tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1016635400633898982024-03-13T09:40:41.706-04:00Nutrition By The NumbersIngredients for a Healthy LifestyleMelissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-57790849509818924962009-11-16T21:41:00.002-05:002009-11-16T21:49:01.430-05:00I've Moved!I just finished packing up my NuVal scores, my recipes, my blogposts, and oh yeah, my kids, and I've headed on over to my new home.I can't wait for you to see my new digs. Blain Smith of 13-infinite helped me with the architecture and floorplan and then I did a little decorating and unpacking. The kids are all settled in and we're cooking again. There's lots of "Nu" things like giveaways, Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-82038033042742399212009-11-13T10:34:00.003-05:002009-11-13T10:46:20.862-05:00Time to Move It, Move ItToday is an exciting day! It's time to Move It, Move It. My blog that is! I've got a new name, new space, much greater functionality, and cool new surprises. Thanks to my new friend, Blain at 13-infinite, my new site is beautiful!So today, I'm packing up my NuVal scores in a Uhaul and heading on over to my new site to unpack. My housewarming is next week and you are all invited! It's a Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-78255601935132923042009-11-10T13:11:00.003-05:002009-11-10T14:09:16.213-05:00C is for CookieHappy 40th Birthday Sesame Street! It is scary that I am almost as old as you! It has been wonderful these past 6 1/2 years, getting reacquainted with the Street. And yes, your Platinum Hits collection is on my Ipod. My Dear Son, now 6 1/2 and sadly Way-Too-Old for Sesame Street loved Oscar's "I Love Trash" and Ernie's "Put Down the Duckie." My daughter, now 4 1/2, still wakes up wanting herMelissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-17912221882355134912009-11-06T11:48:00.015-05:002009-11-06T12:56:10.507-05:00Ladies Who LunchOne of my goals is to raise two kids who appreciate good and nutritious food. When it comes to eating out, this can be a real challenge. So often, the children's menu is filled with the same old predictable choices: chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, hot dog, etc. The Boston Globe ran a great article this week about restaurants that do a better job of offering nutritious and creative dishes for Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-62472073717864474722009-11-04T14:39:00.003-05:002009-11-04T15:17:06.703-05:00Chicken Soup with RiceWell, it's official. Our household has fallen victim to the flu. Since my pediatrician is not testing for H1N1, we're not sure which flu. But it is the flu. And today, I am the latest victim, so this blogpost comes to you in a feverish haze. I apologize in advance for any typos!Basically, my strategy when the kids get a cold or the flu is to push fluids - even if it means bending the rules.Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-77901178209237827422009-10-29T12:28:00.017-04:002009-10-29T21:40:34.218-04:00Halloween - One Day or a Season?Like so many of our holidays, it seems like Halloween is no longer one day. It has truly become a "Season". In our town, we kick off with the Annual Halloween Parade, a great event that we never miss. There's also "Wear Your Costume" days at Sports Class, Ballet, Gymnastics, and Daycare. And don't forget the classroom party. My goal is just to get to 9 pm on Oct 31st with two children's Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-35554534050326983212009-10-27T13:33:00.012-04:002009-10-27T14:36:01.180-04:00Family DinnerI think that most parents have that “Ah Ha!” moment when they realize that they are cooking two dinners a night: one for the kids and one for the grown-ups. It’s really not an “Ah Ha!” moment. It’s more of an “I’ve Reached Rock Bottom” moment. When you think of the progression of how our kids eat (first breast milk or formula, then baby foods, then finger foods, then table food), you can see Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-60003381688114377642009-10-23T07:05:00.002-04:002009-10-23T07:13:05.426-04:00Taste As You GoHead on over to Taste As You Go where I'm guest-posting today. Michelle Judd is a new Twitter friend of mine who lives in NYC (lucky girl - I miss it sometimes!). Michelle blogs about her great adventures in the city as she visits restaurants and tries new foods. She also is a healthy cook who is training for the Philadelphia marathon. I love to read her latest adventures and cheer her on. Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-36567522904609320972009-10-19T23:59:00.009-04:002009-10-20T01:10:43.367-04:00FNCE Day 2There was a time in my life (B.C. - Before Children) when I traveled for business a lot. I mean A LOT. So, I've stayed in a lot of hotels, sometimes for months at a time, and I've been to a lot of multi-day meetings and conventions. But this has been my first time at a convention for Registered Dietitians. I have made 3 key observations:1. There are a lot of women. I mean A LOT. If there Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-19634539520879911442009-10-18T18:40:00.018-04:002009-10-18T19:50:10.040-04:00FNCE Day 1For those of you who don't know (and until recently, I did not know), FNCE is the American Dietetic Association's Food & Nutrition Conference and Expo. It is attended annually by about 8,000 - 10,000 registered dietitians (RDs). Another thing that I have learned since coming here is that RDs work in many different capacities including hospitals, schools, government agencies, the armed forces, Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-50243994023788929332009-10-17T21:28:00.009-04:002009-10-17T22:00:32.268-04:00Greetings from ADA in Denver!For the next few days, I'll be blogging from the ADA (American Dietetic Association) conference in Denver. I arrived today after what turned out to be a great three-and-a-half-hour plane ride. I was dreading my middle seat, but it turned out that I was sitting between a Registered Dietitian who works for the National Dairy Council and another woman who is an author of children's books, Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-31561215371454781822009-10-16T00:01:00.000-04:002009-10-16T15:34:57.433-04:00Farewell to Gourmet MagazineWednesday's Boston Globe included an article on Conde Nast's plans to pull the plug on Gourmet Magazine. In it, the most famous chefs and foodies in Boston were interviewed and they added their commentary on the 68-year-old magazine's demise. Food historian and author, Laura Shapiro, who reviewed the movie "Julie and Julia" in a recent issue added, "This is another nail in the coffin of literate Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-70773545480996755142009-10-13T11:36:00.012-04:002009-10-13T14:33:09.467-04:00Lazy Morning BreakfastThere's nothing like a 3-day weekend. This Columbus Day was special because the whole family either had or took the day off. My plan for the Monday holiday was to drop the kids at my gym's babysitting and take a great cardio class while my dear husband spent some time at home painting the bathroom that we're remodeling. Well, that plan was dashed when we all slept until 9 am! I guess we all Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-44839609256107094852009-10-09T12:44:00.009-04:002009-10-09T14:08:12.588-04:00Macaroni & Cheese PLEASE!!!!!!As I mentioned a couple of blog posts back, I got out to a Price Chopper store last week to help with an upcoming news story on NuVal. It was great to walk the store and see over 10,000 NuVal scores on their shelves. While I work for NuVal and get to see scores all the time, it really hits home when you can see them on the supermarket shelf and see how the products you like score.And that is whenMelissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-51201403103812642142009-10-05T09:58:00.008-04:002009-10-05T10:54:05.992-04:00Happy Hour!This weekend I heard that the Chobani website has some great recipes that use one of my favorite ingredients: Greek yogurt. Now, let me just say up front, that NuVal is not partnering in any way with Chobani nor am I being compensated by Chobani for blogging about them. I just really like the stuff. When I saw that there was a recipe that included two of my favorite ingredients (Greek yogurt and Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-74430098517099571182009-10-02T10:39:00.009-04:002009-10-02T12:20:42.166-04:00The San Francisco TreatOne of the things that I love about my job is that I get to have all these amazing "Ah ha!" moments as we score more and more products at NuVal. This happened again last week when the scores for Rice were unveiled. But before I go into that, let me just confess right now: I have been feeding my kids some nutritionally-delinquent food. Yesterday, while out at a Price Chopper store for a Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-43621063024868164032009-09-29T11:36:00.005-04:002009-09-29T12:49:34.167-04:00Pizza! Pizza!Remember those Little Caesar's pizza commercials? The commercials were pretty funny back in the day, although I was never a big fan of Little Caesar's - probably because they were the only pizza joint technically on my college campus. We all OD'd on pizza during those years, didn't we?I'm blogging about pizza today because (drum roll please), NuVal has released frozen pizza scores!Now, I've Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-72537511104193189052009-09-25T10:22:00.011-04:002009-09-25T16:29:45.392-04:00Moooooooo!I am lucky. My kids are pretty good about drinking their milk. This has come, however, after several years of trial and error (2%,1%, organic, milkman?), milk-pushing strategies (we've put chocolate chips at the bottom of the glass), and many stinky lunchboxes. At this point, when I'm sitting in the pediatrician's office and I need to check the box following the question, "Does your child Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-83175472925909395802009-09-22T12:33:00.006-04:002009-09-22T14:21:57.107-04:00Mama Melissa's Meatballs - and Spaghetti!Now that fall is officially here today, I feel like cooking some good old-fashioned comfort food. While my daughter was disappointed to see that the trees did not magically turn color overnight when she woke up on this autumnal equinox, she will be very glad to know that Mommy will be making spaghetti and meatballs again. Since I've come to work for NuVal, I've learned lots of things and I've Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-24120564485780345982009-09-18T09:53:00.009-04:002009-09-18T14:53:58.970-04:00School Lunch - 1988 and TodayWhen I started my senior year of high school, I decided that I would buy school lunch every day so that I could prepare myself for the institutional food that was coming my way when I left for college the next year. Somehow, I convinced my friends to join me in this masochistic plan. And somehow, I remembered that we actually took a picture of our last school lunch ever. There is proof - the backMelissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-19149973249709167702009-09-15T10:23:00.004-04:002009-09-15T11:32:41.909-04:00Happy New Year!Well, the gym was busy, busy this morning at 5:30 and I was not surprised one bit. I've been a gym rat for quite some time and I've been moonlighting as a Pilates and Group Exercise instructor since 2001, so I'm familiar with the trends. The three busiest times for health clubs are:- The first 3 weeks of January (it dies down by Superbowl)- Mid-end of April (my sister, Julie, owner of RI Pilates Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-38737291927921474652009-09-11T10:08:00.002-04:002009-09-11T10:25:55.344-04:00The Potato Chip ChallengeI remember that before I had kids, I always wondered why Moms made such a big deal about the busy-ness of the first week of school. I mean, really, it's not like the Moms had to go to school - just the kids. What is the big deal, I thought? Now that I am a Mom of a 1st grader and Pre-K-er, I know that it's both an exciting and stressful week. I am oh-so-happy that it is Friday because I am tired.Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-74068459064325681452009-09-09T14:08:00.014-04:002009-09-09T18:22:21.055-04:00Child LaborDon't you just love all those "Back To School" segments that permeate the airwaves at this time of year. My husband and I saw this short Healthy School Lunch piece on our local Boston NBC station Monday night. While I admire Molly's nutritious choices and creative presentation, I just can't see myself making a Turkey Kabob for my son's lunch box. Molly cubed the turkey, and cut up pieces of Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-89926118545454831292009-09-08T20:35:00.003-04:002009-09-08T20:43:59.794-04:00Carrots 'n CakeTina, the blogger behind carrotsncake.com, wrote a lovely post about NuVal this morning. She loves food and she loves to eat, but she is all about balance. She posts what she eats every day - with beautiful pictures to illustrate her choices. She is one of my Go-To Blogs when I need a little pick-me-up. I love to see what Tina is up to. She's about a decade younger than me, married with no Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101663540063389898.post-8841342437415879812009-09-04T07:59:00.011-04:002009-09-04T10:47:36.682-04:00Hip Hip Hooray!If you've read some of my last few posts, you know I've been hanging on to these last days of summer and dreading the back-to-school routine. I'm trying to snap out of it. I've been doing some self-analysis (much cheaper than real therapy) to figure out why I'm so down on school. And it all comes down to one thing - the morning routine stresses me out. I figured this out when I had a bad Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09098521439172028066noreply@blogger.com4