• Choosing the Healthiest Foods for Your Family

    Welcome! I am a mom of a busy 8 year old and an adventurous 6 year old. I also happen to work for a great 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.

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    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.

The Nina, The Pinta and The Santa Maria

Monday, October 11, 2010 at 07:30 AM

Happy Christopher Columbus Day Blog Friends!  Today I pay homage to my Italian heritage  – and do what many of you are all doing – take a day off!

Well, that’s not entirely true.  It’s a work day for those of us at NuVal.  But I do a lot of my thinking, cooking, photography and creativity for A Better Bag of Groceries on the weekends.  And this weekend was a wee bit busy because my little sister got married! 

What a beautiful wedding!

When we’re not busy celebrating family nuptials on Columbus Day weekend, you are likely to find us on Federal Hill in Providence, RI, where they literally paint the town red, white and green in honor of the city’s strong Italian heritage.  So, in the same way that Regis and Kelly will bring you a re-run when they take the day off, today I bring you a guest post  that I wrote a year ago for a fabulous blog called Taste As You Go.  In this post, I bring you the Federal Hill experience and I give you my recipe for the healthiest spaghetti and meatballs ever. 

In fact, I experiemented with making traditional meatballs (using 80% ground beef, NuVal score of 26) and more nutritious meatballs (using 93% lean ground turkey, NuVal score of 33).  You have to check out the photo showing the difference in the grease left behind!  You can also reminisce about what it was like to cook in my 1983-era kitchen!

So, enjoy this post.  And, hey – if you have the day off – why not make a big pot of the Healthiest Spaghetti and Meatballs ever.  You’ll be glad you did!

Posted by: Melissa 1 comment

Posted in: Italian Food

Tags: , ,

1 Comment on “The Nina, The Pinta and The Santa Maria”

  1. #1 Michelle @ Taste As You Go
    on Oct 13th, 2010 at 10:53 am

    I still love your recipe, Melissa! Thanks so much for writing it for Taste As You Go!

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