Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 07:09 AM
Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday, everyone’s favorite day here at A Better Bag of Groceries. Every Tuesday, I blog about a trade up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. Today, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I am hosting an Irish Breakfast giveaway!
I was first introduced to McCann’s Irish Oatmeal back in college. Well, I didn’t actually try it – but I heard about it. You see, my roommate’s last name was McCann. And her Dad’s name was John. So, for years relatives who thought they were oh-so-funny would give her family John McCann’s Irish Steel Cut Oatmeal as a gift. “Bleeech!” she told me. “The stuff is gross!” Well, I never should have listened to her because this dear roommate of mine had the most limited palate I have ever seen. She ate iceberg lettuce, popcorn and hamburgers. Seriously. That was it. So, I am not surprised that she would not be a fan of something as exotic as Irish Steel Cut Oatmeal.
Fast forward to today, and as I’ve told you in the past, I have a thing for trying new hot cereals with high NuVal scores. My oatmeal cupboard overfloweth. And John McCann’s Irish Oatmeal is in my collection. Hey, with a NuVal score of 91, I just had to try it (even though my old college roommate had scared me off). I’m so glad I did, because it is delicious. You may remember that I recently learned to make this in my crock pot overnight. Try it – you will wake up to the delicious aroma of McCann’s Irish Oats wafting through your home. You will think you woke up in a Maeve Binchy novel.
Add to it some Irish Breakfast tea and before you know it, you’ll start talking with a brogue! We are not scoring teas at NuVal (no nutrients, really) so this one is unscored. But the tea will go perfectly for your St. Patrick’s morning breakfast.
Today’s Giveaway
One very lucky reader will win today’s Irish Breakfast Giveaway. All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me one of the following:
- What you would put in your Irish Oatmeal (enter twice if you know the NuVal score for that item)
- About a food that someone told you was yucky, but then you tried it and you found out that it was yummy
I’ll choose one winner at random at 8 am Eastern Time on Wednesday. So don’t delay! Good luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: St. Patrick's Day, steel cut oats, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Oatmeal, St. Patrick's Day, steel cut oats, tea, Trade-Up Tuesday
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 08:10 AM
I have a confession to make. I am an Oatmeal Hoarder. That’s right. Any day now the crew from A&E’s Real Life Series “Hoarders”is going to show up on my doorstep and force me to clean out my kitchen cabinet. It all started when I discovered all the amazing NuVal scores that hot oat cereals get. I just kept tossing different brands into my shopping cart like a squirrel storing nuts for winter. And before I knew it, my cupboard overfloweth. Some of my favorite hot oat cereals taking up valuable cabinet space include:
Hodgson Mill Oat Bran Hot Cereal: NuVal score of 58
Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats: NuVal score of 58
Quaker Old Fashioned Oats: NuVal score of 57
Quaker Steel Cut Oats 100% Whole Grain: NuVal score of 60
And then there is the the Grand Daddy of them all – the one that not only takes up the most space in my cabinet, but it also scores the highest among the hot oat cereals in my personal kitchen cabinet – John McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal Hot Cereal. It gets a NuVal score of 91.
Let’s just say that this can has been collecting a little bit of dust. Why? Cooking time. John McCann’s require at least 20 minutes of cooking time. Many steel cut oatmeals require 30 minutes! Who has that kind of time in the morning? Yes, we go through a lot of the Hodgson Mill Oat Bran with its quick 5-minute cooking time and my daughter likes the Quaker, so we make that a lot too. Quick, quick.
My friend Robin, who writes the Miss Conduct column for The Boston Globe Magazine, told me a long time ago (probably before a layer of dust had formed on top of this can) that she made her steel cut oats in her slow cooker – overnight! So that when she gets up in the morning, they are all ready and waiting for her. Well, with my husband threatening to call Hoarders, I had to try the Slow Cooker method.
Now, of course, I had just made Pepper Steak in the slow cooker over the weekend so despite the fact that it had been washed, it still had a peppery-steaky aroma. I gave my slow cooker another really good wash. And then I added 4 cups of water and 1 cup of oats. and set the slow cooker somewhere between 1 and 2. I have an old slow-cooker with a setting that goes from 1 to 5.
Interestingly, I had a restless night’s sleep that night. It must have been the oats! I went down to the kitchen after midnight to get a drink of water and I found that the oats were really bubbling, so I set the slow cooker as low as it would go. I am glad I did, because the results were perfect!
These oats are so creamy – you will swear that someone put cream in them! You will wonder why you ever ate any other kind of oats. You will ask yourself why you waited so long to make overnight oats. It is soooooo easy. Water + oats + plug in slow cooker and put it on low. That’s it. And you will wake up to a wonderful smell and breakfast waiting. What a treat on a cold winter’s morning! And soon, I will have more space in my kitchen cupboard!
Question of the Day
Which part of your house/apartment do you most need to clean out?
