• 19Feb

    Nutrition Balancing Act

    We take nutrition very seriously here at Good Measure Meals. The meals adhere to nutrition guidelines encouraged by important health associations including the American Diabetes Association, American Dietetic Association, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society.

    Balancing the nutritionals for each meal is a lengthy process. I enter each ingredient, recipe and meal into a very sophisticated nutrition analysis program. During this process, I spend the majority of time balancing each individual meal (ie breakfast) – adjusting portion sizes to hit the nutritional targets. I take a close look at carbohydrates, ensuring that they are consistent from meal to meal. I also look at the nutrition for the whole day (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner all together) and the whole week to make sure everything is in line with the nutrition targets.

    Our chefs weigh and measure every ingredient during the cooking process.

    Each portion is weighed using scales.

    Paying close attention to the nutritional analysis ensures that the meals are effective for individuals who want to lose weight or are managing diabetes or working to lower their blood pressure or cholesterol.

    Nutrition facts are printed on the outside of each container, as well.

    Do you look at the nutrition facts on the meals? Do you use them to help reach your goals or to track calories and carbohydrates? Let me know by leaving a comment.

    Cheers to good health!

    Permalink Filed under: In the Kitchen, Nutrition Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments
  • 12Feb

    Butternut Squash and its Nutritional Power

    Butternut Squash deserves a shout out. I am a huge fan of this type of winter squash. The flavor is simply sweet, but it can also be used in savory dishes. It’s not very handsome on the outside but give this guy a chance!

    Butternut Squash is currently featured twice in the GMM Fall/Winter menu.

    Once for a Dinner entree – Northern Italian Raviolis of Sage Pasta stuffed with Sweet Butternut Squash topped with Genoa Style Tomato Sauce.

    &

    Once for a Lunch side dish – Black Bean Soup with Butternut Squash and Spinach

    A bit about the nutritional content of a BN squash –

    Excellent source of Vitamin A

    Very good source of Vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber and manganese.

    Good source of Folate, omega-3 fatty acids, thiamin, copper, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, niacin and copper.

    You can see that the BN is packed with Vitamin A. The type of Vitamin A found in the BN Squash is in the form of Beta Carotene.

    Vitamin A does a lot of good for us:

    - Promotes healthy vision – It is probably most well known for this!

    -It’s an antioxidant in the form of caroteniods, and may reduce the risk for certain types of cancers and other diseases of aging.

    -Promotes the growth and health of cells and tissues throughout the body

    -Helps protect us from infections by keeping skin and tissues in the mouth, stomach, intestines, and respiratory, genital and urinary tract healthy.

    -Helps regulate the immune system

    Are you a fan of BN squash? What is your favorite way to eat it?

    Permalink Filed under: In the Kitchen, Nutrition Tags: , , 4 Comments
  • 04Feb

    If at First you don’t Succeed… Try, Try and Try Again!

    A friend of mine was reading through some of my current blog posts. He said, “This is really cool, but it looks like all your new recipes are coming out perfectly. Don’t you ever have any failures?” I realized I may not be portraying the whole picture and I did agree that all my posts do have a certain trend going lately. I also couldn’t stop thinking about my most recent recipe failure!

    Yes it’s true – my recipe ideas don’t always work out how I hope. Right now I’m focusing on the new Vegetarian menu.

    The recipe in review: Provencal Vegetable Tart with Zucchini, Mushrooms, Tomato and Parmesan Cheese. It is a new dinner “center of the plate”.

    I must have been feeling extra creative and experimental when I made this the first time. I wanted to try tofu to replace the eggs that would typically be used in a vegetable tart. I got this idea from a vegan cookbook (although I still wanted to incorporate some cheese). First, I sautéed the vegetables. I always try to think about the colors when choosing ingredients. Eating different colors of vegetables increases the variety of nutrients and antioxidants.

    The veggies go into the tart crust and are topped with parmesan cheese. This is where the tofu comes in….

    I blended the tofu with a few other ingredients (all for extra flavor) and poured it over the veggies. Baked it and whala!

    The tofu didn’t do exactly what I wanted. The flavor was OKAY – but not good by any means. My taste testers all said – This could use some work! They all agreed that the tofu was not appealing.

    I redid the whole thing. Got rid of the tofu and used the traditional ingredients for a tart.

    Much better!! This one got rave reviews.

    Are any of you currently getting the vegetarian meals?? How do you like the current vegetarian menu?? Please leave your feedback!

    Permalink Filed under: In the Kitchen Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment