Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 07:08 AM
Are cookbooks obsolete? When you need a new recipe, do you reach for a bound volume, or do you head straight to the Internet? I must admit that these days I often just google what I’d like to make (most recently at Easter, it was Spinach and Strawberry salad), and I have a number of recipes right there in front of me. While I have weeded out some of my cookbooks, there are some that I just can’t part with. I recently had the opportunity to take inventory of my cookbooks, because (Drum Roll, Please)…..WE ARE MOVING!
I have dropped some hints here on A Better Bag of Groceries that my home life was a bit chaotic right now, but I have been too superstitious to put the actual reason for the chaos in print. Now, that Moving Day is (gasp!) only one week away, I feel comfortable letting you all in on The Big Secret.
I’ll give you the quick rundown:
- We have outgrown our house and our current kitchen is too small and outdated for someone (like me) who really likes to cook
- We heard of a retired couple who wanted to sell their bigger home – just down the street from us
- We put our house on the market and sold it very quickly
- We are buying the house from the retired couple
- We are moving next week
And this happened all in the span of two months. Whew!
My husband and I have been crazy-busy finalizing the details of the sale and purchase and of course, packing. We have sourced a lot of our boxes from our local supermarkets.
Our whole house smells like corrugated cardboard and produce right now!
Moving, no matter what, is no fun. On the plus side, it does force you to clean out, to weed out and to get organized. While we are moving just a few houses down the street, we did rent some temporary storage and we have been busy emptying out our current house.
One of the benefits of moving is that it sure does burn a lot of calories! Between the stress of the whole buying/selling process and the activity involved in moving, my husband and I are both feeling pretty fit and trim right now.
According to CalorieLab.com, a 128-pound person burns the following calories while packing and moving:
- Packing and unpacking boxes: 145 calories per hour
- Moving furniture/household items and carrying boxes: 290 calories per hour
- Carrying loads upstairs: 464 calories per hour
Back to my Cookbooks….I was very proud of myself for getting them into only one box. I really have weeded them out, but these are the Cookbooks that I must keep.
There are my cookbooks that I need for how to cook anything. These are my favorite references for cooking times, internal temperature checks, and The Basics.
A Wedding Shower Gift - given to me by a woman restauranteur
I bought it Used. Look at all those smudges!
Of course, I have some of my Healthy Cooking Bibles. Some Weight Watchers favorites:
My Weight Watchers Bible from the 1990s - look at all the recipes I flagged!
Despite Sarah's recent troubles, this is a great cookbook from the late 1990s.
My Nu source for healthy recipes!
I also can’t resist buying the Cookbook when I really, really love the restaurant:
Andy Husbands from Tremont 647, Boston, MA
Todd English from Olives, Charlestown, MA
Claire Criscuolo of Claire's Corner Copia, New Haven, CT
After having children and focusing my efforts on healthy family dinners, I added these to my collection:
Love those 30 minute meals!
Do we really need to be deceptive about promoting vegetables? Got it on the bargain rack.
I loved Julie & Julia. I saw the movie, read the book and then read My Life in France by Julia Child. So my husband gave me this masterpiece for our anniversary:
Boeuf Bourguignon, anyone?
And there are some sentimental cookbooks that I will keep forever.
My favorite Christmas cookie recipes are found in this Cookbook from 1982:
I remember this from when I really started cooking - around age 12.
A cookbook that my Mom put together as a fundraiser for Hospice Care of Rhode Island.
Lots of Family Favorites in this one - look at all the smudges!
And an anniversary gift from my grandmother:
I kept a note from my grandmother inside the front cover. So glad I did!
The next week is sure to be challenging. My goal is to keep my kids feeling secure, my family as healthy as possible (difficult to do as we pack up our kitchen) and my sanity in check. The good news is that my Cookbooks are going to have a great new home in a much more functional kitchen very soon. I can’t wait!
Yesterday’s Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #47 (and #48 – she took advantage of the Two For One Special) Mallory!! You’ve won the Kashi TLC Giveaway. Please email me at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your full name and mailing address so that I can send it out to you. Thank you to all who entered!
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You can become a fan of NuVal on Facebook. Check it out for the lastest news and fun giveaways!
