Melissa, Make Over My Breakfast!
Welcome to Melissa’s Makeovers, a new feature here on A Better Bag of Groceries! This is where you can email me with a breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack that you think could be made more nutritious and I will see what I can do to help you trade up for better nutrition using foods with better NuVal scores.
The first victim participant in Melissa’s Makeovers is none other than my sister-in-law Christine!
Christine, who lives in Vermont and who shops at Price Chopper is expecting her first child in March! Isn’t she just glowing?
So this was a fun breakfast to makeover, knowing that good nutrition is very important to Christine and her husband right now.
Christine wrote to tell me that when she is running late for work, she tends to make a whole grain waffle with Skippy Peanut Butter, Nutella, a banana, and walnuts.
This actually sounded pretty nutritious to me! But when I dug in and researched the NuVal scores and then sent Christine shopping at Price Chopper, we figured out that we could make this breakfast even more nutritious!
Here’s how Christine’s current breakfast scored:
- Whole Wheat Eggo Waffle: NuVal Score of 26
- Skippy Natural Peanut Butter: NuVal score of 18
- Banana: NuVal Score of 91
- Walnuts: NuVal Score of 82
- Nutella: NuVal score of 3 (Ouch! I couldn’t resist that commentary!)
I went to work on making over Christine’s breakfast. First, I researched the waffle. Turns out, there are better alternatives. For example, a Vans Multi-grain Waffle gets a score of 30.
Or Christine could try a Kashi Go Lean Waffle for a score of 36. Even better would be Price Chopper’s Whole Wheat Waffles with a score of 39 (they’re probably cheaper too and like I said, Christine lives near a Price Chopper).
Next, I went to work on the Nutella. Wow, a 3! That low score really needed making over. Not a problem! I suggested to Christine that she try Teddie Smooth Unsalted Peanut Butter with a score of 49. I actually got this great suggestion from NuVal’s Manager of Nutrition Communications, Rachel Rodek, MS, RD, LDN, CSSD who says that during the second and third trimesters, it is a good idea to seek out healthy sources of fat and protein and to limit sodium intake.
To replicate the cocoa taste that Christine might miss when she takes away the Nutella (never get between a pregnant woman and her chocolate!), I suggested a dash of unsweetened cocoa powder, such as this Ghiradelli, which gets a NuVal score of 34.
Next, we road-tested Christine’s Made-Over breakfast at our house on a busy weekday morning to see how it would go. My son was the Taste-Tester. Here’s how that conversation went:
Me: What do you want for breakfast this morning?
My Son: I don’t know.
Me: How about a waffle?
My Son (with excitement): Yeah!!!
Me: With Peanut Butter?
My Son (with even more excitement): Yeah!!!
Me: And bananas and chocolate?
My Son (about to fall off his chair because his mother just said he could have chocolate for breakfast): Yes!!!!!
My husband (Christine’s brother) was very helpful because I was busy getting ready for an important meeting and I had to have a Good Hair Day, so he actually made this breakfast and took these pictures. He is an excellent Daddy Blogger!
Here is the Made Over Breakfast:
And here is my son (Christine’s nephew) enjoying it.
Note: Since my son was the Taste-Tester and he is not a big walnut fan, we omitted them. But with that amazing score of 82, Christine should keep them in her Madeover Breakfast.
You know, my husband’s family is sooooo spread out and we do not get to see each other often. But these are the fun projects that keep us together. I am glad that we could help our new niece or nephew have a more nutritious beginning – even from 400 miles away!
Send Me Your Meal Make Over Requests
Would you like me to make over your breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack? Send me your request at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com
Posted by: Melissa 10 comments
Posted in: Melissa's Makeovers
Tags: Melissa's Makeovers, peanut butter, waffles
