Taste Test Tuesday: Chips That Are Good for You?

They are crispy like chips, but that's where the similarity ends for these new triangular shaped snacks from Nabisco. Garden Harvest Toasted Chips provide one serving of fruits or vegetables (depending on the flavor) per two-ounce serving because they are made with real pieces of fruits or vegetables (depending on the flavor).

If you going for the vegetable serving your flavor options are:

• Tomato Basil
• Vegetable Medley

(These two flavors have pieces of carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, spinach and other vegetables blended together)

If you are going for the fruit serving your flavor options are:

• Apple Cinnamon (with real pieces of apples)
• Banana (with real pieces of banana)

How do they taste?
My favorite of the four flavors was Vegetable Medley and the rest of my family backs me up on that. We thought these tasted "good" while I would give the other three flavors a "not bad" rating. If you are looking for something sweet and crunchy, the apple cinnamon or the banana will probably appeal to you. Personally my taste buds were confused by the sweet flavor--they look like savory chips and that's what my taste buds were expecting.

Per ounce, Vegetable Medley Garden Harvest Toasted Chips contain:
120 calories, 2 g protein, 20 g carbohydrate, 3.5 grams fat (0 grams saturated or trans fat), .5 g polyunsaturated fat, 2.5 g monounsaturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 240 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 26%

The first five ingredients are: Whole grain wheat flour, dehydrated vegetable blend, brown rice flour, expeller-pressed oleic safflower oil, and cornstarch.

Related Topics:

• Snack Attack!
• The Art of Power Snacking

Technorati Tags: Taste Test Tuesday, Garden Harvest Toasted Chips, healthy diet, snacks

The Wheat Foods Council Cookbook Wants You!

In the spirit of inspiring family time together in the kitchen and at the dinner table, the Wheat Foods Council is putting together an educational cookbook, led by chef and mother of three, Gale Gand, that will emphasize a parent's role in a child's diet. The idea is that parents will use the cookbook as a tool to teach their children about nutrition, serving sizes, and where different foods comes from.

You can submit your favorite (and nutritious) wheat-based recipes for a chance to be published alongside those of Chef Gand. [30 recipes from parents will be combined with five exclusive creations from Chef Gand.]

Interested? Here's what you need to know:

• The call for recipes at www.wheatfoods.org began September 1, 2007 and closes JANUARY 31, 2008.


• Recipes in the categories of breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks must meet the following criteria: wheat-based, nutritious, child-friendly, and relatively easy to prepare.


• Parents are asked to also provide personal tips for encouraging children to make healthier food choices.


• The cookbook will be available at www.wheatfoods.org in May 2008.

What's in it for you?
Chefs behind the selected recipes will be acknowledged in the cookbook and receive a complimentary copy signed by Chef Gale Gand.

Related Topics:

• WebMD Video: Healthy Chef School for Kids
• Cooking With Your Children

Technorati Tags: cookbook, wheat, recipes, kids, healthy diet

Taste Test Tuesday: Stove Top Stuffing Lower Sodium

I probably grab a box of Stove Top Stuffing (usually required in a recipe I'm testing) about once a year. This year, I was happy to see a "lower sodium" chicken version available. It's got 35% less sodium than the regular Chicken Stove Top. One box of the "lower sodium" version makes 6 servings and each of those servings has 250 milligrams of sodium. That can definitely work for people who have to stick to a lower sodium diet.

I also noticed that they've liberated the flavor pouch and now the stuffing cubes and the flavor powder are one (there's only one pouch).

To me the lower sodium version tastes even better than the original, but then I also don't cook or eat a lot of foods with a high amount of salt. Remember, your taste preference for salt in food is developed over time based on your intake. In other words, if you eat a higher amount of salt/sodium, your taste buds become used to that amount and when you eat something low in sodium...it might taste very bland.

But, if you give your taste buds time to readjust to a lower sodium way of eating (give it about 6 weeks), they will eventually catch up and things will start tasting better to you.

Related Topics:

• WebMD Video: Shake the Salt Habit
• 5 Easy Ways to Cut Back on Salt

Technorati Tags: Taste Test Tuesday, lower sodium, Stove Top Stuffing, healthy diet

Organic Never Tasted So Good!

