This holiday season Organic Valley is cooking up a great contest, where you can win free Organic Valley products for yourself and a donation for your local food bank — plus great coupon savings for all. Log on to organic valley contest to get complete contest details.

Throughout the co-op, you will discover Organic Valley is well-represented as there are so many products to choose from that carry the Organic Valley label. And the best part is knowing that local organic dairy farmers from our midwest region are part of the Organic Valley co-op. To learn more about some of those Farmers, visit meet a farmer near you to read some wonderful stories about their families and farms.

In December, ten School of Environmental Studies students and two faculty members will be participating as official observers at the United Nations sponsored Conference of the Parties (COP) international negotiations on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Representatives from over 190 countries will be in Copenhagen to address this global environmental issue and explore strategies for how the international community will address it. The conference places importance on transparency and input from a wide range of constituencies and, toward that end, provides accreditation to non-government (civil society) organizations that demonstrate competencies in areas related to the proceedings. 

In September the School of Environmental Studies Education Foundation (SESEF) was granted UN accreditation. Joining the SES students on the delegation will be students and faculty from Justus Tranchell high school in Landskrona Sweden. Landskrona is a 50 minute train ride from Copenhagen and SES students will be staying with Swedish host families during their time there.

While at the COP conference, student delegates will observe the negotiation sessions and participate in the over 200 side events that will be taking place in conjunction with the official sessions. The SES students will be reporting on the events back to schools and the broader community both during and after the conference.

Students will be blogging about their experiences at the COP over the two weeks of the conference.  The SES COP15 blog can be found at: http://ses-climate.blogspot.com/

There’s still time to order a beautiful, Fair Trade fresh floral centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table! Pacific Floral Group, based out of Eagan will create a custom centerpiece using Fair Trade flowers. You can pick up a  pre-order form at our demo kiosk and turn it in to customer service to place your order. Order forms will be collected through Sunday, November 22. You can request your pick-up date for your centerpiece to be either Tuesday, November 24, or Wednesday, November 25. These beautiful centerpieces are selling for only $22.99, and with proper watering, will last a very long time!

A variety of beautiful floral bouquets are also available in the produce department. You can choose from several different arrangements.

In pudding, fruit salad or simply eaten alone, this flavorfully sweet fruit has a pear-like texture with a tad bit of spice.

The Fuyu Persimmon has just arrived from California’s trees where its green skin transforms to a shade of orange in synch with the trees own leaves transitioning to the reds and oranges of the fall.  The months of October, November and December are the prime time for this organic fruit. It feels a bit firm on the outside with a more crisp sweet almost spicy flesh. As it ages it will soften and become sweeter.

You may use and eat the persimmon just as you would an apple, but Daniel Andersen, a local private chef and Valley Natural Foods’ seafood specialist suggests his Persimmon Tart recipe:

Persimmon Tart

Directions:

Place one layer of filo dough into a greased baking dish and brush it with a thin layer of butter. Top dough with crème fraiche and sprinkle with goat cheese. Slice the persimmons ¼ inch thick and season with salt, sugar, thyme and mint. Layer fruit over the cheese. Place another layer of filo dough over the top and brush with melted butter. Repeat this process to add one more layer.

Place in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the dough is golden and crisp. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Crème Fraîche

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. buttermilk
• 1 Cup of whipping cream

Directions:

Combine 2 tablespoons of buttermilk with 1 cup of whipping cream in a glass container. Cover and let it sit at room temperature (about 70ºF) for 8 to 24 hours. Don’t despair if your cream doesn’t thicken after 22 hours; sometimes it happens nearly all at once. When it has thickened, stir well and refrigerate up to 10 days.

Alaffia Sustainable Skin Care is collecting used eyeglasses to distribute to needy individuals in Togo, West Africa.

The World Health Organization estimates the use of corrective lenses could improve the eyesight of one-forth of the world’s population. There are very few optometrists in Togo. An eye exam costs as much as one month’s wages and a pair of glasses can cost up to four months income.

You can Help!

You can mail them to: Alaffia Sustainable Skin Care, PO Box 11143, Olympia, WA 98508 or for a convenient option, bring them to Valley Natural Foods and place them in the collection box specifically marked for used eyeglasses. You  can find the donation box at the exit of the store, located to the left of the shopping carts on the publications shelf. We will collect used glasses and ship them in bulk to Alaffia Sustainable Skin Care company.

 Check out Alaffia Skin Care products next time you visit the wellness department. Some Valley Natural Food’s staff and customers enjoy Alaffia products not only because of the high quality ingredients used for the products, but because of the company’s mission.

To learn more about Alaffia Skin Care company, please visit http://www.alaffia.com/about-us.

Valley Natural Foods’ member-owners can enjoy 25% off selected Alaffia products for the remainder of November!

Here at Valley Natural Foods we appreciate coffee and the communities that harvest, roast, and sell the delicious beans to us.

