A Better Bag of Groceries

New Food Challenge Week 12: Veggie Patch Falafel Chick Pea Balls

Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 07:34 AM

My family (my dear husband and my 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter) have bravely agreed to join me in this New Food Challenge.  Every week, for the past 12 weeks, we have tried a brand new food in our household.  It’s always something we’ve never tried before and we always try it together.  With the average American family trying only five new products per year, this has been a challenge to our tastebuds indeed.  An even bigger challenge, with all of the activities of summer, has been finding some mealtimes when we are actually at home!  Seriously, I think many American families could eat at a concession stand, snack bar, or just out of a cooler or lunch bag 75% of the time during the summer months.  And let’s face it – the pickings at most snack bars and concession stands are not the most nutritious, so I try to make a conscious effort to plan some sit-down meals at home to keep us healthy.

This week was no exception.  Our town was hosting its annual Family Fun Night on our busiest day of the week.  My kids go straight from a full day of Summer Camp to ice skating lessons.  My husband is the lucky one who gets to shuttle the kids from camp pickup to ice skating lessons and when he brings them home they are dirty, exhausted and starving.  But we all were so eager to go to Family Fun Night.  Our town shuts down Main Street and it is one big block party with music, entertainment, bouncy houses, face-painting, the works.  Seriously, I have never missed this event.  I even made it when my son was only 2 weeks old and I was recovering from a C-section.  It’s not to be missed.

Photo Credit: Charlene McNeil

Now, we could have just gotten dinner at the event.  But I knew that would mean some sort of take-out for everyone:  hot dogs or hamburgers, maybe a slice of pizza.  No.  Instead, I thought it would be best if we all sat down – even just for 15 minutes – and had a nutritious family meal together.  Sitting.  And then we’d go to the event.  So, I left my office at the end of the day, raced down the highway, zipped into my local grocery grocery store and picked up these Veggie Patch Falafel Chick Pea Balls.  They score a 37 on the NuVal scale.  That’s a great score for a protein source.  (Remember, boneless skinless chicken breast scores a 39).

Once home, I had these chick peas out of the package

and into a pan of sauce lickety-split.  I used one of my favorite high-scoring tomato sauces, Pastene’s The Chateau Marinara Sauce, which scores a 66.

 Now, I know there are probably many more interesting ways to eat a Chick Pea ball.  And I’m looking forward to discovering them.  But on this quick-dinner night, I figured I would just pass them off as meatballs to my kids and get dinner done.

Well, it worked.

My kids were still not yet home from their Summer Camp/Ice Skating marathon, so I had about 15 minutes to get dinner prepped for every0ne. 

• Salads for my husband and me, including:
• Romaine, NuVal score of 100
• Tomatoes, NuVal score of 100
• Eden Foods No Salt Added Black Beans, NuVal score of 100
• Sliced Grilled Chicken Paillard
• Cool Chinese Vermicelli
• A taste of the Chick Pea Balls
• For the kids, Spaghetti and “Meatballs”, including:
• Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Pasta with Flax Seed, NuVal score of 91
• Pastene The Chateau Marinara Sauce, NuVal score of 66
• Veggie Patch Chick Pea Balls, NuVal score of 37
• Sliced Cucumbers, NuVal score of 93
• Skim Milk, NuVal score of 91

When the door flew open and in walked the dirty, tired and starving bunch followed by backpacks and the big giant skating bag, I was armed with a waiting dinner that we could all gather around before heading right back out for the big Family Fun Night!  Everyone loved Chick Pea Balls.  They are definitely a new addition to our grocery shopping list.  And our dinner was much better than eating hot dogs on a sidewalk.

Instead we sampled the best that our Family Fun Night has to offer, like face painting:

and balloon sword fighting:

and seeing neighbors (old and new), our friends, my kids’ teachers, my Pilates students, my fellow group exercise instructors, my workout buddies, and my kids’ friends too.

It really was a fun, family night.

Love my town!

Question of the Day

What fun not-to-be-missed events do you have going on this summer?

Posted by: Melissa 8 comments

Posted in: Healthy Life, New Food Challenge

Tags: Family Fun Night