Heaven... I'm in heaven... and it's all because of my Moonstruck Chocolate delivery today!

One of my favorite chocolate companies, Moonstruck Chocolate Co. from Portland, Oregon, just launched an organic collection of truffles and "organic" has never tasted so good.

Their 9-piece Organic Truffle Collection includes nine different bites of perfection - a Chocolate Orange French Silk Mousse truffle, a Berry-Licious Truffle, Peanut Butter Crisp Praline (my daughter's favorite), and more!

I've got to say the Moccarina Butter Cream truffle in the collection was one of the most amazing chocolates I've ever tasted! Truly, my taste buds were completely captivated and I took little bites so this one truffle could last as long as possible.

If you live in:

• Portland, Oregon
• Beaverton, Oregon
• Lake Oswego, Oregon
• San Francisco, California
• Walnut Creek, California
• Champaign, Illinois
• Chicago, Illinois

You are in luck because these cities have Moonstruck Cafes and you can physically behold this artisan chocolate company.

For the rest of us, these award-winning chocolates are sold through select gourmet food retailers across the country, by mail order (800-557-6666) or on the Internet at www.moonstruckchocolate.com/.

Related Topics:

• Health by Chocolate
• Chocolate: Cardiovascular Superstar?

Technorati Tags: chocolate, Moonstruck, organic, healthy diet

Taste Test Tuesday: LaraBar 2 Years and 4 Flavors Later

I tried my first LaraBar at the American Dietetic Association a couple of years ago. I fell in love with the "cherry pie" bar and rather liked the ginger snap bar too. These bars are not your typical snack bar. Be prepared to taste something unlike any bar you've had before.

They are fruit and nut bars - made with mostly dried fruits and nuts. Period. They are great to carry with you in your car or purse because one small bar packs in quite a bit of nutrition. It's there when you need something healthful and substantial to tide you over.

Each bar contains around 200 calories, the equivalent of one serving fruit, 10 grams of fat (from the nuts), 28 grams of carbohydrate (mainly from the dried fruit), and 4 grams of fiber. Each bar also contributes a healthy dose of two important minerals: potassium (around 330 mg or 9% Daily Value) and magnesium (15% Daily Value).

Well, in the past two years LaraBar has released 4 more flavors:

• Pistachio (ingredients: dates, pistachios, cashews)
  
• Cinnamon Roll (ingredients: dates, walnuts, almonds, raisins, cashews, cinnamon)
  
• Lemon Bar (dates, cashews, almonds, lemon juice concentrate, natural lemon flavor)
  
• Key Lime Pie (ingredients: dates, cashews, almonds, unsweetened coconut, lime juice concentrate)
  

I've tried them all and my favorite flavor is...(drum roll please)...it's a tie between the lemon bar and the cinnamon roll. Both really have a pleasant flavor. Loved them!

Related Topics:

• Snack Attack!
• Try These Take-Along Snacks

Technorati Tags: LaraBar, Taste Test, snack, healthy diet

Ordered the Half Plate and Still Couldn't Finish It!

One of my favorite restaurants in Vegas is Freudenberger's The Original Pancake House. Apparently they are known for their rather robust portions. There are three locations in Vegas and one at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson and I think the original restaurant is in Oregon.

Anyway, obviously their specialty is pancakes so when we were there, I ordered one of their pancake specialties - the chocolate chip pancakes. And since they offered a "half order" option for two dollars less, I opted for that. Boy am I glad I did that! The "half order" included three large chocolate chip pancakes with a big huge dollop of real whipped cream. I only made it through half of it before I was comfortably full and I was really hungry to begin with. So...I guess I needed to order the Quarter Plate?

Related Topics:

• 7 Strategies to Dining Out Healthily
• Recipe Makeovers for All-American Food

Technorati Tags: dining out, portion control, healthy diet

Taste Test Tuesday - Instant Soup Cups: Tomato Basil Pasta

I've done my fair share of lunch duty at elementary and middle schools. I happen to know that kids today come to school with those instant soup or noodle cups where they add hot water from the cafeteria and suddenly a hot dish is being served.

