Monday, January 31, 2011 at 07:27 AM
Can I just say how much I love Catherine Katz? She is the best! Last week, as I had one of my busiest weeks ever, she was simply incredible – sending me a ready-to-go recipe for all of you with photos and everything! I really did have a lot on my plate (pun intended) with big NuVal meetings to prep for, another snowstorm that would throw our schedule out of whack, and a baby shower being held at our house on the weekend, with family coming in from five different states! I think Catherine could sense my stress level rising all the way from Connecticut. She really knows how to help a girlfriend out! So, I am turning this blog today right over to the fabulous Catherine Katz, Ph. D.!
Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers
I absolutely LOVE to make this recipe for my family because it’s one of those sneak-everything-that’s-good-for-you-in-one-single-dish type of dish!
This recipe came to me on one of those busy crazy hectic days (are there any other kind?) when I had all the ingredients on hand to make fajitas (very popular in our household), but the thought of getting out all those pans for each of the ingredients and doing all those dishes afterwards intimidated me. So, I thought, why not combine it all in one dish? And so there it was!
For the nutrition Mom in me (as well as for my nutrition guru of a hubby!), this recipe has it all: lean protein, beans, whole grains, veggies and even a little dairy on top…does it get any better than that? For the kids, they just love the combo of the ground turkey and the refried beans mixed in because it just makes the filling so creamy. As for the bulgur wheat, they don’t even know it’s there. Add to that, a little bubbly cheese on top and YUM are they happy!
Ingredients
4 red or yellow bell peppers (NuVal score of 96)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil (NuVal score of 11)
1 clove garlic, minced (NuVal score of 91)
8 ounces lean ground turkey (NuVal score of 33)
1 can (15 ounces) fat-free refried beans (NuVal score of 56 for Carlita Fat Free Refried Beans)
1 1/2 cups mild salsa (NuVal score of 32 for Newman’s Own Chunky Roasted Garlic Salsa)
3/4 cup cooked bulgur wheat* (NuVal score of 93 for Hodgson Mill Bulgur Wheat with Soy)
1/4 cup grated part-skim mozzarella cheese (NuVal score of 23 for Sargento Part Skim Mozzarella)
* Boil 1 cup of water in a small pan, then add ½ cup of dry bulgur wheat. Cook for 2 minutes, then turn off the stove and cover for 5 minutes.
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Rinse and dry the peppers. Slice off the tops, remove the cores and seeds, and place in a baking pan.
- Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and sauté for a few seconds. Add the ground turkey and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
- Add the beans, salsa, and cooked bulgur and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until bubbly.
Stuff each pepper with 1/4 of the stuffing and top with 1/4 of the cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, then broil for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is sizzling and golden.
Photo courtesy of Catherine Katz
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Cooking with Catherine Katz
Tags: Cooking With Catherine
Friday, January 28, 2011 at 08:20 AM
Not sure if you’ve heard, but here on the East Coast we have a lot of snow. A. Lot. I can’t remember the last time we’ve had this much on the ground. It’s way too much.
After this last storm Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I tried to get some photos to give you a good visual of just how much snow we have. This one showing my daughter’s play house with the snow on top of it gives you a good idea.
Or maybe you can tell from this shot of our mailbox. Almost to the top!
As you can see, outdoor running is just not happening right now. Fortunately for me, I have a gym and a great group of early morning gym buddies.
But my kids are out of luck. Even recess has been indoors for them. Their playground is covered in snow and ice at school. And when you’re under 4 feet tall, this kind of snow covers over half your body. My kids would have to wade through their front yard!
Well, fortunately, when my husband was home with my kids on Martin Luther King Day, he came up with a great idea. He took the kids out shopping at a nearby sporting goods store and bought them snow shoes. Since my husband and I already have snow shoes (honestly, we have an entire museum of winter sports equipment that we used to enjoy BC – Before Children – including downhill skis, cross-country skis and snowshoes) it is something that we can now all do as a family. The snow shoes for kids were only $30 each and they came with poles too. The kids love them!