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Question of the Day
What Cookbooks could you never part with?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Cookbooks
Tags: Cookbooks, moving
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 06:57 AM
Welcome to Trade-Up Tuesday! Every Tuesday, I tell you about a Trade-Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal and I give away something for free. Today, it’s all about Kashi TLC.
Kashi, a company that is associated with health and nutritional foods, has some very high-scoring products and some very low-scoring products. I’ve blogged about Kashi before, most notably in my Adult Rated Cereal post, where I point out that there are Kashi cereals that score a 91 and then there is one that scores an 11. My point is that just because the name Kashi is on the label does not mean that it is a nutritional juggernaut. However, the three products that you see in this photo all have great scores in their categories.
Let’s look at them one by one.
Kashi Organic 7 Grain Tasty Little Crackers score a 27 on the NuVal scale. When you consider that the average score for crackers is a 16, that is a great score. Compare it to Keebler Wheatables with a score of 5, and it is a fantastic score.
Kashi Oatmeal Rasin Flax Tasty Little Cookies score a 40 on the NuVal scale. Compare that to the average score for cookies (a 7), and it is super. Compare it to Archway Classic Oatmeal cookies with a NuVal score of 3, and it is Super-Duper.
Kashi Tasty Little Chewies All Natural Granola Bars, Trail Mix score a 33 on the NuVal scale. The average score for Snack Bars and Granola Bars is a 20, so the Kashi TLC do pretty good, right? You might think that the Cascadian Farm Fruit and Nut Chewy Bars would score better than average too. Well, they don’t. They only get a 14.
So, all three of these Kashi TLC products are superstars in their respective categories. This summer, I am challenging Moms out there to see if you can get your kids to trade up. Instead of packing Wheatables for the beach, try some of the TLC crackers. Send your child to camp with a TLC granola bar instead of one of the “kid” brands. And serve some Kashi TLC cookies along with a cool beverage at your child’s lemonade stand. You will feel good knowing your kids are getting better nutrition.
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky reader will win all three Kashi TLC products. Just leave a comment below telling me your favorite Kashi product. Leave a second comment with the score of that product and you will be entered twice. You can search this blog, tradingupdowntown or the NuVal website for some sample scores. I will choose one winner at random at 7 am Eastern Time on Wednesday. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Kashi, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Kashi, Kashi TLC
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 06:53 AM
Indeed, this is Breaking News. General Mills Cheerios, which previously received a NuVal score of 34, now get a 37! While a three point difference might not seem like much to some, it is a great step in the right direction for children’s cereal. Cheerios has been the shining star of the Cereals that Kids Will Eat Without Complaint. No other children’s cereal got quite such a high score – with one exception: Cinnamon Toast Crunch with 75% Reduced Sugar gets a score of 40. However, I have yet to find that cereal in any of my local supermarkets. So, Cheerios has been the most-quoted children’s cereal.
This score change is a big deal to us at NuVal. We have score changes all the time because manufacturers change their recipes and we re-score their products so that consumers have up-to-date information right there on the store shelf. However, there is not an employee at NuVal who can’t rattle that Cheerios score off the tip of their tongue. We use the Cheerios example all the time when explaining how the system works. This means that this week I will be making changes in lots of our educational and promotional materials. Find 34 and replace with 37!
So, why did Cheerios get a better score? Because the smart folks at General Mills reduced the amount of sodium in their product. Those are the kind of steps that we at NuVal are hoping the food manufacturers will make: reduce the bad stuff, increase the good stuff and make more nutritious food products. You can read more about the less salty Cheerios in this blogpost from one of my favorite blogs, Fooducate. Hooray for General Mills for making this change.
Now, I am off to get working on editing all those presentations. I should start my day with a bowl of Cheerios!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Cereal for Kids, Cheerios, Fooducate
Friday, June 18, 2010 at 06:59 AM
Having a Father’s Day Cookout this weekend? How about trying an alternative to your traditional burger made with ground beef?
OK – full disclosure here – my Dad will want a regular hamburger and a Saugy hot dog (yuck!). He is not a fan of my healthy tricks. However, back at home, when it’s just the four of us grilling, we have been trying out a new recipe as of late: Grilled Turkey Burgers by the Mayo Clinic Staff.
