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Have you seen all the press about Vitamin D recently? This past month two of my health magazines (Nutrition Action Health Letter from CSPI and Consumer Reports on Health) featured articles on this wonder vitamin. We've all heard how vitamin D and calcium are good for bone health, and I think most of us know that dairy products and the sun are sources for this vitamin (fatty fish like herring and wild salmon too). But did you know that recent studies have also associated this vitamin with muscle and cognitive function and that low levels of this vitamin have also been associated with depression, cancer, autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases as well? And, unfortunately studies indicate that the majority of Americans are deficient in this vitamin. Given the research, many experts agree that the current recommended amounts are too low and they are suggesting that adults increase their intake to 800 - 1000 IU per day. Given how tough it is to get this from food and sunlight (especially in the winter) I've started taking a calcium/vitamin D supplement along with my multi-vitamin (which already has 800 IU) to make sure I get enough. 
This year we find ourselves going to a friend's house again for Thanksgiving. I have to confess, while I miss the leftovers and I kind of miss putting everything together, I also love not spending the entire day in the kitchen. There are three families getting together and I've been assigned "non-traditional" stuffing (has some added ingredients beyond bread), Brussels sprouts, and pumpkin pie. Pretty straight forward but of course I'm doing a lot of research to look for recipes with a "twist" that sound like they taste great. I already have a favorite Brussels sprouts recipe (this one has been known to convert sprout non-eaters), and I found a pumpkin pecan pie recipe that I want to try. The one that I need help with is the stuffing - there are so many variations out there! The sausage and artichoke recipe on the Safeway website sounds awesome - what are the "secret ingredients" in your favorite stuffing?
For those in a grocery delivery service area, Safeway.com has a fabulous offer this Thanksgiving. Place a $200 or higher order on our website and receive free delivery and a free turkey. Simply order your groceries, include a Safeway turkey (value up to $7), and enter two promotion codes at checkout (“SMART” and “FREEBIRD”) to take advantage of this offer.
See the website for offer details. http://shop.safeway.com/superstore/default.asp?bra
I try not to use too many convenience foods but there is one that I just have to shout about – Del Real Chile Verde. I love traditional Mexican food but some dishes take too much time for me to prepare so I was thrilled when I found this product. You can find it in the refrigerated meat section and it’s simply pork in a green tomatillo sauce. The pork is very tender and the sauce tastes fresh and has just enough kick – delicious! Not only does it taste authentic but it is also simple to prepare – just heat and eat. We serve it over brown rice with a side of black beans and if I have some grilled vegetables on hand I’ll add that to our plates as well. For the girls, we top with shredded cheese and sour cream to cut the heat a bit. Give it a try!
Even though I have been at Safeway for a few years, I continue to discover more and more about the company that makes me proud to work here. By now I’m sure you all have seen the signs and tags in-store for the breast cancer fund raiser that is currently going on (Safeway has donated nearly $60 million over the past seven years to the cause!). But did you know that because of the generous contributions of customers like yourself and our employees, Safeway helped BreastCancerTrials.org become a nationwide program? This free service was developed by the University of California, San Francisco, the National Cancer Institute, and a group of patient advocates to give patients access to information about breast cancer research studies in the U.S., and the opportunity to identify the studies that may be a good fit. You can even sign up for alerts that will notify you when newly listed trials fit your situation. That is pretty amazing. If you, or someone you know, is at risk for breast cancer, has recently been diagnosed, is actively managing the disease, or has treated it and is now disease free, please have them check it out.
