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.
Roger and Dawn Hubmer, owners of Prairie Pride Farm of MN, have been awarded the USDA Conservation Stewardship Program Grant for their sustainable farming practices on their 5th generation family farm near Mankato. This is a 5 year program grant awarded to a few family farms that implement several sustainable farming practices and are willing to do more for the environment in which they live.
The Hubmer’s sell their packaged pork products at Valley Natural Foods, including a great line of sausages. They are frequent host at our demo kiosk, so watch for their next demo at our Co-op Calendar.
The recipes in this week’s Produce Possibilities features 100% local produce as well as local sunflower seeds and cheese. Not only is the cheese local, but the milk comes from cows that are grass-fed. Grass-fed milk is unique because it has been shown to have consistent higher levels of ALA and CLA than conventionally produced milk. Both of which promote heart health, and in the case of CLA has been shown to considerably reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease while promoting immune system health.
Another Important note about the salad recipe is that it uses dandelion greens as a main leafy vegetable. Some may think of them as mere weeds, but according to the USDA Bulletin #8, “Composition of Foods” (Haytowitz and Matthews 1984), dandelions rank in the top four green vegetables in overall nutritional value. According to this data, dandelions are nature’s richest green vegetable source of beta-carotene, from which Vitamin A is created, and the third richest food source of Vitamin A, after cod-liver oil and beef liver! They also are particularly rich in fiber, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and the B vitamins, thiamine and riboflavin, and are a good source of protein. Next time when you think of dandelion greens as just a weed, think again.
You are invited to experience the taste at our demo kiosk this Saturday, July 10, anytime between 3:00-5:00 p.m.
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!
by Kristin Stockton, 2010 graduate of the School of Environmental Studies
Community gardens bring people together, add beauty and green space, and help the environment. The healthy food that results can improve health, and the simple act of tending to a garden improves one’s health.
Gardening can serve as an outdoor classroom, an opportunity for children to learn about the natural world, healthy food, and the value of helping create something with their own hands.
Valley Natural Foods is working to create a community garden on our property. Together with the accompanying outdoor classroom we plan help teach people how to use various gardening supplies and how to start your own garden at home.
Please click here to learn more and visit our co-op calendar to stay on top of the great things happening with this exciting project!
FLAVOR BLAST
It’s the season for grilling, parties, and fireworks. What better way to celebrate the summer than with good taste and great friends? Stop by the natural chip section of Valley Natural Foods, and be sure to bring this coupon for $2 off 3 bags of Food Should Taste Good® chips. Stock up on your favorite flavors or get adventurous and try some of our new ones.
TASTEBUD TEASERS
Summer means parties. Lots of them. So kick off your next one with two of our favorite nutritious and tasty recipes: Grilled Peach Salsa, a healthy and delicious accompaniment to our Blue Corn, Lime, and Jalapeño chips, and Cobb Salad Dip, perfect with our Multigrain or Yellow Corn chips. For more summer recipes and to enter our recipe contest, visit our website.
TASTE BUZZ
Food Should Taste Good recently won a sofi™ silver award from the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, Inc. for Most Outstanding Product Line! We’re proud to have won, and to continue to show that our healthy, wholesome snacks really do taste good, as they should.
Planning a picnic? Check out our great picnic display where we have a tasty selection of high-quality products perfect for a picnic in the backyard or the Lake.
Top off your selection by stopping by the Valley Natural Foods deli department to pick up a picnic cheese tray, perfect for enhancing those sandwiches and burgers. Visit our online coupon page to get a $1.00 off of one picnic cheese tray. Coupon will be available online until July 8.
Hooray for our warm and beautiful summer! As temperatures heat up outside, Valley Natural Foods gets cooler inside. Lately, customers have been commenting to us about the store feeling a little too chilly at times. We would like to remind shoppers that since many of our food coolers are open, we are required to maintain specific temperatures in our store and refrigeration units in order to adhere to proper food-safety standards.
This is also a good reminder for folks who are transporting refrigerated foods from the store to home to pack all cold items together, or purchase a cold storage bag. Please read Tips for Keeping Organic Food Fresh in the Summer for more ideas.
Most of our greens are locally sourced now, so this is the time to benefit from their freshness, great quality, and high nutrition. Eating greens with vitamin C enhances the body’s absorption of iron, so here we see lemon and orange juice not only contributing their wonderful bright flavors, but also enhancing the nutritional value of the meal. Wild rice and quinoa are both excellent plant-based sources of protein, while pecans, apricots and shitake mushrooms contribute an array of nutritional properties while giving us something yummy and satisfying to chew on!
You are invited to experience the taste at our demo kiosk this Saturday, July 3, anytime between 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Every quarter, the Valley Natural Foods Donation Committee selects a Green Stamp Program recipient based on the organization’s sustainable impact on the environment. All proceeds generated from our Green Stamp Program collected during July 1 - September 30, 2010 will go to:
International Outreach Church Community Garden
Pleae support IOC Community Garden by simply packing up your groceries in your reusable bags, and then donating the top-portion of your stamped receipt into the Green Stamp Box (located next to the store exit door).
Each stamp is worth $.05, which encourages shoppers to bring in their own reusable bags. Shoppers also have the option to save up their Green Stamps and redeem them for $1.00 savings off their next grocery purchase for every 20 stamps collected.
Do you know of or belong to an organization that could benefit from the Valley Natural Foods Green Stamp Program? Stop by customer service and ask for a Community Donations Request Form or click here for an online version. Make sure to indicate on the form “Green Stamp Program” along with your information.
