Be greener in 2011 with the new Do It Green! Magazine. The new 2011 Do It Green! Magazine offers over 100 educational articles on living green plus a directory of MN green businesses. This guidebook features articles written by Minnesotans on topics such as electric cars, rainwater collection, eating local, green building, eco-friendly gardening tips and much more.  This guide is Minnesota’s only comprehensive guide to green and sustainable living.

Do It Green! is now available at Valley Natural Foods. Look for it in the magazine rack where other publications are sold, by the registers.

One great advantage of buying in bulk is especially true when trying a new item for the first time–you only buy just what you need, rather than an entire package!

According to Alter Eco Americas’ website, “Purple Jasmine Rice (Khao Gram variety) is a unique purple grain that is glutinous when cooked and has a delicate, sweet palate. Due to its rich taste and aesthetic appeal, this traditional rice is used by local communities for feasts and celebrations. It is grown exclusively in the fertile soil of the Esan Plateau, in the East of Thailand, situated close to the Cambodian border. This particular region has the ideal combination of soil and climatic conditions to produce nutritious and flavorful rice. Purple rice is mixed with naturally perfumed White Jasmine rice to give it an ideal texture while retaining its vibrant purple color and sweet flavor.”

Cooking instructions from Alter Eco Americas: Rinse the rice thoroughly and drain. Add one cup of rice to one and a half cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer until all the water has evaporated (approximately 15 minutes). You can also fry the rice in a small amount of olive oil for five minutes before cooking to give it a deliciously more elaborate taste.

Serving Tip From Valley Natural Foods: When cooked, the entire batch of rice becomes uniform in color–purple! The texture and taste is similar to Thai sticky rice. Serve as a side (as you would regular rice) to any meat or veggie dish. Sprinkle the rice with a bit of soy sauce to season, and top with chopped fresh cilantro and perhaps a sliver or two of fresh hot chili pepper for visual (and tasty!) contrast.

Summer is around the corner and what better way to celebrate than with great food from the co-op? The Co-op Advantage coupon book offers big savings on your favorite brands including Amy’s Kitchen, Muir Glen and Organic Valley!

This coupon book is just one small way for us to say “thanks” to you, our co-op member-owners. Your continued support makes our co-op more than just another grocery store. Your investment, patronage and input help us better serve you, support our local community and build connections with other communities across the country and around the world.

Look for the coupon books at Valley Natural Foods throughout July. Coupons are valid through August 31, 2010.

Shortcakes with Fresh Strawberries and Cream

We have a new summer recipe from our friends at PastureLand: Shortcakes with Fresh Strawberries and Cream.

It’s great with fresh-picked raspberries, too. PastureLand’s CEO, Steve Young-Burns, tells us that he loves to add a touch of balsamic vinegar, some black pepper, even lavender to the finished recipe. Ah summer fruit and local, sun-kissed butter from grass-fed milk.

Many people envision healthy nutritious eggs to be those raised organically or naturally with free-range pastured hens, but have you ever thought about what happens after the eggs are collected?

Recently some alert members spotted an article on this very topic and were concerned by what they read.

Eggs need to be porous, allowing air to pass through to the inside of the egg so that it can breathe, yet at the same time the egg is protected from bacterial invasion by a natural waxy coating called the bloom.

Commercial industry practice is to wash eggs thoroughly. On the surface this appears to be a positive thing, but as they say, the devil is in the details. Unfortunately, this washing removes the bloom, opening the egg to infection. To compensate for this, commercial industry practice is to replace the bloom with a mineral oil coating. More unfortunately, mineral oil is a petroleum-based product that can penetrate the porous egg shell. The International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) states, “exposure to mineral oils should be kept to a minimum.”

Valley Natural Foods offers organic eggs from two providers: Organic Valley and Schultz Organic. According to Organic Valley, their “shell eggs are never washed or sanitized with chlorine, and they are never oiled.” Instead, the eggs are “washed with a soap approved for organic use. The eggs spend less than one minute in the wash process. After being washed, the eggs travel through a rinse section, and into an air dry section.”

If you’d like to go one step further, consider this from Larry Schultz: “Our eggs typically reach the store before they are over a week old. We do not use any oils, chlorines, lye, peracetic acids, or sodium carbonates. Our eggs come to the store as clean and natural as we can with nothing applied.”

So if you like healthy fresh petrochemical-free organic eggs, stop by our dairy department for the best eggs nature can provide!

http://www.organicvalley.coop/erootnl/dec09.html.

Take time to think about where your healthy food comes from. Where was it grown, how was it grown and who tended to its growth? Is it fresh? How far did it travel to your grocery bag? Is it processed? How much energy goes into processing and shipping food? Did the original grower make a fair wage? Farmers have families to feed, too. Get to know the faces and places behind your favorite healthy foods.