We don’t drink much juice in our house, for the girls it’s primarily water and milk and for Gabby’s school lunches she’ll get a flavored water pouch. Fortunately the girls love their fruit so it’s not hard to get them to eat enough servings. But vegetables? That’s another story. Carrots will work one week, green beans the next. Currently broccoli is on the “don’t like it list” (whereas it’s been on the “approved list” for the past year). Talk about frustrating. So I continue to look for ways to incorporate veggies into our meals – chopped spinach in taco meat or spaghetti sauce for example. I picked up a new juice the other day that helps me out with this “stealth health” approach – Eating Right Kids 100% Fruit & Veggie Juice. It comes in two flavors, Strawberry Banana, and Pineapple Orange and contains a full serving each of fruit and vegetables in each box. Plus no added sugar or artificial sweeteners and 100% of the daily value of vitamin C! The girls loved it! The Looney Tune characters make them feel like they are getting something fun and I know that it’s good for them! Give it a try!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and through the generosity of our customers Safeway has raised over $60 million over the past seven years for medical research to improve the detection and treatment of breast cancer. $18 million dollars in 2008 alone! That’s impressive – thank you customers! The funds are distributed to leading cancer centers in North America, including the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The funding has also made possible a small fleet of mobile screening units which make these screening tests more accessible and affordable to more women in the states where Safeway operates and to underserved areas where women may not have immediate access to screenings. This year Safeway has three easy ways to support the cause – 1) $5 will be donated to support local and national breast cancer charities when you purchase $30 in participating products (look for the pink ribbon tag), 2) purchase a reusable shopping bag for $1.99 and $1 of the purchase price will be donated to the cause, or 3) donate at the check stand. Every contribution makes a difference!
After seeing the new sugar guidelines I decided to find a healthier substitute for my cereal bar snack. Something more beneficial nutritionally, equally satisfying from a taste standpoint, and with a similar cost per serving. No easy task. But after searching on our website I found a great article that inspired me to try nuts (“Nuts to You” under Healthy Living). That decision was then reinforced by the October issue of my Nutrition Action Health Letter (CSPI) which ran a feature on nuts. So for the past few weeks I’ve been eating an ounce (1/4 cup) of unsalted almonds or walnuts instead of a cereal bar as my snack. While the nuts are somewhat higher in calories per serving, they have zero sodium, very little sugar (1g), and they are higher in protein. Almonds and walnuts are also rich in unsaturated fats, the good fats that may help to reduce the risk of heart disease and lower blood cholesterol levels. Given the calories, portion control is key, so I measure into a snack bag, and bring them along with me to work. Very satisfying!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and this year it really strikes a chord as I know three women who were diagnosed this past summer. All in various stages and treatments and fortunately all have very good prognoses. But come on, 3 in one summer? In my mind cancer is a disease that strikes older people, which, with my own advancing age (and denial), I have now defined as 70+. Naïve I know. And while the median age of diagnosis is 61, 25% of women with breast cancer are younger than 50! And up until this summer I would have found this stat surprising: 1 in 8 women will develop Breast Cancer in the U.S. over the course of their lives, about 13%. The good news is that mortality rates are declining. So what can you do when age and genetics are risk factors? According to the Mayo Clinic; limit alcohol, maintain a healthy weight, stay physically active, and consider limiting the amount of fat in your diet. And importantly, increase your chances of early detection by getting an annual mammogram and clinical breast exam if you’re 40 years of age or older.
One of my favorite indulgences during football season is buffalo chicken wings dipped in blue cheese dressing – fabulously delicious but messy. Since we only eat them 3-4 times a year I’ve never bothered trying to make them from scratch, we just go to our local place and order take out. And then my friend Karen made her chicken wing dip for a BBQ. Wow, talk about an outstanding dip! It tasted exactly like Buffalo wings but without the mess! The recipe is simple; it was passed to Karen by a friend so I’m not sure where it ultimately originated. You can find many variations on the web that include other types of dressings/cheese but I prefer sticking to the original ingredients. Here it is – mix in a bowl; 1¼ pounds chopped chicken (use leftover grilled chicken or cut from a rotisserie chicken, canned chicken can work too), and ½ cup of your favorite buffalo wing sauce until the chicken is coated. Then add in one 8oz package softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup blue cheese dressing (I used lite), and 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese. Stir together, place in an oven or microwave safe bowl and heat until warm. Serve with celery sticks, pretzels and/or wheat crackers – be careful it’s addicting!
