• Choosing the Healthiest Foods for Your Family

    Welcome! I am a mom of a busy 7 year old and an adventurous 5 year old. I also happen to work for a great new 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: Gluten Free Giveaway

Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 07:11 AM

Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday, a weekly feature here on A Better Bag of Groceries, where I tell you about a trade up I’ve made since learning about NuVal  and I give away something for free.  Full disclosure here – today’s giveaway is not a personal trade-up of mine.  While I’ve started to delve into the Gluten-Free world (I’m so into quinoa), I haven’t actually tried these three products.  However, when I was out at NuVal’s Latest Retailer-Partner (a.k.a., the Mystery Market), the large Gluten-Free section that they have caught my eye.  So did the high NuVal scores on a few of the items.

Like these Gluten Free Blueberry Breakfast Bars with a NuVal score of 40…

these Gluten Free Herb Crackers with a NuVal score of 37…

and this Gluten Free pasta with a fabulous NuVal score of 82!!

So many people have gone gluten-free for a variety of health reasons.  It’s great to know that they can find Gluten-Free sections in their grocery stores.  What a bonus when they have NuVal scores too.

Today’s Giveaway

One lucky commenter will win all three Gluten Free products.  Just leave a comment below telling me who the Mystery Market is!  I can’t wait to see all your responses.  I will choose one winner at random at 7 am EDT on Wednesday AND I will reveal the identity of the Mystery Market!  So you will want to tune in on Wednesday.  Good Luck!

Posted by: Melissa 40 comments

Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday

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Guest Blog Post: Annette Makes Gluten-Free Zucchini Ribbon Lasagna

Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 06:55 AM

One of the benefits of working for NuValis that I get to work with several Registered Dietitians.  Chief among them is Annette Maggi, MS, RD, LD, FADA.  Annette lives in super-friendly Minnesota with her husband, Dan, and her 11-year-old son, Jack.  As part of her job as Senior Director of Nutrition for NuVal, she shares her views on nutrition in her blog, Nutrition Outlook.  She was so kind as to share one of her favorite tricks recipes for getting more veggies into Jack with all of you A Better Bag of Groceries readers today.  So without further ado, I bring you Annette!

As a dietitian and a mom, I’m always looking for ways to get more vegetables into my son’s eating habits.  He’ll eat a variety of fruits and will eat them willingly, but vegetables tend to be a harder sell.  So I was intrigued when I ran across a recipe for “Zucchini-Ribbon Lasagna” in a recent issue of Martha Stewart Magazine.  While billed as a gluten free recipe (which it is), it definitely presented a way to get in an extra serving of vegetables at dinner.

Here’s the  Recipe

For the Sauce

1 can (28 ounce) whole peeled plum tomatoes, with juice (NuVal score of 50 for Tuttorosso Plum Tomatoes – see note below)

2 tbsp. olive oil (NuVal score of 11)

1 small onion, finely chopped (NuVal score of 93)

¼ tsp. red pepper flakes

12-oz. ground turkey (NuVal score of 33 for 93% lean)

2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

2 tsp. sea salt

For the Lasagna

2 medium zucchini, trimmed (NuVal score of 99)

1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese (NuVal score of 25 for Sargento – see Note below)

¼ tsp. olive oil (NuVal score of 11)

Freshly ground pepper

Working for NuVal, I couldn’t help but trade up a few of the ingredients, which were:

  • Instead of olive oil, which has a NuVal score of 11, I traded up to canola oil, which has a NuVal Score of 24.
  • Instead of Tuttorosso Plum Tomatoes (NuVal score of 50), I traded up to Rienzi Whole Italian Plum Tomatoes, with a NuVal score of 82.
  • Instead of Sargento Part Skim Ricotta Cheese (NuVal score of 25), I traded up to Sargento Fat Free Ricotta (NuVal score of 30).

 

Directions:

  1.  Make the sauce.  Pulse tomatoes with juice in a food processor until finely chopped.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook onion and red-pepper flakes, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender, about 8 minutes.  Add turkey; cook, breaking up large pieces, until browned, 3-4 minutes.  Add tomatoes; bring to a boil.  Reduced heat;  simmer until thick, about 20 minutes.  Stir in oregano and salt.  Let cool.
  2. Make the lasagna.  Preheat oven to 375.  Slice zucchini lengthwise into thin strips using a mandolin or a sharp knife.  Place 5-6 zucchini slices, overlapping slightly, in the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish.  Top with 1 cup sauce.  Dot with ¼ cup ricotta cheese.  Repeat twice with zucchini, remaining sauce, and ½ cup ricotta, alternating direction of zucchini; brush with oil.  Dot with remaining ¼ cup ricotta.  Season with pepper.  Bake uncovered until lasagna bubbles and top browns, 50-60 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes. 

 

So how successful was the dish in getting more vegetables into Jack?  While he did pick out some of the zucchini, he ate well over half of it, so in my book, definitely a success.  Because zucchini tends to have a mild flavor, I think it worked well in this recipe where many of the ingredients have a lot of flavor.  I also thought it was a good choice for Jack because lasagna is a food he’s familiar with and likes!

Melissa’s Note:

We made this at our house this past weekend, using zucchini that we bought at our local Farmer’s Market..  We served it to our kids with a few leftover ravioli on the side, figuring they would not be too into the Zucchini Lasagna.  Well, guess what?  They LOVED the Zucchini Lasagna.  They ate it before their beloved ravioli and even asked for seconds.  This recipe is a keeper! 

Speaking of Registered Dietitians….

Christina, a graduate student in nutrition from Simmons College in Boston has been interning at NuVal this summer.  Today, she has a great guest blog post over at Prevention RD.  Check it out!

Question of the Day

What is your favorite zucchini recipe?

Posted by: Melissa 8 comments

Posted in: Dinner Recipes, Guest Bloggers, Zucchini

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