It helps them to stay on top of the snow and just get out and explore the yard which looks so much different in the wintertime!
We even can all go out on our town’s bike path together. I’ll take whatever exercise and fresh air we can get!
Perhaps it’s an old wives’ tale, but I think I’ve heard that the way to beat the winter blues is to get out into the winter air and experience it. I think there is some truth to that. As much as I am thankful for the gym, I always feel great after some kind of outdoor exercise – even if it must be in the snow. And from the looks of things around here, it will be that way until April!
Yesterday’s Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #43, Lisa from the blog 110pounds.com. You won the CSN stores giveaway! Send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries.com so that I can get your gift card to you! Thank you to everyone who entered. I loved reading all your comments about what you would buy. I’m headed over to CSN stores today to buy some cute framed pictures and a curtain for my laundry room!
Question of the Day
What are you doing to beat the winter blues?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Snow shoes
Tags: Snow Day, Snow shoes
Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 06:57 AM
Surprise! Today I am hosting a CSN Stores Giveaway! That’s right – the kind folks over at CSN Stores reached out to me and asked me if I would like to host another gift card giveaway. Actually, they gave me a choice. I could review a product (and keep it for myself!) or I could host a giveaway and give a $50 gift card to one of my lucky readers. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your loyal readership and great comments every day that I just had to go with the giveaway.
Not that I couldn’t have used a little bling myself. <Sigh> I mean, my husband, is definitely in need of a new laptop messenger bag. His old one is falling apart. He would love this one!
And since we just moved into a new house just four months ago, we always need new things. A little out of the $50 budget, but we really need a new dining room set. This one from CSN Stores would work just fine!
And we have blank walls everywhere! Now that’s something we could easily find within the $50 range. These would look fantastic in my new front hallway:
You can get just about anything at CSN Stores! They carry it all. In fact, it’s where we bought our coffee table, and we love it!
Today’s Giveaway
One incredibly lucky reader is going to win a $50 gift card to CSN Stores. All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me what you would spend your $50 dollars on at CSN Stores (I’m so nosy!) I’ll select one winner at random at 8 am on Friday morning so don’t delay. And tell your friends. Good Luck!
Rules
CSN Stores has a few rules that I need to tell you about. This contest is open to U.S. and Canadian readers only. Also, please do not comment on the CSN Stores Facebook Wall to enter the contest. However, feel free to promote this giveaway on Twitter (@csnstores @melisanutrition).
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Giveaway
Tags: CSN Stores
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 08:10 AM
I have a confession to make. I am an Oatmeal Hoarder. That’s right. Any day now the crew from A&E’s Real Life Series “Hoarders”is going to show up on my doorstep and force me to clean out my kitchen cabinet. It all started when I discovered all the amazing NuVal scores that hot oat cereals get. I just kept tossing different brands into my shopping cart like a squirrel storing nuts for winter. And before I knew it, my cupboard overfloweth. Some of my favorite hot oat cereals taking up valuable cabinet space include:
Hodgson Mill Oat Bran Hot Cereal: NuVal score of 58
Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats: NuVal score of 58
Quaker Old Fashioned Oats: NuVal score of 57
Quaker Steel Cut Oats 100% Whole Grain: NuVal score of 60
And then there is the the Grand Daddy of them all – the one that not only takes up the most space in my cabinet, but it also scores the highest among the hot oat cereals in my personal kitchen cabinet – John McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal Hot Cereal. It gets a NuVal score of 91.
Let’s just say that this can has been collecting a little bit of dust. Why? Cooking time. John McCann’s require at least 20 minutes of cooking time. Many steel cut oatmeals require 30 minutes! Who has that kind of time in the morning? Yes, we go through a lot of the Hodgson Mill Oat Bran with its quick 5-minute cooking time and my daughter likes the Quaker, so we make that a lot too. Quick, quick.
