Monday, December 7, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Don’t those cookies look delicious? That’s what I came home with after this weekend’s cookie exchange with our Rhode Island friends. OK, I admit, I came home with a few more cookies than you actually see here. We did try a few yesterday in between Christmas Pageant rehearsals, a birthday party, cleaning out old toys and putting up the Christmas tree. We deserved a treat with the pace we kept over the weekend. But here it is, Monday again. And that means, it’s time to get rid of these cookies.
Last week, on Cyber Monday, I wrote about holiday stress and how the busy-ness of the holiday season can derail your healthy eating and exercising plan. Now that it is Monday again and I’m looking at this beautiful plate of cookies on my kitchen counter (notice that they are all chocolate in some way, shape or form - my favorite), I am reminded of the other thing that can throw you off track: all the decadent food that surrounds us at this time of year. Put the two together: stress + decadent food = holiday weight gain. We’ve all heard the statistics. It’s not pretty.
So, how do you avoid those extra pounds over the holidays?
One (very funny, actually) article suggests that you skip all the holiday parties. I do NOT advocate that strategy. The parties are exactly what you need to burn off a little stress.
Here are some thoughts:
- Plan, plan, plan. I know, I know, you have other things to think about right now (Christmas card lists, finishing your shopping, the teachers, the milk man, your hairdresser) but you have to take a little time to honor yourself. So, this week, I have my work holiday party and a neighborhood cocktail party. I’m taking some time to make a good lentil soup that can be a quick, healthy lunch and dinner. And I’ll eat light breakfasts & dinners on those party days. I’ll eat a banana before I go, so that I don’t overdo it.
- Get rid of the cookies. Yes, they are beautiful and Christmasy and all that. Have a couple and then share them. Do you have an elderly neighbor who can no longer bake? I bet he/she would love a little plate of cookies. And you can always leave them in the break room at work. They’ll be gone in an instant.
- Get rid of the leftover appetizers. The dip I made for the party this past weekend was delicious. But I have a lot of healthy friends who enjoy some and leave the rest. So I came home with the rest of it. Today, I know it is wasteful, but it’s going in the garbage disposal. I know there are people starving in other countries and in our own country, but I can’t exactly send them the rest of my artichoke dip. Throw it out and write a check to your local Food Bank to ease your consience.
- Don’t skip your workouts. Every November, I give my Pilates and Group Exercise students the same lecture. They roll their eyes and say, “Here she goes again.” And we see the numbers at the gym dwindle every year. Again, honor yourself. You will be so glad you did when January rolls in and you feel lean and strong at the New Year’s Day workout.
So, I’m wrapping up a little container of cookies for my elderly neighbor. The rest are going to the NuVal break room. After all, it’s all about sharing!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Uncategorized
Friday, December 4, 2009 at 07:05 AM
Hooray for Friday and Pizza Mooooooooovie night! Perhaps you took one look at the title of my post today and thought that I was going to talk about NuVal scores for milk again. No, it’s Friday. I’ll give you all a break. The reason for the plethora of “o’s” in “movie” is that it is exactly how my 4 1/2 year old says it. It’s one of the things about her that I will be so sad to see go as she grows older. That and the way she runs. She truly prances like a fairy. It’s almost superhuman.
My kids are big on Pizza Moooovie night on Fridays. And this week, we are too! We have several tools to organize our family’s schedule (monthly calendars, Blackberry calendars, filing cabinets) but one of the most important is my little weekly planner from the Dollar Bin at Michael’s craft store that is on the front of the refrigerator. Every Sunday night, I sit down and plan out the activities, events, dinners and daily to dos. It’s where I remember that Thursday is Show ‘n’ Tell Day or that the school library book is due this Wednesday. This week, all of the “stuff” almost didn’t fit. I’m not usually a “cross the day off” kind of girl. But this week, getting through each day was an accomplishment.
So, we are excited for Friday night: Take-out pizza followed by home-made popcorn and the original Disney’s Peter Pan. We took the kids to the Foxboro Orpheum to see the theater version the night after Thanksgiving and they loved it. So it made sense to make it this week’s Netflix pick.
Even though it’s Pizza Moooovie night, and it’s my time to kick back and relax, I can’t help but try to make it a little healthier. My kids (only 6 and 4, mind you) can put away an entire cheese pizza, if I let them. So, I make them these “Kooky Faces” as we like to call them with whatever vegetables I still have left in the refrigerator before grocery shopping day.
I would like to take the credit for this creative idea, but really it comes from one of my daughter’s favorite books, Elmo’s First Babysitter. In the book, Elmo and his babysitter make these Kooky Faces for dinner.
Giving the kids some vegetables keeps their pizza intake down. As for my DH and I, we both have a couple of slices of veggie pizza with salad. In case you’re wondering, regular popcorn gets a great score: 91 for Orville Redenbacher plain. If you air-popped it, the score would stay the same. I admit, I make it the old fashioned way – in a big pan with a little vegetable oil in the bottom. And yes, we put some butter on it. Hey, it’s Friday. We never eat microwave popcorn. Yuck! I am not a fan. And the scores hover in the 20′s and below.
The best part of Pizza Moooooooovie night is the family togetherness. Joanna Weiss, one of my favorite Boston Globe columnists, wrote an Op-Ed piece last weekend entitled “Family Fusion: Generation Gap Shrinks.” In it, she cites a Nickelodeon study that found that across various demographics “parents want to hang out with their kids, and kids want to hang out with their parents.” She goes on to describe how many families spend their “together-time” watching television or movies as a family. Shows like “American Idol” have brought many families together in front of the TV. You know, when I bought the theater tickets last week for Peter Pan, I worried that I would regret that decision. Even though the tickets were relatively inexpensive (it was a community theater), anything for four people adds up. I worried that the kids would be tired from Thanksgiving and maybe we were pushing it by attending an evening performance. On the contrary, it was a magical night. We dressed up, we went to TGIFriday’s for dinner, the kids were completetly mesmerized throughout the performance and we were thoroughly entertained. I remember sitting there thinking, “This is almost better than a date with my husband!” I am loving that we can all enjoy the same entertainment together. The time spent together – just the four of us – is what memories are made of.
The Day Care that we’ve used since the birth of our son has a semi-annual tradition. Near Mother’s Day and again near Christmas, you can drop your child off from 5:30 – 9:30 pm for “Pizza Movie Night”. The kids have a pizza dinner, they all put on their pajamas and have a huge “slumber party” as they watch a movie together. Parents have a chance to go out to dinner or finish their Christmas shopping. Our kids attended last spring and they loved it. And we enjoyed a dinner out, sans guilt, knowing that our kids were having such a good time. Next Friday, our Day Care is having this Pizza Movie Night and I was all set to sign the kids up again. But this time, they said, “No, thanks. We want to spend Pizza Movie Night here at home – with you and Daddy.” Awwwwwwww! My daughter will soon lose her cute pronounciation of double-o’s and her baby-girl prance will become a sprint, but I’m cherishing that we are beginning a whole new chapter of enjoying the same things and the same entertainment - together.
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Pizza, Popcorn
Tags: kooky faces, Pizza, Popcorn
Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 06:57 AM
Can you believe that Christmas Eve is only 3 weeks from today? Aaaahhh! I talk to a lot of moms and it seems that most are at a breaking point right now. Not only is there the incredible holiday to-do list, but it’s teacher conference time, winter sports are starting, and don’t even get me started about Christmas Pageant rehearsals. Before I became a mom, I always thought to myself, “What’s the big deal? It’s a little Parent-Teacher conference or a basketball practice?!” Well, now I know that it’s enough to turn our little household into a tailspin.
It’s during these busy times that I have to remember my strategies for holiday sanity. Last night, I went to Dream Dinners and picked up my already-made-for-me dinners. The staff at Dream Dinners assembles them for customers at no extra charge during December. Isn’t that the best Christmas gift? So from now until December 26th, it’s all Dream Dinners or Soup or Crockpot Meals. Last night, we had a long-time family favorite: Venus Soup.
Now, you may think that this soup is named after one of the 8 planets. Nope. It actually gets it name from the famous Venus de Milo restaurant in Seekonk, Massachusetts. The Venus de Milo is a big wedding factory kind of a place. Think Adam Sandler and The Wedding Singer. The legend in my family is that my grandmother stole the recipe from the Venus de Milo. My grandmother is a very honest woman, so I doubt that she really “stole” it, but you never know. What I do know is that women in my family have relied on this recipe for years, probably because it is so easy and economical to make and you can get a couple of meals out of it.