According to the Dietitian’s Tip that accompanies this recipe, substituting ground turkey breast for ground beef sheds about 200 calories, 7 grams of fat and 4 grams of saturated fat. Wow! Interestingly, the NuVal scores for 93% Lean Ground Beef and 93% Lean Turkey are not that different:
- 93% Lean Ground Turkey: NuVal score of 33
- 93% Lean Ground Beef: NuVal score of 30
However, as I remember from my beef meatball vs. turkey meatball experiment that I blogged about for the NYC foodie blog Taste As You Go, there is a lot more fat in the beef.
While it is a healthier alternative, plain ground turkey made into patties and grilled can be somewhat problematic. The patties don’t bind together well, they dry out and they can be bland. However, this recipe adds the following ingredients:
- Bread Crumbs
- Onion
- Fresh Parsley
- Worcestershire sauce
- Tobasco sauce
The result is a tasty, juicy burger that doesn’t leave you feeling overloaded like a traditional beef burger. My kids gobble these up on whole wheat rolls. In fact, they like to add lettuce and tomato, and they think they are eating Krabby Patties, just like the delicacy that they see on SpongeBob Square Pants. Works for me! Now if only I could get my Dad to try one!
Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there and Happy Grillin’!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Grill Recipes, Turkey Burgers
Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 06:54 AM
I love to bake and lucky for me, so does my 5-year-old daughter. One of our favorite treats to bake is a tried and true recipe for Banana Bread that my Mom handed down to me. This banana bread has a nice crunch on the inside while retaining all of its moisture on the inside. It is soooooo good!
My theory on what makes it so tasty? Probably the 4 Tablespooons of butter that you melt and then cool. I really think that cooling it is key.
I have been hesitant to “healthify” this recipe because my family loves it just the way it is. However, after talking with Catherine Katz, I thought I would try her recommendation to substitute the one and a half cups of white flour with Soft Wheat Flour. But first, I had to find Soft Wheat Flour – not 100% Whole Wheat, but 100% Whole Wheat Soft Flour or Pastry Flour. It was not easy. I scoured the baking aisles at every grocery store in my area: Stop & Shop, Shaw’s, Roche Brothers. No one had this “soft” wheat flour that Catherine had suggested. Finally, I remembered that Ocean State Job Lot has an unusually large selection of Bob’s Red Mill Products. ”Voila!” as Catherine would say (she is from France). There it was.
My five-year-old daughter has made this recipe so many times that I almost don’t even need to tell her what to do. Whenever we have really ripe bananas, she asks if we can make it. This is the perfect recipe for kids. It is so simple.
3 large super-ripe bananas (NuVal score: 91)
1 cup sugar (NuVal score: 1)
1 egg (NuVal score: 33)
4 T. butter, melted and cooled (NuVal score: 2for Land O’Lakes, unsalted)
1 ½ cups flour (NuVal score of 91 for this Bob’s Red Mill 100% Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)
1 tsp. salt (NuVal score of 1)
1 tsp baking soda (Not scored)
Pre-heat oven to 325. Spray a 9 X 5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside.
In a bowl, mash bananas.
Beat in sugar, then egg and cooled butter. In another bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking soda; add to banana mixture and stir until all flour is moistened.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
You can also add walnuts (NuVal score of 82), but my kids prefer it nut-free.
What to do if you only have two really ripe bananas? Add some apple sauce to your banana mix.
We loved this banana bread made with soft wheat flour. The consistency was perfect. Interestingly, the baking time in my oven was a little shorter than usual. It was done in about 50 minutes. So, if you choose to use this flour, set your timer a little early.
The incredible thing about cooking with your kids is watching them develop confidence in the kitchen. I am amazed to hear my daughter say things like, “Mom, can I have a rubber scraper? I think it would work better than this wooden spoon.” She is learning the tools, the tricks, and the lingo. Not every recipe needs to be super-healthy. What is important is that my kids are learning how to cook and bake so that they will know that not all food comes already packaged.
For more on Cooking As a Way of Life, check out Rachel Ray’s blog post on Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Blog.
Question of the Day
Have you tried substituting white flour for whole wheat? What was the result?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Cooking with Kids
Tags: banana bread
