Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 08:12 AM
It’s Wordless Wednesday! So, today I take the day off from blogging and let y’all do the talking. My Southern drawl comes out because I snapped this photo down at Lowes Foods in North Carolina. You’ll have to look very carefully to get this one.
Yesterday’s Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #19, Athena from the blog, Fitness and Feta. You’ve won the National Pancake Day Giveaway! Lucky you! Please send me an email with your mailing address to me at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com so that I can ship your prize out to you. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Wordless Wednesday
Tags: Wordless Wednesday
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 07:02 AM
It’s Trade-Up Tuesday – everyone’s favorite day here at A Better Bag of Groceries. On Tuesdays, I blog about a trade-up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. Today is a special edition of Trade-Up Tuesday because it’s National Pancake Day. Well, at least according to the International House of Pancakes, it is! They are hosting this special day to benefit the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Since beginning this national celebration in 2006, IHOP has raised nearly $8 million to support charities in the communities in which it operates. Today (February 28th 2012), guests from around the country are invited to celebrate National Pancake Day at IHOP and enjoy a free short stack of Buttermilk pancakes. In return for the free pancakes, guests are asked to consider leaving a donation for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and other designated local charities.
I love the idea of supporting Children’s Hospitals. And my kids love pancakes! But I don’t live near an IHOP. And of course, I would want to make the most nutritious pancakes possible, using a whole-grain mix. So, I’m thinking it would be great to make pancakes at home and still make a donation to the Children’s Hospital Network through the IHOP site. (As for what hospitals are in the Children’s Miracle Network – I checked and my local favorite, Boston Children’s was there. Chances are, your favorite is too.)
We make pancakes just about every weekend and we freeze them for the busy week ahead. We make plain, blueberry and my son’s favorite – chocolate chip. Check out my husband’s favorite pumpkin pancake recipe. And then don’t miss my amazing culinary skills as I showed the world how to make a heart-shaped pancake on youtube.
For this giveaway, I’ve gathered some of the highest scoring pancake mixes you can find. The average score for pancake mix is an 11, so these are some great alternatives.
- Bob’s Red Mill Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle Mix: NuVal score of 26
- Aunt Jemima Whole Wheat Blend: NuVal score of 24
- Bob’s Red Mill High Fiber Pancake and Waffle Mix: NuVal score of 30
You know, if it weren’t for the NuVal scores, I would probably still be using the same old pancake mix that I used to use. Once I found out that it scored a 4 (ouch!) I was motivated to trade up.
Today’s celebration of National Pancake Day reminds me of how lucky I am to live near one of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. We’ve been so lucky – really the most urgent visit we had to make to Boston Children’s Hospital was when my daughter suffered a concussion when she was 1. Other than that, we’ve been there for allergy testing and to retrieve a red plastic bead that my son managed to shove up his nose when he was 3. However, I have friends and family who are greatly indebted to the doctors, nurses and staff at the Chidren’s Miracle Network Hospitals for the care they received during some very difficult diagnoses – too many to name here. Kudos to IHOP for hosting this celebration and fundraiser.
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky reader will win all three of these nutritious pancake mixes. All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me one of the following:
- How you or your family has benefited from a Chidren’s Miracle Network Hospital
- If you’ve traded up in the pancake mix category
- What kind of pancakes you like and/or what you like on top of them
I’ll select the winner at random at 8 am EST on Wednesday February 29th. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Pancakes, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: IHOP, National Pancake Day
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 07:09 AM
News Flash! I’m experimenting with a Gluten Free Diet. If a year ago you told me that I would be typing that sentence, I never would have believed you. So, how did this wheat bread-loving girl come to be trying out the GF-lifestyle? Well, my tummy has not been feeling too good lately. 
I have not gone so far as to see my doctor (yet!) But after reading up on Gluten Sensitivity, I thought I would try a gluten-free diet for a couple of weeks to see how my stomach would react. That way, I figured, if I could report the results of my GF experiment to my doctor if I decided I needed to pursue medical treatment.
To get started, I consulted one of my favorite books, Joy Bauer’s Food Cures.
I quickly got a grasp of what I could and could not eat to be Gluten Free. You can even get a printable Gluten Free shopping list on Joy’s website. The Celiac Disease Foundation is a great site too.
Since I already eat a lot of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, natural nut butters, yogurt, skim milk, rice, seafood and lean protein, this wasn’t too hard. Navigating grains was a bit tougher.
After a few days, I was missing pasta, crackers, chips and cookies. So, I hit one of my local grocery stores that does have a gluten-free section but unfortunately does NOT have NuVal on the store shelves. I picked up these products and crossed my fingers that they got some good NuVal scores!
