Okay, here is the post you’ve been waiting for! A few weeks ago I went to New York to spend some time with Supervalu and Jewel-Osco reps and find out a lot more about Essential Everyday food. We had an amazing and informative trip and I have lots to tell you!
The first day in New York we traveled to the Good Housekeeping research labs. If you don’t know much about Good Housekeeping, they test and relay information to you about thousands of products in order to establish the quality and verify claims that the company is making. For example – if a face cream claims to be anti-aging and they tell you that within 6 weeks you will notice a significant change, Good Housekeeping is ready to verify that! They work with a pool of testers who come into the lab and have photos taken of their faces. These photos magnify thousands of times so that they can see everything from sun spots to teeny tiny wrinkles. After six weeks of using the anti-aging product, they have the tester back to take more photos and compare.
Good Housekeeping does this for every type of item you can imagine. We saw labs for vacuums, skillets, swimsuits, food and almost anything else you can think of. They have various machines that allow them to test under different circumstances as well. Does someone say a hair color turned their hair green? Good Housekeeping will buy hair and test under the same settings (hard water, time, etc) that the claimant did. In my next life, I am going to apply for a job there. Maybe they’d be willing to help me with a Chicago/New York commute every week? 😉
The evening of that first day included a cooking session which highlighted the new Essential Everyday Products. This is Supervalu’s brand that you will now find in your Supervalu owned stores (Jewel-Osco, Albertson’s, Shaw’s, Cub, etc). We made four recipes in total (all of which were good), but there are two standouts that I want to highlight for you:
The Edamame and Spinach Dip Recipe is one that I will be making for any parties hosted at my house. Super easy, extremely tasty and good for you!
1½ cups Essential Everyday™ Frozen Shelled Edamame, thawed
1 (10 ounce) box Essential Everyday Frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed, well drained
1 cup Essential Everyday Light Sour Cream
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
½ cup chopped green onions
1 (1.4 ounce) packet dry vegetable soup mix
⅛–¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
– pita chips
Directions:
1. Place edamame in food processor or blender; process until finely chopped. Add spinach; continue
processing until well combined. Transfer to large bowl.
2. Add sour cream, yogurt, onions, soup mix and cayenne. Mix until well combined; salt and pepper to
taste.
3. Serve with pita chips.
This Virgin Mojito was refreshing and could easily become a staple in my household:
1 (0.75 ounce) package mint leaves, stems removed
2 tablespoons Essential Everyday™ Granulated Sugar
3 cups reconstituted Essential Everyday Frozen Limeade
1½ cups Super Chill® Club Soda
– ice cubes
Directions:
1. Roughly chop mint leaves and place in a 2-quart pitcher; add sugar.
2. Using a muddler or spatula, vigorously press mint and sugar together until well combined
(muddling).
3. Add in limeade and club soda; stir to combine. Fill pitcher with ice; stir.
The second day in New York was a Media Event that included Top Chef favorite Antonia Lofaso. Did you watch top Chef? My husband and I have been watching since Season one, so I was happy to meet her. She’s very talented!
Antonia and the Supervalu chefs prepared a theme of Essential Foods For Every Season. Each plate had tiny portion sizes (there were four seasons, after all) using the Essential Everyday products. I was impressed. If I’m being completely honest, I spent the entire event secretly wishing that I wasn’t there on business so that I could keep all the tiny silverware and fabric-made bowls for my daughter’s dollhouse, but occasionally one must act like a professional.
The food was amazing and – luckily for us! – many of the recipes will be included in Antonia’s Cookbook, The Busy Mom’s Cookbook: 100 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, Home-Cooked Meals. I highly recommend it! I was given an early copy and you won’t be disappointed!
All in all, this was an amazing trip. A huge thank you to Supervalu for including me, as I felt like I really learned a lot about the brand and their passions for their products. I know that those of you who are Jewel shoppers have seen some major changes already this summer, but I can assure you – there is more to come!
Alli is a Chicago based wife and mother of two children. She has turned money-saving into a game and enjoys searching out the best deals to help you save money! Alli shares her insight, tips and up-to-the-minute deals for local and national retailers and brands. Her hope is that you will play the game and learn to save money at the same time!