What's Cooking in Boulder

New Deals At Vitamin Cottage

2012-01-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

Vitamin Cottage has a new set of sales running through February 25th, following a bit of a sale hiatus. Deals that look particularly good to me include my favorite Cascade Fresh yogurts for the lowest price I've ever seen, 49 cents each, organic blueberries at $2.69 for six ounces, and four types of Rudi's Organic Bakery sandwich breads for $2.99 each (plus you can get a 75 cents off coupon at Rudi's website, with thanks to my friend Ms. M. for pointing that out). Select organic Knudsen juice and blends quarts look to have great, but varying, sale prices, with organic tomato juice just $1.99 a quart. Clif bars are at a stock up price at 89 cents each (or $9.99 for a box of 12), and 3.2 ounce Chocolove bars look good at $1.69 for the non-organic and $1.99 for organic, with the littler size just 69 cents (some chocolate for your Valentine?). With peanut butter prices skyrocketing everywhere, their sale on my favorite MaraNatha 16 ounce peanut butter looks great at $3.29 for the natural and $3.79 for the organic (almond butter too, at $4.49 for 12 ounces). Half pound Organic Valley cheeses are $3.49, 10 ounce Fig Newmans are $2.99, and the big 28 ounce size of Muir Glen organic tomatoes are stunning at $1.69 each. Fans of Amy's pizzas, Cascadian Farm organic veggies, and Lundberg rice chips will also be happy with prices, plus of course there are a ton of supplements on sale. Finally, if you want to do a taste test between grain finished and grass fed ground beef, both types of Organic Prairie frozen beef are on sale.

One-Day Sale at Whole Foods Tomorrow

2012-01-31T09:18:00.002-07:00

For tomorrow only (happy February 1st!), our local Whole Foods stores will offer us a quartet of special savings, two of which are especially Super Bowl-friendly. Two pounds of Tillamook cheese for $5.99? Holy nachos!

One-Day Sale

On sale Wednesday, February 1st only:

Continental Sausage Co
Smoked & Jalapeno/Cheddar Brats
$3.99/ea
(save $2.00/ea)

Odwalla Juice - 12 oz.
Assorted Varieties
3 for $4
(save $1.16 - $1.36/ea)

Tillamook - 2 lb.
Medium Cheddar Block
$5.99/ea
(save $4/ea)

Shikai - 12 oz.
Moisturizing Shower Gel
$3.49/ea
(save 60%)

Two-Day Heads Up Re Gluten-Free

2012-01-31T07:33:00.002-07:00

Just a friendly reminder that you only have today and tomorrow remaining for Sprouts' big Gluten Free Jubilee, with 25% off a ton of gluten-free products. I've already stocked up, but hmmm, I just might need more of those gluten-free Pamela's cookies.

Lightening Your Super Bowl Fare

2012-01-30T08:28:00.002-07:00

This morning's Eat This, Not That feature on the Today Show was their Super Bowl edition, showcasing all the fat and sodium people typically consume on game day, and options for eating the same foods in lighter versions. We in Boulder are probably savvier in our food choices, but it's worth viewing as a reminder, particularly regarding how many calories might be lurking in that microbrew you'll be drinking all evening. You can watch the segment here.

More On Trader Joe's

2012-01-30T08:04:00.003-07:00

The feature article in today's Daily Camera business section is on the rumored arrival of Trader Joe's in Boulder, and its potential impact on an already very competitive natural and specialty grocery seen. You can read the entire Camera article here. I agree with the guy who says that, just because we have more grocery stores, the people of Boulder aren't going to be eating more.

Weekday Dinner Ideas

2012-01-29T07:47:00.002-07:00

Good Sunday morning. With one eye open and one hand on the coffee mug, I guess it's time to put down some dinner ideas for the rest of the week. My Whole Foods shopping trip this weekend provided the inspiration for tomorrow, as they have their beautiful air-chilled split chicken breasts on sale for $2.99 a pound, nearly half off for birds with such a fine pedigree. (The sale runs through Tuesday.) I'll most likely just roast them dusted with some herbs, along with some organic squash in the oven, and the organic kale they have for $1.50 a bunch in a pot on top. If you want to go fancier, one of my favorites is spicy roast chicken with tomatoes and marjoram from Bon Appetit.

Tuesday will be our usual reheat of something big made over the weekend, which this week is the Tuscan white bean soup with escarole from Cooking Light. Actually, it turned out not to be with escarole, since in a rare moment of disappointment, Whole Foods had no escarole for me this weekend, at least at the Pearl Street store. I improvised by substituting a bunch of organic kale plus some of their wonderful braising mix that they sell in bulk, and the result was delicious.

For Wednesday, I want to try another new recipe from the current January/February issue of Cooking Light, sausage and spinach risotto, which sounds right down my alley. Don't forget Sprouts' 25% off gluten-free sale through Wednesday, which is a great time to stock up on bags of Lundberg rice.

We'll be looking for pasta by Thursday, and I'm giving thought to yet another recipe from the current Cooking Light, bacon and butternut pasta. It looks a little involved for weeknight cooking, so I can see it getting deferred to a weekend and a can of clam sauce getting opened instead for Thursday's pasta. But how can you go wrong with a recipe that combines kale, creme fraiche, Gruyere, and *bacon*, all in a recipe that thinks it's light???

Which will get us through to next Friday's planning. Enjoy a gorgeous Sunday in Boulder, highs expected to reach 60 today, if only the winds will behave.

Super Bowl Party Planning Help

2012-01-28T09:33:00.001-07:00

I recently read somewhere that Super Bowl Sunday is the second highest food consumption day in the United States, edged out only by Thanksgiving. I'll be looking to keep mine on the lighter side and am giving serious consideration to a chicken and poblano chili recipe from Whole Foods. There are plenty of recipe and menu guides out there to help you out, so here are some favorites:

Bon Appetit's Super Bowl Party HQ
Super Bowl Party Planner from Epicurious
Cooking Light's 5 Super Bowl Food Makeovers
Superb Recipes for Game Day from Whole Foods, and
Healthy Game Day Snacks and Chili Recipes from Food and Wine magazine.

Weekend Dinner Ideas

2012-01-27T08:03:00.003-07:00

It has been a long week, but dinner planning must go on. Because of that long week, I'll go easy on myself tonight with something simple: either the bone-in ribeyes on sale at Sunflower for $4.99 a pound, or the crab cakes on sale at Whole Foods for $10.99 a pound. Either store has good prices on organic produce to go on the side, including chard or spinach $1.50 a bunch at Sunflower, and green kale $1.50 a bunch at Whole Foods.

I'll have more energy by tomorrow, when I plan to try a new recipe from the January/February issue of Cooking Light, Tuscan white bean soup with escarole. Since I'm pretty sure I'll head to Whole Foods for the escarole, I guess that speaks to getting the crab cakes from there for tonight. Whole Foods also has organic leaf lettuce on sale for $1.50 a bunch for the side salad. (Organic leaf lettuce is even lower at $1.29 a head at Sprouts, but sometimes there seems to be a size difference.)

I'm thinking light food for Sunday (maybe in preparation for the feasting we'll likely do next Super Bowl Sunday), and with ground chicken breast on sale at Sprouts for the excellent price of $2.97 a pound (Sunflower's sale price is $3.99 a pound), it will be my poultry spin on Thai beef cabbage cups. Rice will go on the side, and I've stocked up on Lundberg rice bags at Sprouts' 25% off gluten-free sale that runs through February 1st.

Which at least gets us through the weekend. Temperatures may hit 60 here in Boulder by Sunday, so I think I picked a good day to do something light and quick then.

Super Bowl Sampling At Sunflower

2012-01-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, the 28th, from noon to 2 pm, our Boulder Sunflower invites you to explore Super Bowl Party Ideas, stopping by "to try some new, fun, and tasty recipes!" Time to start putting some thought into what to serve on what has practically become a national holiday for eating, and not necessarily of the best kind, unless you think a little creatively to give it a healthier spin.

National Chocolate Cake Day

2012-01-26T08:41:00.001-07:00

Oh no, like we really needed an excuse. But tomorrow, the 27th, is National Chocolate Cake Day. And to celebrate, the wonderful north Boulder restaurant 4580 will be selling decadent flour-less chocolate tortes at half price for tomorrow only. (I wonder what "flour-less" means from a place that's well known for being gluten-free-friendly.) Here's what they say:

WE'RE CELEBRATING NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CAKE DAY
Friday, January 27 by giving away our famous flour-less chocolate tortes for 1/2 price. That's only for one day, so come in and indulge with us!

Another WFM Value Tour

2012-01-25T14:15:00.001-07:00

The Pearl Street Whole Foods will host another Value Tour this Saturday, evidently intended to teach you how to navigate the store without spending your Whole Paycheck. If you capitalize on their excellent 365 brands and keep an eye on their specials (see the post a few below for today's one-day sale), you'll come out a winner. Here's what they say:

Saturday, January 28th

Value Store Tour
10am FREE

Would you like to learn how to shop healthy on a budget? Join us for a fun and informative store tour that will focus on healthy shopping without breaking the bank. Attendees will receive a goodie bag and lots of yummy samples. Space is limited, so please RSVP to leah.mcclay@wholefoods.com to reserve a spot.

This Week's Hot New Deals (IMHO)

2012-01-25T07:56:00.003-07:00

We have new sales starting today at our Boulder Sprouts and Sunflower, while Whole Foods' current sale continues through the 31st, and we're waiting on a new "Hotline" sale at Vitamin Cottage, reportedly coming the 29th. Here's what looks best to me in the new sales, IMHO as always.

At Sprouts through February 1st, the big thing for me is the second and final week of their Gluten Free Jubilee, with 25% off gluten free. Even if you have no gluten sensitivities (I don't), it provides a great stock-up opportunity on some fabulous products, like Nut Thins crackers, Pamela's gluten free cookies, and Lundberg rice packages. Also looking good this week are chicken breast tenders for $1.97 a pound (on sale at Sunflower for $2.99 a pound), ground chicken breast for $2.97 a pound (again whopping Sunflower, where it's on sale for $3.99 a pound), and boneless pork loin chops for $2.99 a pound (on sale at Sunflower for $4.99 a pound, but that might be their brand that promises to be antibiotic-free). In fish, fresh farmed Atlantic salmon is on sale, with steaks at $5.99 a pound and fillets for $6.99 a pound, and previously frozen wild sockeye fillets are also available at $8.99 a pound. Also, yummy stuffed clams are just 99 cents each. In organic produce, gala apples are 99 cents a pound (and pink ladies $2.99 for a three pound bag, effectively 99 cents a pound), blueberries are $2.50 for a container of mystery size, four pound bags of Valencia oranges are just $2.99 each, one pound bags of Cello carrots are 89 cents, leaf lettuce continues at $1.29 a head ($1.49 for romaine), pints of grape tomatoes are very good at $1.99 each, broccoli is $1.69 a pound, and red yams are $1.29 a pound. My favorite cups of Cascade Fresh yogurt are 25% off, but it's hard to know how that weighs in against Sunflower's very good price of 50 cents each this week.

At Sunflower through February 1st, steak looks to be the winner, with bone-in rib eyes for $4.99 a pound ($7.99 a pound for boneless). They have chicken tenders, ground chicken breast, and boneless pork loin chops on sale, but see above for significantly better prices at Sprouts for those. Organic produce looks good as usual, with cauliflower $1.50 a pound, spinach $1.50 a bunch, red or yellow onions and acorn, delicata, and kabocha squash all 99 cents a pound, one pound bags of baby carrots at $1.50 each, red, green, or rainbow chard all $1.50 a bunch, and hothouse tomatoes $1.99 a pound. My favorite Cascade Fresh yogurts are very good at 50 cents each, and select Earth Balance spreads are $3.49 each.

Organic Girl Cooking Class Thursday

2012-01-24T14:09:00.002-07:00

This Thursday evening, the 26th, the Superior Whole Foods will host a free Organic Girl greens cooking class. Who couldn't use a few new ideas for incorporating more greens into their diet? Here's what they say:

Thursday, January 26th

Organic Girl- Greens Demo
7:00pm Free

Join us in our Café and a representative from “Organic Girl” who will be cooking up greens for a free cooking class. Dollar off coupons for all who attend! Please register at Customer Service to reserve your spot today.

One-Day Sale at Whole Foods Tomorrow

2012-01-24T14:03:00.003-07:00

For tomorrow only, the 25th, our local Whole Foods stores will offer us a duo of special sales. If the Spanish cocktail mix is the one I'm thinking of, it's dangerously good, and a fine choice for having on hand for your Super Bowl festivities. Here's what Whole Foods says:

One-Day Sale

This Wednesday January 25th only:

Value Fruit Pies
$4.99/ea
(save $3/ea)

Mitica
Spanish Cocktail Nuts Mix
$4.99/lb
(save $4/lb)

Classes At Cured

2012-01-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

Boulder's wonderful purveyor of cheeses, wine, and other goodies, Cured, is launching a new program of classes on Thursdays, starting with Cheese Basics this Thursday, the 26th. Sounds educationally delicious. Here's the word from them:

"...for those of you who are interested in delving just a little deeper, we are lauching Cured’s education program. Every Thursday night from 5:30-6:30, we will be holding a class-be it a cheese lesson, wine pairing, beer tasting or seminar from one of our purveyors, we promise there will be something new to learn and something delicious to taste. We will be starting next Thursday the 26th with Cheese Basics-an overview on the history, make process, classifications and categories of cheese. Cheese Basics is limited to 8 people and will cost $35 per person. After class we will offer 10% off all cheeses and meats so you can take home your favorite bites to share. Call or email us to reserve your space-pre-payment is required."

Organic Milk Shortage?

2012-01-23T07:16:00.002-07:00

Today's Daily Camera is reporting that a shortage of organic milk, evidently already in effect on the East Coast, is now starting to be seen in Boulder. Reasons include both increased demand for it and a big jump in the cost of organic feed. Whether or not we experience shortages, it sounds like the price of organic milk will be on the rise. You can read the Daily Camera article here.

Great Grocery Store Article

2012-01-23T06:08:00.001-07:00

If you have the New Yorker on your iPad, retrieved from your mailbox, or even checked out from your library (imagine that!), I hope you don't miss the article, "A Bushel and a Peck," in the January 16th issue. It lovingly and hilariously deconstructs the psyches of various grocery stores and those who choose to frequent them, focusing on New York, but with reverberations for us out on the frontier as well. You can get a teaser of the start of the article for free on the New Yorker's website. How's this snippet to whet your appetite: "Whole Foods is a gleaming sanctuary wherein only the purest, most nonviolent, non-cloned, virtuous, and pricey goods are said to dwell, a meetinghouse in which customers believe themselves to be imbued with a touch of divinity." Great writing, great article.

Chinese New Year At Sunflower

2012-01-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Sunflower's calendar promises a Chinese New Year Celebration tomorrow, the 23rd, from 3 to 5 pm. I'd hope there might be a sample or two of Chinese food included in the celebration.

Weekday Dinner Ideas

2012-01-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

Looking at my list of dinner plans, I clearly didn't take tomorrow's Chinese New Year into account, as the super asparagus sale at Sunflower has led me to plan for asparagus and leek risotto with prosciutto from Bon Appetit. Hopefully I'll get a couple of points for its being rice-based, with nice veggie components, hallmarks of Chinese cuisine.

Tuesday is our usual reheat of something big made over the weekend, which this week is the New England seafood chowder from Bon Appetit. Salad, a bit of fresh bread, and that's dinner.

I've been craving homemade pizza, so for Wednesday, I'm going to cave and make pizza alla salsiccia from Cooking Light. Both Sprouts and Sunflower have chicken sausage on sale through Wednesday, and I like to make this on a bed of Whole Foods' fresh multigrain pizza dough. One ball of the dough covers an entire baking sheet, so the toppings need to be about doubled to cope, leading to lots of leftovers and pizza heaven.

Thursday will be our quick, end of the week standby, sauteed pork chops from the very good sale Sprouts has through Wednesday on center-cut boneless ones. A microwaved "baked" potato, and perhaps more asparagus caught at Sunflower by Wednesday will round things out.

Which gets us through to next Friday's planning.

The Kitchen Goes Musical

2012-01-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

If you're a little low on things to do for a Saturday morning, you can amuse yourself by watching this video of a man turning his kitchen into a synthesizer, courtesy of Bon Appetit. The things people do...

Weekend Dinner Ideas

2012-01-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

With a busy weekend ahead, this will be quick. Considering Whole Foods is doing a one-day sale today on their wonderful MSC-certified sockeye salmon for $7.99 a pound, tonight's dinner is a no-brainer: sockeye salmon on the grill pan. I think it's best left alone, with just a squeeze of lemon, but Whole Foods also sells a lovely mustard dill marinade in their fish department, if you want to change around the flavor a bit. Asparagus from Sunflower's $1.97 a pound sale and some buttermilk mashed organic potatoes will round it out.

For tomorrow, we're feeling pasta-deprived, and the gigantic shrimp that Sprouts has on sale only through Sunday have me in the mood for my adaptation of linguine with bay scallops, fennel, and tomatoes from Bon Appetit. I've come to like it even better with shrimp than scallops. For the side salad, don't forget about the organic leaf lettuce sales at both Sprouts and Whole Foods.

For Sunday, the Alaskan true cod and organic kale that Whole Foods has at very good prices are calling out for New England seafood chowder, that lovely, heretical recipe from Bon Appetit that includes curry powder, kale, and butternut squash, yippee!! Another organic leaf lettuce side salad, fresh bread, and that's a feast.

Which gets us through the weekend!

Chinese New Year Coming Up

2012-01-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

This year, the Chinese New Year falls on this coming Monday, the 23rd. For those with ambition to cook fabulous food on a weeknight (or willing to anticipate it on the weekend), Bon Appetit offers a Chinese/Lunar New Year Recipes guide to help you out.

Vitamin Cottage Sale Update

2012-01-19T10:53:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since we've had a sale from Vitamin Cottage (aside from a few nice organic produce prices I've previously mentioned), so I stopped in to find out any news. With no flyers at the ends of the checkout counters, they were clearly on a sale hiatus. I asked the woman at the customer service desk when a new sale might be starting, and she immediately responded, "the 29th." So nice to talk with people who know what they're doing!

More On Trader Joe's

2012-01-19T06:54:00.002-07:00

As much as anything can be confirmed when the principal parties are all declining to comment, it looks like Boulder really is going to get a Trader Joe's, with 29th Street appearing to be the likely location. Today's Daily Camera headline is "Trader Joe's sailing here." Click here to read the whole Daily Camera article for the details. Just when you think Boulder's natural grocery scene couldn't get any richer or more competitive, it looks like it will.

Trader Joe's In Boulder?

2012-01-18T22:12:00.004-07:00

Lots of buzz happening in the media/twittersphere tonight about the possibility of Trader Joe's coming to Boulder, possibly at 29th Street. I'd love to see that, but life would still be just fine if it doesn't come to pass. Whole Foods' wine store has its own version of Two Buck Chuck, and I don't generally drink either of them. (Well, actually I haven't tried the Whole Foods version, and I ought to before forming an opinion.)

This Week's Hot New Deals (IMHO)

2012-01-18T07:36:00.002-07:00

We have new sales starting today at our Boulder Sprouts, Sunflower, and Whole Foods, while Vitamin Cottage is taking a bit of a breather, although with some good organic produce sales. Here's what looks good to me in the new sales.

Sprouts will be doing a special 72 hour sale from Friday to Sunday (the 20th to 22nd), including their super big 16/20 count raw shrimp for $6.97 a pound, and bulk mild cheddar just $1.99 a pound. I'm also happy to see the return of their Gluten Free Jubilee, with 25% off gluten free all the way to February 1st. In their regular sale through January 25th, boneless center-cut pork loin roasts are just $1.88 a pound, with boneless chops also good at $2.99 a pound. Fresh farm raised salmon is $8.99 a pound, stew beef is $3.99 a pound, four kinds of chicken sausage (my favorites) are $2.99 a pound, and whole or cut-up chickens are $1.49 a pound. In organic produce, several kinds of apples are just 99 cents a pound, blueberries are good at $2.50 for six ounces, baby carrots are $1.50 for a one pound bag (same at Sunflower), five pound bags of russet potatoes are just $2.99 each, and broccoli is $1.69 a pound (but $1.50 at Sunflower). Organic red or green leaf lettuce is just $1.29 a head, but it's possible that the ones on sale at Whole Foods for $1.50 might be larger. Select Brown Cow yogurts are 25% off, gluten-free Pamela's products are 25% off (check out the cookies), bulk Tillamook medium or sharp cheddar is $4.99 a pound, and some of Applegate's excellent sliced meats are 25% off.

At Sunflower through the 25th, the big news for me is asparagus for $1.77 a pound. It's conventional, but asparagus often is. They are also advertising Atlantic salmon or tilapia (both presumably farmed) or wild caught cod all at $4.99 a pound. Family packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts and all chicken sausage are all $2.99 a pound, beef stir fry or pork stew meat are $3.99 a pound (but whole boneless center-cut pork loin chops are $2.99 a pound at Sprouts). Beef stew meat is also $3.99 a pound (same at Sprouts), and boneless rib eye steaks are $8.99 a pound. In organic produce, cauliflower and broccoli are $1.50 a pound (beating Sprouts on the broccoli), russet potatoes are 99 cents a pound, two pound onion bags are $1.99 each, romaine and iceberg lettuce are $1.50 a head, spinach bunches and one pound bags of baby carrots are $1.50 (matching Sprouts on the carrots), four pound bags of navel oranges or grapefruit are just $2.99, and six ounces of blueberries are $2.99 each (but $2.50 at Sprouts). The entire lines of Simply Asia, Annie Chun's, Snapdragon, or Kikkoman are all 33% off, one pound balls of Bella part skim mozzarella are $5.49 each, and select Rustic Crust pizza crusts or sauce are BOGO.

Whole Foods has some nice organic produce deals through January 31st, with red or green leaf lettuce $1.50 each, Minneola tangelos $1 a pound, and green kale $1.50 a bunch. Their excellent air chilled chicken breasts are nearly half off at $2.99 a pound, and their virtuous wild Alaskan true cod is good at $9.99 a pound. I'm happy to see their fantastic Market Made Maryland style crab cakes for $10.99 a pound, and their yummy smoked turkey wraps with basil pesto are $2 off at $4.99 each. I'm not into whey powder, but fans should know that BioChem is half price at $11.99 (check the ad for details).

One-Day Sale at Whole Foods Today

2012-01-18T07:33:00.002-07:00

So Whole Foods let the news out early yesterday about Friday's upcoming salmon sale (see the post immediately below), but kept the suspense up until quite late about whether they'd be doing their customary Wednesday sale. Sure enough, our local Whole Foods stores are offering us a trio of specials for today only, the 18th. Here's what they say:

One-Day Sale

On sale Wednesday January 18 only:

Baron of Beef
Roasts
$3.99/lb
(save $3/lb)

Whole Foods Market®
95% Lean Ground Beef
$3.99/lb
(save $3/lb)

Organic Valley
Medium Cheddar
$4.99/lb
(save $5/lb)

Salmon Sale Friday

2012-01-17T15:52:00.002-07:00

Here's a way early heads up that Whole Foods is planning a great one day sale for this Friday, the 20th, when their excellent previously frozen (bet you could also get some still frozen) MSC-certified sockeye salmon will be $7.99 a pound. I love Whole Foods' standards for their fish, and here's a part of what they say:

"Whole Foods Market maintains the highest standards for seafood quality and sustainability. We prohibit treating our fish with preservatives – so you know what’s on your fork is fish, the whole fish, and nothing but the fish. Your salmon purchase supports healthy ocean ecosystems, too. Our sockeye is certified sustainable by the MSC, meaning fishing methods are low impact and salmon populations are abundant according to the MSC’s high standards for sustainability. And to add to it, the MSC’s chain of custody certification means that the fish are tracked to ensure that they come from the correct, certified fishery."

