Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 07:07 AM
Every now and then, I let you all take a peek inside my lunch bag. When you work for a Nutritional Scoring System, people are always curious about what foods you choose.
Like so many parents – and non-parents (is that a word?) – I have a really long day. I’m up between 4:30 and 5 in the morning – just so that I can squeeze in some exercise before my day really starts flying. I either go to the gym, I run with neighborhood friends, or I work out at home. After getting everybody ready for school and work, my breakfast is typically a whole grain English Muffin and egg sandwich that I eat while commuting to work. I know, I know. It’s not ideal to eat and drive, but Boston-area commutes are brutal, so somethings gotta give.
I prep my lunch and snacks the night before. Always. There is zero time for lunch-prepping in our morning routine. The only prep that I do in the morning is that I move lunches from little holding containers in our refrigerator into the actual lunchboxes/lunch-bags with ice packs. That’s it.
About an hour into my workday, I’m already hungry again! I’ve been up for over four hours, I’ve worked out, I’ve gotten kids ready for school and I’ve battled Boston traffic. That’s enough to make a girl hungry. Even if she has already eaten an egg sandwich! So I nosh on some almonds and a banana.
- Almonds: NuVal score of 81
- Banana: NuVal score of 91
What do I like to eat for lunch? Funny, my six-year-old daughter asked me that same question recently. “What’s your favorite lunch, Mom?” I told her that it was salad. But I would also say that dinner leftovers are a strong favorite as well. For the record, my daughter’s favorite lunch is soup.
This lunch is leftover cod baked with whole wheat bread crumbs, cous cous and grean peas. For dessert, I have an orange and dark chocolate chips.
- Atlantic Cod: NuVal score of 81
- 4C 100% Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs: NuVal score of 25
- Near East 100% Natural Plain Cous Cous: NuVal score of 48
- Food Club Frozen Green Peas: NuVal score orf 96
- Orange: NuVal score of 100
- Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: NuVal score of 13
In the afternoon, my tummy starts to grumble – usually around 3 pm or so. I always want something crunchy. And a little salt would be good.
- Tribe Red Pepper Hummus: NuVal score of 48
- Carrot Sticks: NuVal score of 99
- Celery Sticks: NuVal score of 96
I would also love a cup of coffee, but instead, I opt for some caffeine-free tea.
Time to head home. Traffic again! And when I get home there is a big danger zone lurking – that time when I’m in the kitchen making dinner. I’m starving – the kids are too! So, I eat a pear either right before I leave the office or on my way home so that I don’t eat an entire box of crackers while making dinner.
I really love my pear packer!
So, that’s what’s in my lunch bag. That lunch bag, by the way, was sent to me courtesy of the nice people at Built NY. I love it and I throw it in my washing machine now and then when it gets icky. It holds my giant lunch and it never lets me down!
Question of the Day
What’s in your lunch bag today?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Dreamfield's, Hot Cereal, Lunch
Tags: BuiltNY, Lunch Bag
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 07:24 AM
It’s Pumpkin Week here at A Better Bag of Groceries! Pumpkin gets an incredible NuVal score of 94 and it certainly is the season, so today I have another fantastic recipe that I just made this week in my own kitchen.
The winds of change are blowing for my family this autumn. Not only did we move just three short weeks ago, but back in September, I switched from working part-time for NuVal to working full-time again. It’s been about four years since I’ve been a full-time working mom, so it’s been a bit of an adjustment for me and my family these past few weeks.
There are some secrets to being a successful Full-Time Working Mom. (Since I’ve done a few different working arrangements since becoming a mother, I can tell you that these secrets work very well for moms who work part-time, moms who do not work outside the home and for women who do not have children too!)
Melissa’s Seven Secrets to Being a Successful Full-Time Working Mom*
*The asterisk means that this applies to the other working and family arrangements mentioned above.
- Plan as Much As You Can
- Try Not to Freak Out When Things Don’t Go as Planned
- Get Really Organized
- Find Solutions for Things that Make you Disorganized
- Get Really Good Help
- Outsource Stuff You Just Can’t Do (You Do Make Money, After All)
- Get a Slow-Cooker or Crock-Pot and Learn How to Use It
Those first 6 items are definitely a blog post for another day. But today’s blogpost is about how I am trying to find new ways to use my crock-pot. Because these days, we find ourselves coming in the door after 6 pm – four people with backpacks, lunchboxes and work bags to empty and put away. The stove is cold. Dinner is not even started. There is so much to do – homework, lunches to make for the next day – how to get it all done? So this weekend, when I was Menu Planning (See Melissa’s Secret to Success #1), I unearthed my ancient slow-cooker cookbook.
The Low Carb claims are a pretty good indication that this cookbook is dated! The copyright is 2003.
I love the part where they say, “these slow cooker recipes will save the day.” So true!
So, I flipped through and of course, it being Pumpkin Week and all, this recipe caught my eye.
This looked easy and the cooking time looked just right. One thing to check for when using a slow cooker is to match your recipe with the number of hours you will be away from home. For example, if you will be out of the house for 10 hours, don’t choose a recipe that requires only 7 hours of cooking time. Or you will be eating mush.
Beef and Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes (the NuVal score for Beef Stew meat ranges from 24 to 34 depending on whether it’s chuck, shank or tips)
1 10 ounce package frozen whole kernel corn (NuVal score of 91 for Bird’s Eye frozen corn)
1 1/2 cups 1/2 inch pieces peeled and seeded pumpkin or butternut squash (NuVal score of 94 for Pumpkin, 100 for Butternut Squash)
1 1/2 cups water
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce (I used The Chateau Marinara Sauce by Pastene, NuVal score of 66)
3/4 cup chopped onion (NuVal score of 93)
1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper (NuVal score of 94)
1 clove garlic, minced (NuVal score of 91)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 ounces dried whole wheat macaroni or other small pasta (I used Dreamfield’s Rotini, NuVal score of 87)
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley (NuVal score of 99)
Oops, I forgot to use the parsley. And I bought it for the recipe when I went grocery shopping! Oh, well (See, Melissa’s Secret to Success #2 – Do Not Freak Out When Things Do Not Go As Planned). No big deal, right?
Directions
- In a 3 1/2 – to 5-quart slow cooker combine meat, corn, pumpkin, water, tomato sauce, onion, sweet pepper, garlic, salt, black pepper, and nutmeg.
(Note: I actually browned the meat with the garlic and onions first. I like to brown things! Then I put everything in my slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5-6 hours.
- Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Stir pasta into the soup. Ladle soup into bowls;
sprinkle each serving with parsley.
Well, the claim on the back of the cookbook was true. This recipe did save the day! It took me just a little time the night before to assemble the ingredients into the crock pot (probably longer than necessary because of my Browning Habit). Then, in the morning, I just placed the crock pot on the burner, set it on low, and went to work. When we all walked in after 6 pm, the aroma of beef, pumpkin and tomatoes was wafting through the house. So delicious! The best thing about this recipe? The kids loved it. They gobbled it up and asked for seconds.
Question of the Day
What is your Secret to Success?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Dinner Recipes, Dreamfield's, Pumpkin
Tags: Dinner Recipes, Dreamfield's, Pumpkin, Slow Cooker
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
Posted in: Barilla Plus, Dreamfield's, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Barilla Plus, Dreamfield's, Pasta, sauce
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)
- 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).
- 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.
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
Posted in: chick peas, Dinner Recipes, Dreamfield's
Tags: chick peas, Chicken, Dreamfield's, My Mom
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
Posted in: Dreamfield's, Pasta, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Dreamfield's, Pasta
