Friday, July 16, 2010 at 07:02 AM
Gosh, I have blogged about soooo many different foods here on A Better Bag of Groceries. One category that I haven’t touched on? Frozen Waffles. This dawned on me as I was toasting one for my son’s breakfast recently. I guess I haven’t blogged about them yet because they are not an everyday breakfast in our house.
So, what about waffles? How do they score on the NuVal scale. Well, they vary. Gosh, you must all get sick of hearing me say that! They vary. Sorry, but they do! I mean, that is the reason for NuVal after all. It helps you to compare one waffle against the other.
As for Waffle Scores, here’s The Best, the Middle of the Road, and the Bottom of the Barrell:
The Best:
Earth’s Best Organic Homestyle Mini Waffles: 43
Kashi Go Lean Frozen Strawberry Flax All Natural: 40
The Middle of the Road:
HyVee Frozen Waffles Multi-Grain: 32
Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Waffles: 28
Kellogg’s Eggo Homestyle Waffles: 23
The Bottom of the Barrell:
Aunt Jemima Frozen Homestyle Waffles: 4
Waffle scores are pretty much on the same track as Children’s cereal scores (the best being Cheerios at a 37, the worst being Capn Crunch with a score of 10). The important thing to consider, though, is what you add to that waffle or that cereal. Think about it. When you toast a waffle for your child, you often top it with butter (NuVal score of 2for many brands) and maple syrup (NuVal score of 1 for many brands). When you give your child cereal for breakfast, you often add skim milk (NuVal score of 91) and fruit (NuVal scores of 90 – 100 for most fruits).
So most mornings, we opt for cereal with milk and fruit and we save the waffles for an occasional treat. It’s good to know that I can choose the most nutritious of the waffles out there for my kids.
One of the most frequently asked questions I get about my role as Mommy Blogger for NuVal is the following: Do you ever run out of things to blog about. My answer? No way!!! There are so many foods, so many food categories, so many recipes, so many new developments. It never gets old.
Happy Weekend Everyone!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Breakfast
Tags: waffles
Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 07:14 AM
One of my favorite summer time recipes is Pasta Fra Diavolo: sea scallops, litleneck clams, and shrimp all simmering in a spicy tomato sauce and served over pasta. I often make this dish when my husband’s family visits from out-of-town because it is a great way to offer up the best of New England’s seafood in an easy one-dish meal. In my town, we are fortunate to have a wonderful fish market that supplies many restaurants. So I head there to buy my ingredients before I begin to cook.
When you make a meal like this, it is tempting to make it just for the grown-ups in the family and to make something a little more plain for the kids. But that would be making two dinners. And I really try to avoid making two dinners. This is not a restaurant, I tell my kids. I have to admit that until now, I did not serve my kids Pasta Fra Diavolo for fear of shellfish allergies. Most pediatricians advise parents to wait until children are over three to introduce shellfish. I take the uber-conservative route when it comes to potential allergies, so I waited until my kids were 5 and 7 to feed them clams!
While I could go to the trouble of making the sauce for this dish from scratch, I opt for the easy route during the beautiful summer weather in order to spend more time outside playing and less time in the kitchen cooking. All you need is an onion, a jar of Fra Diavolo sauce, some seafood, and some pasta.
Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped (NuVal score: 93)
2 lbs. littleneck clams (NuVal score: 82)
1/2 lb chopped clams (NuVal score: 82)
1/2 lb sea scallops (NuVal score: 51)
1/2 lb shrimp (NuVal score: 75)
1 jar Fra Diavolo sauce (NuVal scores vary – see below)
1 lb pasta, cooked (I used Dreamfields Linguine with a NuVal score of 87)
Directions:
Oh, it’s soooooo easy. In a non-stick skillet, heat the onion.
That, by the way, is my Circulon pan. I think it is like over 14 years old and it still looks brand new. Love it!
While you heat the onion until it is almost translucent, have your helper (your husband or child), scrub the littlenecks to remove any sand.
Add scallops and chopped clams to the pan:
When the scallops become opaque, add Fra Diavlo sauce, shrimp and littleneck clams:
Cover, and simmer until the clams open – about 8 – 10 minutes.
Toss with hot cooked pasta in a big, beautiful bowl. Serve with a crisp green salad.
The NuVal scores for Fra Diavolo sauce really vary. Here’s the highest I could find, the lowest, and one that was in the middle:
- Rao’s Homemade All Natural Arrabbiata Fra Diavolo Hot Sauce: 65
- Sclafani Medium Fra Diavolo Sauce: 38
- Newman’s Own Fra Diavolo Sauce Hot and Spicy: 23
So, how did the kids react? Overall, they were pretty adventurous eaters. Out of the different kinds of shellfish, they liked the scallops the best and the clams the least (a little too chewy for their little teeth). Surprisingly, they did not complain about the spicy sauce. They loved the fact that they had real live clam shells on their plates.
The best part about this meal? Leftovers!! We reheated and got a whole second dinner out of it. You gotta love just microwaving plates on a hot summer night.
The worst part about this meal? Forgetting to take the kitchen trash out that night. Pee-you!!!
CSN Stores Giveway:
Congratulations to Commenter #30, Angela! Please email me at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com to collect your $40 gift card. Thanks to all who commented and tweeted!
Become a NuVal Fan on Facebook:
Here’s the address: http://www.facebook.com/NuVal
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Dinner Recipes
Tags: Dreamfield's, Pasta Fra Diavolo, Seafood
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 06:50 AM
I have a very special giveaway today!
Have you ever heard of CSN Stores? Well neither had I until last fall when I bought a coffee table. CSN Stores is the number 3 online retailer for home goods and they have been in business for over 7 years. At CSN stores, you can find everything from lights to furniture to fitness gear to cookware!
Alexandra from CSN Stores contacted me last week to see if I would review one of their products on my blog or if I would host a giveaway. As much as I would love to try out a new piece of cookware for myself and keep it, I decided that you, my fabulous readers, deserved the gift more. So today, one lucky A Better Bag of Groceries reader will win a $40 gift card for cookware from www.cookware.com. You can actually use the gift card at any of CSN Stores websites.
I had a great experience purchasing my coffee table. Here’s how it all went down:
- I needed a coffee table.
- At this point in my life, with a 7-year-old and 5-year-old fighting the forces of evil with their Star Wars light sabers, you know, in my living room, I need to get a very good deal on any furniture.
- I wanted a coffee table without any sharp corners or edges.
- Instead of searching at the usual places, I checked out a site called www.coffeetables.com.
- I bought this beautiful coffee table for $165!
When my coffee table arrived, I realized that www.coffeetables.com was part of www.csnstores.com. Who knew?
So one lucky commenter today will win a $40 gift card to spend any way you want at CSN Stores.
Since most of you like to cook, I thought you might check out some cookware.
Like this Emeril Pro-Clad Fry Pan for $39.95 with Free Shipping.
Or this Hamilton Beach 7-Quart Slow Cooker for $39.95 with Free Shipping.
CSN Stores also has a great selection of fitness accessories. While you can’t get a whole elliptical machine with $40, you can get a great Pilates ring:
The Stamina is my favorite Pilates ring and you can get it at CSN stores for only $29.95.
Oh, there are so many ways you can spend $40 at CSN Stores. I wish I could win! But this is a giveaway, so that means that it’s going out to one of you!
To Enter:
Just do one of the following:
- Leave a comment below telling me a Trade Up you’ve made since leaning about NuVal
- Leave a comment below telling me how you would spend $40 at CSN stores
- Tweet this giveaway
I will choose one winner at random at 7 am EDT on Thursday morning. Good Luck!
Yesterday’s Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #68, Doreen! You’ve won my Muesli Giveaway. Be sure to send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address. Thank you to everyone who entered!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Giveaway
Tags: cookware, CSN Stores, Giveaway, lighting, lights
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 06:51 AM
Hooray for Trade-Up Tuesday! This is the day where I tell you about a Trade-Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give something away for free.
This summer, my new obsession is Muesli. You see, when the weather gets warm, I crave fresh fruit and nice cold skim milk all atop some kind of cereal. In summers past, that cereal would likely be Rice Chex or Corn Chex, both of which score a 24 on the NuVal scale. That is below the average score for all cold cereals (27). Fast forward to this summer, and I find myself at work, reviewing scores for one of my clients. I spy some scores for Muesli. Whoa, high 80s!! I also see the boxes of Muesli on the store shelf, because they are near some of the different hot cereals I tried out over the cold winter. Hmmmmmmm. I get brave. I buy some Muesli.
As my friend Tina would say, Holy Yum!
First of all – what is muesli? Well, according to www.wisegeek.com, muesli is a cereal made from toasted whole oats, nuts, fruit and typically wheat flakes. Since it uses whole grains, it is high in dietary fiber, and because it relies on the natural sweetness of the fructose in fruit, it is also low in sucrose. Depending upon the proportion of nuts, it can also be relatively high in protein, unlike most other breakfast cereal.
