Cottage Cheese Egg Muffins
Add some extra protein to your family’s breakfast with these tasty and nutritious Cottage Cheese Egg Muffins. Our dietitians are adding new recipes all the time, so check out our Dietitians Choice Recipes page for all their latest recipes!
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Buttermilk Green Goddess Dressing
Spring Into Summer With Smoothie Bowls
Spring Into Summer with Smoothie Bowls
Like to eat? Me too! While smoothies are a quick and easy way to get in great nutrition, I’ve always had one personal problem with them – I’d rather eat my food than drink it. Then entered the smoothie bowl. Tasty, nutritious and Instagram worthy? Hellooooo #BowlGoals. While making a smoothie bowl is quite straight forward, I am sharing my top 5 tips for getting the most nutrition (and taste) out of your next creation.
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Start with a nutritious (and tasty) base
- When making a balanced smoothie bowl (or any meal or snack for that matter), it is important to include a protein, carbohydrate and healthy fat.
- For this tip, let’s focus on protein. While there are many ways to incorporate protein into a smoothie bowl, one of the best ways I recommend is to use a protein-rich base like:
- Kefir
- Milk or lactose-free milk
- Soy milk
- Greek yogurt
- Skyr-style yogurt
- Not only do these options provide protein, they also contain other nutrients like calcium, vitamin D and probiotics!
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All the fruits and veggies
- Next up, let’s chat about carbohydrates. Carbohydrates, especially fruits and veggies, are an important part of what we eat.
- According to the CDC, 76% of Americans are not consuming the recommended 1.5-2 cups of fruit per day and 87% are not meeting the 2-3 cups of veggies recommended per day.1 This means there is plenty of room in our smoothie bowls for fruits and veggies!
- Fruits
- One of my favorite tips is to add frozen fruit! This allows for a thicker and creamier texture – perfect for eating by the spoonful.
- Frozen, fresh and canned fruit (in 100% fruit juice) are great ways to add flavor, color and variety.
- My personal favorites are using in-season fresh fruit (bananas are always a great option), frozen berries or cherries and canned pineapple!
- Veggies
- Long gone are the days where you must have a brown smoothie bowl in order to get your veggies!
- Although greens (like spinach and kale) are great additions to smoothies, milder tasting veggies such as cooked cauliflower or sweet potato can add variety in texture and nutrition.
- Don’t forget about no-salt added canned beans! White northern beans and chickpeas also add great variety and are an inexpensive addition to your smoothie bowl.
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Add in your healthy fats
- Healthy fats are often forgotten when blending up a smoothie bowl, however, they can add in key nutrients such as fiber, healthy monounsaturated fats and omega-3s!
- Try adding one of these the next time you create your own concoction:
- Avocado
- Nut or seed butter
- Flax oil
- Avocado oil
- Hemp seed
- Chia seed
- Ground flax seed
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Blend it up
- This may sound like a simple step, but I wanted to include this tip with a few helpful hints.
- If using greens, blend the base and greens first before adding in other ingredients. This will ensure that greens are well blended. Although I said I like to ‘eat’ my food, I’m not a fan of leaves of spinach sticking out of my smoothie bowl.
- If you are not going to eat your smoothie bowl right away (aka meal prepping), be warned that you shouldn’t mix dairy and pineapple together. Pineapple naturally contains the enzyme bromelain, which when mixed with dairy and left to sit, the dairy will curdle.
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Don’t forget the toppings
- After you have your tasty, nutritious and blended creation, the fun part starts.
- Pour your smoothie mix into your favorite bowl and top with tasty toppings!
- You can choose toppings based on flavor or design, but either way, have fun with it! Here are some of my favorite suggestions:
- Nuts and seeds
- Hemp, chia, and flax seeds
- Nut and seed butters
- Fruit slices
- Edible flowers
- 100% dried fruit
- Cacao nibs
- Granola
To help start you off right, try one of my personal favorite smoothie bowl recipes – Blueberry, Avocado, and Banana Smoothie Bowl!
Healthy and Happy Eating,
Emily Parent, RD, LD
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(2015, July 10). Adults meeting fruit and vegetable intake recommendations — United States, 2013. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6426a1.htm
Fennel Pasta with Kale Pesto
Pantry Challenge
Spring Cleaning Your Pantry!
The weather is warming up and if you’re like me, you’ve got the windows open and you’ve already started doing some spring cleaning! Of course, it’s great to tackle all the grime and dust that builds up in places around your home, but there’s one area that most people tend to forget about in their cleaning frenzy… the pantry!
Are you up for the challenge? Then join our Spring Cleaning #PantryChallenge! It’s the perfect time to clear out your expired food items and re-organize your food storage space to be more functional for the whole family. I’ve established a How-To-Guide on cleaning your pantry, fridge and freezer! It’s easy to follow and you can do it on your own time.
#PantryChallenge Goals:
- Get rid of expired food in your pantry, freezer and refrigerator.
- Guide your meal planning to utilize items you have on hand.
- Give you inspiration to make better choices for you and your family!
Let’s Get Started
Pick your zone! Start in the pantry, fridge or freezer. Where you start doesn’t matter, as long as you take the first step. Just know you will repeat these steps with each space.
Step 1: Take EVERYTHING out
I mean it… EVERYTHING! If you keep any small appliances or other non-food supplies in your pantry, clear them all out. This will help you start fresh and keep things organized where they need to be. Plus, it’s a good chance to dust off the ones you haven’t used in a while or consider donating items you haven’t used in a REALLY long while!
Step 2: Toss all expired food
I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll have some items in your house from 2017 or before. (I’m guilty, too). Toss them out and keep only the items that you and your family will eat. For non-perishable items that are not expired and you don’t see your family utilizing, donate them to your local food shelf.
Step 3: Write it down
Write down all food items that you are keeping. Find a blank notebook, scratch paper or an app in your phone… whatever works for you! Make 3 columns – Pantry, Freezer & Refrigerator. Write down all the items that you still have on hand, make sure to exclude all the items that were outdated and donated.
Step 4: Scrub-a-dub-dub!
Clean & wipe down the space. Now that everything is out, give it some good old-fashioned elbow grease and get cleaning! Get in those corners and be sure that your food is being stored in a clean place. This would be a good opportunity to add or replace shelf paper in the pantry or add a coat of paint to brighten up the space too!
Step 5: Re-stock
Put all your items back in. Keep them organized as you go by putting like items together. This is a good time to add new shelves or bins to help keep your food organized. Double check the food as you return it to the space to see if the cans or boxes may be dusty too. Wipe them down if needed so they don’t dirty up your nice clean shelves.
Smarter Meal Planning
Take the list that has all the food items you have in your pantry, fridge, and freezer. Are you overwhelmed? It’s amazing how much food we have on hand, yet, we can still come home and think “We have no food in this house!” (I’m guilty, too!)
The last step to our #PantryChallenge is my favorite part! I challenge you to use the list of food that you have on hand and create as many meals out of it as you can! For example, if you know you have pasta and lean ground beef, perhaps you make spaghetti and meatballs one night. Or if you have a variety of canned beans, maybe you try out some chili.
The goal is to plan meals that utilize the food you have on hand to help you use up the food that’s been sitting in the cupboard for quite a while. So, get creative with your meals or find some new recipes! (We have lots of great Dietitian’s Choice recipes right here on CelebrateMore!) By planning ahead, it’s easier to plan healthier, more balanced meals for the whole family. Plus, your shopping list should be much shorter if you’re utilizing what you already have at home, saving you time and money at the grocery store!
Share your photos with us!
Take a before and after photo… You’ll be glad you did! We would love to see the progress and improvements you made in your home with the #PantryChallenge! So, show off a little on how you are reducing food waste and stretching your food dollar. Share your photos on Instagram and tag us @Coborns_Stores. We would love to know what other tips you might have when it comes to spring cleaning your pantry!
Cheers to spring!!
Amy, RD, LD
Happy & Healthy in the New Year
Getting a Happy and Healthy Start to the New Year
We may have just found the key to happiness—a daily dose of fruits and veggies. We are all well-aware that fruit and veggie consumption has been linked to various health benefits such as lowered risk for heart disease, cancer, and high blood pressure, but did you know that science has found that people who eat more fruits and veggies are actually happier, have increased life satisfaction, and better mental well-being?1
Researchers from the University of Warwick analyzed dietary habits of 80,000 British women and men.1 Over a 24-month period, it was found that extra servings of fruits and veggies led to increased happiness levels and that consumption of 7-8 servings per day led to the happiest people. Just how much happier are these individuals? According to the study, if an individual went from eating no produce to eating eight servings per day over the 24-month period, they experienced a 0.24 increase on average in their happiness score (scored 1-10). Although that may not sound like a large boost, the increase can be compared to the feeling of going from unemployed to employed.1
With just 1 in 10 adults meeting the recommendations for fruit and veggie consumption, researchers (and dietitians alike) hope this added benefit of fruit and veggie intake, increases people’s motivation to consume more.2
With health-related New Year’s Resolutions in full-gear, this is the perfect time to add more fruits and veggies to your diet. Look for creative ways to boost your consumption, such as adding seasonal produce to classic Midwest dishes. Try one of our team’s favorite easy breakfast recipes: Apple Cranberry Oatmeal Bake.
Looking for more ways to boost your fruit and veggie intake for you and your family? Check out these kid-friendly recipes
or head on over to our Dietitian’s Corner for all of our latest recipes, articles and resources!
Happy and Healthy Eating,
Emily, RD, LD
1News & Events. Retrieved December 29, 2017, from https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/7-a-day_for_happiness/
2CDC Newsroom. (2017, November 16). Retrieved December 29, 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p1116-fruit-vegetable-consumption.html
National Nutrition Month!
Hello friends!
It’s March which means it’s almost Spring, but more importantly it means it’s National Nutrition Month! We may be bias, but March is by far our favorite month at the grocery store. Not only is it a month to celebrate food, it’s also a time to celebrate nourishing our bodies.
Every year, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ March campaign emphasizes the importance of making informed food choices and building a healthy relationship with food. In 2018, the theme is “Go Further with Food.” What does this mean exactly? Well, it means a few different things. First, we can have more energy and do more when we fuel are bodies with nourishing foods. Second, when we are more aware of what food we have on hand and how much we buy at the grocery store we can reduce food loss and waste which also means saving money! That being said, let’s talk about my top 5 tips for “Going Further with Food”:
- Include a healthful variety of food. Remember, each food group contains different types of nutrients and in different amounts. It’s importance we get a good balance of these nutrients daily, but don’t be afraid to mix things up! Have a banana with oatmeal for breakfast every morning? Mix things up and add berries!
- Consider what you have on hand. Before going to your local Coborn’s, Cash Wise Or Marketplace Foods, make a mental or physical note of what your already have in your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. When we are aware of EVERYTHING we have on hand before going to the grocery store we often are able to use up those items that may be otherwise thrown out.
- Buy only the amount of food that can be eaten or frozen within 4 days. Say what? Yes, you read that right. This is because items that are fresh or prepared should be eaten or frozen within a few days after preparing. Unfortunately, that hotdish sitting in the fridge you made last week needs to be tossed. To make sure that doesn’t happen again, be aware of how much you will eat within those days and freeze the rest. Hello, easy heat and eat meal!
- Be mindful of your portion sizes. If we paid attention to our serving sizes and hunger cues I can guarantee we would not only feel better, we would also be reducing food waste as we would be more in-tune with how much we eat.
- Move. Although this isn’t a food tip, it’s still a VERY important part of overall health. Find activities you enjoy (even in the winter!) and be physically active most days of the week.
We’d love to hear how you will be celebrating National Nutrition Month this year! Tune in to our Healthy Tip Tuesdays on Facebook Live each week and join us for lots of great topics on nutrition and even some great giveaways!
Healthy and Happy Eating,
Emily, RD, LD
It’s Time for a Protein Challenge!
We’ve heard it all the time, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” How many of you always eat breakfast? If so, how much protein do you get at breakfast? Our team of Supermarket Registered Dietitians have teamed up with the MN Beef Council to bring you a little challenge for the New Year! Continue reading
