Welcome! I am a mom of a busy 7 year old and an adventurous 5 year old. I also happen to work for a great new company called NuVal. NuVal is a nutritional scoring system that rates foods on a scale of 1-100, based on how nutritious they are. We are implementing NuVal in grocery stores around the country.
NuVal may not be in your area yet. But I see the scores while they are "hot off the press" and because of that I am able to make better decisions about what to feed my family.
I am not a registered dietitian. I am just a mom who happens to work for NuVal. I am also an AFAA-certified Group Exercise Instructor. NuVal is a system designed to lead customers to the most nutritious food choices. It is not a diet or weight-loss plan. Before starting a diet, you should always consult your personal physician. The opinions expressed in this blog are the opinions of the writer and not the opinions of NuVal LLC.
This past Saturday, I got up extra-early and headed out for a long day trip to Albany, NY to participate in Price Chopper’s Healthy U Open House. While driving 6+ hours and working a fast-paced show in a supermarket on a Saturday might sound like no fun to some, I was very excited to go. Long-time readers of A Better Bag of Groceries can probably tell that I don’t just love my job, I’m practically addicted to it. Seriously, I was thrilled to spread the NuVal word to Price Chopper’s customers. I actually spent a lot of time in the aisles, helping customers trade up for better NuVal scores. It was a blast. Meanwhile, at home, my husband was shepherding the kids through a day that included ballet class, the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby, and a bowling birthday party. Believe me, I got the better deal! I think he was more tired than I was at the end of the day.
Price Chopper pulled out all the stops to make this event a great success.
Customers came in and were greeted with balloons and a free re-usable shopping bag.
After that, customers were treated to free samples throughout the store.
Yes, that is pineapple dipped in dark chocolate. And yes, it was delicious!
The goal of the Healthy U Open House was to teach Price Chopper shoppers that they can choose to eat nutrititiously and it can be delicious.
So, we went to work teaching customers about how to use NuVal to trade up for better nutrition. Price Chopper shoppers are so lucky to have NuVal scores right on shelf. In fact, Price Chopper was first supermarket in the country to implement NuVal.
We wrapped up the event at 4 pm, and then I became a Chopper Shopper myself. I love to roam the aisles to look for new products! I know – I’m a supermarket geek.
But check this out!
I could buy Classico sauce with a NuVal score of 37…
or the Price Chopper brand with a NuVal score of 81.
Guess which one I bought?
Also, I found that I could buy Old El Paso salsa with a NuVal score of 4…
or Price Chopper’s Coyote Joe’s brand, which gets a much higher score of 41.
That went in my cart too!
I could have stayed there all night digging into all the scores in the aisles. I learn something new on every visit. But it was time to hit the Mass Turnpike for the 3-hour ride home. I was tired, but I felt great knowing that I had spread the NuVal word to some Price Chopper shoppers. I love my job!
Winner of Yesterday’s Giveaway
Congratulations to Commenter #14 Kelley! You’ve won Linguine and Dark Chocolate. Send me an email @ abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address.
Question of the Day
What grocery store would you most like to see NuVal scores in?
It’s Trade-Up Tuesday, one of the most popular days here on A Better Bag of Groceries because I give away free stuff with great NuVal scores! Today, I decided to combine it with another popular ABBG feature: Two of My Favorite Things. And those things would be Linguine and Dark Chocolate!
This past weekend, I drove out to Albany, NY to represent NuVal at Price Chopper’s Healthy U Open House. More to come on that fun event tomorrow, but after the event, I took some time to roam the aisles. I love shopping in a store that has NuVal on the shelves. I always, always find something surprising or something new to try. And this Saturday was no exception.
First, I found these Cora tomatoes which score an 82 on the NuVal scale. Wow! I had never seen the Cora brand before, but I just love the label. Then, in the pasta section, I found that Cora also makes pasta. Who knew? Since I loved this beautiful label as well, I scooped it up. The NuVal score is a 61, which is about average for pastas. Yes, there are some higher-scoring whole-wheat pastas, but none with such gorgeous packaging!
