Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 07:01 AM
Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday! On the second day of the week, I blog about a trade up I’ve made since I learned about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. It’s a great day! Today, I’m talking about salad.
I’ve been eating a lot of salad these past few weeks. As I get back on track after the holidays, it just seems fitting to try and get as many high-scoring fruits and veggies into my day as I can. We always – always – have a big bowl of salad in our fridge. What don’t we have? Store-bought salad dressing.
Salad dressings that you buy (in a bottle or jar) range in NuVal score from 1 to 24. The average score is a 5. Basically, there is a lot of sodium and stuff in many of them. There are some standouts in the crowd. For example, Marie’s Blue Cheese Yogurt Dressing with No Preservatives scores a 24.
Instead of buying bottled dressing, I buy bottled oil and bottle vinegar and mix my own. I just make a basic balsamic vinaigrette. A little olive oil (NuVal score of 11), a little balsamic vinegar, a little Kosher salt and a twist or two of ground black pepper. And then, shake shake shake. Voila, dressing. I could become even more adventurous and add fresh herbs – and I’m sure I will get there – someday. In the meantime, it’s one, two, three, four. Shake, shake, shake.
I make my dressing quickly and easily – and instead focus my attention on the salad.
Yum!
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky reader will win this great little salad giveaway. Included is this fantastic airtight glass bottle that I found at Crate and Barrel. Perfect for shaking your vinaigrette. There is also Carapelli Olive Oil (NuVal score of 11) and Bertolli Balsamic Vinegar (not scored). Also included is a Salad recipe book. Sorry, the tomatoes are not included. I can’t guarantee that those would arrive on the winner’s doorstep without a big, squishy mess! All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me what you love to put in your salad. Bonus: you can enter a second time by leaving a second comment with the NuVal scores of any of those ingredients. If you don’t have NuVal scores in a grocery store near you, try searching the NuVal website or this blog or the Trading Up Downtown blog. I’ll select one winner at random at 8am Eastern time on Wednesday January 18th. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Salad, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Salad dressing
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 07:23 AM
Today, for you, I have one of my favorite salad recipes of all time. It’s a little bit of a decadent salad (if that is possible), so Christmas seems like the perfect occasion to make it.
Last weekend, we went to a fantastic Christmas party. My friend, Deb, invites the world (OK, almost all of our small town) into her chaming Victorian house on the weekend before Christmas each year. Not only does she pack her house with a large cast of characters on this busy night, but she hosts a full buffet dinner on china plates with silver. Since I’m the guest voted “Most Likely to Bring a Salad,” I offered to do exactly that.
This salad is appropriately named Crunchy Romaine Toss. The only ingredient missing from this photo is the Romaine lettuce (NuVal score of 100!)
Ingredients (Note: I doubled this recipe for Deb’s large crowd. You are not seeing double!)
4 T butter
1 cup walnuts
1 package Ramen noodles uncooked (any flavor because you don’t need the flavor pouch)
1 cup broccoli, coarsely chopped
1-2 heads of Romaine or red leaf lettuce
4 green onions, chopped
For the dressing:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 T. soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Melt the butter in a skillet.
Saute the noodles until slightly brown. Then drain them on paper towels.
In the meantime, mix romaine, broccoli, and green onions.
Mix dressing ingredients in a sealed container, so that you mix the dressing right before serving.
The thing about this salad is that you want to wait until right before serving to add the nuts, noodles and dressing. Otherwise, everything gets soggy. So, off to the party you go with your big bowl of greens, your dressing container, your baggie of nuts, and your container of crispy ramen noodles. And then presto – you mix it up right at the last minute. So easy and everyone will love it!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Holidays, Salad
Tags: Holidays, romaine, Salad
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 07:05 AM
I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about this yet. Panic Salad. It’s what I make when I’m, well, in a panic!
Basically, it’s what I make when company is coming and I’m really short on time.
I started making Panic Salad one Friday night when our friends, The O’Malley’s, were coming over right for Pizza/Movie night. Having guests over on a Friday night isn’t easy – we just get in from work and boom – time to entertain! So, I really have no choice but to order pizza. But the salad from the pizza place is just OK. Instead, I made a quick stop at the grocery store on my way home and picked up a bagged mixed green mix, some goat cheese (or feta), some walnuts, some dried cranberries and some dressing. At home, I tossed it all into a big bowl in a flash. Voila! Panic Salad!
Now, my friends and relatives are all making Panic Salad. We went over to my Mom’s to celebrate my grandmother’s 85th birthday last week, and she was making one!
Mixed greens (NuVal score of 100) – This photo actually shows you the finished salad
Goat cheese: NuVal score of 9
Walnuts: NuVal score of 82
Craisins: NuVal score of 4
Ken’s Light Raspberry Walnut Dressing: NuVal score of 8
My mom’s Panic Salad was delicious! And it accompanied the rest of her menu beautifully.