Grandma’s original recipe calls for ground beef (NuVal score of 26 for 80% lean) but I use ground turkey (NuVal score of 33).
1 onion, chopped
1 package (1 1/4 lbs) ground turkey
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can Veg-All
2 cans stewed tomatoes
4 cans water
3 or 4 beef bouillon cubes (or use beef broth)
¾ box ditalini cooked to package directions
In a large soup pot, brown onion and ground turkey over medium-high heat. Break up the ground turkey as finely as you can. Once the turkey is browned, strain the fat. Add kidney beans, Veg-All, stewed tomatoes, water and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer about 1 hour. You can simmer it for hours if you’d like. Serve with cooked ditalini. Note: Do not cook the soup with the ditalini in it or you will end up with mush.
As I learn more about NuVal, I continue to trade up my ingredients for better NuVal scores.
For example, I used Del Monte No Salt Added Stewed Tomatoes which have a NuVal score of 47. Del Monte’s regular stewed tomatoes only score a 34. On my next trip to Price Chopper, I need to grab some cans of the Price Chopper No Salt Added Stewed Tomatoes. They get a 73!
Since I was shopping at my local Stop & Shop, where they do not have NuVal scores on shelf, I had to rely on my ever-failing memory for scores when choosing my ingredients. The Progresso regular kidney beans looked like a good choice with a score of 49. Actually, I would have done better with:
- Goya Kidney Beans: 64
- Full Circle Dark Red Organic Kidney Beans: 82
- Food Club Light Red Kidney Beans: 93
The Veg-All only scores a 43 but it is the one ingredient I can’t change. Veg-All is a unique canned mixed vegetable that has pieces of potato in it. Believe me, I’ve tried switching to higher scoring canned mixed vegetables here and it just doesn’t work for me.
The Barilla Ditalini gets an admirable pasta score of a 61. Too bad they don’t make a Barilla Plus version of that small tubular cut! You could use Barilla Plus Elbows for an amazing NuVal score of 91.
As for the bouillon that I used, we have not yet scored it. NuVal is scoring all products: the good, the bad, and the ugly and this takes time.
Venus Soup, however, does not take time. It is my go-to recipe every December because it takes me all of 10 minutes to prepare and you can simmer it for 1 hour or even all day in a slow cooker. It’s sanity preservation – in a soup pot!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Soup
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 07:13 AM
In my role as the Mom Blogger for NuVal, I have had a chance to meet some amazing bloggers and mothers – sometimes virtually and sometimes in person. Please meet my Twitter friend Marisa, a Philadelphia-area stay-at-home mother of two “hungry girls,” ages 7 and 12. Marisa has a beautiful blog called Trim the Fat, where she chronicles her victorious and inspirational weight loss battle (she’s lost 71 pounds!). Her blog is one that I turn to for new recipe ideas.
Marisa of Trim The Fat
Snack Time With NuVal
When I first became aware of the NuVal scoring system, I was very excited about the prospect of this system coming to supermarkets in my area. Although I have become accustomed to reading nutritional labels looking for the healthiest foods for myself and my family, the NuVal scoring system would make this a much easier job! All I would have to do is look for the NuVal sign and score on the pricing or shelf labels!
From the NuVal website:
How the Scoring Works:
NuVal Scores summarize comprehensive nutritional information in one simple number between 1 and 100. Each NuVal Score takes into account more than just the nutrition fact panel. It considers 30-plus nutrients and nutrition factors – the good (protein, calcium, vitamins) and the not-so-good (sugar, sodium, cholesterol). And then it boils it down into a simple, easy-to-use number; a number you can trust to make better decisions about nutrition in just a few seconds..
Could you see how this might revolutionize the way you shop for groceries?
When Tina of www.carrotsncake.com joined the NuVal team and asked if I would be willing to try out the NuVal scoring system, I gladly jumped at the chance! As a mom of 2 hungry girls, I find the most daunting task is searching the aisles for more nutritious snacks for them. Ideally, fruits and vegetables are the best options, but it’s also nice to have convenient, shelf-stable items for them to choose from, too. I decided to challenge myself to come up with a cool afternoon snack that my daughters would love and that would include only ingredients with the highest NuVal scores. Little did I know what a challenge this would be! Our usual “go-to” picks for afterschool snacks turned out to be quite low- scoring, which signified that they were not the most nutritionally sound choices. After going through the database of scores and enlisting the help of Tina and the NuVal Team, I was able to come up with 2 great afternoon snacks that were easy, healthy, high-scoring and more nutritious alternatives than the usual box of Cheez-its (NuVal score 23) that they grab for when they come home from school!
