• 05Nov

    An Outside Dietitian’s Perspective on Good Measure Meals

    Contributed by Atlanta-based Registered Dietitian Joanna Skinner

     

    As a dietitian who did her food service internship with Good Measure Meals in 2010 (no longer affiliated with GMM or Open Hand), I jumped at the recent opportunity to try a few of the meals from the current product line and give you my review.

    I’m a vegetarian, and I have a hearty appetite, so I like meals that are both creative and filling.  The meals I tried were the White Bean Puttanesca over Mozzarella and Swiss Polenta with Asparagus; Teriyaki Vegetable Stir Fry with Broccoli, Scallions, Bell Peppers, Carrots, and Ginger Root with Tofu and Udon Noodles; and Vegetarian Burgundy over Egg Noodles with Green Bean Casserole.

    First, my compliments to the kitchen for the crispness of the asparagus and the green beans in the green bean casserole.  They were perfectly cooked, not raw and not cooked to the greenish-brown mush we so often see.  By serving the vegetables crisp-tender, they retain more of their nutrients.

    The meals were large and definitely filling, without being loaded with sodium and preservatives found so often in the average frozen meal. And in case you’re diabetic or pre-diabetic, the meals are consistent in carbohydrates from one day to the next as well as high in fiber, so your blood sugar is less likely to spike.

    GMM Kale and Cannellini Bean Soup with Cornbread

     

    For a vegetarian who’s not really experienced in the kitchen, it can be hard to meet nutrition needs in a healthy way.  Those of us who eat eggs and dairy may be tempted to rely too heavily on those foods for protein, when truthfully, eating a combination of beans, nuts, grains—and if we’re so inclined, soy, whey, and wheat-based proteins—will help us get more than enough protein. Throughout the week, Good Measure Meals offers a combination of these healthy proteins without relying on heavily processed (and high sodium) veggie burgers.  For example, the teriyaki stir fry contains tofu as its main source of protein, while the white bean puttanesca’s protein comes from a combination of navy beans and polenta.

    You can get plenty of protein with GMM, but what about the other nutrients?  Besides having consistent carbohydrates, they’re low in sodium, saturated fat, and cholesterol.  Even better, throughout the week the meals include a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, which in addition to giving you a healthy dose of fiber, provide you with a variety of necessary vitamins and minerals to keep you going.

    Healthy and filling—Good Measure’s vegetarian meals passed this dietitian’s test.  Happy eating!

    GMM Spinach Artichoke Frittata and Breakfast Bread

    Permalink Filed under: Nutrition, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , No Comments
  • 13Apr

    What’s New on the Spring/Summer Vegetarian Menu?

    By Julie Shipkoski, MS, RD, LD, Food Services Manager

    After six months of dedicated research and development of over 100 new recipes, the first delivery of our new Spring/Summer Vegetarian Menu reached our customers on April 2, 2012.  Over 40% of the five week cycle of menus includes entirely new meals featuring delicious new entrées and side dishes.  As well, many of the existing meals also received makeovers through new combinations of foods. Overall, we’re excited about the incorporation of a broader variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and plant based proteins.

    We’re especially excited about the introduction of seitan to the menu.  In response to customer feedback, one of our primary goals in developing the new vegetarian menu was to develop replacements for all of the highly processed vegetarian meat substitutes in the menu, including Quorn.

    We prefer to prepare our meals from scratch, as much as possible, and to avoid highly processed foods to control the quality and the nutritional value of our products. For this reason and our commitment to deliver 100% customer satisfaction, our search began for a more natural source of protein that would still satisfy former omnivores’ cravings for their favorite comfort foods.

    Fortunately, our Executive Chef has extensive experience in this area as he’s developed numerous successful vegetarian products using textured wheat protein, more commonly referred to as seitan.

    Chief among seitan’s many functional benefits are its outstanding fibrous structure that replicates the look and texture of meat. It also has a neutral flavor profile with no aftertaste, and, thus requires less flavoring than traditional textured proteins and contains much less sodium.  Most important of all, it doesn’t contain a list of industrial-sounding ingredients like many other highly processed vegetarian meat substitutes.

    Seitan is a natural source of protein you can feel good about eating.  The same can be said for tofu in the menu.  In fact, if you had hours of time to kill, you could make seitan or tofu at home without any industrial chemicals or industrial processing methods.

    But why do that when we can do all the work for you?