Sampling At Sunflower Tomorrow

2012-01-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

Our Boulder Sunflower promises a "simple supper recipe sampling" tomorrow, the 18th, from 11 to noon. A small window of time, but if you're in the area, enjoy.

Psychology Of Eating Talk

2012-01-17T09:54:00.001-07:00

Whole Foods is sponsoring a free talk this Thursday evening at Casey Middle School on "The Psychology of Eating." Free tickets are available through EventBrite. Here's what they say:

Thursday, January 19th

The Psychology of Eating- Marc David M.A.
6:30 pm Free

Join us at Casey Middle School- 1301 High Street, Boulder, Co 80304 as Marc presents his expertise in nutritional medicine and the psychology of eating in a fresh and innovative way.

Marc is a nationally recognized teacher, speaker, Nutritional Psychologist, and the author of two acclaimed bestselling books: The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss, and Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind-Body Approach to Nutrition and Well Being.

Value Tour At Pearl Street WFM

2012-01-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

Hard on the heels of today's Value Tour at the Superior Whole Foods, the Pearl Street store will get into the act this coming weekend with their own tour, promising a goodie bag and lots of samples, too. Note that an RSVP is required. Here's what they say.

Saturday, January 21st

Value Store Tour
10am FREE

Would you like to learn how to shop healthy on a budget? Join us for a fun and informative store tour that will focus on healthy shopping without breaking the bank. Attendees will receive a goodie bag and lots of yummy samples. Space is limited, so please RSVP to leah.mcclay@wholefoods.com to reserve a spot.

A Chia Seed Experiment

2012-01-16T16:11:00.004-07:00

As I previously mentioned, chia seeds were among the Superfoods for 2012 in a recent Today Show feature. Since Sunflower has Spectrum Essentials 12 ounce chia seed bags on sale for $6.99 through Wednesday, I decided to give them a try. (The regular price at Sunflower is $8.49. Whole Foods also has Spectrum on sale for $7.99 through 1/20, with a regular price of $9.49, but there's also a $1 off coupon in The Whole Deal.) They look ideal as an addition to salads, and I already sprinkled some on leftover chicken for lunch, where they provided a nice little crunch, although dental floss definitely needs to be handy afterwards. Its packaging looks like a marketer's dream, touting omega-3s, fiber, "sacred Aztec seed," "higher in antioxidant activity than blueberries," and "rich in essential fatty acids." I feel a little like being in my days of adding wheat germ to everything in the 70s, but with so many virtues and so few calories, why not give it a try. And yes, I believe these are the same seeds as in those annoying Cha- Cha- Cha- Chia plant pet ads that have sprung up around the holidays for decades. Kind of like Budweiser-guzzling, plaid pants-wearing Uncle Paul suddenly becoming a sleek, downtown hipster.

Bike And Breakfast

2012-01-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

The winter edition of Boulder's Bike to Work Day is coming up this Wednesday, the 18th. Intrepid bikers benefit from free breakfast from 7 to 9 that morning, although the list of locations is considerably shorter than for the summer version. You can check out all the details here.

Wine Tastings At Cured

2012-01-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

Our wonderful, one-of-a-kind store, Cured has reopened following a break to allow Will and Coral to get married, and they're starting off the new year with weekly wine tastings on Tuesdays. They say that tomorrow "and continuing weekly, we will be holding Tuesday evening wine tastings from 4-7. This week will be some of our new favorite under $20 finds to kick off the New Year." Great idea.

Value Tour At Superior WFM

2012-01-15T08:58:00.002-07:00

Perhaps in an attempt to shed its "whole paycheck" image, the Whole Foods store in Superior will host a Value Tour this coming Tuesday evening. (One's also coming up next weekend at the Pearl Street store. More about that later.) Here's what Superior says:

Tuesday, January 17th

Value Tour
6:00pm Free

Start your New Year off saving money! Join Cheryl for a Value Tour and learn how you can shop Whole Foods Market on a budget! Learn about our coupons, Sure Deals, Whole Deals, Bundle Deals, Daily Deals and 10 more money saving shopping tips! Please register at Customer Service to reserve your spot today.

Weekday Dinner Ideas

2012-01-15T08:33:00.002-07:00

Sunday morning rolls around so quickly, time to get planning the rest of the week's dinners. For tomorrow, it will be shrimp pad Thai from Cooking Light, using the shrimp on sale at Sprouts and more of my big bunch of cilantro from tonight's posole. It will certainly be made with rice noodles, not the spaghetti in the recipe (the rice noodles are not only more fun and more authentic, they're faster, too).

Tuesdays are generally our reheat of something big made over the weekend, which this week is the chicken posole from Food and Wine magazine. For the side salad, it isn't part of their advertised specials, but I've seen organic romas on sale for the very good price of $1.99 a pound at both the Pearl Street and Superior Whole Foods. Since their current sale runs through Tuesday, I bet that will mark the end of the roma price as well.

With stew beef on sale through Wednesday at Sprouts, a stock of organic romas from the Whole Foods sale, extra tortillas in the fridge from the posole sides, and hopefully some leftover cilantro, Wednesday will be sirloin steak with tomato and cilantro sauce from Bon Appetit. Sure, it calls for sirloin right in the title, but works well with stew beef, which is already cut up for you.

We'll catch more of that shrimp at Sprouts by Wednesday for Thursday's dinner, butternut squash risotto with shrimp. It's nicely seasonal, and rounds out the week with a rice dish, which has yet to make an appearance.

Which will get us through to Friday's planning.

Orange and Blue Food?

2012-01-14T07:59:00.002-07:00

With tonight's big playoff game of the Broncos vs the Patriots, one might want to have some orange and blue food on hand, but it's not easy finding the two together in one dish. A fruit salad of oranges and blueberries would of course work. For something a little more sophisticated, you could try an orange and blue grilled romaine salad from the Food Network (although the blue isn't very blue, and probably should be spelled bleu). Little known fact: people think of this game as being in Boston, but the stadium in Foxborough (usually shortened to Foxboro) is so far south in Massachusetts, it's practically in Rhode Island.

Weekend Dinner Ideas

2012-01-13T08:13:00.002-07:00

It's Friday again, so time to get going with dinner ideas for the weekend. I have the boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are $1.97 a pound at Sprouts on the brain, and with organic grape tomatoes also an excellent price there at $1.99 a pint (also good at $2.50 at Sunflower), that spells spicy roast chicken with tomatoes and marjoram from Bon Appetit. The recipe calls for bone-in chicken breasts, which are very tasty if you like some grease in your dishes, but I prefer it with the boneless, skinless ones to lighten it up. Dried marjoram also works well instead of the fresh, obviously using a smaller amount of the dried.

It looks like I'll be doing most of my weekend shopping at Sprouts this week, since for tomorrow, their Alaskan cod sale will turn into cod with sesame and ginger from the New York Times. I fortunately already have black sesame seeds in my kitchen. They're available in bulk at Whole Foods, so you can buy them in small quantities (they have teeny sized bags in the herb section), and my recollection is that Sprouts just has the tan-colored sesame seeds in its bulk aisle. But I bet this recipe would be good with those, too.

For Sunday, my thinking is returning to that chicken at Sprouts, in the form of chicken posole from Food and Wine magazine. I'm adapting again on the chicken, since the recipe calls for all dark meat with the skin on. It will be lighter with the boneless, skinless breasts, but still have plenty of zing with all those lovely garnishes like lime, radish slices, and cilantro.

And that will get us through a weekend of cooking.

Superfoods for 2012

2012-01-12T14:45:00.002-07:00

This morning's Today Show had a fascinating little segment on what's hot for 2012 in our supposed "superfoods." Among the contenders are kefir, jicama, chia seeds, and broccoli sprouts. I'm particularly interested in trying nutritional yeast, used like a seasoning. You can catch their video clip here.

This Week's Hot New Deals (IMHO)

2012-01-11T07:40:00.003-07:00

We have new sales starting on a snowy Boulder morning today at Sprouts and Sunflower, while Whole Foods' current sale continues through the 17th. As previously reported, Alfalfa's and Vitamin Cottage are in something of a limbo. Vitamin Cottage has some nice organic produce prices posted, but not their usual "hotline flyer," while Alfalfa's continues to post the flyer that expired December 20th. Here's what looks good to me in the new Sprouts and Sunflower sales (plus a little note about Lucky's Market below).

At Sprouts through January 18th, I'm particularly impressed by boneless skinless chicken breasts at $1.97 a pound for value packs. (Sunflower is doing 50% off chicken, making it hard to compare that price.) I'm also liking 41/50 count raw shrimp for $4.99 a pound, previously frozen wild caught Alaskan cod for $7.99 a pound, chicken sausage for $2.99 a pound, beef stew meat for $3.99 a pound, and turkey tenders or ground turkey breast both also $3.99 a pound. Previously frozen Alaskan sockeye salmon is $9.99 a pound, but Sunflower beats that with sockeye at $7.99 a pound. In a "buffalo stampede," a whole lot of bison is on sale. In organic produce, I definitely like grape tomatoes at $1.99 a pint, gala, Braeburn, red delicious, or Fuji apples, or D'Anjou pears all just 99 cents a pound, one pound bags of baby carrots for $1.50, and broccoli for $1.49 a pound (but see below regarding broccoli at Lucky's). Chobani Greek yogurts are $1 each, and Sprouts' wonderful bulk coffee, including Fair Trade organic decaf, is fantastic at $7.99 a pound.

At Sunflower through the 18th, family packs of several types of chicken parts are all 50% off. Wild caught (presumably previously frozen) sockeye salmon is $7.99 a pound, and whole or cut up chicken fryers are $1.49 a pound. In organic produce, red or green leaf lettuce are $1.50 a bunch, grape tomatoes are $2.50 a pint (but $1.99 at Sprouts), select Organic Girl salad blend clamshells are $2.50, jumbo russet potatoes are 99 cents a pound, and one pound of Cello carrots or bunched cilantro are 99 cents each. Noosa yoghurts are low at $1.50 for eight ounces (Sprouts effectively matching with twice the size for $2.99), and the 15ish ounce size cans of Muir Glen organic tomatoes are good at $1.50 each, although we've seen lower.

I don't usually cover Lucky's Market simply because I rarely get to their north Boulder neighborhood, but this week I might just have to make a pilgrimage, as they have organic broccoli for just 88 cents a pound. Lots of other specials like dry packed previously frozen wild scallops for $6.99 a pound might just seal the deal.

Cooking School Bake Sale Tomorrow

2012-01-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

The Escoffier School of Culinary Arts (which everyone remembers as Culinary School of the Rockies) will hold its semi-annual bake sale tomorrow, featuring goodies from pastry chefs-in-the-making. I've never been before, and it sounds intriguing. Here's the word from the folks at Mile High on the Cheap:

Escoffier School of Culinary Arts' Bake Sale

Pastry arts students at Boulder’s Escoffier School of Culinary Arts (formerly the Culinary School of the Rockies) put on a much-anticipated bake sale a couple of times a year. From the appearance and the taste of the baked goods, you’d never know they aren’t yet pros. The next bake sale is on Wednesday, January 11, 4 to 7 p.m. Best to show up early before the sale is down to crumbs. All proceeds benefit the school’s scholarship fund. 637 S. Broadway (west side of Table Mesa Shopping Center), Boulder, 303-494-7988.

One-Day Sale at Whole Foods Tomorrow

2012-01-10T10:44:00.001-07:00

Our local Whole Foods stores will offer us a trio of special deals for tomorrow only, the 11th. Here's what they say:

On sale Wednesday Jan 11:

Wild Turbot Fillet
$11.99 lb
(save $5/lb)

GT's Kombucha
Kombucha
All Varieties
2 for $4
(save $0.99/ea)

BioChem Sports
Whey Protein Powder
$9.99/ea
(save $14/ea)

Bison Sale Coming Up

2012-01-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

Fans of bison might be interested in knowing that our local Sprouts is planning a "Buffalo Stampede" starting tomorrow and running through January 18th. It will feature Bear Mountain Bison, and Sprouts' flyer says "all natural buffalo - all cuts available!" Not much further price information at this point, except that ground buffalo will be $7.99 a pound.

