• Choosing the Healthiest Foods for Your Family

    Welcome! I am a mom of a busy 8 year old and an adventurous 6 year old. I also happen to work for a great 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: “Perfect” Beans

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 07:04 AM

Hello Everyone!  Welcome to Trade-Up Tuesday, the best day here on A Better Bag of Groceries because I tell you about a Trade-Up I’ve made and I give away something for free.  Today, it’s all about beans.  Not just any beans, mind you.  These are beans that score 100 on the NuVal scale.  Yes, you read that right – Eden Organic  Pinto, Aduki and Navy Beans all score a 100 on the NuVal scale.  My husband loved this photo, which I snatched as the sun was rising in our backyard.  He felt that it made the beans look as though they came from heaven.

You know, one of the most popular posts I ever wrote was about The Beans That Scored 100.  When I saw that score on the shelf at Price Chopper, I couldn’t believe my eyes! 

So, I had to write about it and that is when I found that a lot of ABBG readers are passionate about beans.  Y’all wrote in with a lot of great recipes that day.

Writing about beans reminds me of a song my mom taught me when I was little:

Beans, beans, the musical fruit

The more you eat, the more you toot

The more you toot, the better you feel

Now you’re ready for another meal!

There are other versions of that catchy tune, but I think that is the cleanest of the bunch!

I am a big fan of beans, especially chick peas, dark red kidney beans, and black beans.  And I’m always looking for something new to try.  But the thing about canned beans is that their scores really vary depending on what (besides the beans) have been added to that can.  For example, these Eden Organic Navy Beans score a 100, but Goya Navy Beans only score a 65!  Likewise, you could choose the Eden Organic Pinto Beans for a score of 100 or Bush’s Best Pinto Beans for a 56! 

The 100 score (usually reserved for foods like spinach) really piqued my interest.  I checked in with Rachel Rodek, MS, RD, LDN, CSSD and Manager of Nutrition Communications for NuVal.  She said that normally Pinto beans would score a 93, but these canned beans score a perfect 100 because of the addition of kombu seaweed in the ingredients.  Seaweed is high in flavonoids, plant pigments that also provide health benefits.  How cool is that?

To Enter:

One lucky reader will win all three cans of Perfect-Score Beans.  To enter, just leave a comment below, telling me your favorite Bean.  I’ll choose one winner at random.  The contest closes at 10 am Wednesday Eastern Time.  Good Luck!  I really should throw in a bottle of Beano, too – dont’cha think?

Posted by: Melissa 56 comments

Posted in: Pinto Beans

Tags: , , ,

The Beans That Scored 100

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 07:13 AM

100 Beans

Whenever I get the chance to head to a Price Chopper store (which, sadly, is not too often), I make amazing new finds!  I always come home with bags full of new things.

My friend Joanna, who blogs over at Fitness and Spice, has the same experience at her local Hy-Vee in Nebraska.  She often blogs about her shopping experiences, discovering interesting products with NuVal scores.  Joanna even found this product!

Bible Bread

I guess that’s one you only find in the Bible Belt!

Luckily, I was able to make two trips out to Price Chopper back in December.  My son, the First Grader, had a half day so we had a “Go With Mommy to Work” afternoon and hit the Price Chopper store in Marlborough, MA.  It was there that I found these amazing Pinto Beans on the shelf.  Check out that NuVal score:  100!!!  They were off the shelf and into my cart in a heartbeat.  I do that a lot on my store visits.  It’s so easy when I can see the scores!  So, I stock up on high-scoring staples:  canned tomatoes, pasta, pasta sauce, rice, snacks, cookies, crackers, etc.

I’ve used most of my high-scoring finds in my family recipes, but those Pinto Beans are still sitting on my shelf.  What to do with them, what to do with them….

So far, my Google searches on Pinto Beans are leading me to sites like www.hillbillyhousewife.com.  No, I’m not kidding.  The Pinto Bean recipe on hillbilly housewife adds, and I quote, “2 to 4 ounces margarine or bacon or salt pork or 1/4 cup bacon grease.”  Oh my! 

I’m sure that you, my faithful readers, have some MUCH better ideas.  Please bring them on so that I can dust off that can of Pinto Beans and make them into something yummy.

Anyone, Anyone, Bueller?

Cookie GiveAway Winner

Congratulations to Commenter #13, Sue!  She is the winner of yesterday’s Cookie Giveaway.  Delicious cookies are headed your way.

Now back to the Question of the Day

What would you do with those Pinto Beans?

Posted by: Melissa 20 comments

Posted in: Pinto Beans, Price Chopper

Tags: ,