Friday night has become pizza night in our house. By the end of the week I’m out of meal ideas, low on energy, and running even lower on fresh items so making pizza is an easy way to transform those last small containers of leftovers into a new meal that the kids enjoy. We’ve started keeping refrigerated pizza dough on hand and always have plenty of cheese and pasta sauce so it really is low effort. And the girls love to help put it together too. This past week we had an additional “helper”, the mascot from Gabby’s class. Gabby came home with a school project; photograph and write about her weekend adventures with the class mascot (Fireworks the Red Snake). The following Monday she shared the story with her class and each week, someone else will get a turn adding their adventures to the book until it’s full. We had a lot of fun with this, snapping photos throughout our weekend and incorporating Fireworks into all of our activities. What are some of the creative school projects you’ve done with your kids?
Check out the Bright Green landing page on the Safeway website – information on the items in the line plus some FAQs and suggestions on some small changes that can make a big difference. Simple changes like waiting until you have a full load to run the dishwasher and washing machine - just two fewer loads of wash and one less load of dishes a week can save up to 4,500 gallons of water a year! And if each household in the U.S. switched just one roll of conventional paper towels for one made of recycled paper we would collectively save over half a million trees! That’s pretty impressive!
We are in full swing with our fall routine – school, homework, dance class for the girls, and with back to school comes more germs for all of us. It seems crazy to have to start thinking about the flu shot so early but experts agree that you’re better off if you’re vaccinated before the height of flu season (although it can still help to protect you if you get it later in the season too). Safeway pharmacies have the seasonal flu shots available now and are offering the vaccine on a walk-in basis (some pharmacies will be scheduling clinics so check in your area. Depending on the store and time of day, there may be a slight wait time, similar to the time it takes to get a prescription filled. And, as a thank you for getting your flu shot with Safeway, they will give you a voucher for 10% off your next grocery purchase (must be used within 7 days of issue) along with some high value Super Price Coupons on health related items like facial tissues and hand sanitizer. Convenient, affordable flu shots PLUS bonus Super Price Coupons and a discount off groceries – you’ve got to love that!
Gabby is so hard on her clothes, particularly the pants/shorts/leggings. She runs and climbs (and falls) and is forever getting rips and holes in them. Most of the time I can stitch up the tear with my remedial sewing skills (thank goodness I had home ec in school!) but sometimes the tear is so large that the repair looks like something out of Frankenstein. The latest gash in her favorite pink leggings was such a hole, I tried to stitch it but it looked really bad and I would have given up had it not been for Gabby pleading with me to fix them. Then I remembered the patches from when I was a kid, iron on vinyl in basic primary colors that we put over the holes in our jeans (that was before we knew it was cool to have the rips, holes, and frays). Or sometimes a separate piece of material was used to cover the hole (am I dating myself?). I headed to our local craft store to see what I could find and I wasn’t disappointed. Many shapes, sizes, and colors of iron on patches for kids – animals, flowers, symbols, although now they’re called “appliqués”. I’m sure they were designed for decoration vs. wear & tear patching but I decided to give it a shot anyway. It’s amazing how a simple (albeit sparkly) butterfly can transform an old pair of leggings! What are some of your tricks for reviving old or worn clothes?
One of the girls’ favorite books is “Olivia” by Ian Falconer. Olivia is a high-energy piglet with an active imagination who wears her mother out with her antics. In the original story she goes to the museum with her mom and brother and sees two works of art; one by Degas and one by Pollock. Olivia daydreams of being a ballerina inspired by the Degas painting but she doesn’t really understand Pollock’s work so she gives it a try herself on her living room wall (resulting in a “time out” ). This part of the story was the first thing that popped into my mind when I was in our local craft store picking up a birthday gift for one of Gabby’s friends and saw that they had started to carry “pre-stretched canvas”. The girls love to paint so I picked up three squares and few bottles of acrylic paint. We set up our “studio” in the backyard (with the appropriate protection for the surroundings) and let them have at it. They had a blast and were so proud of their paintings. Now I just have to figure out which wall gets the honor of displaying them!