Not Much Sale News Yet

2012-01-10T07:29:00.003-07:00

I still can't offer much news about sales at Alfalfa's or Vitamin Cottage. Alfalfa's has the sale flyer that expired December 20th posted on their website, and the Natural Grocers site says there are currently no "hotline" sales for the Boulder Vitamin Cottage. The hotline sale is the big flyer, but they do have a little one for produce, which is always organic, yeay. I can at least tell you that bunched spinach, leaf lettuces (three types), kale (three types), and chard (three types) all should be $1.50 each, and there are a few other produce specials as well.

Store-Bought Pasta Sauces

2012-01-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

If like me, you're in a bit of a cooking slump after the holidays, you might be interested in reading Pasta Sauces Worth Buying on Epicurious. The comments are pretty interesting, too. Of course, I never feel guilty about reaching for a jar of quality pasta sauce instead of making my own from scratch, my jar of choice being Muir Glen Organic.

Weekday Dinner Ideas

2012-01-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday means time to start thinking about what dinner will be for the rest of the week. I have polenta on the brain, and since Sunflower has the lowest price I've ever seen on their fresh chicken sausage at $1.97 a pound, that spells another longtime favorite, sausage and peppers with polenta. I just wing it, sauteing the sausage with some onion and bell peppers, then mixing in a touch of good quality pasta sauce. For a formal recipe, mushroom and sausage ragu with polenta from Cooking Light is a good one, and Saveur magazine recently covered the Italian-American background of sausages and peppers, with a recipe too.

Tuesday is our usual reheat of something big made over the weekend, and this week we actually have two choices. Since we'll be having polenta tomorrow evening, the dinner reheat will probably be the escarole soup from Saveur, but there's also the possibility of the beef goulash with polenta from the Whole Foods recipe.

We'll want some pasta by Wednesday, and Sprouts' $4.99 a pound sale on fresh farmed salmon through that day is making me think of a recipe I haven't made in ages from a beloved Chez Panisse cookbook. Coming from an old cookbook, it isn't originally online, but it has been picked up by an adapter as salmon and roasted red pepper fettuccine. The roasted red peppers will for sure come from the Whole Foods olive bar, or even from a jar. No need to go to all that roasting trouble, especially on a weeknight.

To round things out for Thursday, with the ground turkey, chicken, and grass fed ground beef all at good prices through Wednesday at Sunflower, we'll return to what has become a spectacularly successful recipe in this house, Thai beef cabbage cups from Cooking Light. I like to wrap the meat mixture in organic lettuce leaves instead, but some day should give the cabbage a try, too.

And that will get us all the way through to next Friday's planning.

Food Video Worth Watching

2012-01-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to my friend Ms. J for passing along an excellent short video called Roger Doiron: My Subversive (Garden) Plot. It captures so many important points about food, while entertaining you the whole way. The 15 second histories of gastronomy are not to be missed.

Weekend Dinner Ideas

2012-01-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Friday comes around so quickly, and it's time to get going with dinner ideas. Tonight will be very simple, since I was so impressed with the fresh Atlantic salmon I had last time from Sprouts, and they have it once again for just $4.99 a pound, we'll do it again on the grill pan. There are lots of ways to spiff it up, like dusting it with curry powder and grated ginger, but I prefer naked salmon with a squeeze of lemon. Both Sprouts and Sunflower have organic yams for 99 cents a pound, so yam spears will have to be baked on the side.

For tomorrow, with Whole Foods doing their special weekend sale on beef roasts at $3.49 a pound, some sort of wintery stew will need to be on deck. They have links to several good sounding recipes for the roasts at this post, but the one that seems to be calling me is beef goulash with polenta, polenta fiend that I have become.

For Sunday, I'm considering another experiment. I recently encountered a recipe from Saveur that reminds me of childhood food, a warming escarole soup. It could be made as written, using the grass fed very lean ground beef that Sunflower has on sale, but I tend to substitute chicken or turkey for these things, and Sunflower also has good prices this week on both ground turkey and ground chicken breast. Or I could get more radical with the experiment and buy the turkey meatloaf that Sunflower also has on sale, using it to form the meatballs without having to mess with any mixing. Fun times ahead.

Weekend Sale At Whole Foods

2012-01-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

Suitable for a weekend in January, Whole Foods will have some beef roasts for $3.49 a pound from tomorrow, the 6th, through Sunday, the 8th. Here's a part of what they say about the sale. For the entire article, complete with beef roast recipe ideas, look here.

Whether you like to prepare roasts for company or for everyday meals, beef roasts are an impressive way to bring hearty winter meals to your table. Our sale on beef roasts for $3.49 per pound will last for three days this weekend so you can shop our US stores this Friday, January 6th, through Sunday, January 8th, to pick up this budget-friendly deal on fresh, ready-to-cook roasts! Make sure to look for the sale signs on selected roast cuts in our meat department to find which cuts are on sale in your store.

Types of roast cuts and limits may vary by region, so you can contact your store for details. While supplies last. Most of our stores do not provide rain checks for sales like this.

Healthy Eating Challenge Reminder

2012-01-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

I previously mentioned Whole Foods' 28 Day Healthy Eating Challenge, and orientations will start shortly, with the Superior store doing them on the 8th and 9th. Here's how the Superior store describes the program:

Monday, January 16th

A Whole New You in 2012- Take the 28 Day Healthy Eating Challenge
Free

2012 Health Starts Here Challenge!

Are you ready to become a whole new you in 2012? Join Whole Foods Market on January 16th for a 28 Day Healthy Eating Challenge. We will be encouraging individuals, families and the community to follow our 4 Pillars of Healthy Eating: Whole Food. Plant-Strong. Nutrient Dense. Healthy Fats. Whether you are brand new to healthy eating or have been doing this for decades, we invite you on this exciting adventure.

For Registration and to hold your spot for Orientation, Click on the following link http://hsh28daysuperior.eventbrite.com/

This Week's Hot New Deals (IMHO)

2012-01-04T07:17:00.003-07:00

We have new sales starting today at our Boulder Sprouts and Sunflower, while the current sale continues through the 17th at Whole Foods (click for prior report). There may be new deals at Alfalfa's or Vitamin Cottage, but both still have expired sale flyers out on the web, and Vitamin Cottage was mercifully closed when I stopped by on New Year's Day. So here's what looks best to me in the new Sprouts and Sunflower sales, which both appear to be enticing us with strong deals on the basics, after weeks of promoting holiday foods.

At Sprouts through January 11th, I'm super-pleased to see they've brought back their vitamin & body care extravaganza, with 25% off the entire department. Time to stock up on those body care products you know pretty much never otherwise go on sale. I'm also enthused about fresh (albeit farm raised) Atlantic salmon for just $4.99 a pound. I usually just stick with wild salmon, but the last time Sprouts had such a good price on farm raised, I tried it, and it was delicious. They're also doing a roast sale, with seven types of beef and pork roasts all 30% off. Center-cut pork loin chops are $3.99 a pound, and whole or cut-up chicken is $1.49 a pound. In organic produce, I'm liking grape tomatoes at $2.50 a pint, blueberries also $2.50 for six ounces, Cameo apples just 99 cents a pound, red or green leaf lettuce $1.49 each, russet potatoes $2.99 for a five pound bag, baby carrots $1.50 for a one pound bag, and garnet yams, navel oranges, and red Delicious apples all just 99 cents a pound (yams and oranges effectively the same at Sunflower). Also, Voskos Greek yogurts are 89 cents each, and Clif, Luna or Mojo bars are low also at 89 cents each. Lots of good stuff there.

At Sunflower through the 11th, fresh chicken sausage is the lowest I've ever seen at $1.97 a pound for all varieties. I also like their grass fed 93% (very) lean ground beef for $3.97 a pound, ground turkey or chicken, ground chicken breast, pork stew meat, and turkey meatloaf all $2.99 a pound. In organic produce, five types (usual suspects plus Kabocha) of winter squash are $1 a pound, as are red or yellow onions, navel oranges, and garnet and jewel yams (effectively the same at Sprouts for the oranges and garnet yams). Organic red creamer potatoes are $1.50 a pound, as are three types of organic apples (but Sprouts has some organic apples at 99 cents). I love Chobani Greek yogurts at $1 each. Select Stonyfield fat free yogurts are good at 79 cents each, but Whole Foods does even better at 5 for $3 (when they can keep them in stock).

One-Day Sale at Whole Foods Tomorrow

2012-01-03T13:56:00.003-07:00

Our local Whole Foods stores will offer us a trio of special deals for tomorrow only, the 4th, and it looks like they're trying to help us get the new year off to a healthy start. Here's what they say:

One-Day Sale
On Sale Wednesday January 4 only:

Organic
Grapefruit
10 lbs for $10
(save $0.99/lb)

Country Life
Supplements
50% off entire
line of products

Udi's Gluten-Free
Sandwich Bread
White & Whole Grain
2 for $6
(save $2.49/ea)

Waiting On New Sale

2012-01-02T07:48:00.001-07:00

I'm pretty sure Vitamin Cottage has a new sale starting today, but when I just checked, they haven't posted a new flyer online. I stopped by the store yesterday, and those fine folks had the decency to actually be closed for New Year's Day.

Weekday Dinner Ideas

2012-01-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year to all! It may be New Year's Day, but the first weekday dinners of 2012 still need to be planned. Since we stayed relatively healthy across the weekend, with a light crab pasta last night and a nearly vegetarian version of Hoppin' John for tonight, for tomorrow I'm going to cave to all those steak specials being advertised by Sprouts and Sunflower, and put steaks on the grill pan or under the broiler. Those of course call for baked potatoes with nonfat plain yogurt on the side. Whole Foods' recipe for Swiss chard gratin has been such a hit around here, it might just have to be done again.

Tuesday is our usual reheat of something big made over the weekend, which this week is Bittman's black-eyed pea soup with ham and greens, along with the green onion corn bread from Bon Appetit, so all I need to do is make a salad!

Wednesday will be the last day for Sprouts' sale of those huge 16/20 count shrimp for $6.99 a pound, and since we haven't seen a rice-based dish yet this week, it will be shrimp and corn pilaf from Bon Appetit. The corn obviously will come from the freezer at this time of year, and Whole Foods is giving us a good opportunity to stock up, with their 365 Everyday Value brand of frozen veggies (always a good value, as its name says) on sale for $1.50 a one-pound bag.

I'll be running out of ideas and steam by Thursday, so it will probably be our fallback of pork chops at the $3.99 a pound price through Wednesday at Sprouts, with a microwaved "baked" potato. Broccoli keeps pretty well in the fridge, so I will also have picked up some of the organic on sale for $1.50 a pound at Sunflower by Wednesday.

Which gets us through to Friday's planning. Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2012!

New Year's Eve Wishes

2011-12-31T08:19:00.003-07:00

Best wishes for a happy and safe New Year's Eve here in Boulder. And batten down anything outside that could possibly move, with the winds we're expecting today. If you need to do any last minute Whole Foods shopping, you might consider the Baseline, Ideal, or Superior stores. I was at Pearl Street yesterday, where it was already getting real in the Whole Foods parking lot, with people madly angling for spaces, and I doubt it will be any better today. I'm all set for tonight's linguine with crab, lemon, chile and mint and think I made the right decision buying prepared crabmeat for it. Although Whole Foods has Alaskan king crabs on sale for $16.99 a pound this weekend, I opted to pay a whopping $34.99 a pound for Dungeness crabmeat that's ready for the skillet, and still think that was a smart move. The whole crabs are super handsome, but by the time I finished cooking and shelling them, I'd probably waste enough for the price to equal the prepared stuff, not to mention all the time that would go into the process. So I've given myself the gift of time for New Year's Eve! Happy, happy.