    Here’s a preview of a few of the new Spring/Summer dishes containing seitan:

    · Maryland Style Veggie Cakes with Orzo Salad and Edamame Succotash

    · Vegetarian Jap Chae with Sweet Potato Noodles, and Snow Peas

    · Veggie Burger on a Whole Wheat Bun with Lettuce and Jalapeño Aioli served with Three Bean Salad

    · Kale, Cannellini Bean, and Seitan Soup served with Corny Cornbread and Smart Balance Spread

    While seitan is an excellent source of protein, we believe the best way to adequately meet your nutritional needs is to provide a wide variety of foods including fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, lentils, low-fat dairy, eggs, nuts and vegetable protein.

    In addition to lentils and bean sprouts, I bet you would never guess that we have 16 different varieties of beans and six varieties of peas on the menu ranging from traditional favorites such as kidney beans, lima beans, pinto beans, chickpeas and black-eyed peas to regional and heirloom varieties including edamame, cranberry beans, Anasazi beans, black turtle beans, and pigeon peas!

    Even better, all our beans, peas and lentils are purchased dried or frozen, never canned, allowing us maximum control over the quality of our ingredients, flavor profiles of our food and sodium content of our meals.

    Other new menu items on the Spring/Summer Vegetarian Menu:

    • 11 new starches including two new varieties of grains, farro cooked in the style of risotto and kamut cooked in the style of oatmeal with golden figs
    • Many new vegetable side dishes including Swiss Chard, Kale, Bok Choy, Mashed Parsnips, Chinese Broccoli, Snow Peas, Edamame Stir Fry, Green Pea Salad, and Moroccan Eggplant and Chickpeas
    • Fresh fruits including Cantaloupe, Pineapple, Melon Soup, Mango and Black Bean Salsa
    • 10 new egg dishes including Scrambled Eggs and Egg Whites, Egg White Omelets and Patties, Broccoli and Cauliflower Frittata, and Tomato Frittata
    • House-made, whole grain pancakes in 4 varieties including date, sweet potato, blueberry, and, my personal favorite, raspberry served with Chocolate Ganache
    • Greek Yogurt also makes its long awaited debut on the menu as a side dish at breakfast, as the main feature of our Breakfast Parfait, and as an ingredient in our Melon Soup. It’s also used as an ingredient in our Tzatziki Sauce served over Moroccan Vegetable Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms accompanied by Couscous Salad and Pita Bread.

    We hope you’ll enjoy all these new dishes and more as we begin working on the Fall/Winter 2012 menu. As always, please send us your feedback and requests so we can fulfill your culinary desires.

    Permalink Filed under: In the Kitchen, Uncategorized Tags: , , , No Comments
  • 24Mar

    Vegetarian Menu New Addition: Seitan

    The new Good Measure Meals Spring/Summer Menu will begin very soon. As part of the launch, we will be introducing seitan to the vegetarian menu. I thought I knew a fair amount about seitan, but now I know of A LOT more. That’s because this week at The Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts we spent an entire day making seitan from scratch, talking about its culinary applications, history, nutrition profile, and preparing a wide variety of seitan recipes.

    The flickr slideshow (above) shows photos of the steps that we took to make seitan (a very long process that took several hours) and some of the seitan recipes that we prepared in class.

    Many of you might be thinking – what is seitain?!?! It is pronounced “say-tahn” and is sometimes referred to on menus as “wheat meat” or “mock meat”. The dough is made from flours that have a high gluten content and the starch is rinsed away, leaving mostly gluten. Gluten is the main protein of wheat and since seitan is high in gluten, it is also high in protein.  Seitan has about 2x more protein than tofu and 40% more than 2 eggs. It is not appropriate for those seeking a gluten-free diet, but it can be useful in small amounts for vegetarians or vegans who are seeking to increase protein in their diet. Seitan was created years ago in Japan and is popular in East and Southeast Asia cuisine.  If you want to enjoy seitan at home, you don’t have to spend hours making it from scratch. Seitan can be bought pre-prepared, but pay attention to the nutrition label and use sparingly because it can be very high in sodium.

    Want to know more? Click here to access a great article on seiten from dietitian, Jill Nussinow.

    I’m excited to hear your feedback on the new Good Measure Meals vegetarian menu. Let us know what you think of all the new additions, including those that contain seitan.

    Permalink Filed under: In the Kitchen, Nutrition Tags: , , , , , No Comments
  • 04Aug

    Get Creative with Good Measure Meal Plans

    Over the years, our customers have come up with some really creative ways to share and combine Good Measure Meals plans to make the weekly meal service work for their unique lives. I thought I’d share some of these ideas with you in case you’re looking for a way to make the meals fit better into your lifestyle…

    Do you prefer a 2 meal/day option such as breakfast and lunch only or lunch and dinner only?