Really, my mom was not in a panic at all. She threw a lovely little party to celebrate my grandmother’s 85th birthday.
She thought of everything.
A photo of my grandma when she was very young…
A crown…
Some flowers…
A gift basket that my mom made herself…
A beautiful and delicious cake…
A happy guest of honor…
Yes, my mom was not a harried hostess. She was calm and relaxed. Everyone had a great time. I guess Panic Salad helps to keep you from getting into a panic!
So, all this time, I’ve been making Panic Salads – for well over a year now. And here it is – December 1st! The beginning of a very busy season. It seemed like the perfect day to introduce all of you to my little secret for stress-free entertaining. Happy December everybody!
NuVal Holiday Twitter Party
You’re cordially invited to NuVal’s Holiday Twitter party! Stop on by and join us for a lively discussion on Wednesday December 7th at 3 pm Eastern. They’ll be great holiday tips for healthy eating, entertaining, recipes and more. Giveaways too!
If you’re already on Twitter, follow along at #nuvalparty.
If you’d like to attend but you’re not on Twitter, just go to www.twitter.com and sign up for a free account. You’ll find it helpful to sign up for a tweet organizer, such as TweetDeck too, to follow along.
See you at the party!
By the way, you can follow me on Twitter at @melisanutrition and @NuValMom!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Entertaining, Salad
Tags: entertaining, Holidays, Salad, Salad recipes
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 07:11 AM
Welcome to Cooking With Catherine Katz!
Catherine is married to NuVal visionary, Dr. David Katz.
The Katz’s have had a busy Spring, with two of their five children graduating from college this year…
With David winning awards and raising funds to fight childhood obesity…
and Catherine joining the fight whenever she can. She met up with Ben Vereen at Dr. Oz’s gala to fight Childhood Obesity.
When Catherine is not out promoting the fight against childhood obesity or shuttling kids from dance lessons to school and back, she is most often in her kitchen working on her incredible recipes. This past Sunday, I tried out one of her lunch recipes. And as always, I loved it!
Most of Catherine’s lunch recipes serve 1, so I doubled it since I was making this for my husband and me.
Black Bean, Corn and Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Again, this serves ONE. Make adjustments accordingly if you are going to serve more.
1/2 cup black beans, rinsed and drained (NuVal score of 54)
1/2 cup canned or frozen corn, rinsed and drained (NuVal score of 91 for corn with no salt added)
1 medium tomato, sliced (NuVal score of 96)
2 cups loosely packed baby spinach (NuVal score of 100)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil (NuVal score of 11)
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
Wash the spinach and spin it dry.
In a medium bowl, combine the beans
corn
tomato
spinach
oil, vinegar and cumin. Toss well and season with the salt and pepper.
Catherine says that if you have time to open a can, you have time to throw this complete lunch together in a flash! And she is right!
She also warns to keep that salt to just a pinch. “You don’t need too much, if any, salt in this dish because the residual sodium in the canned beans and corn adds flavor.”
And finally, she recommends not to forget the cumin. “It’s what gives this simple recipe that delicious Middle Eastern twist.” So true. We loved it. And it was a beautiful, colorful recipe that can be multiplied for a larger gathering.
Enjoy!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Cooking with Catherine Katz, Salad
Tags: Cooking With Catherine
Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 07:30 AM
Among my friends and family, I’m the Girl Most Likely to Eat a Salad. Or Bring a Salad. Or Order a Salad. Yes, lucky for me, I like the green stuff. I always have. I was born that way. But, in the winter, my salad cravings fade a bit because I get cold. So, at times when I normally would go for a big salad, I want something warm instead.
Well, guess what happened this week? I wanted salad. Not just wanted. Craved. Surely, this is a sign that Spring is almost here.
Woo Hoo!!!
This salad that I made for lunch was soooo good.
Romaine lettuce: NuVal score of 100
Cucumbers: NuVal score of 93
Tomatoes: NuVal score of 96
Chick Peas: NuVal score of 88 for Goya Chick Peas
Leftover Grilled Asparagus: Plain Asparagus gets a 100. But it does have added olive oil, NuVal score of 11.
Cheddar Cheese: Kraft Sharp Cheddar Cheese, NuVal score of 26
As for the dressing, I keep it simple. I combine Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Kosher Salt and Black Pepper.
I will tell you what I would like though….. that salad dressing emulsifier from Williams Sonoma!
Don’t forget you can win one – or a gift card for $30 to Williams Sonoma – by entering My National Nutrition Month Contest. All you need to do is get your kids (of any age) to try a new vegetable and catch it on video or camera. Send it to me at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com. You have until the end of the month, but March is starting to fly by. I am feeling Spring coming!
Question of the Day
Are you inherently a Salad Person?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Salad
Tags: Contest, Salad, Salad dressing