New Year's Celebration Guides

2011-12-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a little inspiration for festive food for New Year's Eve and Day? There are guides out there to help, including New Year's Eve Celebrations from Epicurious, Food and Wine magazine's New Year's Eve Recipes (including a New Year's Day brunch), and Bon Appetit's New Year's Day Party Menu. Those should get 2012 rolling.

Weekend Dinner Ideas

2011-12-30T07:22:00.001-07:00

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day make for a pretty big weekend of dinner plans. But before we get to the holiday stuff, the really big shrimp that Sprouts has for $6.99 a pound are making me think of something fun and a little festive for tonight, smoky shrimp and grits from Food and Wine magazine. Although the recipe calls for medium shrimp, we'll make it special with those gigantic ones at Sprouts.

Moving on to New Year's Eve tomorrow, there are many temptations out there. Both Sprouts and Sunflower are pushing surf 'n turf, with lobster tail sales and a multitude of steak sales. Then there's the Alaskan golden king crab sale at Whole Foods, too. I've decided to bypass all that to try a new recipe in the January issue of Bon Appetit, linguine with crab, lemon, chile, and mint. Of course I could cook and shell those crabs on sale at Whole Foods myself, but I just don't think it's worth the effort when you can spend a little more to have it already done for you with prepared crab meat (provided it's very good quality). To start the evening off, I'm thinking about smoked salmon rolls with ricotta and chives. Together, that's plenty of effort for an evening that will also include champagne.

We have a tradition of eating something "lucky" on New Year's Day, and in this house, that's Mark Bittman's spin on Hoppin' John, black-eyed pea soup with ham and greens from the New York Times. I'll adjust the amounts to be sure there will be some left for later in the week. I'll also increase the greens, which will probably be a combo of spinach and collards, to make it more like a stew, as Bittman suggests. There will definitely have to be homemade cornbread to go with this, and one of my favorites is green onion corn bread from Bon Appetit. With a salad on the side, we'll hopefully get 2012 off to a great start!

Lucky Foods For The New Year

2011-12-29T09:58:00.001-07:00

Are you starting to think about what to eat on New Year's Day, something "lucky" to get a good start for 2012? There are traditions around the world about foods to bring you good luck, and Epicurious has a nice roundup of them in the article, Lucky Foods for the New Year.

P.M. Update: here's a new list of lucky foods just out from Bon Appetit. This one includes the Hoppin' John I'll be doing a riff on Sunday. But you probably won't find me smashing pomegranates on the floor.

Crab Sale At Whole Foods

2011-12-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

Whole Foods wants to spin your New Year's Eve plans towards an elegant crab dinner with their weekender sale that starts tomorrow, the 30th, and will run through Monday, the 2nd. Alaskan golden king crabs will be $16.99 a pound, $7 off their usual price during the sale. Here's how they describe it: "Caught in the depths of the Bering Sea off of Alaska's Aleutian Islands; Golden King Crab is delicate, tender, and nectar-sweet." Hmmmm.

Year End Sale At Cured

2011-12-29T07:49:00.002-07:00

Since Boulder's wonderful cheese and wine shop Cured will be closed the first couple of weeks in January while its owners run off to enjoy getting married, they are having a very nice sale now to clear out their inventory before they leave. Here's what they say:

End of Year Sale: Owing to the perishable nature of much of our product, and the fact that a week from now we will be sipping margaritas on the beach while Cured takes a proper European siesta, we are blowing out our shelves and cooler case and getting them ready for new product in 2012. Wednesday and Thursday we will be offering 15% off all products (excluding meat and cheese) and 15% off wines over $30. If you’ve been waiting to try that one olive oil, or beautiful balsamic, or eyeing that gorgeous linen Deck Towel, now is the time to snatch it up before someone else does (i.e. Coral brings it to Mexico). Then on Friday and Saturday, we’ll be offering 15% off store-wide, that means meats, cheeses, all our booze, and just about anything else you can dream up. So come in and get your last indulgences for 2011 before your two-week forced ‘fast’ takes effect :).

No One-Day Sale Today

2011-12-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

Whole Foods typically does some one-day specials every Wednesday, but this week they're deviating. There's no one-day sale today, but stay tuned for news of a special weekender sale coming up.

This Week's Hot Deals (IMHO)

2011-12-28T07:48:00.002-07:00

We have new sales starting today at our Boulder Sprouts, Sunflower, and Whole Foods. Vitamin Cottage is taking a bit of a sale breather until January, and I have no idea what's happening at Alfalfa's; their website still has the sale flyer that expired on the 20th posted, and I haven't been in the store since then to check. Here's what looks good to me in the new sales.

Avocado wars. Avocado fans will enjoy the competing prices happening on conventional avocados this week, 49 cents each at Sprouts, three for $1 at Sunflower (both through January 4th), and $1.25 each at Whole Foods (through January 17th). Since the size of the avocados carried by each store seems to vary in a way that matches their relative prices, that's a lot of good choices.

At Sprouts through January 4th, in addition to the avocados, I'm liking flash frozen Copper River sockeye salmon for $7.99 a pound (Whole Foods is also offering a wild sockeye for $12.99 a pound). Very big 16/20 count raw shrimp, notably from the USA, are $6.99 a pound. It's a New Year's week for steak wars, and Sprouts has five varieties at $7.99 a pound. Chicken sausage is $2.99 a pound, and center-cut pork loin chops are $3.99 a pound, not their best price, but still okay. They aren't advertising much in organic produce this week, but organic Cameo apples are 99 cents a pound, and three-packs or romaine hearts are $2.50. Select party trays are 25% off, and Cascade Fresh sour cream looks good at 99 cents for 16 ounces.

Through the 4th at Sunflower, in addition to the avocados, steaks are looking good, with bone-in New York steaks for $4.99 a pound, boneless New York strip steaks for $6.99 a pound, and filet mignon for $12.99 a pound. Ground chicken breast is $3.99 a pound, and $2.99 for ground pork. Organic produce looks great, with broccoli $1.50 a pound, baby carrots $1.50 a one pound bag, romaine lettuce or bunched spinach both $1.50 each, green or red cabbage 99 cents a pound, russet or red rose potatoes 99 cents a pound, and blueberries $2.99 for six ounces. In non-organic produce, 20 ounces of super cherry tomatoes are $2 each, which I'm pretty sure would be the EuroFresh brand, which is pesticide-free. Their own hummus is $1.99 for eight ounces, or $2.99 for a new 12 ounce size. My favorite Cascade Fresh yogurt looks great at 59 cents each, Horizon Organic sour cream is $2.50 for 16 ounces, including the lowfat variety, Mozzarella Fresca fresh half pound mozzarella balls are $3.99, and the big 28 ounce size of Muir Glen organic tomatoes is $2 a can.

At Whole Foods through the 17th, in addition to the avocados, Stonyfield yogurts are great at 60 cents each. I'm also liking their own teriyaki wild salmon burgers for $7.99 a pound, and top round London broil at $3.99 a pound. Their own sourdough bread loaves are 2 for $6, but it says "you pick two," so maybe two are required for the sale price. Their own excellent fresh large pepperoni pizzas are great at $8.99 each, their 365 Everyday Value frozen veggies are on sale for $1.50 a one pound bag, and wild sockeye salmon, presumably previously frozen, is $12.99 a pound (but Copper River is $7.99 a pound at Sprouts). Also, I haven't tried it, but Castor & Pollux canned pet food is 50% off.

No Post-Christmas Sale

2011-12-27T14:04:00.002-07:00

Still not having a chance to get there, I called the Pearl Street Whole Foods to see if they might be doing their customary special post-Christmas sale, and the answer for this year is no. They're still expecting the usual one-day sale for tomorrow, but there's been no word yet as to what that will be.

Post-Christmas Sale?

2011-12-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

I doubt I'll have a chance to get there today, but Whole Foods is renowned for throwing special sales, usually lasting three days, right after a big holiday. So if you happen to be there, keep your eyes peeled for the possibility of some temporary, very good deals. You'd also probably find a special sale flyer by the door.

Weekday Dinner Ideas

2011-12-25T07:23:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas, everybody. On Sundays, I usually figure out what our dinners will be through Thursday, then the planning begins all over again on Friday. But for today, for Pete's sake (who is Pete?), it's Christmas! As for dinners all the way through Thursday, I just don't know yet! Well, I do know a couple of things. After tonight's feast of standing rib roast, we'll definitely want something vegetarian for tomorrow night, and Cooking Light's fettuccine Alfredo strikes me as perfect. Even though they have significantly lightened the recipe, it still tastes rich and creamy. Any leftovers would also make a great lunch with a slice of leftover rib roast.

And since Tuesday is our usual reheat of something big made over the weekend, we'll certainly have plenty of standing rib roast to fit the bill. You don't want to mess with actually cooking to reheat a roast done to rare. A brief encounter with a bit of warm au jus will be the maximum heat it will get. To change things up, I'm going to try a recipe from the current issue of Bon Appetit that was a contender for today, potato and celery root mash. I love celery root under any circumstances, and the horseradish should give it the perfect kick to go with the leftover roast.

Beyond that, I just don't know, and I don't care! It's Christmas - maybe that's my present to myself! Merry Christmas to all!

Best Store-Bought Broth?

2011-12-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

I use a lot of boxed broth in all my cooking, and it can be a godsend during the busy holiday season (although stock made from scratch is obviously preferable for those with an abundance of time). Frequent readers know my devotion to Imagine organic broths and stocks, which have no MSG, come in low sodium varieties, and taste fabulous. I'm therefore surprised by the results of a chicken broth taste test done by Bon Appetit, in which Swanson certified organic free range broth came out the winner. Since it's organic and they also like its low sodium content, I'll have to check it out (checking the label for the various disguises that MSG wears), but it will be hard to shake my devotion to Imagine, which appears to have been part of the taste test.

And by the way, a very merry Christmas Eve to all.

Weekend Dinner Ideas, Including Christmas

2011-12-23T07:25:00.001-07:00

I'm in the mood for a very festive weekend, since we very certainly will have a white Christmas here in Boulder. To kick off a weekend of special dinners, I'll start with grilled sea scallops and tomatoes with olive vinaigrette from Gourmet magazine. No, I'm not planning on lighting the barbeque that's buried under a foot and a half of snow on my patio, as the grilling only refers to using a grill pan. Sunflower has jumbo sea scallops for $11.99 a pound, and they also have organic on-the-vine cluster tomatoes for $1.99 a pound, a very good price.

There are so many traditions for Christmas Eve, including tamales in New Mexico, and seven fish dishes in Italy. We tend to lean towards seafood, and I hope it doesn't sound like cheating, but rather than spending the whole evening by the stove, I'm going to have Whole Foods' fabulous premade Maryland style crab cakes, which are on sale for $9.99 a pound. For a veggie, I'll repeat a side that was a huge success at our Thanksgiving table, Swiss chard gratin, a recipe from Whole Foods. The light sauce made with Comte (available in Whole Foods' cheese department) wonderfully dresses up a favorite vegetable for a holiday table. One of Lundberg's special rice blends will also go on the side; I adore their Black Japonica, but I think they also make a Christmas red rice blend that would certainly be appropriate, as well.

For Christmas Day proper, we'll bring out a beautiful standing rib roast of beef. Recipes for this abound, and the current issue of Cooking Light has a tempting one, rosemary-Dijon crusted standing rib roast. I'm more likely to follow the directions in Mark Bittman's trusted book, How to Cook Everything, inserting a few garlic slivers and making a red wine au jus. In addition to the au jus, we'll have a simple horseradish sauce from Bon Appetit. Sides will include golden potatoes with caper brown butter crumbs, Brussels sprouts (probably just simply steamed, and served with the horseradish sauce), and possibly a repeat of the roasted beet salad recipe from a friend that was such a hit at Thanksgiving. A store-bought buche de Noel is the only dessert I'd consider, but desserts aren't much of a focus in this house.

Which will get us through a very celebratory, but hopefully not highly caloric, weekend.

Gluten-Free Hanukkah Recipes

2011-12-22T09:14:00.001-07:00

Are you looking for gluten-free options as Hanukkah continues? Boulder's own elena's pantry has you covered with her Hanukkah Recipe Roundup.

January Hiatus At Cured

2011-12-22T08:19:00.003-07:00

Fans of Boulder's wonderful cheese, wine, and other goodies shop Cured should be aware that the store will be closed for the first two weeks of January, reopening on the 14th, for a very good reason. In their newsletter, owners Coral and Will have very casually mentioned that they'll be taking the time off to get married. So congratulations to them, and plan accordingly to get your Cured fix around their celebration time.

This Week's Hot New Deals (IMHO)

2011-12-21T07:38:00.002-07:00

We have new sales starting today at our Boulder Sprouts and Sunflower, while the current sale continues through the 27th at Whole Foods (click that link for my prior report). Vitamin Cottage is taking a break on sales until next month, and Alfalfa's is unknown, as they still have their flyer that expired yesterday posted on their website. So here's what looks good to me at Sprouts and Sunflower.

"Good to me" usually means products I'd be inclined to buy, so I'm a little conflicted on mentioning the spiral cut ham that both Sprouts and Sunflower are both offering for $1.99 a pound this week (through the 28th). It's an excellent price, but when I checked at one of the stores a couple of days ago, it does contain nitrites in a list of non-natural-sounding ingredients, and I suspect that's true at the other store, too. As always, it's a matter of weighing your wallet against other considerations. In the best of all possible worlds, I'd only buy my chicken at Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage, but the reality is I buy the much cheaper variety all the time.

At Sprouts through December 28th, Presidential-cut standing rib roast looks good at $5.99 a pound (although $4.97 a pound at Sunflower), previously frozen sockeye salmon is $9.99 a pound (but Sunflower beats that again at $7.99 a pound), value packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts are great at $1.99 a pound, stew meat is $3.99 a pound (same at Sunflower), and their stuffed chicken breasts that I like are $3.99 a pound. In organic produce, broccoli looks good at $1.49 a pound, dry pints of grape tomatoes are $2.50 each, russet potatoes are $2.99 for a five pound bag, gala apples are $1.29 a pound, butternut squash is just 79 cents a pound (beating Sunflower's 99 cents), garnet yams are 99 cents a pound (matching Sunflower), and D'Anjou pears look great also at 99 cents a pound. If you buy conventional, you can pick up a whole pineapple for just 99 cents each. Select party trays are 25% off, select varieties of their own organic spices are $2.99 a bottle, and I'm enthused about Chobani Greek yogurts at $1 each.

At Sunflower through the 28th, beef standing rib roasts are $4.97 a pound, beating Sprouts, and sockeye salmon (presumably previously frozen) is $7.99 a pound, beating Sprouts again. Beef stew meat is $3.99 a pound, matching Sprouts, bone-in ribeye steaks are $6.99 a pound ($8.99 for boneless), and boneless pork loin chops are $3.99 a pound. Both organic and conventional avocados are 50 cents each for the avocado lovers out there. More organic produce deals look good, as usual, with on-the-vine cluster tomatoes $1.99 a pound, chard $1.50 a bunch, red or yellow onions 99 cents a pound, four types of winter squash 99 cents a pound (although Sprouts is cheaper for the butternut), and yams at 99 cents a pound, matching Sprouts. They're also doing an organic apple & pear-o-rama, with quite a few varieties for $1.77 a pound. Cascade Fresh sour cream looks low at 99 cents for 16 ounces, select variety of my favorite Ling Ling appetizers are $3.50 each, and some of my favorite Ezekiel breads are good at $3 a loaf. I also need some Tribe hummus at $2.99 for eight ounces.

One-Day Sale at Whole Foods Tomorrow

2011-12-20T12:12:00.003-07:00

Our local Whole Foods stores will offer us a quintet of special sales for tomorrow only, the 21st, including one I'd been hoping for: Boulder's own Chocolove Bars, at a fantastic price! (Just think - stocking stuffers, little office gifts? Perfect!) Here's what they say:

One-Day Sale
Wednesday December 21st only!

Chocolove
Chocolate Bars
4 for $5
(save $1.44/ea)

Whole Foods Market®
Mustard Dill Sauce
$1.99/ea
(save $2/ea)

Fresh
Norwegian Salmon
$11.99/lb
(save $5/lb)

Metropolitan
Triple-Cream Brie Rounds
$3.99/ea
(save $3/ea)

Brioche
2 for $6
(save $2.99/ea)

Health Challenge Coming Up

2011-12-20T07:21:00.003-07:00

Just as you're priming yourself for the height of the season of indulgence, Whole Foods is encouraging you to start thinking about healthier living in the New Year. They'll give you a way to jumpstart 2012 with their 28-Day Health Challenge in January. Here's what they say:

"We are kicking off our 28-day Health Challenge on January 16th and we would love you to be a part of it. During the 28-days you will have the chance to go to:

· Plant-Strong Supper clubs
· Healthy Eating Store Tours
· Go to free dance classes at Alchemy of Movement
· Attend ANY class at the Boulder Rec Centers (28 days for $28)
· Check out lectures from Joel Furhman, MD and Marc David
· Learn about healthy fats at a Lunch’n’Learn
· Find out the best work-out you can do at home from the Physiotherapy Associates
· Receive free recipes
· Expand your whole foods and leafy greens cooking knowledge with cooking classes

And all for FREE! Everyone of ALL ages is welcome to attend. Sign up at Ideal Market, Baseline Whole Foods Market, or Westminster Whole Foods Market or online (see below). Orientations start the week of January 9th, and there is a meet-up each week following."

Eileen back here again. I think more stores are participating, as Superior already has it on its January calendar, too. Check with the customer service desks for sign-up, or you can register online at www.blacktie-colorado.com/RSVP and use the code HEALTH116.

Afternoon update: looks like they're now promoting registration via Eventbrite.

Sale Hiatus At Vitamin Cottage

2011-12-19T11:18:00.002-07:00

Vitamin Cottage, aka Natural Grocers, usually does sales that last quite a long time, in the area of six weeks or so, with their latest one ending on December 14th. I just checked, and those fine folks are taking a little sale breather, with no new sale starting probably until January. But they also have some of the lowest everyday prices around, IMHO.

Publisher Beats Amazon

2011-12-19T08:01:00.003-07:00

I'm a big fan of managing my cooking magazine subscriptions through Amazon.com. I generally expect to find the lowest price there, sometimes quite significantly lower than the publisher offers directly, and every subscription transition I've done through them so far has gone flawlessly. So I'm surprised to see that Cooking Light is offering me a better renewal price directly than I could currently get through Amazon. Moral of the story is it always pays to look around.

Weekday Dinner Ideas

2011-12-18T08:07:00.002-07:00

It's crunch time, the week before Christmas, so this will be quick. Today is the last day of Sprouts' special 72 hour sale, and I'm going to grab some of those gigantic 16/20 count raw shrimp they have at $6.99 a pound in order to do another risotto tomorrow. I'm burned out on risotto with butternut squash, so I'll hit the freezer to do something different, shrimp risotto with peas, a "Recipe for Health" from the New York Times. I might hybridize it by adding some baby organic spinach, a spin on another favorite recipe.

Tuesday will be our customary reheat of something big made over the weekend, which in this case is the potato and root vegetable chowder with bacon from Bon Appetit. It will be accompanied by another wonderful fresh baguette for only $1.50 from Whole Foods, plus a salad, of course.

By Wednesday, I'm thinking that a pizza will sound great. When you make it using the fresh dough from Whole Foods to fill a cookie sheet, it makes a ton of pizza, and the leftovers will be handy to have around for lunches and snacks for drop-in friends before the holidays. Cooking Light has some great ideas for ways to top that dough (adjusting of course for the large size of the dough base), and this time I might try the pepperoni, onion, and olive pizza, if I can tear myself away from my favorite pizza Margherita.

We can't have a week without pasta, so we'll return to seasonality for Thursday with pasta with butternut squash and rosemary from Bon Appetit. This is another recipe that fares well with a large handful of baby organic spinach added to the sauce to wilt at the end. Sunflower has organic butternut for 99 cents a pound through Wednesday, and their price on bulk organic spinach is low all the time. For the prosciutto, I favor the pieces Whole Foods sells for considerably less than the kind that's super-thinly sliced in from of you, since it's going into a sauce, not being wrapped around an asparagus spear.

And that will get us to Friday's planning, dangerously close to Christmas Eve!

Reminder Re Fun Events Today

2011-12-17T09:15:00.003-07:00

Don't forget that you have the opportunity for holiday tastings at both the Pearl Street and Superior Whole Foods stores (and maybe others) this afternoon. If you're out at the Superior store, do also head across the street to Superior Liquor, which will be doing a wine tasting to benefit the Boulder Humane Society.

More Whole Foods Holiday Tastings

2011-12-16T11:38:00.001-07:00

Yahoo. For those of us who missed last weekend's big round of holiday tastings, our local Whole Foods stores will offer us a second chance tomorrow afternoon. Here's what's happening at the Pearl and Superior stores, and maybe the others are in the act, too (I can't check everywhere!). And don't forget, if you're out at the Superior store tomorrow afternoon, do also head across the street to Superior Liquor for their wine tasting and bottle signing to benefit our beloved Boulder Valley Humane Society. Here's what Whole Foods says.

Pearl Street Store

Saturday, December 17th

Holiday Entertaining Tasting
1-4pm FREE

Stop by the store for a taste of the season with our Holiday Entertaining tasting. Each of our teams will be samplilng some delicious dishes to help you plan your holiday meal.

Superior Store

Saturday, December 17th

Entertaining Appetizers
3:00pm-6:00pm Free

Join us throughout our store for samples of party favorites and entertaining appetizers. Order from our Holiday Menu for the perfect party!

Weekend Dinner Ideas

2011-12-16T07:51:00.002-07:00

Since it's Friday, I'd best get going with dinner ideas for the weekend, starting with tonight. While I was hugely impressed by Cooking Coach Beth Pilar's performance at last night's French cooking and wine class at Whole Foods, creating such intricate dishes is something I'll leave to the Cordon Bleu-trained chefs like her. While I might take a little more time on my weekend than my weekday dinners, and like to make everything from scratch, there's no way I have the time, patience, or skill to create layer upon layer of complexity in a dish as she so capably did. So on to tonight's plan for a simple, but hopefully delicious meal. I've been wanting to try a recipe recently published in the New York Times, cod with sesame and ginger, and with cod $6.99 a pound this week at Sprouts, tonight will be the night. With the oven running, some baked yam spears will go with it, and Sunflower has organic ones for just 99 cents a pound.

I've been a little overwhelmed by all the rich holiday foods we encounter everywhere these days, so to counter them, for tomorrow we'll do a wintry and nearly vegetarian soup, potato and root vegetable chowder with bacon from Bon Appetit. Yes, it does have bacon, but it's only two slices in a whole big pot of chowder. One of the wonderful, fresh baguettes from Whole Foods that are half price at $1.50 will have to go on the side, along with a salad.

For Sunday, in perhaps a teeny nod to last night's French demo, we'll take advantage of the chicken tenders that Sprouts has on sale for $1.99 a pound (and Sunflower has boneless skinless breasts for $2.99 a pound) to do quick coq au vin from Bon Appetit. This is delicious served over wide noodles, or the savory broth could also be sopped up with another of those fantastic French baguettes from Whole Foods.

And that will get us through the weekend with some great food that's still pretty simple to prepare, just about my speed.

Christmas Recipe Guides

2011-12-15T06:29:00.000-07:00

With just ten days remaining until Christmas, I guess it's time to get serious about planning what will be on the table. There are several excellent guides out there offering recipes, menu plans, videos, helpful tips, and the like. My favorites include Christmas Unwrapped from Epicurious, Bon Appetit's Christmas Food, Cooking Light's Ultimate Holiday Food, Saveur magazine's Holiday, and Holiday Recipes from Whole Foods. That's more than enough to get my planning started.

