Trading Up Downtown

As the final day of American Heart Month, I thought it would be helpful to highlight some of the top-scoring instant oatmeals on the NuVal scale since I know there are quite a few oatmeal fans out there. 

Some of those “just add water” oatmeals are quick and easy, but they’re not necessarily nutritious for you. Like traditional oatmeal, instant can be a whole-grain, high-fiber, nutritious food, but, with flavored instant oatmeal products, some instant oatmeals have high sodium and sugar levels. Woman’s Day (February 2012) recommends that you aim for less than 250 mg sodium and 12 g sugar per serving of instant oatmeal. With that said, here are four tasty, heart-healthy, and nutritious oatmeals to start your day off on the right foot and in an instant!

Quaker Instant Regular 100% Whole Grain Oatmeal (NuVal score: 91)

Wild Harvest Organic Instant Oatmeal (NuVal score: 91)

Uncle Sam Instant Oatmeal with Whole Wheat Flakes (NuVal score: 81)

Arrowhead Mills Original Instant Oatmeal (NuVal score: 59)

Have you tried any of these kinds of instant oatmeal? What’s your favorite kind of instant oatmeal?

Trading Up Downtown Giveaway

Thanks for everyone who entered this week’s giveaway! Here’s your winner: 81!

Congrats, Natasha! Please email me at thaupert@nuval.com with your full name and mailing address to claim your prize.

I love my crockpot. I really do. I love it even more when I have fun new recipes to try in it.

So, when my friends at Woman’s Day gave me a a neat, little recipe booklet with Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes, I was all about it. I’ve already made a bunch of recipes from it, including this BBQ Beef Brisket that I made just yesterday. It turned out so well. The meat moist, tender, and full of flavor. And, of course, the best part about this meal was just how easy it was to make. Just set it and forget it!

I love it when I don’t have to go out and buy a bunch of ingredients to make a recipe. It can be expensive, especially if you’re buying a product that you’ll probably only use one of twice– and one of those times is for the recipe you’re planning to make.  

With this recipe for BBQ Beef Brisket, I only needed to buy red onion (NuVal score: 93) and beef brisket (NuVal score: 26). Everything else I had on hand in my kitchen. Ok, well, technically, I didn’t have any molasses, but I just substituted honey (NuVal score: 1). It worked just fine!

Ingredients

• 1 can(s) (8 oz) Rao’s Homemade Marinara (NuVal score: 28)
• 1/4 cup(s) molasses (NuVal score: 2)
• 2 tablespoon(s) cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoon(s) brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon(s) chopped chipotles in adobo plus 2 tsp adobo sauce
• 2 teaspoon(s) chili powder
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 2 red onions (NuVal score: 93), sliced
• 2 clove(s) garlic, chopped
• 2 1/2 pound(s) beef brisket (NuVal score: 26), trimmed of excess fat
• 6 rolls
• Coleslaw, pickles and potato chips, for serving

Directions

1. In a 5- to 6-qt slow cooker, combine the tomato sauce, molasses, vinegar, brown sugar, chipotles, adobo sauce, chili powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper; mix in onions and garlic.
2. Cut the beef crosswise into 3 pieces and add it to the slow cooker, nestling it among the onions. Cook, covered, until the meat is tender and easily pulls apart, on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 5 to 6 hours.
3. Using 2 forks, shred the beef, then stir it into the cooking liquid and onions. Serve on the rolls with coleslaw, pickles and chips, if desired.

Good morning! Happy Monday!

In typical pug fashion, Murphy says: ”What’s for breakfast?”

Every morning, Murphy gets out of bed with my husband at 5:45 AM, who feeds him and then gets ready for work. Murphy wolfs down his breakfast in about 60 seconds and then goes back to bed until I wake up about 15 minutes later. This time, however, Murphy stays in bed… until about 9:30 or 10:00 AM. He has a pretty awesome doggie life.

Ok, back to that breakfast thing. I have a quick, easy, and yummy recipe for you!

Last week, I made a delicious Pumpkin Pancake breakfast using Arrowhead Mills Buckwheat Pancake & Pancake Mix (NuVal score: 29) and Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin (NuVal score: 94). The batter was so easy to make, and the pancakes turned out really well. They were thick, moist, light, and fluffy. They were, however, a little bland, so I plan to add some pumpkin pie spice the next time I make them.

I topped my Pumpkin Pancakes with fresh blueberries (NuVal score: 100) and a little bit of maple syrup (NuVal score: 1). Mmm! They were so good!

Trading Up Downtown

Now that I’ve talked up these Pumpkin Pancakes  so much, here’s your chance to win a package of Arrowhead Mills Buckwheat Pancake & Waffle Mix (NuVal score: 29) and a can of Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin (NuVal score: 94), so you can make these delicious pancakes at home.

To enter: Just leave a comment on this post about your favorite pancake topping. I’ll randomly pick a winner on Wednesday morning.

Good luck!