Trading Up Downtown

Every afternoon around 4 o’clock (without fail), I get a craving for a snack. Sometimes, I want something sweet and chewy, but other times, I want a snack that is salty and crunchy. My cravings change from day-to-day, but I always want a snack that it good for me.

Here are some top scoring snacks to help satisfy just about any afternoon craving!

Salty & Crunchy

• Garden Of Eatin No Salt Blue Tortilla Chips Made With Organic Blue Corn: 52
• Snyder’s Of Hanover Tortilla Chips Restaurant Style: 38
• Kelloggs All-Bran Crackers Garlic Herb: 35
• Cape Cod Potato Chips 40% Reduced Fat: 32
• Kashi TLC Party Crackers Mediterranean Bruschetta: 30

Salty & Sweet

• Waymouth Farms Raw Trail Mix: 58
• HyVee Berry Trail Mix: 38
• Curves Chewy Granola Bars – Chocolate Peanut: 29
• Meijer Traditional Trail Mix: 27
• Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars – Pecan Crunch: 25

Sweet & Chewy

• Kashi TLC Tasty Little Chewy Cookies Oatmeal Raisin Flax: 40
• Glutino Gluten Free Breakfast Bars – Blueberry: 40
• Health Valley Oatmeal Raisin Cookies: 34
• Kraft South Beach Diet Peanut Butter Cookies Snack Pack: 34
• Fiber One Chewy Bars Oats & Strawberries With Almond: 32

Cold & Creamy

• Silk Chocolate Soy Milk: 68
• Breyers Extra Creamy vanilla Ice Cream: 45
• Blue Bunny Reduced Fat Double Strawberry Ice Cream (No Sugar Added): 39
• Stonyfield Fat Free French Vanilla Yogurt: 39

Trading Up Downtown Giveaway

Leave a comment on this post about your favorite good-for-you afternoon snack and you can win three of my favorite packaged snacks:

• Kashi TLC Tasty Little Chewy Cookies Oatmeal Raisin Flax: 40
• Kashi TLC Party Crackers Mediterranean Bruschetta: 30
• Nature’s Path Pumpkin-n-Spice Granola Bars (not yet rated)

I’ll pick a winner on Monday morning. Good luck!

If you read Carrots ‘N’ Cake, you know that I love pizza. I eat it practically every week!

Despite my love for pizza, I’ve never really been a fan of the frozen variety. As a kid, I ate my fair share of McCain Ellio’s Cheese Pizza (NuVal Score 25), but I always preferred making my own.

Growing up, my family and I made English muffins pizzas in the toaster oven. My mom would buy all sorts of fun toppings, and my sister and I would make our own personal pizza creations.

Even today, I still enjoy getting creative with flavors and toppings, and I’ve come up with a number of delicious pizza pies over the years– from Sausage, Spinach, and Provolone Pizza to a Balsamic Date Pizza to my favorite Buffalo Chicken Pizza. The options are endless with homemade pizza!

I realize that many people are strapped for time, so maybe you can’t always make a homemade pizza. A frozen pizza is likely a more convenient option.

If you’re curious about NuVal’s frozen pizza scores, they range from 2 to 31. The median score for frozen pizza is 12.

Let me explain the median score real quick: Basically, you can’t get 100 in every food category. Here’s the deal: many fruits and vegetables score in the 90 – 100 range, but you also need to eat protein, healthy fats, whole grains– and, of course, fun foods, like pizza. But, you’ll never find a pizza that scores a 100– and if you did, you probably wouldn’t want to eat it! So, when you’re talking about pizza, one that scores in the 20’s is at the top of the category.

Ok, back to the frozen pizza scores!

The best frozen pizza brands may not surprise you:

• South Beach Living Pepperoni Pizza with Harvest Wheat Crust: 25
• Kashi Roasted Vegetable Thin Crust Pizza: 23
• Kashi Margarita Thin Crust with Tomato Garlic Cheese: 23
• McCain Ellio’s Cheese Pizza: 23
• Piggly Wiggly Three Meat Frozen Pizza: 23
• DiGiorno Rising Crust Pizza with Spinach, Mushroom and Garlic: 20

Among the lowest scoring frozen pizzas are:

• Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine Deep Dish Spinach & Mushroom Pizza: 7
• DiGiorno For One Traditional Crust: 6
• Celeste Original Pizza: 4
• Totinos Crisp Crust Party Pizza Classic Pepperoni: 2
• Freschetta Pizzamore Presliced Pepperoni Duo Pizza: 4
• Totinos Crisp Crust Party Pizza Classic Pepperoni: 2

So, maybe you love frozen pizzas; maybe you don’t. For me, it’s worth the time and energy to make a homemade pizza. I love the experience of selecting the toppings, layering the ingredients, and seeing, smelling, and tasting my pizza masterpiece. Plus, when I make my own pizza, I can choose the ingredients that score highest on the Nuval scale, like fresh Lisanatti mozzarella (76), bell peppers (94), and broccoli florets (100). Even a Boboli 100% Whole Wheat Pizza Crust scores higher than most frozen pizzas. It gets a 27 on the NuVal scale. As you can see, if made the right way, pizza can be a delicious and nutritious meal.

I receive quite a few questions about how I save money at the grocery store. My husband and I have a budge of $75 each week, but we almost always come in under that amount. In fact, we only spent $50 this week at the grocery store, thanks to in-store sales, coupons, and meal planning.

I’ve written a bunch of blog posts about how I save at the grocery store. Here are some of my tips and tricks:

• Grocery Shopping 101: Before You Leave the House
• Grocery Shopping 101: At the Grocery Store (Part 1)
• Grocery Shopping 101: At the Grocery Store (Part 2)
• Grocery Shopping 101: Unit Price
• Reorganize My Fridge
• Sign Up For My Grocery Store’s Email Updates
• Eat From My Pantry or Freezer
• Taming the Coupon Chaos

The most important thing that I do to save money on groceries is meal plan. I assess my kitchen to see what I already have on hand and then find recipes that utilize these ingredients. Most of the recipes that I make only require a few ingredients from the grocery store. If I need to buy specific ingredients, I try to use them in multiple meals. This week, for instance, fresh parsley and thyme will be used in two different recipes and a whole chicken will turn into two meals. Likewise, mushrooms and strawberries can be thrown into a number of meals for added nutrition.

Here’s what’s on the menu for this week:

• Monday: Linguine with Clams
• Tuesday: White Bean, Tuna, and Potato Salad
• Wednesday: Pollo Alla Diavola
• Thursday: Chicken Salad
• Friday: Dinner out

And here’s this week’s cart:

• Onion (NuVal score: 93)
• Arugula (NuVal score: 82)
• Bananas (NuVal score: 91)
• Tomatoes (NuVal score: 96)
• Toilet paper
• Potatoes (NuVal score: 93)
• Ronzoni Smart Taste Spaghetti (NuVal score: 91)
• Littleneck clams (NuVal score: 82)
• Strawberries (NuVal score: 100)
• Mushrooms (NuVal score: 96)
• Store brand canned cannellini beans
• Chicken breast (NuVal score: 39)

• Fresh thyme (NuVal score: 91)
• Fresh parsley (NuVal score: 99)
• Nature’s Pride Double Fiber Bread (NuVal score: 31)
• Store brand Italian loaf
• Lays Kettle Cooked Reduced Fat Extra Crunchy Potato (NuVal score: 25)
• Celery (NuVal score: 96)
• Store brand vanilla soy milk

Trade

Nature’s Pride Whole Wheat bread with Honey (NuVal score: 26) for Nature’s Pride Double Fiber Bread (NuVal score: 31)

Save

I saw a coupon in a magazine for Ronzoni pasta, so I ripped it out knowing that Ronzoni Smart Taste Spaghetti scores a 91 on the NuVal scale. With the coupon, my box of spaghetti cost less than $1.