So, when I saw that the Eating Right line now includes a couple of instant soup options (they come in a non-styrofoam cup by the way), I had to check it out - with hot soup loving students in mind, of course.

I tried the tomato basil pasta soup flavor and it was not bad at all (for an instant soup). It had good flavor and a few grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein (so it would probably satisfy pretty well).

The sodium, though, is typical of an instant soup: 480 milligrams.

The ingredient list is pretty straightforward:

pasta
vegetables (tomato, garlic)
natural flavors (maltodextrin, yeast extract, natural flavors)
basil
parsley
salt
xanthan gum
and spices

Per cup it contains 150 calories, 7 g protein, 30 g carbohydrate, 1 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 480 mg sodium.

It's just another option to help break up the winter lunchbox monotony. Come December, most of us moms (and kids) might be looking for some new lunchtime options.

Related Topics:

• Boosting 5 Vital Nutrients Kids Need
• Deadly Diet: School Lunches Flunk Out

Technorati Tags: Taste Test Tuesday, school lunch, instant soup, healthy diet

Vegas: The Land of Cheap Buffets

Photo Credit: Tammy Green

I've been told that Vegas is the land of the cheap buffet. It's a place I've had to go to many times because my daughters dance and in the western USA, Las Vegas is some type of vortex to all things dance.

I just got back from my latest trek to Las Vegas with the family and my friend asked if I went to any cheap buffets. Oh, back in the day the buffets in Vegas were legendary - Prime Rib with Lobster buffet for $6.95...that sort of thing.

This time I saw a couple of different buffets advertised - but did I go to any? Not a one. Let's just say I'm not a "buffet" type of person (not that there's anything wrong with that). I just don't eat that much in each sitting, so I would never get my money's worth at buffets. Plus I hate to admit it but I'm a bit germ-phobic and I don't like the idea of large amounts of food sitting out and being sliced into by large amounts of people.

As a nutrition expert, I don't think the buffet fosters good eating habits either. Think about it. Buffets can't help but inspire people to overeat because they are suddenly surrounded by all sorts of choices (studies have shown that the higher the variety of food served or offered, the higher amount of food eaten). Plus, people tend to want to get their money's worth, so they are more likely to eat more in this situation than they would if they just ordered a particular dish.

Don't mean to blast buffets, because I'm sure a lot of people really enjoy them - this is just my nutritionally warped view of them!

Related Topics:

• Danger: Diet Disaster Area Ahead!
• Buffet Bellyaches

Technorati Tags: buffet, Las Vegas, cheap eats, diet, nutrition

Taste Test Tuesday: A Tale of Two Soy Sausage Links

Sometimes sausage is a desirable part of your meal or breakfast. As I said last week, one of my favorite ways to enjoy lean link sausage is wrapped in a fluffy buttermilk pancake. Can't very well have "pigs in a blanket" without the pig.

But what if you are looking for something like sausage but without the pork part...there are several brands of soy sausage links on the frozen food shelf. My family and I taste tested two of them this weekend:

• Boca Meatless Breakfast Links
• Morning Star Farms Sausage Links

They look an awful lot like pork sausage links, but if you set your taste buds up to taste pork sausage links, they will be sadly disappointed. The texture was fine; it was more the flavor that was lacking.

My family thought the Boca Meatless Breakfast Links had more flavor than the Morning Star Links. I think I would actually buy this product again as long as I wasn't serving them as a stand-alone item. They tasted pretty good to me as long as I was using them in something - like drizzling them some maple syrup and wrapping them in a buttermilk pancake or chopping them up and adding them, along with cheddar cheese, to an omelet. And you gotta love that there's a sausage link that contributes 2 grams of fiber!

Here's the nutritional breakdown in these two products:

Boca Meatless Breakfast Links
2 links = 70 calories, 3 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 8 g protein, 2 g fiber, 320 mg sodium

Morning Star Sausage Links
2 links = 80 calories, 3 g fat, .5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 9 g protein, 2 g fiber, 300 mg sodium

If you have a soy sausage link that you like, tell us about it!

Related Topics:

• Soy Protein = A Good Cholesterol Food
• Painless Ways to Add Soy to Your Diet

Technorati Tags: Taste Test Tuesday, diet, healthy cooking, soy sausage