This Week's Hot Deals (IMHO)

2011-12-14T07:44:00.002-07:00

We have new sales starting today at our Boulder Sprouts, Sunflower, and Whole Foods, while Alfalfa's current sale continues through the 20th, and today is the last day of the current sale at Vitamin Cottage. Here's what looks particularly good to me in the new sales, IMHO as always.

Sprouts will have a special 72 hour sale this Friday through Sunday, the 16th to 18th, with avocados 50 cents each, very large 16/20 count shrimp $6.99 a pound, roasted almonds $2.99 a pound, whole cashews $5.99 a pound, and their own brand of frozen veggies just 99 cents each for one pound bags, among other deals. In their regular sale running through December 21st, chicken breast tenders or spiral-sliced ham (I wonder how it fares on the nitrates/nitrites front) are $1.99 a pound. Chicken sausage is $2.99 a pound, boneless ribeyes are $8.99 a pound, previously frozen wild caught cod is $6.99 a pound, and fresh farm-raised salmon is also $6.99 a pound. Their "Presidential-cut" standing rib roast is $5.99 a pound, with Sunflower countering with rib roasts at $4.97 a pound. Select party trays are 25% off. In organic produce, Fuji apples are just 99 cents a pound, celery is 99 cents a bunch, yellow onions are $2.49 for a three pound bag, and russet potatoes are good at $2.99 for a five pound bag (although today's the last day you can get five pounds for $1.69 at Vitamin Cottage). The big 28 ounce size of Muir Glen organic tomatoes look good at $2 each, and Annie's organic dressings are $3 for eight ounces.

At Sunflower through the 21st, I'm liking quite lean 93% lean grass fed ground beef for $3.97 a pound, ground chicken breast for $3.99 a pound (although Sprouts' sale ending today was better), and organic boneless skinless chicken breasts for $6.99 a pound. They're beating Sprouts' price in the standing rib roast wars, coming in at $4.97 a pound. Organic produce looks good as usual, with butternut squash, yams, and red or yellow onions all 99 cents a pound, broccoli $1.50 a pound, and one pound bags of baby carrots for $1.50 each. Noosa's yummy yoghurt is low at $1.50 for eight ounces, Robinson Dairy's sour cream is $1.50 for a 16 ounce container, bulk parmesan (presumably not from Italy) is $7.99 a pound, and 3 year extra sharp cheddar is $5.99 a pound.

Through the 27th, Whole Foods is trying to tempt me with a couple of my favorites: their Maryland style crab cakes for $9.99 a pound, and their Bakehouse French baguettes at $1.50 each. Organic cauliflower is $1.99 a pound (and the New York Times just published an appealing recipe for curried cauliflower soup), organic yellow onions are 99 cents a pound (same at Sunflower), and organic russets are also 99 cents a pound, if you aren't saving more by buying them by the bag. Their beautiful spiral sliced hams are $4.99 a pound, their own heirloom wheat bread is $2.99 a loaf, Farmhouse Barber's cheddar is $9.99 a pound, and beloved Cotswold cheese is $12.99 a pound (but $10.99 a pound at Alfalfa's).

One-Day Sale at Whole Foods Tomorrow

2011-12-13T19:37:00.003-07:00

Our local Whole Foods stores will offer us a sextet of special sales tomorrow (at least I assume it's tomorrow - they uncharacteristically don't specify the date, but Wednesday is customary). Here's what they're offering:

The holidays are here! We have 6 amazing products for you to choose from in this week's one-day sale!

Satsuma Mandarin Oranges
$0.99/lb
(save $1.50/lb)

Diestel Turkeys
Antibiotic-Free
$1.99/lb
(save $1.50/lb)

Wild Caught Maine
Lobster Tails
$7.99/ea
(save $5/ea)

Odell's
Clarified Butter
$5.99/ea
(save $3/ea)

Olli Salumeria
Salame
$6.99/ea
(save $4/ea)

Whole Foods Market™
Pumpkin Pie
$3.99/ea
(save $4/ea)

Imbibe To Benefit Humane Society

2011-12-13T08:45:00.001-07:00

I love the multiple ways that Superior Liquor (in Superior, where else) supports our Boulder Valley Humane Society, and this coming Saturday, the 17th, will represent a high point, with a tasting and bottle signing for its benefit. They're also offering customers an opportunity to donate their "points" to the Society, which will be tripled via two matching donations, a wonderful program. Here's what they say:

As most of you already know, Superior Liquor is deeply committed to supporting the Humane Society of Boulder Valley. We stand in awe of their tireless effort to be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. On Saturday, December 17th from 3-6pm, we will host an in-store tasting of the wines of Loyal Companion and Cru Vin Dogs, a local company that shares our commitment to the Humane Society. For every bottle of Loyal Companion wine sold, they donate 50 cents directly to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley. They also support numerous other animal directed charities nationwide.

Jay Snellgrove, the artist who creates all the labels for Cru Vin Dogs and Loyal Companion, will be here from 3-5pm signing bottles. Can you think of a better gift for the animal lovers on your shopping list? The Humane Society of Boulder Valley will also be here with some adorable, loving animals who are looking for a new best friend.

Don't forget that you may donate your frequent customer points to the Humane Society (or to Community Food Share) and your donation will be matched TWICE, by our friends at Pernod Ricard and Beam, Inc.

Layoffs At Alfalfa's

2011-12-13T07:33:00.003-07:00

This is not the kind of news you like to read. Today's Daily Camera is reporting that Alfalfa's is laying off up to 35 workers in its corporate office, citing sales below expectations. You can read the entire article here.

Holiday Gifts From/For The Kitchen

2011-12-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Are you burned out after a weekend of commercialized holiday shopping, possibly with nothing even to show for it? Consider the personalized touch of making a gift from your kitchen instead. Whole Foods has a nice Gifts From The Kitchen recipe guide, complete with festive gift tags to go with each idea. Bon Appetit magazine also offers a Gifts From The Kitchen Slideshow. If you'd rather purchase a little something for the foodie on your list, check out the Foodie Stocking Stuffers from Epicurious. Our local Boulder natural grocery stores have also piled up tempting gift displays, or consider something from our wonderful local shops Cured or Peppercorn.

Three Day Heads Up Re Vitamin Cottage

2011-12-11T10:28:00.001-07:00

(Or is it four days? If today counts, it's four.) Just a reminder that Vitamin Cottage's very long lasting sale will be coming to an end this Wednesday, the 14th, so if there's anything you still need to grab, time is running short. To me, highlights include the organic Colorado russet potatoes that they are practically giving away at $1.69 for a five pound bag, and my favorite MaraNatha organic no stir peanut butter at $3.49 for a 16 ounce jar. Given what's happened recently to peanut butter prices, that pretty darned good, especially for organic. I'm also a fan of the Lundberg gourmet rice blends that are $2.49 in one pound bags, and Nut-Thins at $1.99 a box. But who knows what Vitamin Cottage's next sale will bring?

Weekday Dinner Ideas

2011-12-11T08:06:00.001-07:00

Quickly continuing the dinner planning during this busy time, for tomorrow, I'm wanting to do a pasta that will incorporate some of that asparagus that's just $1.88 a pound at Sunflower, but most recipes that feature it just seem too much like spring or summer. I'm therefore going to do an adaptation of a nicely seasonal dish, adding asparagus to cook in the sauce of pasta with winter squash and tomatoes from the New York Times. Sunflower also has organic tomatoes for $1.99 a pound, and their price on organic winter squash is usually good.

Tuesday will be our customary reheat of something big made over the weekend, which this week is the smoky shrimp and halibut stew from Bon Appetit.

For Wednesday, all the ground meats that are on sale through that day are having me think of what has become the new fave dinner in this house, Thai beef cabbage cups from Cooking Light. It's a version of the Thai or Lao dish laab, and can be made with ground meats other than beef, too. Sprouts has fresh ground chicken, chicken breast or pork all at $2.99 a pound, and at Sunflower, it's ground turkey at that price, so you have quite a choice. Also, I prefer to serve it in organic lettuce leaves rather than the cabbage, and Sunflower has organic red or green leaf lettuce for $1.50 a head.

In the interest of simplicity, Thursday will be what's becoming our end of the week fallback option, sauteed pork chops, and Sprouts has their very good boneless center-cut pork loin chops at $2.99 a pound through Wednesday. The also have pints of Cascade Fresh sour cream for just 99 cents each, to go on top of microwaved "baked" organic potatoes on the side (organic russets are $3.99 for a three pound bag at Sunflower through Wednesday).

Which gets us through a busy week!

Hanukkah Recipe Guides

2011-12-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

Looking for some ideas for sprucing up your Hanukkah treats? Check out some of these menu and recipe guides: Hanukkah Recipes, Menus, and Gifts from Epicurious, Bon Appetit's Hanukkah Food, Saveur magazine's Happy Hanukkah, the New York Times' Hanukkah Recipes, and the Hanukkah Recipes Guide from Food and Wine magazine.

Kids' Events At Pearl WFM

2011-12-10T06:55:00.000-07:00

I don't usually cover stuff that's specifically for kids at our local natural grocery stores, but since the Pearl Street Whole Foods store is doing not one, but two events for them tomorrow, here you go:

Sunday, December 11th

Healthy Kid's Club
12-2pm FREE

Do your kids like playing with food? Do you want them to eat healthy snacks? Join us for our Christmas Kids Club where you kids get to play with their food and learn about nutrition! No RSVP necessary.

Sunday, December 11th

Crafty Kid's Club with The Makerie
2-5pm FREE

Join Ali from The Makerie for this month’s crafty kid’s club activity- Holiday potato prints! These beautiful prints can be used on gift tags or to create your own wrapping paper- the possibilities are endless! No reservation needed.

Weekend Dinner Ideas

2011-12-09T07:51:00.001-07:00

In this busy, busy season, the dinner planning needs to be quick, and the dinners even quicker. For tonight, with ground turkey $2.99 a pound, it will be spicy turkey burgers from Bon Appetit (it gets a rare four forks out of four in its reviews). Sunflower will also be the source of asparagus at $1.88 a pound for the side, and it even has organic cilantro for the burgers at 99 cents a bunch.

For tomorrow, Sprouts' sale on both haddock and shrimp for $3.99 a pound is screaming one thing to me: smoky shrimp and halibut stew from Bon Appetit. Haddock or cod is a perfectly reasonable exchange for the halibut, which I love but think is a waste of a very pricey fish in such a stew. Fresh bread and salad on the side (Sunflower has good prices this week on both organic lettuce and tomatoes), and we're done.

For Sunday, I'm considering experimenting with a recipe that appeared on yesterday's Today Show, boneless roast loin of pork, since Sprouts has center-cut pork loin roast for just $1.99 a pound this week. They also have whole conventional pineapples for 99 cents each, tempting me to saute some slices as a kind of dessert.

So that quickly gets us through the weekend.

Saturday Is Holiday Tasting Day

2011-12-08T06:28:00.001-07:00

This Saturday, the 10th, is shaping up to be our Boulder natural foods tasting day for holiday ideas. Here, at a minimum, is what is going on.

Alfalfa's

Alfa la la la Holiday Tasting Fair
Saturday, Dec. 10th
Alfalfa's Inside and Outside
11am-3pm
FREE

String the lights, bundle up, and come on down to Alfalfa’s for a bit of holiday cheer. We’re kicking off the season by sampling holiday foods both classic and new. Outside we’ll have piping hot chocolate and snowflake cookies. Inside there will be tastes of everything that makes the holidays, well, the holidays.

Oh, and come a little early if you can. At exactly 11 am, we'll unwrap and reveal Boulder’s newest and biggest citizen — Alfie! Our gift to Boulder, our gift to you.

Sunflower

"Holiday Tasting Fair! 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm. We will be sampling items from our holiday platters and delicious desserts. Yum!"

