Nutrition for Young Athletes & a High-Energy Recipe for Date Bars

In celebration of the World Cup (go USA … but please, would somebody tell the fans to stop blowing those vuvuzela horns) it is with great pleasure that we welcome guest blogger, Nancy Clark, MS, RD. Nancy is a sports dietitian and author of the much-beloved athlete’s nutrition bible, Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook — among many other books!  In her most recent venture, Food Guide for Soccer, Nancy and her co-author, Gloria Averbuch, address a wide range of challenges associated with feeding your own avid athletes.  Without further adieu, here’s Nancy!

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Calling all soccer parents.  If you are a soccer mom (or dad), you undoubtedly have questions on how to best fuel your young soccer players:

  • What should they eat before a game?
  • Should I give them a sports drink during games?
  • What’s best for recovery foods?
  • How can I manage family meals when soccer is in the middle of dinnertime?

In my new book, Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes from the Pros, I help parents and players alike understand how to eat for performance. The book is sprinkled with words of wisdom from members of Women Professional Soccer. Here are just a few tips from Nicole Barnhart, FC Gold Pride Goalkeeper:

“When I eat as healthy as possible, I feel better overall, and in the long run perform better.  My body is more resilient; I have rarely been sick since I started eating well-balanced meals throughout the day.”

“I like to make sure I get a good solid, well balanced meal about 3 to 4 hours prior to the game. Just prior to leaving for the game or in the locker room, I am a big fan of eating fruit (bananas and apples) with peanut butter, or I pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to take with me.”

“I enjoy creating my own smoothie for lunch.  I whip up some variation of fruit (strawberries, mixed berries, mango, bananas), peanut butter, ice, low-fat and low-sugar vanilla yogurt, and juice or soymilk.”

Food Guide for Soccer also includes winning recipes from all over the world. This recipe for Date Bars was contributed by Abby Wambach, Forward for the Washington Freedom.


Amy Wambach’s Date Bars (tested and tweaked a tad by The Meal Makeover Moms)
Makes 12 Servings

  • 1/4 cup butter or soft tub margarine (The Meal Makeover Moms used Smart Balance Omega-3 spread)
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 10 ounces dates, coarsely chopped
  • ½ cup flour, preferably half all-purpose and half whole wheat
  • ½ cup walnuts, finely chopped (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil or coat a 9 x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside (you can also use a 7 x 11-inch baking pan).

2. Place the butter or margarine in a medium-size microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave, about 30 seconds, until melted.  Whisk in the eggs and sugar until well combined. Stir in the dates until just combined.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, walnuts as desired, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. Gently stir into the date mixture until well combined.

4. Spoon the batter into the baking pan. Bake about 30 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool before slicing.

Print Recipe


For more recipes and tips, visit Nancy Clark on her blog or website.

June 25, 2010 | Filed Under Desserts, Fruits, Snacks | 5 Comments 

Our Favorite Cookbooks, a Cookbook Giveaway, and a Few New Recipes (Podcast #105)

What are your favorite family cookbooks, and what are your cookbook reading habits like?  For this week’s Cooking with the Moms podcast, we asked our Facebook fans to weigh in on those questions, and after hearing from dozens of moms, we learned a lot about reading styles:

> The Novel Reader: Moms like Sandi G. read cookbooks cover to cover — “I read cookbooks like a novel. They are by my bedside,  in the car, and I read them at work on break.”

> The Recipe Flagger: Danielle P. looks at the recipes to see what catches her eye — “I flip through them over and over and over again. I mark the pages I like with Post-Its, write notes on those I’ve tried and go through them again every few months to see if there are some that interest me this time around. Sometimes a recipe will jump out at me that didn’t before.”

> The Index User: Molly P. relies on the index — “When I get a new cookbook, I flip through it first checking out photos, reading recipes and generally checking out what sounds good. When I want to make something I look for what I have on hand in the index and then go from there.”

As for favorite cookbooks, it ran the gamut from The Joy of Cooking to America’s Test Kitchen Light & Healthy 2010 to Junior League and church cookbooks.  Recently, we received three new cookbooks for review, and for this month’s giveaway, we’re sending them to three lucky winners:  SOS! The Six O’Clock Scramble to the Rescue (St. Martin’s Griffin – $17.99) by Aviva Goldfarb, Blue Ribbon Edition ($21.95) by Debra Stark, and Slim & Scrumptious (William Morrow Cookbooks – $24.99) by Today Show nutrition editor, Joy Bauer.

To enter to win (U.S. residents only, please), leave a comment on this post and tell us about your favorite cookbooks. You can also tell us about your cookbook reading habits and whether you have a favorite cookbook recipe of all time. We’ll enter you a second time if you Tweet the giveaway (just leave a separate comment).  The giveaway ends on Friday, June 4th at noon EST, and we will use Random.org to pick our three winners.

We decided to cook up a few recipes from each of the books. For Joy Bauer’s book, check out Liz’s review on our blog from May 10, 2010.

Janice and 10-year old Leah took a crack at SOS! The Six O’Clock Scramble to the Rescue and had a hard time deciding what to cook (Leah went a little crazy with all her sticky notes). They finally decided on the Vegetarian Enchiladas (see below).  The book’s subtitle sums up the spirit of the book: Earth-Friendly, Kid-Pleasing Dinners for Busy Families. The recipes are presented by season, and there are lots of sidebars woven throughout:  tips for stocking your pantry, composting, eating more whole grains, eating on a budget, and packing healthy school lunches.  The author, Aviva Goldfarb is the creator and publisher of the family-friendly weekly menu planner, The Six O’Clock Scramble, so be sure to visit her site.

Vegetarian Enchiladas

Makes 6 Servings (from SOS! The Six O’Clock Scramble to the Rescue)

  • 1 can (15 ounces) enchilada sauce, mild or spicy
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
  • 1/2 red or yellow onion, diced
  • 2 zucchini, cut lengthwise into 4 strips, and diced
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 3/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
  • 10 to 12 corn tortillas
  • 2 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese (or use Cheddar or Monterey Jack)
  • 1 cup nonfat or low-fat sour cream for serving (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and spray the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Spread about one-fourth of the can of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan.

2. In a heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Cook the garlic for about 30 seconds, and then add the onions and zucchini.  Season them with the cumin, chili powder, and salt (optional).  Sauté the mixture, stirring it occasionally, for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are very soft.

3. Wrap the tortillas in a moist paper towel and heat them in the microwave oven for about 1 minute until they are soft.  (Alternatively, warm each tortilla over medium heat in a nonstick skillet for 20 seconds per side, or until soft).

4. On a plate, fill each tortilla with about 2 tablespoons of the vegetable mixture, and about 1 tablespoon of cheese.  Roll it and place it in the pan.  Repeat with the remaining tortillas until all the filling is used.  Pour the remaining enchilada sauce evenly on top of the tortillas, and top them with any remaining cheese.  Bake the enchiladas, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes until the sauce is bubbly.  (Meanwhile, make the guacamole, if you are serving it.)

5. Serve the enchiladas hot, topped with the sour cream, if desired.  (Alternatively, let them cool, cover tightly, and freeze them for up to 3 months).

Print Recipe

Liz and the boys tested a few recipes from Debra Stark’s book, Blue Ribbon Edition: From Our Kitchen to Yours. Debra is the owner Debra’s Natural Gourmet in West Concord, MA, so the book draws upon the amazing array of locally-sourced and organic ingredients available at her store. Liz made a few recipes from the book including Quinoa Breakfast Cereal (which we’ll share in a later post) and Zucchini Orzo Pudding, but the one her boys loved the most was The Best Cookie Ever. Josh and Simon have actually dubbed this cookie, The Best Cookie in the World!

The Best Cookie Ever

Makes 8 – 12 Servings (from Blue Ribbon Edition)

  • 1 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a pie plate or 8×8-inch brownie pan.

2. In a small bowl, beat together the sugar, egg and vanilla with a wooden spoon until “liquidy.” Mix in flour and salt. Add walnuts and mix well. Batter will be sticky and hard to mix. Good exercise for flabby arms! Spoon batter into pie plate or pan. Pat out (easier to do with wet hands).

3. Bake cookies in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until lightly brown and edges slightly pull away from the sides of the pie plate. Remove pie plate from oven and place on cooling rack for 10 minutes. While cookies are still warm, cut into pie wedges. Cut while still warm or you won’t be able to cut at all. (These cookies are best eaten the day they are made, but they freeze beautifully.)

* Liz didn’t have coconut sugar on hand (but she plans to get some the next time she’s at Debra’s store!) so she used 2/3 cup granulated sugar. She also added 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips for a fun variation.

We can’t wait to read your comments and hear all about your cookbook faves!

May 27, 2010 | Filed Under Desserts, Dinner, Giveaways, Podcast, Sustainability, Vegetables, Vegetarian | 135 Comments 

Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award: Treats and Feasts’ Carrot Cake Cookies

There’s nothing unusual about a recipe for carrot cake or for that matter, carrot cupcakes. But carrot cookies? Last month, Facebook fan Leah S., a mom of two and a fellow registered dietitian and food blogger (her blog is called Treats and Feasts), shared her recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies. The original recipe came from her sister-in-law, but Leah tweaked it a bit by replacing the butter with canola oil, swapping out some of the white flour for whole wheat, and tossing in some ground flaxseed for good measure. Needless to say, The Meal Makeover Moms were intrigued!

Leah’s children peel carrots and help mom make one of their favorite treats.

This cookie “overhaul” has everything we love:  Big-time kid appeal (Liz’s boys, Josh and Simon, couldn’t believe there were actually carrots in the cookies and that they actually liked them!), ease of preparation, and great nutrition. Given all this recipe has to offer, we are pleased to award Leah with our Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award.

Carrot Cake Cookies

Makes About 3 Dozen (adapted from Treats and Feasts)

  • 1/2 cup canola oil (original was butter)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (original was 1 cup)
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (original was 2 cups white)
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour (or you can use 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour)
  • 1/4 cup ground flaxseed (added from original)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice (original was nutmeg)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/3 cup oats
  • 1 cup grated or finely chopped carrots (about 8 ounces)
  • 1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

1. Whisk together the oil and sugars until well combined. Whisk in the eggs until well combined.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice, and cinnamon. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Stir in the oats, carrots, and nuts.

2. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 to 12 minutes until golden on the bottoms. Repeat with remaining batter.

Optional: For the icing, mix together about 1/2 cup powdered sugar with milk (add 1 teaspoon at a time) and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. Not too thick, not too thin. You want it to hold its shape when piped onto cookies. You can use an icing piping bag or cut the end off a sandwich bag just big enough to let the icing pipe out onto cookies.

Nutrition Information per Serving (1 cookie without icing): 90 calories, 6g fat (0.5g saturated, 2.5g monounsaturated), 8g carbohydrate, 1.5g fiber, 2g protein, 20% vitamin A

Print Recipe

Here are some additional notes from the Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen:

> For the carrots, you can grate them on the fine holes of your box grater or buy pre-shredded carrots and chop them into tiny bits.

> We didn’t top our cookies with icing, and the kids still loved them. They came out a bit more rounded than Leah’s … and kind of reminded us of little muffin tops.

> We made the cookies with nutmeg, so feel free to use either nutmeg or allspice.

> We used quick-cooking oats, and we chopped the walnuts until they were pretty fine.

We’d like to thank Leah for a super easy, kid-friendly (and mom friendly) recipe. This is a cookie you can feel good about serving and one your kids will surely gobble up.

April 12, 2010 | Filed Under Awards, Desserts, Snacks, Vegetables | 7 Comments 

Podcast 89: Vegetarian Delights – Very Veggie Chili and Chocolate Caramel Tofu Pie

Meat-less meals are predicted to be all the rage this year due to consumer concerns over health, the environment, and the economy. With a renewed interest on vegetarian diets, we figured we’d jump on the bandwagon with some new vegetarian-inspired recipes … and a podcast. So for this week’s Cooking with the Moms, we cooked up a steaming hot Very Veggie Chili recipe made with carrots, corn kernels, black eye peas, and tofu, and we used a fabulous soy-based cheese, so the chili is super-low in saturated fat. We also created a sweet and delicious pie featuring, of all things, tofu!

Very Veggie Chili

Makes 6 Servings (1 generous cup per serving)

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced (about 1 cup)
  • 1 large carrot, cut into ¼-inch dice (about 1 cup)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 to 3 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
  • One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
  • One 15-ounce can black eye peas, drained and rinsed (about 1 ¾ cups)
  • 1 cup all-natural vegetable broth
  • One 8-ounce package cubed super firm tofu (we like Nasoya), drained
  • 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
  • One 7-ounce package Veggie Shreds Cheddar Flavor (we like Galaxy)
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrots and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 7 minutes.

2. Stir in the garlic, cumin, chili powder, and cayenne pepper as desired and cook an additional 2 minutes.

3. Add the crushed tomatoes, beans, broth, tofu, and corn and stir to combine. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the carrots are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

4. Remove the cover, add 1 cup of the cheese, and stir until the cheese melts. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve in individual bowls and top with the remaining cheese.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 320 calories, 9g fat (0.5g saturated), 680mg sodium, 39g carbohydrate, 10g fiber, 21g protein, 130% vitamin A, 25% vitamin C, 40% calcium, 30% iron

Print Recipe

For our next recipe, no one has to know it’s made with tofu, unless, of course, you choose to divulge that information. Janice’s girls and Liz’s boys request this dessert all the time … and they are all fully aware there is tofu in the recipe.

As you can see, we call for a prepared pie crust for this luscious yet light dessert. There are a few brands we like including Wholly Wholesome and Arrowhead Mills, and we just heard about another crust made by Heartland that we’re itching to try. You can certainly make your pie crust from scratch. For a healthier version, check out the crust we created for our Double Strawberry Smoothie Pie.

Silky Chocolate Caramel Pie

Makes 10 Servings

  • One package Dark Chocolate Silken Style Creations (we like Nasoya)
  • One 8-ounce package 30%-reduced-fat cream cheese
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons caramel sauce
  • One 9-inch prepared chocolate (or plain) Graham Cracker pie crust (look for an all-natural, trans fat-free brand)

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. To make the filling, place the tofu, cream cheese, cornstarch, and caramel sauce in a large bowl, and use a hand mixer to combine until smooth and creamy (you can also use a food processor). Scrape down the sides as necessary.

3. Pour the tofu mixture into the pie crust. Bake for 1 hour until set. Remove from oven and cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Refrigerate for 2 hours, uncovered, until cooled completely. Slice and serve.

Tip: Serve with a small dollop of whipped cream, an extra drizzle of caramel sauce, and/or some fresh raspberries on top.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 210 calories, 8g fat, (4g saturated), 220mg sodium, 29g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, 4g protein

Print Recipe

If you have a favorite vegetarian or vegan recipe you’d like to share, or if you get a chance to try these new recipes, let us know what you think.

January 13, 2010 | Filed Under Beans, Desserts, Dinner, Lunch, Podcast, Soups/Stews, Vegetarian | 17 Comments 

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