• 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.

Traveling Day

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 06:49 AM

Today I’m headed out to a couple of meetings at Price Chopper Headquarters in Schenectady, NY.

Entering New York

Ask most working moms and they will tell you that they actually like the occasional business trip.  While it takes a lot of planning ahead of time and a lot of help from spouses, grandparents, babysitters, etc, it’s somewhat refreshing to be on the road and to have the opportunity to be solely focused on your job.  In a weird way, going on a business trip feels a little like a vacation. 

When I travel to Price Chopper’s headquarters, about 3 hours or so from my home in Massachusetts, I can usually do it in a day.  It’s a long day, but it beats packing a suitcase.  Since I am the parent who does the meal-planning and cooking in our household, it means that I have to plan ahead and cook ahead.

During this trip, my mom will help with childcare, homework time and dinner, so I made an recipe that she is familiar with – Venus Soup.  Somehow, Venus Soup goes down nicely with a little corn muffin, so I made some ahead as well.  I thought I would try out my newly-discovered Hodgson Mill Corn Muffin Mix.

The mix definitely looked a little wheatier than the Jiffy mix I am used to!

corn muffin mix

I made a few modifications to the recipe on the box.  The recipe called for 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil or 1 Tablespoon of butter, but I used 1 TableSpoon of Canola Oil instead.

It also called for 3/4 cup of 2% milk.  We only had skim in the refrigerator, so I used that instead.

milk for corn muffins

My mom taught me to always add a little creamed corn to my corn muffin mix to make the muffins super-moist.  I used a half of a small can of Food Club brand cream style corn, which gets a NuVal score of 23. 

I tried a little bite of one of these muffins to see how my family is going to like them.  Honestly, I’m a little worried about how they are going to be received!  They are definitely less sweet than the muffins my kids (and my mom!) are used to.  Rachel, my co-worker and a dietitian, warned me that switching to whole grain flour (which is in the Hodgson Mill mix) is a big change!

corn muffin basket

I have a feeling that my mom is going to hunt down the Jiffy corn mix that is in my cupboard and do a little after-school baking project with my kids!

jiffy mix

In any event, while my trip to Price Chopper is sure to be an adventure (I am going with three co-workers and we have some favorite outlet stores that we love to hit on the way home), the best part of the day will undoubtedly be when I pull in the driveway after the kids’ bedtime and see my husband who will be waiting for me with a steaming bowl of soup – and a muffin!

Question of the Day

What’s your favorite thing about coming home from a trip?

Hodgson Mill GiveAway Winner

Congratulations to Commenter #27, Claire!  You’ve won the Hodgson Mill GiveAway!

Posted by: Melissa 8 comments

Posted in: corn muffins

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