We sell sustainable, organic and fair trade coffees. Alakef is one of our favorites, which we use exclusively at the Java Drive and is one of the best gourmet coffees around. Alakef is family owned and based on the north shore.

Stop by the store to buy a cup of the good stuff or you can swing by the Java Drive on your way to work in the morning (opens at 6:30am) and have a taste for yourself. Check out the Latte of the Month: Pumpkin Spice.

You love coffee as much as we do and want to learn a little more about how to brew a good mug? Check out the 20^th Annual Calhoun Cofffee Festival at Calhoun Square in Minneapolis. Proceeds benefit Second Harvest Heartland.

submitted by Tracy Donovan from the produce staff 

recipe serves 8-12 salad aficionados; serves more people if they’re salad nibblers

• 1 bunch green kale
• 1 bunch Lacinato kale
• Assortment of red, orange and yellow root vegetables and squash (red and golden beets, garnet yams, butternut squash, delicata squash), about 5 lbs total
• 1 pkg. salad sprouts
• 1 pear, any variety, as long as it’s ripe
• 1 pkg. of your favorite crumbly cheese, such as Feta or Bleu. Fetiri cracked-pepper sheep and goat’s milk cheese is especially delicious
• Handful of dried cranberries
• Nuts or seeds that appeal to you, such as spicy Tamari roasted pumpkin seeds, or carmelized walnuts
• Ume plum vinegar
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350.  Wash and dice the potatoes, beets and/or squash into 1/2” cubes or thick julienne strips, keeping the colors separate. Toss with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, spread out on a baking sheet in a single layer, and roast, uncovered for about 40 minutes, until pieces are easily pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile, wash the kale leaves and remove the stems from the Lacinato only (they are tedious to chew).  Steam the leaves, in shifts if necessary, using a steam basket, or without by submerging the kale in almost boiling water for about 20 seconds, just until the colors turn really bright, but before they utterly collapse.  Immediately submerge the steamed kale in a bowl of cold water, and then dry by spinning or just in clean cloth towels.  Tear kale into bite-sized pieces and put them in a bowl, tightly covered, and into the fridge for now.

When the roasted vegetables are tender, remove from the oven and let them cool until nearly room temperature.  These two steps can be done a day ahead if preferred.

Assembly

Use the broadest round or oval serving platter you have, as this salad is layed out horizontally. Arrange the kale in a wide ‘wreath’ around the platter, leaving the center open.  Sprinkle the kale with the Ume plum vinegar.  From here use your judgement. Symmetry is beautiful in this project; sprinkle the sprouts and crumbly cheese, over the kale, then cut slices of pear and arrange them around the plate, topping with cranberries and seeds or nuts. The roasted vegetables can be piled in the center, in concentric circles.

Dressing

Have your favorite viniagrette available for your guests.  It’s a delicious suprise to lightly drizzle the whole salad with honey, and/or flax seed oil.  Pumpkin seed oil, walnut oil, a raspberry puree . . . the possibilities are endless here. 

Variations on a Theme

other ingredients could be: berries, apples, blood oranges, persimmon seeds, capers, smoked salmon, olives, toasted nuts; seek out a variety of flavors, colors, and textures.

You’ve been helping us donate money to the food shelf and you didn’t even know it!

Hain Celestial Group is partnering with co-ops across the nation to donate 1% of its products sales to food shelves in November and December. The sales at Valley Natural Foods are going to Community Action Council. Loose change can also be donated in the collection cans at each register.

Community Action Council has been serving Dakota and Scott county for more than 35 years. They have neighborhood based programs to solve issues that affect the community. And of course they have a food shelf. Learn more about CAC on their Web site. You may also donate food directly to CAC by dropping food items in the yellow can near the co-op’s exit.

Hain Celestial Group products include: Spectrum, Arrowhead Mills, Sunspire, Imagine and WestSoy.

As you’re shopping and preparing for your holiday meals, you can know that Hain Celestial Group and Community Action Council are helping families in our community prepare for their family meals too.

You don’t want to miss our much anticipated Holiday Preview event, taking place from 1:00-4:00 p.m. tomorrow!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

This year, Valley Natural Foods will be featuring  “Toast Topper Sensation“ storewide. The deli is now busy preparing several toast topper recipes to serve on top of fresh, lightly toasted baguette slices. You will have an opportunity to sample all of them just by roaming throughout the store starting at 1:00 p.m! Take home free recipe cards too.

And, local producers from Ames Farm, Schroeder Farms, Hidden Stream Farm, Ferndale Market, Alakef Coffee, Pasture Pride and Beeler’s will all be here to share samples of their delicious products.

What’s tiny and green and flying off our produce shelves?

Kiwi Berrys!

Matt Stiehm from the Valley Natural Foods produce department says they taste like traditional kiwis with a hint of pineapple and honey sweetness.

How do you eat them? Just pop ‘em in your mouth. You won’t be disappointed with this northwestern fall crop.

Our cheese buyer Lily says the sweet flavor of the kiwi berry pairs well with her Clawson White Stilton Mango and Ginger cheese.