A leader in the retail food industry with health and nutrition offerings, Safeway created SimpleNutrition as a first step in helping its customers modify the selection of products that support a healthier lifestyle. SimpleNutrition makes it easy to find nutritionally better items in store with green shelf tags that highlight up to two of 22 different nutrition and ingredient benefits, such as: Gluten Free, Organic, Sodium Smart, or Made with Whole Grains. Shoppers will see that the tags are simple to read without a complicated numbering system or confusing symbols. The products included in the program meet specific criteria, so shoppers can focus on the nutrition benefits they want or need most in their diet to meet their nutrition goals.

So, I went to the store to see for myself what Simple Nutrition was all about.

You can pick something that is high in fiber

Overall I think its a great system and may give you more confidence during your grocery shop. Your weight loss efforts will benefit from putting better things in your cart.

In the Chicagoland area you can find Simple Nutrition at Dominicks. Other stores in the United States are: Safeway, Vons, Genuardis, Carrs, Tom Thumb and Randalls.

So, if one of those stores is near you, check it out! I think its a great idea for shoppers who struggle with what to put in their cart.*

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Now on to Biggest Loser! It always amazes me how much different these people look just after 14 weeks. When they stepped in the scale to weigh in, they showed what they looked like the first day and its amazing what the difference is. Especially for Hannah, Olivia, Irene, and Courtney.

Jillian confronted Rulon. He was caught last week cheating in his room by eating an entire bag of tortilla chips with salsa. Plus he had candy and more snacks in his drawer (they never mentioned where he was able to get that stuff though!). Rulon thought since he was working out so hard and had already lost 135 pounds he could treat himself. Jillian said there are other ways to reward yourself and if you choose food, your weight loss won’t be permanent. In the end he lost another 7 pounds, so he was happy to make a breakthrough.

Courtney had only 1 trainer, since she was the only one left on the red team. At the weigh in all she had to do was lose more than two pounds and she only lost one. But in true Courtney fashion, she kept her head up and focused on how far she did go. She went back home to see her family and since she started her weight loss journey she has lost 225 pounds! That is so awesome!!

Also, did you notice an ad for Biggest Loser meals? They are called Simply Sensible and in Illinois can be found at Dominick’s, Super Target, Jewel, Kroger and Food for Less. They are already cooked, you just heat in the microwave and they are calorie controlled. Has anyone tried these yet? I prefer cooking from scratch, but in a pinch these could work!

*I did receive a gift card as a thank you for sharing Simple Nutrition to my readers.

This is the first time I’ve made enchiladas this way, and I think I’ll make them this way again they were so good! I started with 4 frozen chicken breasts (boneless and skinless), an enchilada sauce packet, mixed with a can of tomato sauce. Cook on low all day.

When I got home from work, I took the chicken out, it was super tender and shredded easily. Take a tortilla, fill it with the shredded chicken (for my 2, I weighed out 2 oz. of chicken each). Roll up and place seam side down in a 9×13 inch casserole dish.

I actually poured all the sauce leftover from the crock pot over the enchiladas and sprinkled with cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. YUM!!

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Food find. Most of you know I love to save money at the grocery store and I frequently shop at Aldi Foods. Imagine my surprise when I saw that their brand “Millville” now makes Kashi look alike cereals for half the price of Kashi! This box was only $2.49.

It tastes exactly like Kashi and has the same nutritional info: 190 calories per serving and 8 grams of fiber.

Also, I’d like share a site that is relatively new to me, but I’ve been enjoying reading. Tiffany from The Gracious Pantry has lost 50 pounds so far and has a great blog about eating clean as well as great recipes. Tiffany you are a great inspiration to many!

What weekend plans do you have? It’s going to be another chilly weekend in Chicago. I had to drop my son Mark off at school today at 5:30 a.m to go on his 7th grade trip to Springfield – he’ll be gone until 9:30 tonight – I’m sure he’ll have a great day!

Have you ever had black rice? Me either until tonight. In fact, I don’t ever recall seeing it at the store before. I was in the rice section looking for quinoa, and the bag of quinoa they had at my local store was almost $7! I knew I could buy it cheaper at Trader Joe’s. Then I saw a bag of this black and mahogany rice.

This black rice is gluten free, vegan, kosher, and contains 100% whole grain. After reading more about black rice, I found that it is becoming more popular as people are learning this is a super food. The dark pigment of the rice gives it the same antioxidant properties such as blueberries. Some antioxidants in black (and brown) rice are fat-soluble, while anthocyanins* are water-soluble and can therefore reach different areas of the body, says Joe Vinson, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania. Black rice should be included as part of a varied diet.

*Anthocyanin pigments are responsible for the red, purple, and blue colors of many fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, and flowers.

The one downside? It takes 50 – yes that is FIFTY minutes to cook. It’s the same ratio as cooking rice – you use 1 cup rice to 2 cups water.

I put it on as soon as I got home from work. Did a few things around the house, picked up my older son from school, and by the time we got back, it was done in about 10 minutes.

I decided to just cut up 3 chicken breasts into bite size pieces and saute those in a skillet with a little olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Next I cooked about a half a bag of Trader Joe’s green beans.

So for my dinner, I just piled on some green beans, a big spoonful of black rice on top of that, some chicken and a drizzle of stir fry sauce. So good! And all three of my kids loved the rice! So that’s a winner in my book

For more information about this rice and other recipes, visit Lundberg Black Japonica’s site HERE.

The one thing I forgot to mention is how does it taste? To me it had the same texture and taste as brown rice. Other people have described that it has mushroom taste to it, but I hate mushrooms, and I didn’t taste that flavor in it at all.

If you live in the Chicagoland area – I bought this rice at Dominick’s. You can also check here at their store locator and see if it’s sold near you.