Interestingly, the term Muesli, of which there are many variant spellings, derives from the Swiss German word mus, which means ‘mixture’. Dr. Maximilian Bircher-Benner, who ran a sanatorium in Switzerland, invented muesli at the beginning of the 20th century. Bircher-Benner was keenly interested in promoting healthy diet and exercise. Along with eating nutritious foods like Muesli, and forgoing much if not all meat in their diet, Bircher-Benner’s patients had regular physical exercise and spent a portion of each day gardening. Their behaviors were modeled on the life of Swiss shepherds, who Bircher-Benner felt had the healthiest lifestyle. (Thanks to www.wisegeek.comfor this fascinating info!)
I found more info on the origins of Muesli on the back of the boxes:
So, how does this Muesli score? Much better than the Chex I used to eat all summer long!
- Bob’s Red Mill: 87
- Alpen: 87
- Familia: 43
The thing to know about Muesli is that once you add milk, it expands – a lot! It’s like when you put too much Orzo or Ditalini into soup. It becomes a bowl of mush. The serving size on most Mueslis is only 1/4 cup. You might be tempted to put more in your bowl. Don’t.
Stick to the 1/4 cup:
I know – it doesn’t look like much!
Add some blueberries (NuVal score of 100!)
Some strawberries (NuVal score of 100!)
Some nectarines (NuVal score of 93) and some cold skim milk (NuVal score of 91).
And you have a breakfast that will hold you ’til lunchtime!
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky A Better Bag of Groceries reader will win all three Mueslis to try at home. Just leave a comment below telling my your summer breakfast of choice. You can enter twice by leaving a second comment with a NuVal score. You can find some sample scores by searching this blog, www.tradingupdowntown.com, or on the NuVal website. Those of you lucky enough to shop at Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, Meijer, Kroger in Lexington, KY, United Supermarkets and Brookshire’s, can find NuVal scores on your store shelves. I will choose one winner at random at 7 am EDT on Wednesday (it really is random – my kids get to pick the number). Good Luck!
Special Wednesday Giveaway This Week!
Be sure to stop by here tomorrow. Thanks to the kind people at www.csnstores.com, I am hosting a special cookware giveaway. Don’t miss it!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Muesli
Monday, July 12, 2010 at 06:59 AM
First let me just say that this is not a Cart Confession. I have never purchased a Lunchable in my life nor do I intend to. My children know not to ask for them when we are grocery shopping. We whisk right past that section of refrigerated casing when in the supermarket.
But last week at NuVal, while I was reviewing a list of scores for one of my clients (Price Chopper in Schenectady, NY), I came across the score for a Lunchables product. Scoring Lunchables takes a lot of effort because they are complex – there is more than one product in the packaging. So we are just beginning to score them at NuVal. This was the first Lunchables product I had seen scored. Like a bad car accident on the side of the highway, I just had to look.
Lunchables Lunch Combinations – Ham & American – NuVal score of 5. Ouch! Included in the package are Cracker Stackers, Lean Ham, Kraft American Cheese, Ritz Crackers, Butterfinger Bar, and Capri Sun Roarin Waters Wild Cherry.
The amazing thing is that when I was googling this product to try and find an image to include for this blog post (since I obviously do not have these in my refrigerator), I came across a Mommy Blogger who was raving about how happy she was that there was now a healthier Lunchable. I do not want to embarass that Mommy Blogger so I won’t include a link here to her silly post.
If you are the kind of person who enjoys horror flicks and gore, you probably want to see more. So here you go…
Lunch Combinations – Bologna & American – NuVal score of 6! Wow, the Bologna version actually scores better than the “Lean Ham” version. Included in this package are Cracker Stackers, Bologna made with chicken & pork, Kraft American cheese, Ritz crackers, and Nabisco Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies.
In doing more research on the Lunchables phenomenon, I found a great blogpost from the Washington Post about the new “more wholesome” Lunchables.
Back in the days B.C. (Before Children), when I worked for Big Supermarket Company, I once spent a day “riding stores” with one of the company’s most experienced marketing managers. We were in a very wealthy area of Connecticut when he told me about Lunchables. You see, the store we were in was #1 in the entire supermarket chain for Lunchables sales. Lunchables are not cheap and in this particular high-rent town, the Lunchables just flew off the shelves. They were the Designer Lunch for privileged children.
Fast forward to today and I don’t hear my kids asking for Lunchables too much. I don’t think they have a huge presence in our elementary school or summer camp. However, we do see some children eating Uncrustables.
Guess what? They score just as low. They get a 5.
I know that most of my loyal A Better Bag of Groceries readers are not the Lunchables- or Uncrustables-buying type. But it’s kind of fun to look a the scores – in a sick sort of way – isn’t it?
Now get off your laptop and go make your kids (or yourself) a nice healthy lunch with whole grain bread, lean protein, fresh fruits and vegetables!
Question of the Day
Have you ever purchased a Lunchable or an Uncrustable?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Lunch
Tags: Lunchables, Uncrustables