My friend Robin, who writes the Miss Conduct column for The Boston Globe Magazine, told me a long time ago (probably before a layer of dust had formed on top of this can) that she made her steel cut oats in her slow cooker – overnight! So that when she gets up in the morning, they are all ready and waiting for her. Well, with my husband threatening to call Hoarders, I had to try the Slow Cooker method.
Now, of course, I had just made Pepper Steak in the slow cooker over the weekend so despite the fact that it had been washed, it still had a peppery-steaky aroma. I gave my slow cooker another really good wash. And then I added 4 cups of water and 1 cup of oats. and set the slow cooker somewhere between 1 and 2. I have an old slow-cooker with a setting that goes from 1 to 5.
Interestingly, I had a restless night’s sleep that night. It must have been the oats! I went down to the kitchen after midnight to get a drink of water and I found that the oats were really bubbling, so I set the slow cooker as low as it would go. I am glad I did, because the results were perfect!
These oats are so creamy – you will swear that someone put cream in them! You will wonder why you ever ate any other kind of oats. You will ask yourself why you waited so long to make overnight oats. It is soooooo easy. Water + oats + plug in slow cooker and put it on low. That’s it. And you will wake up to a wonderful smell and breakfast waiting. What a treat on a cold winter’s morning! And soon, I will have more space in my kitchen cupboard!
Question of the Day
Which part of your house/apartment do you most need to clean out?
Yesterday’s Winner
Speaking of oatmeal, yesterday’s giveaway was a tough one! The correct answers were:
Bob’s Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal: NuVal score of 55
Bob’s Red Mill 100% Whole Grain Steel Cut Oats: NuVal score of 58
Bob’s Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal: NuVal score of 91
And the winner of the giveaway is commenter #22, Kristy from the blog, Casual Dish. Please send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries.com with your mailing address so that I can mail your (heavy) prize out to you! Thanks to everyone who entered!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Oatmeal, Slow Cooker Recipes
Tags: Oatmeal, Overnight Oats, Quaker Oats
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 06:54 AM
Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday, everyone’s favorite day here at A Better Bag of Groceries. Every Tuesday, I blog about a Trade Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. Today, it’s Bob’s Red Mill Oatmeal. There are so many great Bob’s Red Mill Products to choose from!
A long, long time ago – way, way before NuVal – I was an instant oatmeal kind of girl. I grew up on the stuff. My mom was a working mom. She was a nurse and she had to leave very early to get to the hospital. So, we went to our neighbor Odette’s apartment with our instant oatmeal in hand and Odette made it for us for breakfast. Fast forward to my first job, which involved a lot of traveling, and I carried instant oatmeal with me all the time. I figured it was more nutritious than the danishes and bagels that were often offered at the hotel breakfast buffet. It probably was, but most instant oatmeal pales in comparison to the kind that you cook on the stove. For example, Quaker Instant Oatmeal Original (the plain stuff, no brown sugar or cinnamon in this one) scores a 39. But Quaker Quick 1-minute Oats that you make on the stove-top score a 57.
When I started working for NuVal, my eyes were opened to the world of hot cereal. There are so many delicious options out there! And the scores really do vary, so it’s interesting to check them out. We have a cupboard-full of different hot cereals. I’m a hot cereal junkie.
The thing about hot cereals is that they have different cooking times and instructions. The Grand Daddy seems to be Steel Cut Oats, which typically take approximately 30 minutes to cook. I can see why my mom, the ever-efficient nurse who had to be on the hospital floor at 7 am opted for instant oatmeal!
Today’s Giveaway
Let’s make this fun today! See those 3 oatmeal products up in the photo? There are 3 scores. They are:
Can you guess which Oatmeal gets which score? Because I am going to select one winner from the correct entries! The winner will receive all three packages of Bob’s Red Mill Oatmeal. You can enter by leaving a comment below with your guess. Please only enter once. I will select the winner at 8 am Eastern time on Wednesday. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Trade-Up Tuesday