Have you ever tried black rice? What do you make with it?

I kept wondering this question when I am at the store. I make homemade pasta sauce pretty much every week. Sometimes I buy whole tomatoes, sometimes pureed, sometimes crushed, why so many varieties, and what should you buy for what you are making? So, I did a little research and here’s what I found out:

Whole Tomatoes: Whole, firm tomatoes packed in their own juices. You can use whole tomatoes in soups, stews, spaghetti sauce, casseroles and chili. Once you open the can, you can chop, hand crush or slow simmer them to go into any recipe.

Diced Tomatoes: Tomatoes diced and packed in their own juices. You can use them in Italian and mexican dishes, chili, soups and stews. These are great to keep on hand year round to add to pasta sauce or soup.

Stewed tomatoes: Tomatoes, that are sliced and seasoned with onions, celery and bell peppers. You can use stewed tomatoes in vegetable dishes, casseroles, soups, stews, chili, mexican and Italian dishes. You can also just heat and serve as a great side dish or they can be sauteed with sliced zucchini and onion for a simple ratatouille!

Crushed tomatoes: Tomatoes concentrated for a texture between sauce and diced. You can use crushed tomatoes in pasta sauces which yields a hearty authentic texture. You can also add them to every day salsa for more body and fresh taste or add chopped onions and cilantro for even more flavor.

Tomato paste: Tomatoes strained to an extra thick paste with salt, spices and flavors. You can use tomato paste in pasta sauce (it’s a nice thickener) or lasagna, pizza, chili, casseroles, soups and stews. You can also use it like a bouillion, by adding a tablespoon or two to soups, sauces, crock pot dishes or to gravy.

Tomato puree: Tomatoes that are a texture between crushed and paste. You can use tomato puree in soups, gravies, sauces, casseroles, and meatloaf.

Tomato sauce: Tomatoes which are slow cooked with salt, spices and flavors for the perfect sauce. You can use this for pasta sauce, lasagna, meatloaf, chili, stews, casseroles and mexican dishes.

I don’t have a certain brand loyalty when it comes to canned tomatoes, I usually get what’s on sale.

Here is my basic pasta sauce which I tweak a little differently each week, depending on what fresh veggies I have. I’ll start with a can of tomatoes (usually 28 oz. can) and then I’ll add another smaller can of tomato sauce, veggies, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper and sometimes I’ll add either cooked ground beef, or cooked Italian sausage just to mix it up.

This version of my pasta sauce

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
2 Melrose peppers, seeds removed (or you can use green peppers instead)
1/2 white onion
2 medium fresh tomatoes – threw the whole thing, seeds and all in!
4 cloves of garlic
2 links of mild Italian sausage, casing removed
1 teaspoon fennel, chopped
1-2 tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

In a medium skillet, cook the Italian sausage and drain any fat off. Meanwhile, in a blender, add the crushed tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, melrose peppers, onion and garlic and puree until smooth. Add that to the cooked Italian sausage, and then add the rest of the spices. Cook for about 20 minutes. Then I added the fresh parmesan cheese and let that melt into the sauce.

*These are what Melrose peppers look like, just in case you don’t know:

Another thing that you can do if you open any type of canned tomatoes, or paste is that you can freeze any leftovers in the freezer for a few months in a ziploc bag. Just one tip, label the tomato paste! Once I thought I added tomato paste to a recipe, and it turned out to be canned pumpkin! Ewww!!!!

That’s how I was feeling yesterday at work. I was feeling a little under the weather and I kept thinking about getting M & M’s from the 7-11 near my office. I actually was heading out when I decided to just take a look and see what other options I had.

In the end, I DIDN’T CAVE!! I got this instead:

This was really good!

So, instead of a king size bag of M & M’s for 500 calories, this bar was only 180 calories, and to go with it, I made:

25 calorie packet of Diet Swiss Hot chocolate mixed with hot coffee! It hit the spot.

How do you get past a craving that will hamper your weight loss efforts??

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I’d like to thank Food Buzz for hooking me up with Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. As a Food Buzz taste tester I was sent 3 coupons for 3 of my readers to buy their product for free!

ALSO, Lea & Perrins is hosting a “Shine at Dinnertime” cooking contest. It’s a video recipe challenge, submit a video under 4 minutes using Lea & Perrins and the grand prize winner gets $10,000 + a VIP meeting with celebrity chef Claire Robinson of Food TV! Once the finalists have been picked, then America gets to vote from December 3rd – December 10th. Biz, are you going to enter???

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I have a lot to say tonight! I wanted to share the most deluxe stir fry I’ve made in a long time. Local Chicagoans, if you haven’t gone to Caputo’s market, you HAVE to go! Their produce section is the biggest one I’ve seen in any store. Gorgeous fruits and veggies, some I’ve never heard of like UGLI fruit!!!

Have you had UGLI fruit?

The UGLI fruit is a hybrid of orange, grapefruit and tangerine. You can peel it like an orange, or slice it in half like a grapefruit. It was really juicy and good! No seeds either! So that’s a new one for me, and I only bought one just in case I didn’t like it, but now I’ll have to go back for more.

OK, back to my stir fry!!!

Lots of chopping!

We had, purple and regular cauliflower, garlic, red onion, pea pods, water chestnuts, carrots, celery and bok choy.

First I cooked a few chicken breasts, cut up in small pieces, until just about done, then set that aside. I also cooked a big pot of brown rice (start that part early because it takes 45 minutes to cook).

Add the veggies and cook for about 5 minutes or until desired tenderness. Add back the chicken and serve over rice with your favorite stir fry sauce. I used House of Tsang brand peanut sauce.

This made a bunch!!!

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3 lucky readers who leave a comment will get a chance to receive a coupon for Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce.