Thursday, September 30, 2010 at 07:08 AM
“And I like cream in my coffee
And I like to sleep late on Sunday
And nobody knows me like my baby
And I like eggs over easy
With flour tortillas
And nobody knows me like my baby”
from Nobody Knows Me, by Lyle Lovett
Have you ever heard Lyle croon that song? It’s really beautiful. I once saw the Boston Ballet dance to it when they performed Nine Songs by Lyle Lovett – awesome! And it reminded me that I too like cream in my coffee. Not skim milk. Not even whole milk, really. But cream. Or something like it.
I actually could almost do a Trade Up Tuesday on Coffee Creamer because my husband and I have made a huge trade up in the coffee creamer department at our house. The problem, however, would be shipping it out to one of my loyal A Better Bag of Groceries readers. That would be a problem, because we buy a refrigerated coffee creamer. I don’t think it would hold up too well during the shipping process!
We used to buy Nestle Coffeemate Refrigerated – just the plain one, no flavorings, thank you very much. Want to know the NuVal score? It gets a 1. Yes, a one. Ouch! I asked Rachel Rodek, MS, RD, LDN, CSSD, and Nutritions Communications Manger for NuVal why and she said, “The Coffee Mate scores low because the third ingredient is partially hydrogenated oil, a source of trans fat. It also has a higher energy density (calories per gram) and more added sugar.”
Well, my husband and I ditched the Coffeemate long ago and we’ve been buying Land O’Lakes Fat Free Half and Half Ultra which scores a 41. Much better!
We could do even better with Hood Simply Smart Fat Free Half and Half (NuVal score of 55) or Food Club Fat Free Half and Half Ultra (NuVal score of 59). That is much, much better than the Nestle Coffeemate. Don’t you just love NuVal?
At our office, we have Land O Lakes Mini Moos UHT (Ultra High Temp) creamers.
That means they require no refrigeration. They score a 10 on the NuVal scale. So, when I am organized, I actually try to bring in my own creamer from home.
Now, these fat-free creamers aren’t the “cream in my coffee” that Lyle was singing about. I do love that treat. That is coffee in a restaurant treat. But in case you are wondering how real cream does on the NuVal scale, Hood Light Cream scores a 6. So, it’s not an everyday treat for me.
I’ll save it for Sundays when I can eat flour tortillas, and have my eggs over-easy, and sleep late. Yeah, right! Lyle must not have kids!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: coffee
Tags: coffee, Coffeemate, creamer, Food Club, Hood, Hood Simply Smart, Land O Lakes, Lyle Lovett
Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 08:10 AM
Yes, my daughter recently uttered these six little words much to my incredulous delight. Hooray, I am raising at least one salad-lover! In my humble opinion, there are two kinds of people in this world: those who love their salad greens and those for whom crunching the green stuff is a chore. I am fortunate to be in the first category. And my love for leafy greens came early in life. I would ask my mom if I could have lettuce for a treat. She would sigh and say, “Well, OK. But only if you’re good.” My husband loves salad too and together, we’ve created our own salad routines over the years. For example, we eat salad at the end of dinner, like Europeans do. It’s not that we’re trying to be all Euro or something. It’s just the way our tummies like to process food – first some carbs & protein, then our greens.
So, this salad bowl is a mainstay in our household. I keep it full and fresh and rotated and it’s on the dinner table every night.
I love that this bowl was made in Italy. It is so hard to find bowls like that these days!
I guess my daughter noticed us always eating our salad – at the end of dinner – because one night she just decided to move up from her side of sliced cucumbers and she asked for a full-fledged salad. And she is digging it! Woo hoo!
Once, when I was visiting our former daycare at lunchtime for some reason or another, I noticed one of the kindergartners had a little salad with a little container of dressing and she was happily munching away. At the time, I bumped into her mom that afternoon at Pick Up Time and I commented on what a great eater her daughter was and how impressed I was that she brought salad with her lunch. I only hoped that I would be doing the same thing one day. Well, here I am packing a little salad for my daughter’s kindergarten lunch box, with her little side of dressing.
Why am I so happy about my daughter’s salad habit? Well, salad is a fantastic way of getting vegetables into your diet. And vegetables get incredible NuVal scores.
Now, we still have one child to try and lure over to the Salad Team. My son, a good eater, does like fruits and vegetables, but he is not as adventurous as my daughter is with his variety of foods. But we will keep trying. Perhaps the peer pressure of three other people at the table munching away will sway him. I’ll be sure to keep you posted. In the meantime, I have to go pack my daughter’s salad dressing and fork!
Yesterday’s Giveaway
Congratulations to Commenter #58 Hazel! You’ve won the Kashi Autumn Wheat and 7 Grain Puffs Giveaway. Please send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address so that I can send your prize to you. Thank you to everyone who entered!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Salad
Tags: Salad
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 06:56 AM
Welcome to Trade-Up Tuesday! I make the second work day of each week a bit more bearable by hosting a fun giveaway and one lucky commenter gets to try a new product with great NuVal scores. This week, in honor of it being the first full week of Autumn, I thought it was only appropriate that we kick things off with Kashi Autumn Wheat.
