• Choosing the Healthiest Foods for Your Family

    Welcome! I am a mom of a busy 7 year old and an adventurous 5 year old. I also happen to work for a great new 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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  • Disclaimer

    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.

Trade-Up Tuesday: Pasta Dinner

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 07:01 AM

Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday!  Every Tuesday I blog about a trade up I’ve made and I give away some of my favorite products to one lucky Commenter.  Today, in the spirit of easy summer cooking, I’m giving away the fixings for an easy pasta dinner. 

Pasta and pasta sauce are definitely two categories that I’ve made Trade Ups in.  Before I learned about NuVal, I was most likely to buy whatever pasta was on sale.  I now know that the scores for most of those plain pastas hover around a 61.  That’s not a bad score, but once I started working for NuVal, I learned that there are several pastas with much, much better scores.  Like these three:

Barilla Plus Thin Spaghetti:  91

Dreamfields Linguini: 87

Hodgson Mill Spaghetti:  91

After trying them out, I was amazed that I did not have to give up taste for better nutrition.  My kids love them too, so I feel great on those nights when all we have time for is boiling up a quick pot of spaghetti.

Likewise, before I started working for NuVal, my Go To sauce was Classico.  While there are some varieties of Classico that have fantastic scores, the highest scoring selections (like Spicy Red Pepper, Score: 68) are a little too spicy for my kids’ taste.  And the Classico brand that my kids do like (Tomato & Basil), only scores a 43.   My Go To Sauce these days is Pastene The Chateau Marinara Sauce with a NuVal score of 66.  Everyone in the family loves it, so it’s worth the $4.99 price tag at our local Stop & Shop.

Today’s GiveAway

One lucky commenter will win The Chateau pasta sauce and the 3 boxes of pasta that you see in the picture above.  Just leave a comment below answering the following question:

What food or product are you willing to pay more for because it has better nutrition?

I will choose one winner at random at 7 am EDT on Wednesday.  Good Luck!

Posted by: Melissa 71 comments

Posted in: Barilla Plus, Dreamfield's, Trade-Up Tuesday

Tags: ,

A Recipe from My Mom

Friday, May 7, 2010 at 06:50 AM

Today is a day to celebrate.  Not only is it Mother’s Day Weekend, but the day that I’ve been dreading waiting for is finally here:  it’s my 40th birthday!  I had been thinking about how to commemorate this day on my blog for a while, when it finally occurred to me.  On my birthday (which happens to fall oh-so-close to Mother’s Day) I would introduce you all to the woman who so bravely brought me into this world 40 years ago today:  My Mom!

Mom and Me

My mom is a Rock Star!  She is a wonderful mother, grandmother, wife, daughter and friend to many.  She works as a nurse to developmentally disabled people and formerly worked as a hospice nurse.  She is always helping others (including me!) and so today, she wrote a recipe for all of you A Better Bag of Groceries fans!

Chicken and Pasta with Greens and Beans by Melissa’s Mom, Barbara

Mom in Her Kitchen

Ingredients:

1/2 lb chicken tenders (NuVal score: 35)

1 medium onion, chopped (NuVal score: 93)

garlic (NuVal score: 91)

4 cups coarsely chopped broccoli rabe (NuVal score: 100)

1 1/2 cups drained cannellini beans (drained and rinsed) (NuVal score of 58for Progresso – among the highest for cannellini beans)

1 small can chick peas (drained and rinsed) (Mom’s brand of Hanover gets a 72; Goya Chick Peas get an 88)

2 cups nonfat/low sodium vegetable broth (not yet scored)

1 tomato, seeded and diced (NuVal score: 96)

6 ounces uncooked pasta, cooked al dente (Mom used Dreamfields which gets a NuVal score of 87)

  1. Lightly spray a large nonstick saucepan with cooking spray.  Brown chicken tenders, then remove to a separate dish.  Add onion into saucepan and saute until soft, add garlic, stir until garlic is softened (about 5 minutes).
  2. Add broccoli rabe; cook 2-3 minutes.  Add diced tomato and beans.  Stir until softened.  Add broth; bring to a low boil.  Reduce heat, simmer about 5 minutes.  Add cooked chicken and pasta.  Cook on low until flavors blend. 
  3. Let stand several minutes before serving.

 

This recipe serves two, with leftovers.  It can be adjusted for larger crowds.

Yum, that looks delicious!

My mom created this recipe especially for my Dad, who was diagnosed with Diabetes last year.  (Like I said, she is always doing nice things for people!)  Mom says that whenever my Dad eats chick peas, his glucose level is better the following morning.  Chick peas are an amazing little legume!!

I am off to celebrate my big day.  I hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Posted by: Melissa 13 comments

Posted in: Chicken, Dinner Recipes, Dreamfield's, chick peas

Tags:

Trade-Up Tuesday: Dreamfields Pasta

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 07:12 AM

Hello Blog Friends!  It’s Trade-Up Tuesday, the day where I blog about a Trade-Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal and give some of it away.  Do you remember me telling you how dreamy Dreamfields pasta is?  I love it so much I just had to make it a GiveAway!  And it is worth you taking the time to comment because Dreamfields retails for $2.79 a box at my local grocery store.  So it ain’t cheap.  I’m giving away 4 different boxes: spaghetti, angel hair, linguine, and rotini.  All of these Dreamfields varieties get Rock Star scores of 87on the NuVal scale.  Why, oh why, eat plain pasta?  I’m also giving away a fabulous NuVal T-shirt!  Which I would advise you NOT to wear while eating your Dreamfields smothered in tomato sauce.

Speaking of tomato sauce, I highly recommend my friend Heather’s amazing marinara sauce.  I made some last week and it was incredible. 

It is the perfect accompaniment to your Dreamfields pasta. 

So, why do I love Dreamfields so much that I’m willing to pay a higher price for it?  Well, long-time readers of ABBG know that I’ve traded up to whole wheat pastas (most notably, Barilla Plus, score of 91) since learning about NuVal scores.  What I love about Dreamfields is that there is nothing wheaty about it at all.  It tastes just like regular pasta.  Actually better.  It’s so smooth and creamy.  That is the only way I can describe it. 

To Enter:

In keeping with the Dreamy theme of today’s giveaway, leave me a comment below telling me either:

  • A “carb” score that you find interesting in the Scores section of the NuVal website.  (Bread, crackers, cereal)

             OR

  • What you most like to daydream about

Leave your comment by 11:59 pm Eastern time tonight.  I’ll randomly select one lucky winner.  Good Luck!

Posted by: Melissa 44 comments

Posted in: Dreamfield's, Pasta, Trade-Up Tuesday

Tags: