Are you planning a special home-cooked dinner for your Valentine this year? Are you cooking your special meal together? Then look no further than the co-op for some lovely ideas! Our meat department will have specially cut “heart-shaped” beef rib-eye steaks (all-natural or grass-fed), perfectly sized for sharing with your Valentine. Our meat manager Jason shares his favorite tips for the perfect steak:

Position the top oven rack 3-5″ from the heat element and preheat oven on low broil. Salt and pepper the steak to taste.  Mince some fresh garlic and combine with melted butter or olive oil and brush onto the seasoned steak. In a broiler pan, broil for six minutes on each side (for medium-rare) or 8 minutes on each side (for medium to medium-well.) If you are grilling, set grill to medium-heat and cook steak five minutes on each side. While steak is cooking, saute’ up some fresh sliced mushrooms, onions and finely minced fresh garlic in butter or olive oil until mushrooms are just-tender. You can even add some steak pan-drippings for extra flavor. Place steak on a large plate and cover with cooked mushrooms. Garnish with fresh herbs or a little crumbled bleu cheese (Jason’s favorite!)

For an easy and elegant salad, stop by our deli department and pick up a container of grilled pears, cheese and nuts. Toss up some field greens (from our produce department) with your favorite vinaigrette, and top with the pears, cheese and nuts.

If you feel like going all out with your home-cooked meal, heat some wrapped brie in a low oven temperature and garnish with Lucille’s Kitchen Garden Raspberry Pepper Jam right before serving. Serve with flatbread crackers before you start on the main meal.

Don’t forget to check out our deli bakery goodies for dessert! We have cupcakes, heart-shaped cakes and cookies, hand-made chocolate truffles, and even a special Valentine goodie from our Down in the Valley Bakehouse—gluten-free cupcakes specially packaged for two!

Sparkling juices go well with any Valentine meal (Knudsen’s Sparkling Juices are on sale through the 14th) Or go a little more exotic with well-chilled Q Superior Ginger Ale—it comes in a pretty bottle! Don’t forget to drop a few fresh raspberries in the glasses before pouring the juice.

For fun little valentine gifts, you will find our grocery department stocked will with many kinds of chocolates and truffles—many are on sale! Our wellness department has some beautiful soaps, lotions and oils that your Valentine will appreciate!

Happy Valentine’s Day to you from Valley Natural Foods!

Oranges are an amazing fruit (so amazing that author and essayist John McPhee wrote an entire book about them). With a history that stretches back to ancient China, oranges are consumed in many different ways around the world. Given their nutritional value (an excellent source of both vitamin C and fiber) and fresh flavor, it’s no surprise that oranges are so popular. In general, the sweetest oranges are the ones that are grown the closest to the Equator, but orange trees can be found as far afield as Brooklyn and even Iceland. The peak season for oranges in the U.S. is generally December through March.

What to Make: Tangerine and Jicama Salad

You can pick up recipe cards in our produce department. Or, check out the February 1  Co+op Deals flyer or Stronger Together website for recipes.

Looking for a coupon? Save on some of the ingredients for Tangerine and Jicama Salad with online coupons! Coupons good through February 14, 2012.

By Loris Sofia Gregory, Healthy Kitchen Coach, Apple Valley, MN

“A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot where it is being boiled. ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ The cook knocks him down with the ladle. ‘Don’t try to jump out. You think I am torturing you. I’m giving you flavor, so you can mix with spices and rice and be the lovely vitality of a human being. Remember when you drank rain in the garden? That was for this.’” And so goes “Chickpea to Cook” by renowned Sufi poet Rumi writing in the 13th century. What a lovely vision of soft garden rain bringing us vitality. And considering their nutritional punch, there simply is nothing in our co-op that is healthier for you and your pocketbook than the legumes—the dried peas, beans and lentils found on our bulk trail.

Remember to  sign up for the FRESH & LOCAL: Easy Healthy Meals on the Bulk Trail Class!

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Looking for something easy, fast and tasty to serve on game day? How about serving chili that tastes like you cooked all day! Brown 1 lb. ground beef or turkey, add one bottle of Chili Starter (any flavor of your choice), and simmer for just a few minutes. Dish it up and offer your diners several toppings to choose from such as shredded cheddar cheese, sliced green onions, sliced olives and sour cream.

You know it’s gotta be good because Frontera Chili Starter is our staff PICK of the WEEK! Every Wednesday, staff gathers for a morning meeting which includes suggesting and eventually voting for products that become a staff pick!

We love locally-produced products! Our wellness department recently added a lovely line of local organic skin care products to our shelves that we think you’ll love too! They’re as local as you can get because they’re produced right here in Burnsville!

Check out Vika’s Essentials, an organic skin care line that is free of chemicals and synthetic ingredients. These safe and effective products contain only natural, organic nut, vegetable and therapeutic grade essential oils.

Vika’s Esentials will be here to demo their wonderful products at our demo kiosk on Saturday, January 28, from 2:00-6:00 p.m. and also on Wednesday, February 2nd, from 2:00-7:00 p.m.