So, how did I do? It was a mixed bag.
I picked up this DeBoles Rice Penne. (Again – remember, I had no idea what the NuVal scores were!) The NuVal score is a 28. The average score for pasta is a 57, so this is well below average.
If this store had NuVal scores, I would have been able to choose a higher-scoring gluten-free alternative. Check out the scores for these gluten-free pastas:
- Ancient Harvest Quinoa Super Grain Linguine: NuVal score of 91
- Hodgson Mill Gluten Free Brown Rice Pasta: NuVal score of 81
- DeBoles Gluten Free Corn Spaghetti: NuVal score of 72
I’ll add those to my shopping list!
I picked up these Lundberg Rice Chips. As my friend Tina would say, Holy Yum! They score a 23 on the NuVal scale. That is above average for salty snacks. The average score is a 15. They are SO good! Loved them with my gluten-free hummus.
I already knew that I love, love, love these Mary’s Gone Crackers. I also knew that they get a fantastic score of 37. The average score for crackers is 18. I also love these with hummus.
I also picked up these Pamela’s Simplebites Extreme Chocolate Mini Cookies. Everyone needs a little cookie every now and then. These score a 7 on the NuVal scale. And the average score for a cookie is a 7. So that is just fine!
A couple of people here at the NuVal office live Gluten Free. I’ve been asking them about it. They say that it’s not so bad – except when getting together with friends who want pizza! I can see where it can be not terribly difficult – and then where it can be challenging all at the same time. Like I said, I’m just experimenting. So far, my tummy is gurgling a lot less than it was a few days ago! I’ll let you know how it goes. Stay tuned!
Question of the Day
Are you (or have you ever tried) to live Gluten Free?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Gluten-Free
Tags: Gluten Free, gluten free cookies, Joy Bauer Food Cures
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 07:29 AM
My son, sprinting at The Jamie Fund Kids Race, August 2011
I really had a great chance to bond with my son this past weekend. Since my daughter was on the couch recuperating from the nasty stomach bug (again!) and my husband was watching over her while he painted our family room and kitchen, my son and I were able to catch up on a few things. We fixed his Ipod (which had inexpicably begun speaking Japanese), loaded some new songs onto it, earned his Cub Scout Nutrition Badge, practiced some piano, and (drum roll, please)….we went running together!
At first, when I suggested to my son that we go running, I thought that he would ride his bike and I would run alongside – like we typically do. But he said, “Mom, today I want to run with you.” Cool! After layering up, grabbing my little cell phone, and our Ipods we set out. “No Ipods until we get to the bike path,” I told him. “Mom,” he said. “I’m so excited to go running with you. I want to try out the fitness feature on my Ipod.” A-ha. So this was all about one of his electronic devices. S’allright. I’ll take it.
Once out of our neighborhood, we started running on the winding, country road that leads to the bike path. Well, I ran. My son sprinted. And soon he had a cramp in his side. So I taught him to pace himself, to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth. We took a walk break until we got to the bike path. Once on the path, he was ready for the run to begin in earnest. Earbuds in place, he went for it. I’m a little embarrassed to tell you that my 8-year-old son is the perfect running partner for me! Not like my husband who is a quarter mile ahead of me most of the time! My son and I were right in step with each other. I watched him carefully. He was doing great – barely breathing hard. We completed the long stretch of the bike path and then walked into town. That was his favorite part, he later told me. Walking in town. “I pretty much go the same places every day – on the same roads, Mom. It gets kind of boring. It was really fun to walk in town.” Duly noted.
Back on the bike path, we ran again. It felt so good. Now we just had to finish the country road to take us back to our neighborhood. My son was pretty tired. He wanted to walk. So, we did. But, I taught him the telephone pole game. We ran from one pole to the next. Then walked between two poles. Repeat. He loved it. Once home, he loved the sense of accomplishment. We had run/walked 2.67 miles – perfect for an 8-year-old’s first time out.
Will my son be a runner? I think he certainly could if he’d like to be. I found some great resources for teaching your kids to run. KidsRunning.com is a great site. I particularly like the Q&A. And if you really want to teach your kids to run, be sure to read this article from Runner’s World. I learned a lot of great tips, such as:
- Doctors and coaches agree that kids should not start running in any purposeful way before they start kindergarten
- Youngsters 5 to 8 years old should be encouraged to run as part of play, such as in games of tag, or in short bursts with walking or other activities in between
- Many experts, however, warn against 5-Ks for those under 8. “We’re fine with a mile fun run, but nothing longer,” says Brenda Armstrong, M.D., of Duke.
