Artichoke Heart, Kale, and Farro Salad

I hear what you're saying, but I have to jump in here because we all fall prey to making blanket statements. This is easy to do in nutrition. The thing is, nutrition is so personal and big picture. I used to be butter-averse. But I learned that depending on the amount and type of butter, it can be part of a balanced meal. I want to share it here, just in case folks don't already know. The DGA recommendation is to limit saturated fats to less than 10% of the total calories you eat and drink each day. That’s about 200 calories for a 2,000 calorie diet. Fat is part of a healthful diet. Our bodies need fat to maintain the structure of our cells, carry vitamins from our food to our bloodstream, insulate and provide cushion to our organs, and transport helpful and harmful cholesterol in/out of our bodies. This recipe serves 6-8. So let's say the total serving size is 6. That is about 1 teaspoon of butter (fat or oil). That comes out to 37 calories, 2.7g of saturated fat per serving. Depending on what type of diet people are following; and what else they're eating throughout the day, this amount of butter can be okay. If the butter is organic and/or made from grass-fed cows it's a bonus because there are more Omega-3s in those butters than conventional butter. I do want to add that extra virgin olive oil, also has saturated fat. About 2 grams/serving. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup of EVOO. Again, we're saying there's 6 servings. That comes out to about 2.7 grams of saturated fat and about 160 calories. So that puts us very close to the saturated fat daily limit of 200 calories on a 2,000 calorie daily diet. If anything it's not the butter that needs to be adjusted in this recipe, it's the amount of EVOO. I would modify this recipe and use 1/4 cup of EVOO, 1 tablespoon of vinegar and add 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice to this dressing. There is room for butter on a balanced plate.