Trading Up Downtown

For breakfast yesterday morning, I enjoyed a delicious veggie scramble made with Eggland’s Best Eggs (NuVal score: 44), chopped green bell pepper (NuVal score: 94), tomatoes (NuVal score: 93), and mushrooms (NuVal score: 96).

On the side, I enjoyed a toasted Thomas Light Multigrain English Muffins (NuVal score: 42), which I slathered in butter.

As I was eating my breakfast, it occurred to me that everything on my plate was pretty nutritious, except for the melty, drippy butter on my English muffin. My butter scored a 2 on the NuVal scale, so I immediately thought of how I could trade up its nutrition.

An easy trade-up for my English muffin: nut butter! Of course! My favorites: Teddie Super Chunky Peanut Butter (NuVal score: 38), Maranatha Natural Creamy & Roasted Almond Butter (NuVal score: 73) ,and SunButter Natural Sunflower Butter (NuVal score: 41). I love nut butter, so, next time, I’ll definitely remember this trade up.

Not surprisingly, when it comes to butter and spreads, none of them score all that high on the NuVal scale. I mean, they’re added fat– usually with added salt. But, of course, these butters and spreads are needed for cooking, baking, and simply slathering on a toasted English muffin. Most of us (including me!) can’t live without them.

With that said let’s see how some popular butters and spreads score on the NuVal scale:

• Organic Valley Butter: 2
• Land O Lakes Unsalted Butter: 2
• Plugra Unsalted Butter: 2
• Land O Lakes Whipped Butter: 3
• Land O Lakes Light Butter with Canola Oil: 4
• Country Crock Light Butter: 5
• Country Crock Calcium plus Vitamin D Spread: 6
• Smart Balance Spread: 6
• Challenge Spreadable w/Canola Oil Butter: 8
• Canoleo Soft Margarine: 10

As you can see, butters and spreads don’t vary very much with their NuVal scores, but if you’re trying to add more nutrients to your diet, you can easily trade up to a higher scoring one or add some delicious and nutritious nut butter to your morning English muffin or piece of toast.

This week is all about St. Patrick’s Day and all things green, like zucchini from the reduced produce section. Nutritious, delicious, and cheap! Now, that’s a winning combination!

I don’t know what’s with me when it comes to reduced produced. I just can’t help myself when I see a big bag of whatever almost-rotten fruit or vegetable sitting on the shelf– I just need to rescue it and turn it into something delicious. I guess I just really hate seeing food go to waste, which is exactly what happened at the grocery store last week. Zucchini wasn’t even on my shopping list, but I just couldn’t pass it up. I mean, there were seven small zucchinis on their last leg for just $1.69. They were calling my name and wanted to come home with me!

A plethora of zucchini naturally means it’s time to make zucchini muffins!

With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, it made perfect sense to make green zucchini muffins with green muffin wrappers.

As you can imagine, seven zucchini provides quite a lot of food, especially when you grate it for something like muffins, so I ended up making a huge batch of Whole Wheat Zucchini-Nut Muffins for my family, who I was visiting later in the day. I love zucchini muffins, but there’s no way I could eat that many, so I packed them up to give to my family.

The muffins made a nice, little St. Patrick’s Day gift for my family. They loved them, and I think all of that green put them in a festive mood for the holiday, too!

Whole Wheat Zucchini-Nut Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups Arrowhead Mills Whole Grain Whole Wheat Flour (NuVal score: 91)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (NuVal score: 1)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 Eggland’s Best Eggs (NuVal score: 44)
• 1/2 cup Silk Unsweetened Soymilk (NuVal score: 91)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups shredded zucchini (NuVal score: 91)
• 2 tbsp honey (NuVal score: 1)
• 2 tbsp canola oil (NuVal score: 24)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (NuVal score: 82)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and blend well.
3. Coat muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray (or use paper liners) and divide batter among 12 cups.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until muffins are cooked all the way through.
5. Allow to cool before serving.

It’s almost St. Patrick’s Day! Hooray!

What better way to celebrate than with an authentic take on Irish fare that doesn’t require much time, money, or effort spent? I love easy meals, and I know you guys do too, so here’s a classic recipe inspired by the Emerald Island for Slow Cooker Beef Stew– no green food coloring or shamrocks needed! Well, unless you want to include them! Hey, that might be fun, right?

Original Recipe

Recipe from Spice Islands

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons King Arthur All Purpose Flour (NuVal score: 67)
• 1 tablespoon sugar (NuVal score: 1)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon rosemary
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 bag (16 ounces) frozen Shurfine Stew Vegetables Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Celery (NuVal score: 100) 
• 1 pound beef stew meat (NuVal sc0re: 25), cut in 1-inch cubes
• ¼ cup red wine or water
• 1 bay leaf – whole
• 1 can (14 ounces) Dei Fratelli Diced Tomatoes (NuVal score: 35), undrained

Directions

1. Mix flour, sugar, garlic powder, salt, rosemary and pepper in a small bowl.
2. Place frozen vegetables in bottom of slow cooker. Sprinkle with flour/spice mixture. Add stew meat, wine, bay leaf and tomatoes.
3. Place lid on slow cooker and cook on High for 4 to 6 hours or on Low for 8 to 10 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Traded Up Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour (NuVal score: 91)
• 1 tablespoon sugar (NuVal score: 1)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon rosemary
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 bag (16 ounces) frozen Shurfine Stew Vegetables Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Celery (NuVal score: 100)
• 1 pound beef stew meat (NuVal score: 25), cut in 1-inch cubes
• ¼ cup red wine or water
• 1 bay leaf – whole
• 1 can (14 ounces) Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes No Salt Added (NuVal score: 87), undrained

Directions

1. Mix flour, sugar, garlic powder, salt, rosemary and pepper in a small bowl.
2. Place frozen vegetables in bottom of slow cooker. Sprinkle with flour/spice mixture. Add stew meat, wine, bay leaf and tomatoes.
3. Place lid on slow cooker and cook on High for 4 to 6 hours or on Low for 8 to 10 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Trading Up Downtown Giveaway

Thanks to everyone who entered this week’s giveaway! Here’s your winner: 28!

Going to see the river turn green in Chicago!

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