Yesterday’s Winner
Speaking of oatmeal, yesterday’s giveaway was a tough one! The correct answers were:
Bob’s Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal: NuVal score of 55
Bob’s Red Mill 100% Whole Grain Steel Cut Oats: NuVal score of 58
Bob’s Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal: NuVal score of 91
And the winner of the giveaway is commenter #22, Kristy from the blog, Casual Dish. Please send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries.com with your mailing address so that I can mail your (heavy) prize out to you! Thanks to everyone who entered!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Oatmeal, Slow Cooker Recipes
Tags: Oatmeal, Overnight Oats, Quaker Oats
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 06:54 AM
Welcome to Trade-Up Tuesday, my weekly feature here on A Better Bag of Grocerieswhere I tell you about a Trade Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal. I also ask you to share your Trade-Up stories and I give away free stuff. What a deal!
Let’s face it, for many people, grocery shopping is a mindless chore. It’s all about replenishment – putting the same products in your cart week after week. Yawn……
And for some people – especially moms with small children – grocery shopping is a stress-inducing battle that must be fought. Week after week, you just try to make it from your car, through the store (without a potty break in those restrooms, without a meltdown, without junk-food) in one piece.
For me, working for NuVal, learning about NuVal scores, and blogging about it all has made grocery shopping fun again. Where I used to routinely throw the same old, same ole in my cart each and every week, I’m now branching out to try new things – especially high-scoring new things. It’s like a little adventure. I know, I know – I live such a wild and exciting life!
A year and a half ago, I had never heard of Hodgson Mill, the Illinois-based company that manufactures flour, corn meal, cereal, pasta and baking mixes. But when I started working for NuVal, the name came up again and again. They package some pretty high-scoring stuff. Most recently, I’ve tried two of their hot cereals:
Hodgson Mill Regular Oat Bran Hot Cereal scores a 60.
Hodgson Mill Milled Flaxseed & Soy Multigrain Hot Cereal scores an 82.
Both of these cook up quickly and are just what I need on a cold January morning in New England. My husband has been enjoying these too. Sometimes we add walnuts and raisins. Other times we add a teaspoon of peanut butter. Next, I’m planning to get my daughter, a 4 1/2 year old Quaker Oats fan to try out Hodgson Mill. The Quaker Old Fashioned Oats that she eats score a 57. I know it’s only a 3-point improvement, but really my motivation is in getting my kids to branch out and vary their eating as well.
This week, I also picked up some Hodgson Mill Cornbread and Muffin Mix. Unfortunately, we have not yet scored this one, but we will get to it. I’m curious to see what it scores. The brand that I usually buy, Jiffy, only scores a 3.
Today’s GiveAway
One lucky winner will receive my Hodgson Mill GiveAway – Oat Bran, Multigrain Cereal and Cornbread Muffin Mix. All you need to do is leave a comment and tell me about a brand or a product that you’ve tried (or that you’d like to try) since learning about NuVal scores. For ideas, check out this blog, Tina’s blog at www.tradingupdowntown.com or www.nuval.com. The contest ends at 11:59 pm Eastern time tonight so don’t delay!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: corn meal, Oatmeal, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: corn meal, Oatmeal
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 06:50 AM
Welcome to Trade-Up Tuesday! It’s my weekly feature where I share a Trade-Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal. I mean “share” in the literal sense, because one lucky commenter will receive a Giveaway.
The forecast here in New England is for single digit temperatures by the end of the week. That means it is officially Oatmeal Season! So, today I share with you my Oatmeal Story.
Back in the day BC (Before Children), I was an instant oatmeal girl. My mom was (and still is) a nurse. That meant that when I was growing up, she had to go to work at the crack of dawn. We went to our neighbor’s house early with our little packets of instant oatmeal in hand and our fabulous neighbor made us our breakfast and got us off to school. As an adult, when I traveled for Big Consulting company, instant oatmeal was one strategy I had for keeping on track. When you’re at a conference and you’re faced with a hotel breakfast buffet filled with ginorous bagels and danish, you can always make your oatmeal in a mug with the hot water intended for tea. Instant Oatmeal, however, while handy at times, pales in comparison nutritionally to cooked varieties. Quaker Instant Oatmeal with Maple & Brown Sugar scores a 25 and the High Fiber version only brings the score up to a 27.
Fast forward to my life as a Mom and you find me making Quaker Old Fashioned Oats. They cook in 5 minutes and I’m lucky that my schedule allows me to do this for my daughter. They score a 57 on the NuVal scale. Sometimes I make a big batch ahead and reheat during the week.
Quaker’s Steel Cut Oats score even higher. They get a 60. They do take quite a long time to cook – 30 minutes. Alas, my daughter does not like them. Not even the purple container could win her over. These oats are for Mommy only. And Daddy too.
Today’s GiveAway
Leave me a comment telling me about a Trade Up you’ve made since learning about NuVal. If you haven’t made one yet, check out the NuVal site at www.nuval.com and you will find a trade-up you’d like to make. I’ll choose one commenter at random to win 1 box of Quaker Old Fashioned Oats and 1 box of Quaker Steel Cut Oats. The contest ends at 11:59 EST tonight. Good luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: steel cut oats
Tags: Breakfast, Oatmeal, Quaker Oats, steel cut oats