Stop by either day to sample products we think you are going to love!

Now available—We have Mambo Sprouts coupon booklets here at Valley Natural Foods! The booklets contains 13 money-saving coupons for popular natural and organic products. Save on products like Pacific Natural Foods Soups, Almond Breeze, Rudi’s Gluten-Free bakery products—just to name a few. You can also access s free Mambo Sprouts online printable coupons.

Do you love hot chocolate? LIKE Mambo Sprouts on Facebook for a chance to win a hot chocolate kit every Monday!

Valley Natural Foods STAFF PICK of the WEEK: Chicken Wings!

How will you wing it for game day? Here’s what we have to offer for game day, or any day:

Meat Department: Pick up some of our tasty, all-natural chicken wings from the fresh meat cooler. Place wings on a cookie sheet with salt and pepper and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Serve with your favorite hot sauce for dipping. Or, purchase pre-marinated, ready-to-bake wings from our meat service counter.

Deli Department: Want your wings pre-cooked instead? Look in our grab and go cooler for Buffalo, Sweet & Sour or our “Throw Down” (chef’s choice recipe) ready-to-heat-and-eat wings.

Produce Department: Don’t forget to serve organic celery with Marzetti Organic Blue Cheese dressing (look for dressing in the produce cooler near the sprouts) with your platter of wings.

Grocery Department: We have a variety of tasty bottled sauces you can use for wings including a selection of BBQ sauces from Daddy Sam’s, Annies and Frontera, and hot sauces from Boulder Hot Sauce. Check out the salad dressing area in Trail 2 for a nice selection of ranch dressings.

From our Book Section: Wing it with a cookbook by a local author! Only Wings: Bold and Unusual Recipes by local author Quentin Erickson, showcases over 75 tasty looking recipes including Tequila Chipotle Wings, Lime Hot Wings, Jalapeno Horseradish Wings, Garlic Honey Wings and many, many more!

So just how does Valley Natural Foods determine “PICK of the WEEK?” Well, staff gets together for a weekly meeting, we pitch suggestions for our favorite items, and then we all vote—the highest vote becomes our staff pick of the week—so you know it’s got to be good!

The U.N. has declared 2012 the International Year of Cooperatives, and the spotlight is on food co-ops for the world premiere of Co+op, stronger together’s video series hosted by celebrity chef Kevin Gillespie!

Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow (Jan. 21, 2012) at www.strongertogether.coop/premiere 7:00 p.m. Central Time to catch the first three episodes in the series:

A Community of Shared Values: Seward Co-op Grocery & Deli and Backyard Harvest – Minneapolis, MN

Grow Where You’re Planted: Valley Natural Foods Co-op and Gardens of Eagan – Minneapolis, MN

Celebrity Farmers: Just Food Co-op and L&R Produce – Northfield, MN

See you online!

Co+op, stronger together

The old adage is right. As the richest food source of beta-carotene, carrots are good for your eyesight and a treat for your taste buds to boot! Snack on raw carrots, or shred them into your salads, where they’ll contribute lovely color and texture. Juice them for the classic health food beverage, or add them to casseroles, soups, breads and muffins. Don’t forget carrot cake, where they partner beautifully with warm spices like cinnamon and cardamom and fruits like pineapple and raisins. Simply steamed, with fresh-snipped herbs and a bit of butter, bright carrot coins enliven any dinner plate.

What to Make: Indian Spiced Carrots

You can pick up recipe cards in our produce department. Or, check out the January 18  Co+op Deals flyer or Stronger Together website for recipes.

Looking for a coupon? Save on some of the ingredient for Indian Spiced Carrots with online coupons! Coupons good through January 31, 2012.

If you are following a gluten-free diet,  do you have to give up pizza forever? What about that upcoming Superbowl party? Going to a party where you can’t eat any of the appetizers can be drag. However, it doesn’t have to be that way and you definitely do not have to give up pizza forever.

Consider taking our Gluten-Free Pizza and Flatbread class on January 25th from 6:30-8:00 p.m. and learn how to make a killer gluten-free pizza that everybody will enjoy!

Attend the class to taste amazing gluten free-recipes for an appetizer pizza, a pizza crust and a dessert pizza. Take home the recipes too! Also, discover the many gluten-free pizza options at various restaurants and at Valley Natural Foods.

Instructors, Shawn Binkowski and Sandra Calcutt have a combined over 20 years of experience living the gluten-free diet and they’ve compiled only the best information for this class. Meet Shawn and Sandra during their demo at Valley Natural Foods on January 18 from 2-4pm.

So come and learn from a couple of gluten-free cooking pros and get your gluten-free questions answered!

The cost is $32 for non-members and $27 for members. You can only register for this class in-store by calling 952-891-1212 ext 221 or stop by customer service. Save with this coupon!

View and sign up for other Valley Natural Foods classes here.

Be sure to view our in-store print version of our class booklet as this includes  a few classes that are not available for online registration.