Friday, January 29, 2010 at 07:13 AM
This Friday definitely calls for an installment of Two of My Favorite things – a reader’s favorite feature here on A Better Bag of Groceries. This week, the topic is cleaning – which is not one of my favorite things.
Here’s the thing about cleaning. It’s not that I don’t like cleaning, it’s that after all the energy I put into meal-planning, cooking, parenting, work, and fitness, there’s not much time left for cleaning. So, full disclosure here (always!) – I have cleaning people that come every two weeks. I’m not wealthy and I don’t have a big house, but I would rather go teach two fitness classes a week and use that money to pay the cleaning people. It’s a better use of time and energy. And cleaning for the cleaning people (that would be all the picking up that has to happen before they come) keeps our house pretty well-organized.
With 2 young kids in the house, I get to take in the Clean House After-Glow for all of about 20 minutes. And that is why a few years ago I bought The Shark. I found it at Macy’s for $30. Think of the Shark as a dustbuster that you don’t have to get on your hands and knees to use. It’s light and nimble and so much easier than dragging out the big vacuum. My kids love it when I ask them to run The Shark around.
You can use The Shark on carpets, wood floors, linoleum or tile – whatever you’ve got.
Too bad The Shark can’t pick up the green tractor in the hallway, the paper airplanes that are all over my coffee table and sofa, or the Littlest Pet Shop toy that’s been left on the floor. But, it does pick up soggy Cheerios. In fact, this is my new baby shower gift. Forget diaper bags and Pack & Plays, I want to give all new Moms the Shark.
Emptying the Shark is so easy – even a 6-year-old can do it. In fact, I think that’s my son’s favorite part. He’s such a boy – he loves to see all the gross stuff he picked up.
So, with the floors clean, let’s move on to the walls. My newest favorite cleaning lifesaver is the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
I learned about this at ballet class. Not my ballet class (oh, how I wish!) but my daughter’s ballet class. Every Saturday morning, I chat it up with the other moms as we watch our 4-year-old ballerinas through a mirrored window. That is how I learned about the Magic Eraser. These moms were swooning over it. They said that using the Magic Eraser is addictive. You just can’t stop cleaning. I just had to get myself a product that would keep me cleaning forever.
So, I tried it out and they were right. I could not stop cleaning. The Magic Eraser got marks off the wall that I thought were going to be there for eternity. It even gets off Sharpie marker!
Check out my before and after pictures. Here is my wall, going up the staircase.
You can practically see the finger prints! I took the Magic Eraser to this little area for about 45 seconds and ouila…
No more marks. So this is where the addicting part comes in. I find myself cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I just can’t stop. I think it definitely counts as toning exercise for the upper body!
The Magic Eraser is all I can talk about these days. I found out that my sister April used it to remove a wallpaper border in her daughter’s room. “It was the only thing that would do the trick,” she told me. My colleage, Caryn, who manages Marketing for NuVal, loves it too, although she warns that it can remove paint from walls and cabinets. I did find that on my red kitchen cabinets. So, scrub away, but not too hard!
There you have it, something old and something new, which seems to be a theme with My Two Favorite Things. Soon, I am going to have a spotless house! And great arms! Happy Cleaning!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Two Favorite Things
Tags: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, The Shark
Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 06:53 AM
At least two nights a week, we have Dinner Without Dad. My husband has a backlog of projects at work and so he needs to put in some evenings at the office. That means that it’s just me and the kids for dinner. Spending the time to make a “real” dinner seems a little unnecessary to me in this case, since the kids aren’t impressed by the effort. Also, this schedule means that I am Single Mom for the night, solely responsible for playtime, dinner, clean-up, homework, bathtime, reading, teethbrushing and bed-time. So, quick preparation is key – as is a meal that will be gobbled quickly without complaint.
My husband and I both grew up with Dads who worked late. On those nights, my mother-in-law packed up her 4 kids and headed out to dinner. My mom made a full dinner and put a plate in the microwave for my Dad. My husband prefers to bring dinner with him and eat it at the office – instead of eating at 10 pm. So, I cook – but it is toned down.
I polled some of my Mommy friends to see what they do when their husbands work late. I heard a lot of “chicken nuggets for the kids, salad for me” kind of answers. Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese were also popular. While I am all about speed and easy clean-up on my Single Mom nights, I also still want to hold true to two basic criteria that I have for Family Dinner:
- I make one dinner. This is not a restaurant.
- It must be nutritious.
Some of the usual Go To food when Moms are just feeding the kids don’t stack up nutritionally. Check out these NuVal scores:
- Kayen Beef & Pork Frank: 7 (remember 100 is highest)
- Oscar Mayer Beef Frank: 9
- Ball Park Beef Frank: 8
- Tyson Regular Chicken Nuggets score a 14
- Kraft SpongeBob SquarePants Macaroni and Cheese: 4
- Annie’s HomeGrown Cheddar Cheese Regular Macaroni and Cheese: 5
On these nights, I steer clear of these low-scoring Kid Foods and resort to (drum roll, please) Veggie Burgers.
I do the stove-top cooking method, which takes only 10 minutes. And I love them too – so I’m only making one dinner for the three of us. My favorite is Gardenburger Original which score a 32on the NuVal scale. A better bet would be Boca burgers, which score a 54! I used to be a Boca Girl, and then I converted to Gardenburger.
To round out this meal and make it nutritious, I add:
- Country Kitchen Whole Grain Wheat Hamburg Rolls: 29
- Cascadian Farms Shoe String French Fries: 81 (that’s one of my favorite surprise scores of all time!)
- Sliced Cucumbers: 93
- Skim Milk: 91
And then, the kids add ketchup. A lot of ketchup. It scores a 3on the NuVal scale. Not good. While we ate this veggie burger dinner, my daughter asked me how they got the plastic bottle around the tomatoes! So, I explained how food gets processed in factories. Good thing I’ve been on a few food manufacturing plant tours in my lifetime!
So, while the kids miss Dad on these long nights (and I do too!), they cheer for Veggie Burgers and Fries. Now the question is – will I give up my beloved Gardenburgers for Boca? Stay tuned….
NuVal News
Two exciting things to check out:
Annette Maggi, MS, RD, LD, FADA, and Senior Director of Nutrition for NuVal has started a blog called Nutrition Outlook. Annette’s goal through her blog is “to get you to think about nutrition as it stands today, and to think about the subject of what you eat more broadly, more comprehensively.”
Also, over the next couple of months we will be working hard to make improvements on NuVal.com. Please think about your last visit, or visit NuVal.com today, and tell us what you think. If you take the survey by February 15th, you will be entered to win a $100 gift card for a grocery store of your choice. Here is a link to the survey.
Question of the Day
What do you make for dinner when it is just you or just you & the kids?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: French fries, Uncategorized, veggie burgers
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 07:10 AM
When I first heard the name of this casserole, I thought “ewwwww!” Turkey? Eggplant? Together??? However, if you are a fan of Eggplant Parmesan, then you have to try this one.
First of all, I need to say a few words about casseroles. Many of my recipes here on A Better Bag of Groceries have been casseroles as of late. You might be wondering if I ever make anything that is not in one dish and does not go in the oven. I do, but at this time of year, casseroles are my best friend. There are 3 reasons why I make a lot of casseroles in winter – and they’re all based on the leftover factor:
- I like to bring warm lunches to work
- My husband works late a few nights a week and he can bring leftovers for dinner at the office
- The weeknights that we all are actually home for dinner are a whirlwind of activity – Cub Scouts, sports, homework, blogging – so I often rely on leftovers or a Dream Dinner
I first started making Turkey Eggplant Casserole about 13 years ago. It was in the first book that I received at a Weight Watchers meeting. I still have that book and the page with this recipe is splattered and dog-eared. The great news is that this recipe is only 3 Weight Watchers points per serving, so it’s one of my Go To recipes when I need to be good. You know – if I’ve gone a little over my happy weight.
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 package, extra lean ground turkey (about 1 1/4 lbs)
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 large eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 lbs)
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large Dutch oven, sprayed with cooking spray, heat onion and garlic. Add ground turkey and brown. I break it up into small pieces while I brown it.
Add the green pepper, red pepper and eggplant. When vegetables begin to soften, add the crushed tomatoes, bread crumbs, and basil. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
Spray a 9″ X 13″ baking dish with cooking spray. Pour the mixture into the pan. Bake, covered, for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serves 8.
All my casseroles look kind of the same, don’t they? But they are all unique in their own way! 
So how does this casserole score on the NuVal scale?
It has 5 ingredients that score in the 90s!!
Onion: 93
Garlic: 91
Eggplant: 96
Green Pepper: 94
Red Pepper: 96
And bite for bite, you can see that these high-scoring veggies take up a lot of the “space” in the casserole. As for the other ingredients, they are not as high scoring, but the amounts are rather small relative to the entire recipe. The ground turkey scores a 33. The Parmesan cheese (I used DiGiorno) scores a 20. The Progresso Italian style bread crumbs only score a 6. Ouch!
The real surprise in the scores for me was actually the crushed tomatoes that I chose. Since I do not live near a store that has NuVal scores on the shelf, I have to rely on my memory, and that is fading fast. Plus, I was shopping with my 4-year-old, so my concentration was limited. Anyway, I grabbed a can of Tutto Rosso crushed tomatoes because I remembered that they make a very high-scoring tomato puree. When I researched the scores for this blog, I found that the Tutto Rosso crushed tomatoes only scored a 14! I was shocked. I would have been better off buying the Hunt’s Basil Crushed Tomatoes. They get a 67. The scores in canned tomatoes really vary and I don’t have time to read the labels to see which ones have added salt or sugar or both. That is why I can’t wait to get scores on the shelf in a grocery store near my home!
Full disclosure here: my kids are not fans of this casserole (yet!). So, we usually supplement with a side of whole wheat pasta (which becomes a main dish for the kids) or ravioli (we have like 3 of them, the kids have a main meal of them). But then, my husband and I have this Go To dish in the fridge for the rest of the week. So, in those last 3 minutes we have before he needs to sprint for the train and I for my car, we can slide some Turkey Eggplant into our handy-dandy new Pyrex travel containers. Later, when I heat it up for lunch at NuVal, I always get some co-workers asking, “What is that? It smells soooooooo good!”
Winner of the Bread GiveAway
Congratulations to Bill, Commenter #10 on yesterday’s Arnold Bread GiveAway! You’ve won some of my favorite bread.
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Dinner Recipes
Tags: turkey eggplant
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 06:52 AM
Welcome to Trade-Up Tuesday – a weekly feature here on A Better Bag of Groceries. Every Tuesday, I tell you about a Trade-Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal and there is always a GiveAway for one lucky commenter. Today’s topic: Arnold Grains and More Bread.
The score for Arnold Flax & Fiber bread caught my eye when I was visiting a Price Chopper store over a year ago. Who could miss that Rock-Star score of a 48. While a 48 might not sound so high on a scale of 1 – 100, when you are talking about bread, it is. The median score for bread (half score above it, half score below it) is a 25. So, when you see most bread scores hovering around the mid-20s, a 48 sure stands out. So, I started buying it. It makes terrific toast. And one slice is enough for me.
While the crown, sash and flowers go to Flax & Fiber, Miss First Runner Up is noteworthy as well. After all, if Flax and Fiber is unable to fulfill her duties, Arnold Double Protein could easily stand in with a top-notch score of 35.
Last week, so many ABBG readers commented on Trade-Up Tuesday that they would like to try Flax & Fiber. So, here’s your big chance! All you need to do is leave me a comment answering the following question: what would you most like to put on top of your Arnold Flax & Fiber or Double Protein bread? Also, check out the bread scores at www.nuval.com if you get the chance. Interesting stuff! One lucky commenter will win both breads and some goodies from the NuVal prize closet. The contest closes at 11:59 pm Eastern time tonight. Good luck to all the lovely contestants!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: bread
Tags: Arnold
Monday, January 25, 2010 at 07:15 AM
Today, I’m introducing another new segment on A Better Bag of Groceries: Cart Confessions. I spend a lot of time telling you about the high-scoring things that I buy and feed to my kids. I even boasted that I managed to get my 4-year-old to eat collard greens (true story). While I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job in choosing nutritious foods for my family (NuVal has helped tremendously), there are still some items that make it into my cart that I’m not so proud of. There are some products that I can blame on a surrender to begging and whining, or fear of a meltown in Aisle 5. And then there are some that I can’t even explain.
This week it was Fruitables.
I think it was curiosity that landed this juice box in my cart. As you can see by the label, this is no ordinary fruit juice box. It is a fruit and vegetablejuice box. Whoa!!!!!! My BFF here in my hometown has waxed on about fruit/vegetable juice combinations. Her kids love them. They must be more nutritious, right??? Not! Well, maybe about 3 points higher on the NuVal scale. Three lousy points.
Fruitables Berry Berry score a 23on the NuVal scale (100 is best)
Motts for Tots Apple score a 20
Minute Maid Apple White Grape Juice, 100% Juice score a 14
Juicy Juice Apple scores an 11
Juicy Juice Berry scores a 10
Kool-Aid Jammers score a 2
Why was I even buying juice boxes??? I have no idea. It was Friday. I was feeling a little reckless. I was tired from a long week. No explanation. I’ve pretty much moved my kids to two water beverages as their backpack staples:
Minute Maid Fruit Falls which score a 41
Honest Kids Goodness Grapeness which do not have a NuVal score yet. I think hope they’re going to get a good score. The minute they get scored I will let you know!
One juice box that does very well is Minute Maid Kids Plus. It gets a 70! Unfortunately, neither of my kids like it. It’s orange. I think they are just used to juice boxes being berry or apple. So, I try to stick to the water beverages instead.
My readers who are not (yet) parents might be wondering why juice boxes are necessary in the first place. I remember thinking that I would never buy them. So ecologically irresponsible – and costly! Then, I became a mom and found “juice box” in my everyday vocabulary, along with “Diaper Genie” and “Good Job!” (While driving three of my colleagues out to New York State last week, I told all of them to “Look at the cows!” as we passed a farm. So embarrassing!) Yup, some kind of packaged beverage with a straw attached is in my household to stay. It just won’t be a Fruitable.
Question of the Day?
What is the item that made it into your cart recently that you are least proud of? Come on, be honest!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Juice
Tags: Fruitables
