• 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.

Guest Post: Tina’s Favorite Things

Friday, March 4, 2011 at 07:23 AM

So, my sister-in-law is due to have her baby tomorrow. Remember her?  She comments here a ton and we threw her a very special baby shower.  At the shower, we gave her all sorts of motherly advice.  The advice I should have given her?  Your child will get sick.  It’s not a bad omen – it’s a fact of life.  And when it happens, you will have to scramble to figure out alternate plans.  Thankfully, Tina Haupert, who also blogs for NuVal, graciously jumped in for me today and took one thing off my plate.  Love Tina!  I am very excited for her book coming out in May!

Tina

Hi, everyone! Melissa is home taking care of her sick daughter, so I am helping her out with a guest post on her blog. I love it when Melissa writes about her Two Favorite Things on ABBG, so I am taking her lead and blogging about some of my favorite things.
Smoothies

I’ve been on a serious smoothie kick lately. Of course, I love how they taste– they’re smooth, cool, and creamy– but I also love that smoothies are a really nutritious meal or snack if you use ingredents that score high on the NuVal scale. Some of my favorites are frozen bananas (NuVal score: 91), blueberries (NuVal score: 100), ground flaxseed meal (NuVal score: 100), Chobani Non-Fat Plain Greek yogurt (NuVal score: 94), and Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin (NuVal score: 94). The possibilities are endless! Recently, my favorites smoothie recipes are Gingerbread, Banana Bread, and Pumpkin Pie.

iRun Like a Girl Beanie

I run year-round, so I’ve learned a thing or two about how to stay warm while hitting the pavement. On my runs, I layer up my clothing and make sure to cover my hands and head. It might sound weird, but my hat is my favorite part about getting dressed. I’m in love with my performance beanie from iRun Like a Girl. It’s lightweight and sweat-wicking so it doesn’t get itchy and sweaty while I am running. And the best part: it has a hole in the back for my ponytail, so it isn’t mashed again my head while I run. It is a MUST on my winter runs!

Stainless Steal Drinking Straws

If you read my blog, Carrots ‘N’ Cake, you’ve probably seen these Stainless Steal Drinking Strawsjust about every morning in my iced coffee. I LOVE them!! I used to use a plastic straw every morning in my iced coffee and just throw it away. These straws are environmentally-friendly and budget-friendly. You’ll never have to buy a straw again and you’ll help keep all of those plastic straws out of our landfills.

Yoga

Earlier this week, I challenged myself to a month long of regular yoga practice. My goal is to practice yoga for at least 20 minutes three days a week for the rest of the month. I have an intense racing schedule starting this coming weekend and not ending until the second weekend of April, so I want to regularly practice yoga to help keep my body healthy. Yoga is good for the mind, body, and soul.

Question of the Day

If you had written for me today, what would you have put on your list of favorite things?

Posted by: Melissa 4 comments

Posted in: Guest Bloggers

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For the Bride – Our Favorite Kitchen Things

Friday, August 13, 2010 at 07:05 AM

Fridays call for a fun blog post.  This has been the Summer of Social Events for us, including, (drum roll, please) my little sister is getting married!  And for her Bridal Shower, we were asked to bring one of our Favorite Kitchen Things for the Bride-To-Be. 

First, let’s review the Family Tree.

There are three of us “older” sisters who are already married:

Melissa, Julie and April

 

And now, our baby sister Kristin will walk down the aisle on 10-10-10!

Kristin

 

So back to her Bridal Shower and these Kitchen Things.  As I mentioned, Kristin’s BFF, Cammie,

Kristin and Cammie

 

made the invitations and in them she asked party-goers to bring a Favorite Thing for Kristin’s kitchen basket.  It could be a gadget, a recipe, a spice, etc.  This was a great idea.  However, as a a self-proclaimed “Kitchen Person”, I had a hard time deciding what I would put in the Bride’s basket.  I have so many favorite things.  I often say that if stranded on a desert island, I would bring my Pampered Chef garlic press.  Or OXO measuring cups.  As for recipes, where would I even begin?  Oh, the pressure of it all.

I was very curious to see what Favorite Things the other Shower-Goers brought for Kristin’s basket.  No one seemed to mind that I was taking pictures of everything in there!

There was the Leopard Ice Cream Scoop:

The Mr. Clean Magic Erasers (one of my favorites!):

The “Eggsact Egg-Timer”

And a Brushing Beauty for scrubbing those pots and pans.

There were cookbooks…

and recipes.

So, what Favorite Kitchen Thing did I put in Kristin’s Kitchen Basket?  After a lot of deliberation, I decided on a beautiful rubber scraper from Williams-Sonoma in a lovely shade of green (her favorite). 

This is no ordinary rubber scraper.  It is heavy duty, much like the Pampered Chef Mix’N Scraper, you can use it to mix things and scrape things.  It’s one of my most-used kitchen gadgets.  I think Kristin is going to love it!

Question of the Day

What Favorite Thing would you put in the Bride’s Kitchen Basket?

Posted by: Melissa 13 comments

Posted in: Uncategorized

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