    • How about sharing the extra meals from a 5 or 7 day plan with a friend, colleague, roommate or partner. For example – if you want breakfast and lunch only and your roommate wants dinner only, split the cost of the meals appropriately and divide the meals up.
    • Or if you’re looking for a lunch & dinner only option – how about purchasing a 7 day dinner only plan and using some of the dinners as lunches. This works well if you don’t know anyone that wants to share the plan with you and if you have several days during the week where you know you’ll be going out to eat for meals and don’t need a lunch or a dinner every day.

    Do you want a lunch only option?

    • Purchase the dinner only plan and instead of eating the meals for dinner eat them for lunch.

    Make the meals work for your family – there are lots of options to think about for your family. It really depends on your own unique schedule and personal goals. Here are a few ideas…

    • You could purchase a full meal plan and divide the meals up between your family members, as needed.
    • Or how about purchasing a full meal plan for yourself and dinner only meal plans for your family members who need a convenient healthy meal as well.

    Do you want a breakfast only option?

    • Purchase the full meal plan and then split the cost and lunches and dinners with a friend, colleague, roommate or partner.

    Want some more vegetarian meals, but not a full vegetarian meal plan?

    • Order the no seafood meal plan – vegetarian meals replace the seafood meals so you’ll get 2 more vegetarian meals for the full no seafood plan or 1 more vegetarian meal for the dinner only meal plan.

    Want less red meat?

    • How about dividing the cost of the meals and sharing them with a friend, colleague, roommate or partner who is a fan of these meals.

    Please remember: Food safety is important!! Always eat the meals on or before the day listed on the label. Freezing your meals is a safe way to store your meals for consumption after the day printed on the label.   

    Do you have a creative way to make Good Measure Meals fit into your lifestyle?  Share your ideas with us! We’d love to hear from you!

    Permalink Filed under: In the Kitchen Tags: , , , , , , No Comments
  • 16Feb

    GMM Video: The Vegetarian Meal Plan

    Vegetarianism has greatly increased over the years. The reasons why people decide to become vegetarian vary greatly. Whether the choice to become vegetarian is for health reasons, environmental, compassion for animals, belief in nonviolence, religious or spiritual views, Good Measure Meals (GMM) has a great option. GMM introduced the vegetarian menu in 2009. We held a focus group of vegetarians and asked them a variety of questions including where they liked to eat out, what cuisines they liked most, what foods they eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the types of meat substitutes they eat, and how often. We learned a lot! We compiled all of the feedback and developed a menu that is constantly evolving based on current customer feedback. We quickly noticed that just as there are a variety of different reasons why people chose vegetarianism there are also a variety of eating styles ranging from very strict vegetarians to flexitarians to semivegetarians. We feel that this menu is great for a lot of different types of vegetarians. We also learned that vegetarians are very health conscious and are concerned about getting the right balance of nutrients from whole, unprocessed foods. One of the major benefits of the Good Measure Meals vegetarian plan is that each day is nutritionally balanced. We have included a variety of nutrient-dense vegetarian friendly ingredients including many plant based protein sources like lentils, quinoa, a variety of beans, nuts, and seeds. Because we follow the guidelines from the American Diabetic Association, this menu is appropriate for diabetics.

    We are proud to say that this meal plan is the only one of its kind in Georgia. Watch our newest video to learn more and check out the menu online. And as always, we would love your feedback! Have more questions? Email me – aritchie@goodmeasuremals.com or leave your comments here.

    Permalink Filed under: In the Kitchen, Nutrition Tags: , , , , , No Comments
  • 02Nov

    What to do with those Pumpkin Seeds?

    Halloween is over and many of you are left with Jack-o-lanterns and a pile of dried pumpkin seeds that you were planning on doing something with, but just haven’t gotten around to yet… am I right?

     As my favorite seasonal food, pumpkin makes its way into many of my holiday recipes and while most people would probably guess that this means pumpkin breads, pies and cookies- there are also many healthy ways to use this amazing food. Today I want to focus on pumpkin seeds. Many of you might have noticed that new GMM menu found a use for pumpkin seeds in one of our new Dinner Selections: Northern Italian Raviolis of Sage Pasta stuffed with Butternut Squash topped with Genoa Style Tomato Sauce. Fresh Spinach Salad with Carrots, Pumpkin Seeds and Multigrain Croutons with Balsamic Vinaigrette. Sound delicious? It is and also a great way to incorporate the nutrient packed pumpkin seed into a balanced meal! Great work Ashley!

