Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 07:11 AM
Welcome to Cooking with Catherine Katz, a frequent feature here at A Better Bag of Groceries!
Catherine is married to NuVal visionary, Dr. David Katz. Catherine and David just returned from a week-long river rafting trip in southern Utah with their extended family to celebrate David’s parents 50th wedding anniversary.
The Katz Family, including David's parents (center)
What a great way to celebrate 50 years of marriage!
David and Gabe
Catherine told me, “David’s parents are indeed such amazing people, so youthful in spirit and body so we had a fantastic time.”
Catherine and the girls
Back in Massachusetts, I had planned some family time on a much smaller scale. Our little family of four spends a lot of time at our Pool Club on the weekends. We choose it because it is only 15 minutes from our house, so we can get our errands done and still fit in lots of family fun without a lot of hassle. There is so much to do at the Pool Club: tennis, basketball, baseball, swimming (of course), diving – that we stay for hours. However, I wanted to avoid another “Snack Bar Dinner.” While our Pool Club does a good job of trying to provide some healthy alternatives to the typical hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken nuggets, we’ve sort of exhausted them already. This time, I wanted to bring dinner. So, I told the kids that we could stay at the Pool Club all the way until closing time as long as they let Mom serve dinner out of the cooler. And then I asked Catherine for help!
As always, Catherine had the perfect solution. Shrimp Pasta Primavera with Basil Pesto. This recipe rocks!! Mark this as a favorite now. Print it out. Bookmark this page. It was fabulous! We ate if for dinner Saturday night. We ate it for lunch on Sunday. I had it for lunch on Monday. So GOOD!
You can also find it on page 209 of Dr. Katz’s book, The Flavor-Full Diet.
It serves 4 (but we found that it made a lot!)
Ingredients
40 frozen medium easy-peel shrimp (NuVal score of 75)
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves (NuVal score of 100)
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese (Nuval score of 23 for Belgioioso)
3 Tablespoons pine nuts (NuVal score of 46)
2 cloves garlic (NuVal score of 91)
1/4 teaspoon salt (NuVal score of 1)
1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (NuVal score of 11)
10 ounces Hodgson Mill Organic Whole Wheat Spirals with Milled Flaxseed (NuVal score of 91)
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen chopped vegetables of your choice (Food Club Frozen Mixed Vegetables, NuVal score of 100)
- Quickly thaw the shrimp by rinsing in cold water. Peel, pat dry and set aside.
Note: I mistakenly purchased an “already cooked” shrimp for this recipe, and it still came out great.
- In a food processor, mince the basil, cheese, pine nuts, garlic and salt.
Note: I mistakenly thought I had pine nuts in my pantry. But I didn’t! So, I substituted with walnuts (NuVal score of 82). They worked! Also, I discovered that the basil that I purchased for this recipe did not quite yield the 2 cups that I needed. So I supplemented with some frozen basil that I had in my freezer.
This is one of my favorite products!
Basil ice cubes!
My daughter was a huge help with the making of the pesto.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and drizzle in 1/3 cup of the oil with the motor running. Set aside.
Basically, I poured the oil while my daughter pulsed the food processor. She thought this was soooo cool.
- Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain in a colander, rinse with cold water.
- Transfer the pasta to a big bowl
- Meanwhile, lightly coast a cast-iron grill pan with olive oil spray and place over high heat.
- When the pan is very hot, add the shrimp and grill for 2 – 3 minutes on each side (do not overcook).
Note: Because I was using an already-cooked shrimp, I just grilled for about one minute – just for flavor.
- Add the shrimp to the bowl.
- Add the remaining 1 Tablespoon of oil to the pan and saute the frozen vegetables for a few minutes.
- Add the vegetables and pesto to the pasta and shrimp.
- Stir to blend.
I chilled this fabulous dinner in my favorite salad carrying container until it was time to head to the Pool Club.
And we had a lovely poolside dinner that night: Shrimp Pasta Primavera with Basil Pesto, Green Salad with homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette, and red grapes for dessert.
I didn’t think it was possible, because Catherine’s recipes have all been amazing, but I think I now have a new favorite Cooking With Catherine recipe! Thanks, Catherine!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Cooking with Catherine Katz, Pasta
Tags: Catherine Katz, Dr. David Katz, Pasta, shrimp, Summer
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 07:00 AM
Welcome to a fun – and challenging – edition of Trade-Up Tuesday! By now, you all know what goes on here every Tuesday. I blog about a Trade Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores, and I give away something for free. But today’s Giveaway is made for someone who is up for a challenge themselves. You see, today, I’ve assembled the highest of the high-scoring pastas. And I’m asking one of you A Better Bag of Groceries readers to come forward and taste-test them. It’s a big undertaking, I know. Perfect for someone who may be part of a running club or just a really big family. Anyone hosting a spaghetti dinner the night before a 5K, 10K or half marathon?
I must confess, when I first joined NuVal in September of 2008, I did not automatically make the trade up to these high-scoring pastas. Even though I knew that they had super-high scores, I was a little afraid of the whole wheat thing. I just didn’t think I would like it. And I definitely did not think my kids would like it.
I have two people to thank for finally making the switch to high-scoring pastas. First, I remember having dinner with our friends, Pete and Heather, last winter. Heather is a fabulous cook and is known for sneaking vegetables into some of her kids’ favorites. Pete is a super-healthy long-distance runner who posts Lance Armstrong-like times during marathons. Pete is a huge fan of NuVal and he chooses some very high-scoring foods. While out for this dinner, he said to me, “So, I assume you’re eating Barilla Plus.” Well, I wasn’t. And I felt a little guilty about it. I mean, I worked for NuVal and I was learning all this great new information about different foods, but I wasn’t “living” NuVal.
Soon after, I met Shari Steinbach, MS, RD, Healthy Living Manager for Meijer supermarkets.
We were conducting webinars together, training sessions for all of the store associates at Meijer, who would soon be implementing NuVal. She also mentioned Barilla Plus, its high score and also offered up that it tasted just like regular pasta. It was enough to make me try it. Soon after, I tried Dreamfields, which also tastes just like regular pasta. Since then, I’ve become much more adventurous, moving on to the Hodgson Mills and Raccontos. There’s no high-scoring pasta I won’t sink my teeth into! And I find that different recipes call for different textures, so it’s good to experiment.
Remember that regular pastas tend to score about a 57 or so.
All of the pastas in today’s giveaway score Super-High:
Racconto 8 Whole Grain Spaghetti: NuVal score of 81
Ronzoni Healthy Harvest: NuVal score of 91
Barilla Plus Thin Spaghetti: NuVal score of 91
Gia Russa 100% Whole Wheat Spaghetti: NuVal score of 91
Ronzoni Smart Taste With Calcium, Vitamin D and Fiber: NuVal score of 91
Dreamfields Spaghetti: NuVal score of 87
Hodgson Mill: NuVal score of 90
If you win today’s giveaway, you can take all the time you want to taste test these pastas. Don’t feel like you need to have a big party and invite all your friends for Pasta-Fest. Try them one at a time with your family – keep a little pasta journal. Whatever works for you. It’s all good.
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky reader will have a lot of pasta in their pantry! Just comment below and tell me a trade up that it took you a while to make – you know, one that you procrastinated about a little bit. Maybe it’s food. Maybe it’s exercise. Maybe you’re still trying to make it. I’ll choose one lucky winner at random at 8 am Eastern time on Wednesday July 20th so don’t delay. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Pasta
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 08:11 AM
Did you know that the average American family only tries five new food products each year? And my family is no exception. While we definitely have tried more than five (especially as we’ve ventured into some new food domains, thanks to NuVal), once we like something, we sort of stick with it.
Take pasta, for example. I love Barilla Plus (NuVal score of 91) and Dreamfields (NuVal score of 87) and so I routinely toss these in my shopping cart each week. However, this week, when I went to make one of my favorite recipes, Cool Chinese Vermicelli, I found this brand in my cupboard.
I guess my husband picked this up – because I didn’t. To be honest, it looked a little too wheaty for my taste. If I had seen this on the store shelf, I would have probably chosen one of my old stand-bys (Dreamfields or Barilla Plus). But again, this is what I found in the cupboard.
Full Circle, by the way, is what we in the grocery biz call a “Private Label” brand.
So, typically it’s less expensive than national brand products.
That would explain it. My husband is the cost-conscious shopper in our household! He picked this up at Roche Bros supermarket. You can see where to find Full Circle Products here.
This pasta is made from whole wheat – and it scores the same as my beloved Barilla Plus. It gets a 91!
So, I cooked it up – and tried it out. Yum!
It wasn’t overly-wheaty at all. Truly, to me, it tasted like traditional pasta – a good quality in our household.
However, my palate is one thing. The true test lies with the other three people with whom I live.
Let me take a moment to tell you about their palates.
My husband is not your typical Meat and Potatoes Kind of Guy (whew!) Like me, he enjoys good, nutritious food, exploring new restaurants and recipes. That said, when at a Baseball game, he will have a beer and a sausage-and-pepper-sandwich. But for the most part, he does not mind when our pizza is topped with fresh vegetables instead of pepperoni and cheese.
My daughter loves food. She loves to cook food, eat food, and eat more food. She is five and she eats sushi and seaweed salad. She knows the ingredients and steps for making lentil soup from scratch. By heart. So, her palate is a little sophisticated for the typical five-year-old.
My son only eats if he really has to. He’s the last one to finish dinner every night. There are only a few foods that he gets really excited about. So we get really excited when he does something like start liking a new vegetable. He and my daughter are polar opposites when it comes to food.
Now all three members of my Taste Test Team gave this pasta a thumbs up, which is pretty amazing given their different palates.