Whole Foods, Pearl Street

Saturday, December 10th

Holiday Entertaining Tasting
1-4pm FREE

Stop by the store for a taste of the season with our Holiday Entertaining tasting. Each of our teams will be samplilng some delicious dishes to help you plan your holiday meal.

Whole Foods, Superior (they're also doing a holiday kids club event that afternoon)

Saturday, December 10th

Holiday Tasting- Holiday Meals and Sides
3:00pm-6:00pm Free

Join us throughout our store for tasty samples of items from out Holiday menu and more. Let us do the cooking for you.

This Week's Hot New Deals (IMHO)

2011-12-07T07:26:00.003-07:00

We have new sales starting today at our Boulder Alfalfa's, Sprouts, and Sunflower, while current sales continue at Vitamin Cottage and Whole Foods (click those links for prior reports). Here's what's looking good to me in the new deals, in my humble opinion only, of course.

The new sale running through December 20th at Alfalfa's strikes me as having more tempting deals than usual on their fine products, probably to lure in all that holiday food shopping. While there's no way to tell from the ad what size it is, the Alfalfa's housemade yule log cake on the cover for $21.99 each looks spectacular. Bouches de Noel are infamously hard to make, best left to the professionals in my opinion. Their excellent meat and seafood department is also offering some shall we say more sophisticated options, like pheasant or poussin (poussin? - evidently a very young chicken), in addition to the usual suspects (lobsters, too, with pre-order). Returning to the more everyday world, specials in their cheese and deli look especially appealing, with Somerdale Cotswold cheese $10.99 a pound, $4 off (and from the looks of the picture, it appears to be with the chives that I love), and Diestel natural turkey pastrami at $7.99 a pound, $3 off. Organic navel oranges are $1.09 a pound, quite good for organic. In seafood, gulf wild sustainably harvested shrimp are $9.99 a pound, $5 off, and I have great faith in Alfalfa's sustainable commitment. Also, Echo Falls wild Alaskan salmon packages are $2 off at $6.99 each, but I already stocked up at an even better, brief sale at Whole Foods. They have some good deals in the bulk department, with roasted and salted mixed nuts for the holidays at $6.49 a pound, and organic wild rice also $6.49 a pound. Select Mountain high low-fat all-natural yoghurts are stunning at 50 cents each, and some Rudi's organic breads are good at $3.29 a loaf. I haven't tried the Tree of Life brand of gluten-free cookies yet, but they look great at $2.50 a box. To go with them, there are a couple of good beverage deals from their coffee, tea and juice department: any juice is BOGO, and if you buy a bag of Stumptown coffee, you get a free 12 ounce latte.

Things are a little more down to earth at Sprouts through December 14th, where you can find center-cut pork loin roast for just $1.99 a pound, and previously frozen wild caught haddock or 41-50 count ez peel shrimp both for $3.99 a pound. They've brought back their fantastic bulk sale, with 25% off that entire department, including their excellent Fair Trade organic coffee, even in decaf. Chicken sausage is $2.99 a pound, as are center-cut pork loin chops. Also at $2.99 a pound are fresh ground chicken, chicken breast, or pork, and whole or cut up chickens are $1.49 a pound. There are some good deals in organic produce, with red or golden delicious apples or D'Anjou pears all just 99 cents a pound, and organic celery is 99 cents a bunch. For conventional, whole pineapples are stunning at 99 cents each. Cascade Fresh sour cream looks low at 99 cents for 16 ounces, and in these days of soaring peanut butter prices, $3.49 for 16 ounces of local Justin's peanut butter looks great, although Vitamin Cottage also has organic MaraNatha for the same price.

At Sunflower through the 14th, the big temptations are family packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts or conventional asparagus, both at $1.88 a pound. They match Sprouts with chicken sausage for $2.99 a pound, and add another ground meat into Sprouts' mix, with ground turkey at $2.99 a pound. Since their fresh turkey meatloaf is on sale at $2.99, I wonder if they'll have their great turkey meatballs (or if I'd make the equivalent by rolling their meatloaf). Beef stew meat is okay at $4.99 a pound, and boneless rib eye steaks look good at $8.99 a pound. There are good deals in organic produce as usual, with bunched chard, spinach, or green top carrots all at $1.50 each, hothouse tomatoes for $1.99 a pound, cilantro, green onions, and Hass avocados all 99 cents each, red or green leaf lettuce $1.50 a head, and three pound bags of russets for $3.99 each. Select Stonyfield organic yogurts are 79 cents each, and Cascadian Farm frozen veggies look good at $2 for the one pound bags. Finally, if you don't already have a stock of Muir Glen organic pasta sauces in your kitchen, go for it at $2.50 a jar.

One-Day Sale at Whole Foods Tomorrow

2011-12-06T12:22:00.002-07:00

For tomorrow only, the 7th (an infamous day in history), our local Whole Foods stores will offer us a quintet of special sales. Here's what they say:

One-Day Sale
Tomorrow's one-day sale items. 5 to choose from!

Country Natural Beef
Sirloin Tip Roast
$3.99/lb (save $3/lb)

South of France
French Milled Soaps
8.8 oz.
$2.99/ea (save $3/ea)

South of France
Liquid Soap
12 oz.
$2.99/ea (save $4/ea)

Whole Trade™
Holiday Arrangement
with vase
$12.99/ea (save $7/ea)

Golden King Crab Legs
$14.99/lb (save $9/lb)

"Italian America" in Saveur

2011-12-06T07:33:00.003-07:00

Saveur magazine always has thought-provoking, illuminating articles, and the feature one in the current December issue is no exception. "Italian America" engagingly relates the evolution of Italian food on this side of the ocean. No wonder it's well done, as the main component of it is written by John Mariani, author of How Italian Food Conquered the World. Unfortunately, I don't see it online in this issue at Saveur, probably because it is the feature and they can't give just everything away. A sidebar headed "Classic Combo" extols the virtues of sausage and peppers, giving me background on why that's in my menu plan for Thursday, having grown up in a rather Italian area in southern New England.

Hanukkah Tasting This Thursday

2011-12-05T08:24:00.002-07:00

This Thursday, the 8th, the Pearl Street Whole Foods will offer Hanukkah ideas with tastings throughout the store from 4 to 6:30. Here's what they say:

Thursday, December 8th

Hanukkah Tasting
4-6:30pm FREE

Stop by the store for a taste of the Holidays with our Hanukkah tasting. Each of our teams will be sampling some delicious dishes to help you plan your holiday meal.

Weekday Dinner Ideas

2011-12-04T07:43:00.002-07:00

With more snow expected to start this evening, on top of all that has already recently fallen in Boulder, it's time to get the rest of the week's dinners organized. I checked out the quite large 16/25 count "broken" shrimp that Sunflower has for $5.97 a pound, and they looked handsomely intact, which suggests to me the nicey seasonal butternut squash risotto with shrimp from Bon Appetit for tomorrow. Although I'll be pretty tired of it by March, I'm still in my pre-winter butternut nesting phase, can't get enough of it. Organic butternut is 99 cents a pound at Sunflower, and since it gets peeled, an even cheaper conventional might be a possibility.

Tuesday will be our customary reheat of something big made over the weekend, which this week will be the cod, potato, and fennel casserole from Gourmet magazine. A comfort veggie like sauteed chard will go on the side.

We'll want some pasta on the menu by Wednesday, and looking back to those shrimp from Sunflower and wanting something quick and easy, it will be spicy shrimp and fettucine from Cooking Light. Rather than using plum tomatoes, I'll check out the organic hothouse tomatoes that Sunflower has for $1.99 a pound through that day.

I'll pick up some of the sale chicken sausage at Sprouts by Wednesday (although chicken sausage is always cheap anyway), to feature it in a quick dinner for Thursday, chicken sausage and polenta. I'll wing it, sauteing the sausage with some bell pepper and quality jarred pasta sauce, and making the easy polenta in a three to one ratio of liquid to polenta, with a bit of parmesan added at the end. If you want to complicate your life by following a recipe, mushroom and sausage ragu with polenta from Cooking Light is a good one.

And that will get us through a cold week with more snow on the way. Stay warm.

Supper Club At Pearl Whole Foods

2011-12-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

The Pearl Street Whole Foods will offer a four course Health Starts Here Supper Club this coming Thursday, all for $20. Here's what they say:

Thursday, December 8th

Health Starts Here Supper Club
6:30pm $20 per person, plus tax

Have you wondered if healthy food can really taste good? Join us for a Holiday 4 course meal centered around our 4 Pillars of Healthy Eating and we'll prove to you that it can! Space is limited, so please RSVP to sarah.morgan@wholefoods.com or visit our customer service desk.

Holiday Tasting At Sunflower

2011-12-03T06:44:00.000-07:00

According to the Boulder Sunflower calendar, from noon to 2 pm today, they'll be offering "Cheers to the holidays," for which they say, "While you are shopping, stop by for a special treat!"

Flatbread Cooking Class At Alfalfa's

2011-12-02T11:06:00.002-07:00

Tomorrow from 1 to 3 pm, Alfalfa's will show you how to make pizzas using Udi's Italian flatbread. Plus, don't forget that they have free wine tastings in their Cellar from 5 to 7 pm every Friday, which is today (tonight will be dessert wines). Here's what they say about tomorrow:

Learn to Cook with Udi’s Italian Flatbread
Saturday, Dec. 3rd
Alfalfa's Pizza Oven
1-3 pm
FREE

Join us as 3rd and 4th generation artisan bakers from Italy, Maurizio Negrini of Udi's and his son Amedeo, teach you how to make 3 tasty pizzas using Udi's Italian Flatbread. You'll learn how to make:
• Prosciutto & Burrata pizza
• Prosciutto Pesto pizza
• Oven Roasted Peppers pizza

Weekender Sale At Whole Foods

2011-12-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

For today through Sunday only, our local Whole Foods stores will be offering Celestial Seasonings' Kombucha Energy Shots for $1.99 each, nearly half price. I haven't tried them, but they sound like quite the interesting natural energy boost for this busy season.

Weekender Sale

Stay vibrant and focused with all-natural Kombucha Energy Shots from Celestial Seasonings. With the naturally revitalizing effects of live, raw Kombucha and the energizing boost of caffeine from guarana, plus B-vitamins and ginseng, you just shake and shoot – then feel the energy! Sale price valid Dec 2 - 4.

$1.99/ea (save $1.70/ea)

Weekend Dinner Ideas

2011-12-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

After a week of turkey leftovers, in thinking about what to have for dinner this coming week, I seem to have fish and beef on the brain, basically anything but poultry. For tonight, I'm intrigued by the farm-raised salmon that Sprouts has for just $4.99 a pound. I usually don't bother with farm-raised, but if it looks good, there's a recipe from last month's Bon Appetit that I've really been wanting to try: pan-seared salmon with pumpkin seed-cilantro pesto. If I decide against the farm-raised, an alternative would be the presumably previously frozen wild Alaskan sockeye that Whole Foods has on sale for $12.99 a pound. One of Lundberg's beautiful rice blends, like their exotic black Japonica mix, will go on the side.

For tomorrow, while in poultry rebellion, beef will be what's for dinner. To still keep it on the lighter side, we'll try a new recipe from last month's Cooking Light, sesame beef stir-fry. Sunflower has stir fry beef on sale for $4.99 a pound, but I've also found these recipes work perfectly well with regular stew beef. Since we're having rice tonight, the stir-fry will go on top of buckwheat sobas tomorrow.

For Sunday, we still need to make something big that will also serve as a midweek reheat, and with cod $7.99 a pound at Sprouts, I'm thinking it will be cod, potato, and fennel casserole from Gourmet magazine. The reviews of this are a riot; people either absolutely love it or detest it. I'm in the love camp. One reviewer said it works well with sweet potatoes, which I think I'll try (what an antioxidant boost!). The alternative would be organic russets, which Vitamin Cottage is practically giving away at $1.69 for a five pound bag.

And that will be plenty of non-poultry comfort food for our first weekend of December, which looks to be very chilly and maybe a little snowy.