Yes, Fall really is here! There are leaves all over my backyard already. My neighbors have pumpkins on their doorsteps. My kids have narrowed down their Halloween costume choices (I think we have one SuperGirl and one Obi-Wan Kenobi). Autumn is indeed in the air, so this week, the giveaway is Kashi Autumn Wheat which scores a 40 on the NuVal scale. That is a great cereal score when you consider that the average score for cereals is a 27. So, Autumn Wheat fans (and I know there are many out there) should feel good about their choice!
However, I could not host a Kashi giveaway without throwing in the Rock Star of Kashi products, Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs. They score a 91 on the NuVal scale. Whoa!!!!! That’s like Post Shredded Wheat. Maybe the winner of this giveaway could alternate: eat Autumn Wheat one day, eat 7 Whole Grain Puffs the next. Or eat Autumn Wheat on the days when the temperatures are feeling like Fall, eat 7 Whole Grain Puffs on those days when it still feels like summer. Oh, the possibilities are endless!
In any event, it’s a great giveaway. So, here’s how to enter…
To Enter
Just leave a comment below telling me your favorite Kashi cereal. You can leave an extra comment (and be entered twice) if you know the NuVal score for that cereal. I will randomly choose the winner at 8 am Eastern Time on Wednesday, so don’t delay! Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Kashi, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Kashi
Monday, September 27, 2010 at 07:12 AM
Attention NuVal Fans! You need to run – not walk – right now and get yourself a copy of the October 17th issue of Family Circle magazine. The cover looks like this…
While that pizza, laden with gooey mozzarella and pepperoni might not exactly be the picture of health, turn to page 131 and you will see an awesome NuVal Guide to 50 Healthy Snacks.
Yes, with help from our NuVal dietitians, the editors at Family Circle have sorted through all of the scores to pull out the best of the best in categories like chips….
and dips…
And that is just the beginning. The piece shows the best yogurts, Greek yogurts, ice creams, fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, breakfast foods, desserts, nuts and even some surprises. Really – if you are a NuVal fan – you need to go out and get this guide. And you can’t get it online. So go buy the magazine. You’ll be glad you did!
PS – At my supermarket, it was only $1.99. Not the $5 that most magazines seem to be charging these days. Well worth it!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Family Circle
Tags: Family Circle
Friday, September 24, 2010 at 07:08 AM
There was a time in my life when I traveled so much that my rolling suitcase felt like a part of my body. Every Monday morning, I flew out to the City of My Assignment and every Friday (Thursday, if I was lucky) I flew home. It was during that time that one of my friends (who worked for the same firm) came to my Halloween party dressed as a rolling suitcase. I mean – what else was she going to be? So once I had kids, I spent five years grounded. Literally. I did not get on a plane. For five years. I saw no point. I took time away from my jet-setting career and our little family was pretty happy with all that New England had to offer within driving distances.
So, two years ago, when I came to work for NuVal, I took my first flight again. And boy had things changed. While I had taken a few post 9/11 flights before my 5-year “grounding period” kicked in, there were even more new rules. Three ounces of liquids, shoe removal, one small bag and one purse. There is nothing glamorous at all about flying anymore.
Airlines have cut back so much, that they do not even hand out pretzels anymore. Sometimes you can order a meal or snack, but you have to pay for it. However, I actually think this is a good thing, because the food at airports has improved tremendously. Back in the days B.C. (Before Children, before my self-imposed “grounding”), airports were just beginning to bring in the Wolfgang Puck, Todd English, and Legal Seafood restaurants. Now, it is the norm to find really good food at just about every airport. And that means, that so far – now that I’m flying again, I can often find some sort of “healthy” restaurant. This week was no exception.
I arrived at Logan on Tuesday hungry and in pain. On Monday I had three old fillings replaced. (These are the fun things we do after we turn 40!) My teeth were still feeling sensitive, so I had been living on Greek yogurt and other soft foods for over 24 hours. Here I was in Logan’s Terminal B, looking for something that would fill me up and fit through a straw.
The sign at the UFood Grill looked promising. I liked their tag line…
I always love a place that has fresh fruit, water and yogurt that I can put in my bag…
And the menu looked great. But like I said, I couldn’t chew anything.
But the guys at UFood Grill were really nice. I explained my painful fillings and they lead me to their Smuuthie menu.
I’m not a huge smoothie person on a regular basis, so I let them pick one out for me. They recommended a Berrylicious Smuuthie with some added whey protein. It was the perfect lunch, given my dental state!
I plan to stop by the UFood grill the next time I am at Logan. Fortunately my travel schedule is not as intense as it once was! I don’t fly again until sometime in late October, but when I do, I will be back at UFood to try out one of their delicious and nutritious salads before I board my flight!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: travel
Tags: travel, UFood Grill