    Pumpkin seeds are not edible when raw, but with a little olive oil and 20 minutes in the oven on low heat, you have a tasty and oh so healthy snack. The seeds are extremely high in both zinc and iron, both minerals needed in our daily diets. Zinc is an antioxidant mineral, which not only boosts the immune system, but also protects against prostate enlargement and cancer in the male population. Iron improves energy levels and is vital for healthy blood cells. Foods that contain high amounts of these minerals are particularly important for vegetarians, but also very beneficial to meat eaters, as the seeds also contain sterols, which help remove “bad” cholesterol, lowering LDL. As if these benefits weren’t enough to entice you to add pumpkin seeds into your diet, they also contain some Omega-3 fats (the healthy fat!), vitamin E, folate, and magnesium that can maintain heart health!

     Tips for Using Pumpkin Seeds: Always chew the seeds well to ensure maximum absorption of nutrients and think about adding seeds to salads, yogurt, muesli or cereal. You can also consider grounding the seeds and adding it to veggie, nut or bean burgers to increase your iron!

    How do you use pumpkin seeds?

    Permalink Filed under: In the Kitchen, Nutrition Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
  • 14Apr

    A Closer Look at Pad Thai

    Pad Thai is one of Thailand’s national dishes. It is made with a combination of rice noodles, scrambled eggs, green onion, soy sauce, mung bean sprouts, cilantro, and garlic. Pictured in the slideshow below are some of the steps and ingredients used to make Good Measure Meals vegetarian version of this recipe. The final plating of the meal includes the Pad Thai noodles topped with baby corn ears, cubes of roasted tofu and an Asian peanut sauce. We also serve it with a side of stir fried Basil Sugar Snap Peas.

    First our chef, Kim, weights and measures out all of the ingredients for the recipe. This is an important step because I have carefully balanced the nutrition content for all of the recipes to ensure that they fit within our nutritional targets. Then production begins. Check out the slideshow to get an idea of how this recipe is prepared.

    The non-vegetarian version is a new recipe for the spring summer menu. It is made in a similar way as the vegetarian version, but topped with shrimp instead of tofu.

    This recipe is loaded with healthy ingredients that pack A LOT of flavor when they are all combined. Rice noodles have zero grams of fat and 2 grams of fiber/2oz serving. Scrambled eggs add protein to the dish and are also a good source of Choline, a vitamin that keeps your cell membranes working properly, allows your nerves to communicate with your muscles and reduces chronic inflammation. Onions and garlic are members of the Allium family, and both are rich in powerful sulfur-containing compounds that are responsible for their pungent odors and for many of their health-promoting effects. In addition, onions are very rich in chromium, a trace mineral that helps cells respond to insulin, plus vitamin C, and numerous flavonoids, most notably, quercitin.

    Do you like Good Measure Meal’s version of Pad Thai? Let us know what you think by posting a comment on the blog.

    Permalink Filed under: In the Kitchen Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
  • 23Mar

    The New Menu is Almost Here!!

    The weather is just starting to warm up and the official start of spring has begun!! This is perfect timing for the introduction of Good Measure Meals’ new spring summer menu. The first delivery for the new menu is next week!! This is a very exciting time for me. I have been working on the menu with our chefs for the last 6 months. It is finally time for us to get to see all of our hard work come together.

    My goal is to raise the bar with every menu update. This time I have changed 40% of the meals. That is up from about 35% with past menus. This means you will see even more new side items, new flavors, new menu combinations, entirely new meals and recipes. Since this is our spring menu – I’ve incorporated seasonal produce and increased the number of cold lunches and salads. 

    Here is a preview of some of the new things you will see next week:

    · Angela’s Special Chewy Granola Bars made with Wheat Germ, Oats, Dried Fruit, Honey and Almonds

    · Peachtree Panini Sandwich with Roasted Turkey, Fresh Spinach, Provolone Cheese and Peach Dijon Mustard. Garlic and Herb Pasta Salad with Garden Vegetables.

    · Huevos Rancheros layered with Corn Tortillas and Black Beans, Tomatoes, Cheddar and Monterrey Jack Cheeses. Turkey Sausage Links. Southwestern Style Red Skinned Potatoes.

    · Grilled Chicken with Blueberry Ginger Chutney over Long Grain Brown and Wild Rice Pilaf. Asparagus and Button Mushrooms.

    · Tomato Striped Ravioli topped with Mediterranean Style Tomato Sauce with Eggplants and Zucchini. Parmesan Broccoli and Cauliflower Florets.

    · Carved Chicken stuffed with a Mango Chutney and topped with Chopped Walnuts. Brown Rice Pilaf. Gingered Black-eyed Peas.

    And this is JUST the first week! There are a lot more new meals to come!!

    Please let me know how you like the new menu by leaving me a comment here on the blog. The more feedback I get the better I can accommodate your wishes and wants.

    Permalink Filed under: In the Kitchen Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments