Annette Trades Up: Spinach Salad
One of the best parts about my job at NuVal is that I get to work with some amazing dietitians. As someone who likes to cook, eat, and plan healthy meals, I am so lucky to have dietitians as colleagues. They are a wealth of knowledge.
Annette Maggi, MS, RD, LD, FADA, is our Senior Director of Nutrition. She lives in Minneapolis, MN with her husband and their 11-year-old son.
I asked all of my fellow NuValians to share their Trade-Up stories with A Better Bag of Groceries readers. Annette answered the call and told me about a salad that her husband makes and that her son likes. I love husbands cooking and kids happily eating so I was all ears on this one!
Annette’s husband recently discovered this recipe for Blue Cheese and Walnut Salad with Maple Dressing on Rachel Ray’s Top 30 30-minute Meals. Since Annette’s husband is married to, well, Annette and since Annette is, well, a dietitian, of course they made some changes to the recipe to make a little more nutritious.
Blue Cheese and Walnut Salad with Maple Dressing
1 sack baby spinach
1/3 lb. blue cheese, crumbled (Annette’s family cuts this down to 1/4 lb.)
6 ounces walnut halves, toasted
1/4 cup maple syrup, warmed (Annette’s family uses a “no sugar added” syrup)
1 1/2 TBSP cider vinegar
1/4 cup EVOO (Annette’s family used Canola Oil instead of Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
Place spinach on a large platter. Top with blue cheese and walnuts. Pour vinegar into a small bowl. Whisk oil into vinegar in a low stream, then whisk in warmed maple syrup, slowly. Pour dressing over the salad and serve.
That looks yummy! I have to try this out and see if my 6-year-old and 4-year-old like it as much as Annette’s son does. And I have to get my husband to make it!
I checked out the NuVal scores on this recipe.
The baby spinach is an Incredible Vegetable with a score of 100. Athenos Blue Cheese Crumbles score a 20. Walnuts are another Rock Star, with a score of 82. The maple syrup, as you can imagine, does not do so well. Vermont Maid Maple Syrup scores a 1. Annette warmed me that even using a “no sugar added” syrup or a “lite” syrup doesn’t change the score all that much. I found that Vermond Maid Lite syrup with no artificial sweeteners gets an 11. NuVal is not scoring vinegars because they contain no calories nor nutrients, so no score on that.
And here’s the part that I expect to get some comments and/or emails on. Extra Virgin Olive Oil scores an 11. Canola Oil scores a 24. That’s a hard fact to digest, isn’t it? I asked Annette why that is and she explained, “The real differentiator in liquid oils in omega-3 fatty acid content. Canola oil has more than 9 grams omega-3 per 100 grams of oil, followed by soybean oil with 6.8 grams omega-3, corn oil with 1.6 grams and olive oil with less than 1 gram of omega-3 fatty acids.” I had no idea! I will have to look for more opportunities to trade up to Canola oil.
You can read more of Annette’s Expert Insights on the NuVal website. Additionally, Annette is starting her own NuVal blog soon, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, I’m off to buy me some Canola Oil!
Enjoy!
Posted by: Melissa 8 comments
Posted in: Spinach, blue cheese, oils
Tags: Incredible Vegetables, NuVal Staff
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 8:47 am
This sounds super-yummy. I’ve heard that roasting/toasting nuts decreases the nutritional value, with the exception of peanuts.??
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Oh man, I use olive oil for everything.. I guess I’m throwing money down the drain cuz those things cost almost an arm and a leg
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 10:17 am
That sounds delicious! I love spinach salads! I have also heard that toasting nuts decreases the nutrients in them. I am interested in why canola oil is rated so much higher than olive oil in the NuVal score. I can see that there are more omega-3’s, but it is an extremely refined oil. Canola oil always pops up in lower calorie recipes, but in more natural ‘whole-food’ recipes I seem to see olive oil. Just wondering what a dietician thinks about it…there are such varied views out there!
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
This was really interesting. I never knew about olive oil and canola oil. It made me read a little more about it. There seems to be research going both ways on this debate. Olive oil is natural, while Canola oil is made from an engineered plant. There doesn’t seem to be enough research in regards to canola oils affect on humans yet. I’m going to stick with Olive oil for now and make sure to get enough fish to keep my Omega 3’s up there.
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Great questions about NuVal scores for oil. I checked in with Rachel Rodek, MS, RD, LDN, Communications Manager for NuVal She says, “When an oil is ‘refined’ it simply means taking out acids and other flavor characteristics that lead to an undesirable taste (for example, Virgin olive oil has a much stronger taste than Extra Virgin olive oil because it has a higher amount of acids). Refining does not affect the percent of fatty acids in the oils, so canola oil will always be a better source of omega-3’s than olive oil. Another factor affecting oil scores is amount of saturated fatty acids. Olive oil has 13.8 grams of sat fat per 100g while canola oil has only 7.4 grams – which is one of the lowest amounts, only bested by flaxseed oil (NuVal score = 31).
This does not mean, however, that olive oil does not have a place in your meal planning. Because of its stronger flavor, this oil makes a great base for salad dressings, dips for breads, and sautéing veggies. Canola oil has a much milder flavor, making it an ideal oil for baking – and the extra omega-3’s are just an added benefit!”
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
You’ve been tagged Melissa ..http://mostlygrocery.com/2010/01/14/tagged-suzicate/
on Jan 14th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Trust me the salad is very good. It’s Jack from the story. I really like the salad and my dad is trying to cook his way through the Rachel Ray cookbook. You guys should try it! Even kids like it!
on Jan 15th, 2010 at 6:46 am
Any salad w/ spinach and blue cheese gets an A+ from this health nut!