On to the candy aisle, where as you can expect, the scores are typically pretty low. Most sugary candy products only score a 1 on the NuVal scale and most chocolate scores below a 10. So, I was thrilled to see that one of my favorites, Ghiardelli Twilight Delight scores a 21! That made my day.
Isn’t this a fantastic giveaway? Linguine + Dark Chocolate = Heaven. You could save it for yourself or even give it away as a gift for say, Mother’s Day! So many possibilities…
To Enter:
Leave a comment below telling me two of your favorite things. Leave a bonus comment with a NuVal score on any food you wish and you will be entered twice! You can find some sample scores on the NuVal website. I will choose one lucky winner at random tomorrow morning at 10 am EST. Good Luck!
Passover Greetings! In observance of this Jewish holiday commemorating the biblical event of Hebrews’ escape from enslavement in Egypt, I am most honored to bring you a post – and a recipe, of course – from my friend, Robin Abrahams. Robin writes the Miss Conduct column in the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine and it is the first thing I read every Sunday. I am a huge fan of her witty advice in this complicated social world that we live in today. Robin has two blogs, Miss Conduct and Robin Abrahams.com, and is the author of Mind Over Manners. While our relationship began as me-fan/she-celebrity, we have become friends over the years and she recently offered to me a guest post of her Passover post from her Miss Conduct blog in April 2008. I hope you enjoy Robin as much as I do!
So, without further ado, I bring you Miss Conduct!
During Passover, observant (or even kinda-observant) Jews do not eat leavened bread. This means no subs, no doughnuts, no pizza–and no croutons in your salad.
Until now! For I have invented the breadless crouton to spare my people and the righteous and health-conscious gentiles from boring salads! Let me show you it.
Take a block of extra-firm tofu and drain it. I realize I have been putting up a lot of tofu recipes where I say to drain the tofu, and I haven’t explained how to do that. Not very empowering of me! You can drain tofu in a lot of different ways, but here’s what I do: put a flat cheese grater over a bowl, put the tofu on the grater, put a flat-bottomed bowl or plate on the tofu, and put a can of beans or something in the bowl. Let sit for 30 minutes or longer. The idea is to press some of the liquid out of the tofu, and give it somewhere to drain into–them’s the technical specs, work it out as you will.
Heat the oven to 400. Cut the drained tofu into cubes about 1/2″ all around. Spread them out on a nonstick baking sheet. You can spray them with olive oil Pam, but you don’t have to. Sprinkle heavily with onion powder, garlic powder, and anything else you like–Cavendar’s would be good, and I like cumin because it nicely complexifies tastes. (If you feel that cumin body-odorifies tastes, then don’t use cumin.) Bake for about 25 minutes, turning once, until croutons are nice and chewy.
A spinach salad with tofu croutons? Hello, can you say nutrition? Have one of these for lunch and you’ll realize what Popeye’s been on about all that time.
Note from Melissa: While NuVal has not yet scored tofu, we have scored matzoh. My Jewish friends can feel good over the next few days as they crunch their unleavened crackers. Manischewitz Matzoh crackers score an 82 on the NuVal scale! Robin also mentioned to me that some Jews do not eat tofu on Passover. It depends on their level of observance. For those of you who are interested in learning more about Kosher foods, this cartoon gives you a sense of what they’re all about!
I love Rachel’s recipes for kids because they are written especially for kids. Also, she leaves nothing out. For example, this recipe begins with telling your kids how exactly to open a package of ground turkey. And what to do if your hands actually touch the turkey (Answer: Go wash them!)
The ingredients for this recipe score well on the NuVal scale:
1 1/3 pounds ground turkey (NuVal score: 33)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) (NuVal score: 11)
1/2 red onion (Nuval score: 93)
1/2 red bell pepper (NuVal score: 96)
1 tablespoon grill seasoning blend, such as McCormick brand Montreal Steak Seasoning (not scored yet)
After my son (who was in charge of reading the recipe), opened up the package of ground turkey, my daughter browned it:
I was right there to make sure she did not get burned!
My son measured the ingredients for Rachel’s “Special Sauce”
And my daughter mixed it up. She loves to mix.
You can see the exact instructions (again, written so well for kids) on the Rachel Ray site here. We paired it with the recommended celery sticks and carrots sticks but we also added our favorite French fries: Cascadian Farms Organic Shoestring Fries (NuVal score: 81).
In keeping with the theme of Role Reversal, the kids sat in Mom & Dad’s seats at the table. And the Sloppy Turkey Joes were enjoyed by all.
It’s interesting to note that I first made this recipe about 2 years ago and the kids did not like it then. This week, they gobbled them up. And they thought that it was sooooooooo funny to eat something “sloppy.” So, I guess it is true. If you keep trying new foods, your kids will eventually eat them.
Honestly, it probably would have been easier, faster, and way less messy to let the kids continue watching SpongeBob and just make the Sloppy Turkey Joes myself. But I am hoping that there will be a day when I will say, “Your turn to make dinner!” and it will magically appear on the table. We’ll get there!
Remember my friend Heather and her amazing marinara sauce? The recipe calls for some blending and Heather says that a stick blender works the best. Heather is a fabulous cook and I knew that her advice was something to take seriously. So, I headed to Kohl’s and dropped $50 on a Cuisinart SmartStick hand blender. And I am so glad I did! It is the coolest thing ever. I’m just looking around for things to blend. And that is how I came to be making carrot soup…
Easter is fast approaching and we are hosting my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law who will all be in from out-of-town. I’m starting to think about the menu and I thought it would be very Easter-y to start with a Carrot Soup. And truth be told – I was excited about the thought of blending up some carrots with my new SmartStick!
I hunted around for some recipes and found this one on the Dr. Oz site. It is sooooooooo healthy. It’s hard to believe that there is no cream in this soup. So what’s the secret ingredient? Rolled oats! And the stick blender does make the consistency simply dreamy. Check out my SmartStick in action.
1 large onion cut into medium dice (NuVal score: 93)
1/2 tsp sea salt (NuVal score: 1)
2 lbs carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds (NuVal score: 99)
5 cups of vegetable stock (NuVal score for Swanson 100% Fat Free: 5)
1/4 cup rolled oats (NuVal score for Quaker Rolled Oats: 57)
1 1/2 tsp ginger juice
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish with 2 tsp dill and dollop of plain yogurt (NuVal score for Chobani non-fat plain Greek: 94)
In a medium-sized pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and salt. Sweat until onions are soft (about 5-8 minutes). Stir often to prevent browning. Add stock and oats to pot. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 25 minutes until carrots are tender. Pour contents of the pot into a blender. Blend the soup until creamy. Add additional stock to desired consistency. Add lemon and ginger juice. Readjust seasonings. Garnish with a dollop of yogurt and dill and serve.
This soup is delicious! It’s perfect for early Spring when it’s still cool enough to crave warm, filling foods, yet you also want something fresh and flavorful to awaken your senses. My daughter ate the whole bowl. My son tolerated it (that’s good!) and said that it “surprised his tummy.” My husband and I devoured ours and my mother enjoyed it for lunch the next day when she came over to babysit. It’s a keeper!
So, now, I want to blend more things! Asparagus soup, anyone?
Question of the Day
What should I make next with my SmartStick blender?
The NuVal Nutritional Scoring System gives nutritional guidance to consumers frustrated with complicated nutrition labels and misleading packaging promises. Under NuVal, all foods and beverages are rated on a scale between 1 to 100. The higher the score, the higher the overall nutrition.