So, what I decided after this experience is that we need to do it more often. Why not try new products - especially products that cost less money, but have the same nutritional quality and same great taste? So, I’ve decided to try a new product at least once a week – and to let you know how it goes – with my Taste Test Team. So, stay tuned!
Question of the Day
What products would you like to see us taste test here at A Better Bag of Groceries?
Yesterday’s Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #105, Dena B! You’ve won a signed copy of Tina Haupert’s book, Carrots N Cake! Please send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address so that I can send it to you. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: New Product Challenge
Tags: New Product Challenge, Pasta
Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 07:15 AM
What is the most common dinner made in America? We’ve bantered this question around the offices at NuVal while working on presentations and tools for our Supermarket Retailer Partners. While there are certainly regional differences, overall we’ve come to the consensus that Spaghetti Dinner is the most common, most typical or most popular meal served on dinner tables across the country. Here in New England, the easiest, quickest form of Spaghetti Dinner is called American Chop Suey.
There are many different ways to prepare American Chop Suey, but this recipe from Family Fun Magazine is very close to the way in which I make it. I find that the oil is not necessary.
For me, as a somewhat creative and very health-conscious cook, making American Chop Suey is like raising the white surrender flag. It’s my last resort – when times really get tough. I can make it very quickly, the kids love it and we get two nights out of it. But healthy? I can think of many other dinners that are healthier – that have more vegetables, that have less fat.
However, by using NuVal scores as a guide, it is possible to make a much more nutritious American Chop Suey.
Consider the Traditional American Chop Suey:
- 1 onion (NuVal score of 93)
- 1 pound ground beef, 70% lean (NuVal score of 24)
- 1 box elbow macaroni (NuVal score of 57for Mueller’s or Ronzoni)
- 1 jar of spaghetti sauce (NuVal score of 27 for Newman’s Own All Natural Marinara Pasta Sauce)
Now see how you can trade up for better nutrition.
Trade Up American Chop Suey:
- 1 onion (NuVal score of 93) Hey, an onion is an onion. You can’t get any better than a 93!
- 1 pound ground beef, 95% lean (NuVal score of 32)
- 1 box of elbow macaroni (NuVal score of 91for Barilla Plus, Ronzoni Smart Taste, or Giant Eagle Whole Wheat)
- 1 jar of spaghetti sauce (NuVal score of 91for Francesco Rinaldi No Salt Added Traditional Pasta Sauce)
I feel better knowing that my Throw in the Towel recipe is nutritious.
So, what’s my method for making American Chop Suey? So easy:
- Get out a skillet and a large pot.
- Fill the large pot with water and bring it to a boil.
- While waiting for the water to boil, heat the skillet and add chopped onion and ground beef. Break up the ground beef as it browns.
- Cook pasta according to package directions omitting oil and salt. Drain
- While the pasta is cooking, go back to your skillet. Drain the fat from the ground beef. Add the jar of sauce and simmer.
- Combine the drained pasta with the sauce mixture (I do this in a big metal bowl). Add grated cheese if desired.
Yum!
Question of the Day
Does anyone know where the name American Chop Suey originated?
Facebook
If you haven’t already, you can become a fan of NuVal on Facebook. Lots of great info and super giveaways. Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/NuVal
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Dinner Recipes, Pasta
Tags: American Chop Suey, Pasta
Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 07:01 AM
Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday! Every Tuesday I blog about a trade up I’ve made and I give away some of my favorite products to one lucky Commenter. Today, in the spirit of easy summer cooking, I’m giving away the fixings for an easy pasta dinner.
Pasta and pasta sauce are definitely two categories that I’ve made Trade Ups in. Before I learned about NuVal, I was most likely to buy whatever pasta was on sale. I now know that the scores for most of those plain pastas hover around a 61. That’s not a bad score, but once I started working for NuVal, I learned that there are several pastas with much, much better scores. Like these three:
Barilla Plus Thin Spaghetti: 91
Dreamfields Linguini: 87
Hodgson Mill Spaghetti: 91
After trying them out, I was amazed that I did not have to give up taste for better nutrition. My kids love them too, so I feel great on those nights when all we have time for is boiling up a quick pot of spaghetti.
Likewise, before I started working for NuVal, my Go To sauce was Classico. While there are some varieties of Classico that have fantastic scores, the highest scoring selections (like Spicy Red Pepper, Score: 68) are a little too spicy for my kids’ taste. And the Classico brand that my kids do like (Tomato & Basil), only scores a 43. My Go To Sauce these days is Pastene The Chateau Marinara Sauce with a NuVal score of 66. Everyone in the family loves it, so it’s worth the $4.99 price tag at our local Stop & Shop.
Today’s GiveAway
One lucky commenter will win The Chateau pasta sauce and the 3 boxes of pasta that you see in the picture above. Just leave a comment below answering the following question:
What food or product are you willing to pay more for because it has better nutrition?
I will choose one winner at random at 7 am EDT on Wednesday. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Barilla Plus, Dreamfield's, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Barilla Plus, Dreamfield's, Pasta, sauce
