can find some time to cook with it!