I've been reading about "safe" and unsafe oils and am totally confused. Some say peanut oil, others say no. Some say canola oil, others say NO!!!!!. I've read that the only thing that's safe is macadamia nut oil. I know that olive oil passes the safe test, but I don't care for the taste, and I can't imagine scrambling or frying eggs in olive oil.

If you were going to sautee a little onion, garlic and zucchini for dinner, what would you use?

I use evoo olive oil for a lot of things, but also use light olive oil or canola oil if I don't want to add flavor. I also use hazelnut oil and walnut oil, if the flavor matters and I think it's more suitable than olive oil.

For veggies, I would probably use light olive oil because it has much less flavor. I've also sauteed veggies in a little veggie broth in a good nonstick skillet.

I use the extra virgin olive oil or canola oil for all my cooking needs.

I have olive oil, canola oil, sesame oil and peanut oil in the pantry. I keep meaning to grab some walnut oil, I found a good salad dressing recipe that uses walnut oil.

Thanks all. I haven't tried light olive oil, and may do that. (But I'm still a Butter Girl at heart )

I usually just scamble/fry eggs with PAM.

I use PAM for scrambling eggs too. If I want them "fried" I spray with veggie oil, put in the egg and let it "start" a bit... then add just enough water so it doesn't all stick and finish "frying" the egg. Works great.

And I have also done the sauting veggies in stuff in veggie broth.

we cook a lot of indian food, so we use either canola or mustard oil for that. for other dishes and for making salad dressing, i use olive oil. we used to make chinese with sesame oil-- but it's been a while since we did that. if i am making an egg, i like to fry it in a little bit (TINY TINY piece) of butter-- real butter adds a lot of flavor, especially when you do not eat it on a regular basis.

I haven't used oil in I can't tell you when. I'm pretty stuck on frying anything with Pam. If I want to sautee some onions or veggies from time to time I'll use a Tablespoon or two of Land o Lakes Light Butter. All the great butter flavor and only 50 calories and 6 grams of fat. Love it!

I use either veggie oil or olive oil. I got spray bottles from pampered chef and just use them like Pam . It doesn't take a ton to keep food from sticking.

I don't like the taste of PAM I find it has a chemical taste... I use peanut or extra virgin olive oil... I drizzle it in a pan and spread it very thin with a brush for eggs or stir fries...

I only use Pam for spraying baking pans and casserole dishes. I don't use it in my skillets because it can ruin a good skillet. I just use either a smidgen of oil, or a mixture of oil and a dab of butter. Yes, real butter I don't eat margarine. I limit how much butter I eat because of the sat fats, but a little now and then isn't going to hurt.

I find that I have to add oil to some things because it's important to consume enough fats, and I don't get enough fat from my regular diet.

I became interested in nut oils after reading an interesting article on oils in Cooking Light magazine. They have it on their website at http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking/...634810,00.html

Thanks for all the suggestions. Thinthinker, I use Land o' Lakes light butter for sandwiches, but have found it a bit watery for cooking. ValRock, I've heard of the spray bottles but have never seen them -- I'll check out pampered chef. Thanks!

And thanks for the link, Suzanne. I've been reading articles geared to ONE oil (pro or con, usually extreme) and would like to read a balanced approach. I didn't know that Pam would ruin skillets, but the smell of it is so chemical that I use it rarely, and only to keep things from sticking. I've bought Reynolds nonstick brand -- it's probably the same thing, but more lightly applied.

I'm doing WW, so can use butter as long as I stay within points. And since any oil has the same calories, I think I'll stick with that. Small amounts (and no margarine, ever)

These are the oils I use for cooking.

virgin olive oil for most things
extra virgin olive oil for things that don't require too much heat.. or to add after cooking something
canola oil for frying and when I don't want flavor
sesame oil for marinating lots of things
butter very rarely... but when I do it is real butter

I've wanted to try oils like walnut (Thanks for the link, Suzanne!)

I've also started reconsidering my use of canola oil.. thinking about switching to safflower or peanut oil instead....

Jayde, I switched from peanut oil to canola oil, and then started reading articles that made me think I'd made a mistake. (The Cooking Light article is more about unusual oils than the basics.) Thanks for your list. It makes sense to me.