- Children aged 9-12 should be encouraged to run, but should also do another sport. They should not run exclusively. A big reason for restraint at this age is growth-related injury. As the long bones in kids’ legs grow, the cartilage is not ossified, and hard running can lead to discomfort near the ends of the bones.
- Children aged 13-14 enter a period of “peak height velocity,” according to Angela Smith, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Early teens experience rapid growth while their bones have not fully mineralized and their muscles are not yet good shock absorbers. Consequently, Dr. Smith advises against the kind of heavy training loads–running several miles a day at a hard pace with frequent competition–that bring young runners into her office with stress fractures.
I took note of all of these great tips and more. It’s so important to make sure you start out in any sport in a safe way. However, with childhood obesity rates on the rise, I’m always looking for ways to ensure my kids are getting exercise. And to pass this information on to you, readers of ABBG!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Fitness Friday, running
Tags: Kids' running
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 07:11 AM
I’m a little embarrassed to say that my son has been a Cub Scout for three years and I have yet to help him earn his Nutrition Belt Loop. Gulp. I’m hoping that you all will forgive me for that one. Between school, homework, and kids’ activities, some things fall by the wayside! This past weekend, we had some unexpected downtime. My daughter was recovering from being sick, my husband was busy painting our kitchen (yay!), so my son and I decided to tackle some of his Cub Scout Belt loops.
In case you are not familiar, Cub Scout Belt Loops are what you might think of as “badges” – except they fit around a Tiger Cub, Wolf Cub, Bear Cub or Webelo’s special Cub Scout Belt.
They look like this:
To earn a belt loop, a Cub Scout needs to fill certain criteria working with an adult partner. My son has earned a ton of belt loops – everything from Flag Football to Computers to Good Manners – but not Nutrition. Well, we fixed that this past weekend.
To earn the Nutrition Belt loop, he had to:
- Make a poster of nutritious foods and prepare to present it to his den
- Tell the difference between a fruit and a vegetable and eat one of each
- Plan and cook a nutritious dinner for his family
The poster was fun to make. I gave my son a bunchy of old magazines and had him cut out photos of nutritious foods and glue them to the poster-board.
He knew how to identify nutritious foods! He didn’t really need my help with that one.
He needed a little more help with the difference between a fruit and a vegetable. However, he didn’t need help eating one of each. My son loves fruits and veggies. Not every single, veggie of course. But, he usually clears the veggies from his dinner plate first. Seriously!
Where my son really needed my help was with planning and making a nutritious dinner for the entire family. While my daughter loves, loves, loves cooking, my son would just rather do something else. So, his culinary skills are not as developed as his younger sister’s. We had a lot of work to do!
We planned out the meal.
For this project, I introduced my son to a long-favorite chicken recipe of mine: Crunchy Baked Chicken. When my nephews were little, they called this “Chicken With Cereal.” Basically, they gave it that nickname because a main ingredient in the recipe is corn flakes. I got this recipe from a Weight Watchers long, long ago – as you can tell by my tattered recipe!
Crunchy Baked Chicken
Ingredients:
3 cups corn flakes (Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, NuVal score of 25)
4 tsp. sesame seeds
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 cup skim milk
Cooking spray
4 boneless 4 oz. chicken breasts (NuVal score of 39)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Measure cornflakes and spices into a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Zip it shut and crush ingredients. (I find that rolling a can or a rolling pin over the bag works best.) Brush each chicken breast with the skim milk. Shake chicken one at a time in the bag. Place on a cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment paper). Spray with cooking spray. Bake 20 – 25 minutes, or until done.
Sorry about the lack of photos on the recipe. I was doing a lot of instruction with my son. Everything from food safety to safety around the stove to measuring to slicing techniques. I had my hands full!
Once we had everything cooking, my son worked on dessert. Fruit cups!
My son’s dinner was delicious!
I love how our plates filled the MyPlate Guidelines - half was filled with veggies!
Dessert was delicious too! Mostly fresh fruit (all with NuVal scores near 100) with a little mandarin orange tossed in.
Everyone loved this chicken recipe. If you grew up eating Shake N’ Bake chicken (let me insert a nostalgic yum here), you will love this more nutritious alternative.
My son has done just about everything to earn his nutrition belt loop. All he needs to do is present his poster to his den. Well, now I’ve eased my Cub Scout Guilt. I’m sure there is some other Mom-Guilt just waiting to jump into its place, but I feel better for now! Cooking with kids takes extra time and a lot of patience, but I think that it’s one step forward in fighting childhood obesity. The more our kids know about nutritious foods – and how to prepare them – the better.
I would love to see Cub Scouts earn NuVal badges, like the Girl Scouts do at King Kullen in Long Island, NY!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Cooking with Kids, Dinner Recipes
Tags: cub scouts, nutrition