Blueberry Banana Smoothie
1 container Dannon Activia Light Blueberry Yogurt (NuVal score 89)
1/2 cup blueberries (NuVal score 100)
1 large banana (NuVal score 91)
8 oz. Over The Moon Fat Free Milk (NuVal score 91)
Place ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Ice may be added for a thicker consistency.
Serves 2.
Easy Cheesy Nu Nachos
16 Garden of Eatin’ No Salt Blue Tortilla Chips (NuVal score 52)
1/2 cup Galaxy Nutritionals Veggie Shreds (NuVal score 69)
1/4 cup Bush’s Best Black Beans ( NuVal score 53)
1 plum tomato, diced (NuVal score 96)
Place tortilla chips on a microwave-safe plate. Layer black beans and cheese over tortilla chips. Microwave on high for about 1 minute or until cheese is melted. Garnish with diced tomato and serve.
Serves 2.
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To read more about the NuVal scoring system and if it’s available in your area, go to www.nuval.com.
Yesterday’s Winner:
Congratulations to Commenter #35, Meg of SunshineNSpice! You’ve won my Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese GiveAway!
Now I’m off to make those Easy Cheesy Nu Nachos!!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Fruit Smoothies, Guest Bloggers
Tags: Fruit Smoothies, nachos, snacks
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 07:05 AM
Readers of my old blog, Nutrition By the Numbers, may remember my Mac & Cheese post. I was in a Price Chopper store, where they have NuVal scores on the shelf, and I had a serious revelation. I discovered that the “Character” Macaroni & Cheese (e.g., SpongeBob, Spider-Man, Pokemon) that I was throwing into my shopping cart every week so as to quiet the whining of my children, was indeed, a low-scoring product. Lower than low. I mean, I didn’t expect it to be high, but seeing those 4′s and 5′s on the shelf tag was eye-opening.
Kraft SpongeBob SquarePants Macaroni and Cheese: 4
Kraft Spiderman Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Kraft ScoobyDoo Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Some people might think that Annie’s Macaroni & Cheese would score better than Kraft. Wrong! The regular Annie’s scores the same as Kraft.
Annie’s HomeGrown Cheddar Cheese Regular Macaroni and Cheese: 5
Annie’s HomeGrown White Cheddar Shell Macaroni and Cheese: 5
So, I stopped buying it. I flat out told my kids that it wasn’t a good choice. They are used to this kind of talk. Mommy works for a nutritional scoring system after all. So, we just stopped buying it and they stopped eating it.
Now, the Kraft Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese scores better. It gets an 18. No, it’s not stellar, but it’s better. So, yes, the kids are still in the aisle clamoring for Macaroni and Cheese PLEEEAAASE. However, now they say, “Mom, can we get the Healthy Macaroni and Cheese PLEEEAAASE???” I’m so proud! 
We don’t eat it too often, but certainly at this crazy-busy time of the year, it will make the dinner menu.
I know there are probably readers out there wondering why I’m waxing on about a product that scores an 18. After all, my previous Trade-Up Tuesday Posts have featured such NuVal Rock Stars as Barilla Plus Pasta and Shredded Wheat. Well, I’m talking about it because even though this increase was only 14 points on the NuVal scale, it was a big step for my kids. Marketing to children is huge in the grocery store. Somehow, I managed to get them to give up their favorite characters (who are all at eye level, by the way) and switch to a plain old boring box of macaroni and cheese. That is worth blogging about.
Today’s GiveAway
One lucky reader will win my Whole Grain Macaroni & Cheese GiveAway, including:
- 4 boxes of Kraft Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese
- An aluminum NuVal water bottle.
To enter, leave a comment, telling me a trade-up you’ve made since learning about NuVal. If you’re just learning about NuVal and haven’t made a trade-up yet, check out www.nuval.com to get some ideas. One winner will be chosen at random.
The contest closes at 11:59 pm Eastern Time Tuesday December 1st! Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Macaroni and Cheese
Tags: Macaroni and Cheese, Trade-Up Tuesdays
