Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 07:12 AM
My friend Alicia is always looking for ways to get some extra protein into her girls’ diets. So, today, I thought I would share my kids’ favorite after-school smoothie recipe – that not only packs some protein, it also helps you to make sure they are getting their dairy and fruit requirements for the day.
There are just four ingredients in this smoothie and they all score over a 90!
Alicia’s girls are a little younger than mine, but before she knows it, her girls will be making this smoothie by themselves, just like my kids do.
First, my daughter scoops in some Fage non-fat plain Greek yogurt, NuVal score of 94.
Then she adds in some Dole frozen blueberries (NuVal score of 100!)
and Dole frozen strawberries (NuVal score of 100!)
I love that these frozen berries score a 100, just like fresh berries. And, this is so easy for my daughter – no rinsing, slicing, de-stemming involved. Also, because they are frozen, they add just the right frozen consistency to this smoothie at blending time.
So, like I said, my daughter adds some berries…
and then she adds some more…
and then, she just adds a whole bunch of berries. In her opinion, the more berries, the better.
Mom or our sitter (I am no longer allowed to say “babysitter”) adds 1 cup of skim milk to this mixture. NuVal score of 91.
And then Mom or our sitter blends this up using my Cuisinart Smartstick (my favorite invention since sliced bread).
My son, who prefers tasting to making, finally makes his way to the kitchen…
He is a big fan of the after-school smoothie, and so is my daughter.
And so do our pet lizards, who happen to match the color of this smoothie.
Interestingly, I often make these smoothies for breakfast on weekends, but somehow the kids don’t end up finishing them at that time. But when we make these after school, they suck them dry. In fact, their favorite part is all the loud gurgling sounds their straws make when they drain their glasses (think Weeds’Nancy Botwin draining her iced coffee).
So, for Alicia, my protein-seeking parent-friend, I suggest you give this one a try. I checked the nutrition facts panels on these products. The Fage yogurt has 15 g of protein in that little cup and 8 oz of skim milk contains 8 g of protein. Put those together in this recipe and divide by two and your girls will be good ’til dinner!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Cooking with Kids
Tags: Fruit Smoothies, snacks
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 07:05 AM
It’s Trade Up Tuesday, the best day here at A Better Bag of Groceries, because I blog about a trade up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. Today, with Spring finally here and my family about to gear up for some fun trips and spring sports and activities, we need to be ready for healthy snacks on the go. So today, I’m giving away my favorite non-refrigerated snack for grown-ups and next week check back here to see what I pull together for the kids.
There’s lots of different dried apricots around – some are too tart, some are too sweet, but these Great Lakes dried apricots are just right. And for those of you who celebrate Passover, they are Kosher. While I tend to buy these for my husband and me, my daughter is also a fan because they are “not sour” (her words). They get a great NuVal score of 91 and they travel anywhere! I pack them for business trips and long days on the road. This Spring, I’ll be dashing between ballet and baseball practice on Saturdays and I usually workout during my daughter’s dance class, so you know I’ll be snacking on some apricots as I zip around town.
Every week, we buy these Aurora Roasted Unsalted Almonds for my husband and me. Why? Again, they are a great snack that travels well. They score a 48 on the NuVal scale. That’s not as high as raw almonds (they get an 81), but we love ‘em roasted. The reason that the score goes down on these is that peanut, sunflower and canola oil has been added. Last week, I was pleasantly surprised to find Aurora had a Dry Roasted Unsalted Almond product for the first time. Just Almonds – roasted – no additives. Hallelujah! But when we went back this week, we could not find it on our grocer’s shelf. Hmmmm. Well, I’ll keep my eyes out and find out what I can about Aurora’s Dry Roasted Unsalted Almonds, because we loved them just as much. We could do without the added oil. Until that time, we’ve decided to stick with these, even though they only score a 48, because we love them. I’ve tried roasting them myself and I have a high burn rate!!
Today’s Giveaway
One very lucky commenter will win my Almond & Apricot Giveaway. Just leave a comment below telling me what snack I would most likely find at the bottom of your gym bag/brief case/diaper bag/purse. For you – not for your kids. I’ll randomly choose one winner at 8 am Eastern on Wednesday March 23rd. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: snacks, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: almonds, Apricots, snacks, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 06:58 AM
Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday! Every Tuesday, I blog about a trade-up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. Today, it’s my son who is growing up and trading up along the way. He is now 7 and a half (he reminds me). When I first started writing this blog, he had just turned 6. Wow, how time flies! Yes, my son is getting so big. These days, he is all into the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. He’s read all five of them, and we just watched the movie for Family Pizza Movie Night. It’s about a middle-schooler! How did this happen?
Now that my son is a “big kid” (and we are no longer allowed to say the word “baby-sitter” in our house, it’s “sitter”, for the record), he is getting particular about his snacks. Like they have to be cool, you know. He says this as he slings his backpack over one shoulder, because you know, the Wimpy Kid says that you should only wear your backpack on one shoulder (not two).
Snacks for school are hard. I like to find something with some protein – it’s a long morning and the kids need a lot of brain power these days. And at our school, snacks need to be peanut-free. My son is a slow eater, so I look for something that packs a lot of punch in just a few bites. I know they don’t have long to eat their snacks. So, we tried out these Clif Kid Chocolate Chip Z Bars:
They fit a lot of criteria:
- 3 grams of Protein
- NuVal score of 25 (better than the average Snack Bar score of 21)
- Fit in Snack Part of lunch box nicely
- Cool
Compare these Clif Z bars to say, Quaker Chewy Dips Chocolate Covered Chocolate Chip granola bars. They get a NuVal score of 4. Ewwwwww.
So, what’s a Mom of a growing grade-schooler to do? Stay energized! Seriously. This parenting this is not for the faint-of-heart. It takes a lot of stamina. You need your sleep, your exercise, your water. your nutrition. So, to complement this giveaway, I added my favorite energy bars for when I am on the go: Larabar Peanut Butter Cookie. They get a NuVal score of 31 and they keep me ready to bowl, bike, dance and play basketball with my 7-and-a-half-year-old growing boy. Let me just go pay the sitter!
To Enter
One very lucky commenter will win both boxes of bars. There are 6 Clif bars and 5 Larabars, so that’s a lot of bars! Just leave a comment below telling me what you were reading when you were 7 and a half. (Do you remember?) I’m curious! (For me, it was Ramona the Pest!) Alternatively, I’ll take what activities you loved to do.
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: snacks, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: LaraBars, snacks, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 06:50 AM
Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday, a great day here at A Better Bag of Groceries because I blog about a Trade Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal and I give away something for free. Today’s giveaway is fantastic – especially if you are planning some fall entertaining – because it includes four big bags of some of the highest-scoring salty snacks.
I was inspired to pull this giveaway together by the spread that Family Circle Magazine did on NuVal in their October 17, 2010 issue. They listed the best of the best snack foods, according to NuVal score, and they had a great piece on the best salty snacks.
So this weekend, while grocery shopping, I hunted down some of the best salty snacks and here’s what I found:
- Terra Original Chips: NuVal Score of 42
- Garden of Eatin’ No Salt Added Blue Chips: NuVal score of 52
- Bearitos Organic Yellow Corn: NuVal score of 27
- Bearitos Organic Blue Corn: NuVal score of 40
Those are some pretty good scores when you consider that Salty Snacks scores range from 1 to 59, but the average score is a 15. I’ve always loved Bearitos Chips. They can be hard to find, but once you do, you’ll love them. They are great if you are serving them with a thick salsa or dip because they have a lot of heft to them. I also have become a huge fan of the Garden of Eatin’ No Salt Added Blue Chips since coming to work for NuVal. We were all so impressed by that score of 52. And instead of regular potato chips, I now serve the Terra Chips at parties. Not only do they get a better NuVal score than most plain potato chips, but they are prettier too!
How to Enter
One lucky commenter will win all four bags of chips. All you need to do is leave a comment below, telling me which of the four bags you would like the most and what you would like to dip those chips in. I’ll select one winner at random by 8 am Wednesday Eastern Time, so don’t delay. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: snacks, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Bearitos, Garden of Eatin', Salty Snacks, snacks, Terra Chips, Trade-Up Tuesday
Friday, September 10, 2010 at 07:25 AM
In yesterday’s post, I answered a question sent in by a mom who had been required by her daughter’s Kindergarten teacher to send in peanut-free, packaged snacks to be shared by her daughter’s Kindergarten class. Not easy. Thankfully, we will send our daughter to Kindergarten with an individual snack of our own choosing on a daily basis. While this means that we will have to add the preparation of that snack to our evening checklist of things to do, I prefer this to the communal snack method because our daughter is more likely to have a nutritious snack this way.
It’s hard to believe that my daughter starts Kindergarten this week. Will I cry when my last born gets on the bus on Monday morning? You bet I will! Even though she is such a big girl with tons of day care and pre-school experiences behind her, she was very nervous when we went to Kindergarten orientation this week.
She looks a little nervous, doesn’t she? She was gripping my hand very tightly as we walked the hall to her classroom. But as soon as we arrived, her teacher, Mrs. Simmons, put her right at ease.
Mrs. Simmons was my son’s Kindergarten teacher, so I know her well. She has one of those nice soothing, calming voices and she speaks so sweetly to the children. I wish I could stay in Kindergarten all day too!
While the Classroom Aid introduced the children to some classroom routines, Mrs. Simmons sat down with us parents to do paperwork and go over some things. I think we spent 20% of our time together discussing Snack Time. There are two things in Kindergarten that are A Very Big Deal: taking the bus to school and Snack Time. So, we spent a lot of time on these things. Thank Goodness this is my second time going through this!
Since I am now the Mommy Blogger for NuVal(I was not when my son was a Kindergartner), I took copious notes on Mrs. Simmons Snack Time Guidelines. They were awesome! She really is a pro at this.
- A good snack is something that your child can handle independently. (So fondue is out.)
- A good snack is something that your child can eat in 5-10 minutes. (So leftover beef teriyaki on a stick is probably not a good choice – all that chewing. Not to mention the stick could be used as a weapon once Snack Time was complete.)
- A good snack must be peanut free. (This one isn’t even funny. My heart goes out to children with allergies. And it’s so important not to break this rule, because the kids work on these tables after they eat).
- A good snack contains no nuts at all. (That means no tree nuts, no granola bars that were manufactured in factories that contain nuts. Again, imagine if your child had allergies).
- Fruit is a great snack.
- Cut up vegetables are a great snack.
Mrs. Simmons also told us that instead of bringing in cupcakes for birthday parties, she is encouraging that we think of something else. Great idea. OK, now I feel a little guilty about those Red, White and Blue cupcakes I brought in when my son was in her class, but that’s OK. Instead, she suggested that your birthday girl or boy could hand out stickers or pencils to everyone in class. Love it!
Mrs. Simmons is an avid A Better Bag of Groceries reader and I know that she works hard to make nutritious choices for her family, just like I try to do. Most recently, she said that her own 7-year-old daughter is all into Star Fruit. She likes it because it looks like a star. Adorable! And it scores a 100 on the NuVal scale.
So a huge Thank You to Mrs. Simmons for helping us to get started on the right foot with these great guidelines. Now, I need to go make sure I have enough tissues ready for the big Kindergarten send-off coming up on Monday morning.
Enjoy the weekend, everyone!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: back-to-school, snacks
Tags: back-to-school, kindergarten snacks, snacks
