Munsons Opening Saturday?

Every year I live for the arrival of local Munson's corn, at which time they also open their farm stand at 75th and Valmont, creating a duo of farm stand heaven since Cure Organic Farm is just across the street to the south. Last time I was at the Boulder Farmers' Market, where Munsons always has a booth, I asked them how it was looking for the stand opening and was told that cool spring weather was delaying the corn crop and therefore delaying the stand. Now I see on their website that they hope to have the stand open by the 19th, which is Saturday. Oh, I hope! The first few days they offer it, the kernels on the corn are rather delicately small but succulent, then within just a few days, those kernels explode into a summer celebration.

This Week's Hot Grocery Deals (IMHO)

We have new sales starting today at our Boulder Sprouts and Whole Foods stores. Something also should be going on at Vitamin Cottage that I need to check out, as their last long running sale ended last weekend. Here's what's looking good to me now.

At Sprouts through July23rd, fresh wild Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets have bumped up a dollar to a still very good $10.99 a pound ($9.99 at both Safeway and King Soopers with card, not worth a detour at all). Chicken breast tenders are okay at $2.99 a pound, while whole, split or cut up chickens are $1.59 a pound and marinated chicken kabobs are $3.99 a pound. Bone-in New York steaks are $7.99 a pound, and while we rarely buy burger, grass-fed organic ground beef sounds good at $4.99 a pound.

In organic produce at Sprouts, curly, Lacinato or red Russian kale are all just 98 cents a bunch, grape tomatoes are $2.50 a pint, baby carrots are $1.50 a one pound bag, celery is $1.50 a bunch, red, green or black grapes are all $2.50 a pound, black plums are just 98 cents a pound, and six ounces of blueberries or a pound of strawberries are $2.98 a container.  Elsewhere in the store, nothing is particularly grabbing me this week. There's a raw foods sale with select varieties 25% off, and the flax seed crackers in the picture do look good.

In Whole Foods' new sale through July 29th, organic heirloom tomatoes look good at $3.99 a pound (stay tuned for a post tomorrow for something to pair them with). Market made chicken kabobs or satays with black pepper sauce are $5.99 a pound, and fresh Norwegian salmon steaks are $11.99 a pound (that would be the good farmed type, but in this fresh wild season, I'm going with wild). Market made firehouse potato salad is $2 off at $3.99 a pound for a quick picnic helper, and their own yummy "everything" baguettes are $2 each.

But once again, it's Lucky's Market that's getting my attention, and once again, the prices on what's catching my eye are better in Longmont than in Boulder. Their yummy salmon burgers that are turning me into such a lazy cook are just $1.99 each in Longmont, $2.99 in Boulder (and $3.99 each for the sale one at Whole Foods). House-made swordfish kabobs are just $5.99 a pound in Longmont, and when I saw them yesterday there they were not only beautiful but also from the USA, a priority for my swordfish. The Lucky's in Boulder is offering tuna kabobs instead, at $6.99 a pound. Both stores also have previously frozen swordfish steaks (could those also be domestic???), $6.99 a pound in Longmont, $7.99 in Boulder. In an interesting comparison of the stores' differing approaches, both stores are offering boneless pork loin chops, with the ones in Longmont being "all natural" at $2.99 a pound, while the ones in Boulder are Beelers' fine ones with Lucky's "never ever" standards for $3.99 a pound. I don't promise to always find the time to add in Lucky's, but since the Longmont store is becoming my go-to place, I'll keep trying.

Now A Fava Bean Fan

So I braved the fava beans from our Red Wagon Organic Farm CSA last night, using a penne and basil puree recipe from Patricia Wells that worked on the web earlier this week but now is unfortunately a dead link, and our dinner results were spectacular if I do say so myself. The process of shelling the beans out of the pod, boiling them, then skinning the beans is a bit tedious, but having a glass of wine or a Bloody Mary on the counter at the same time speeds things along. It does produce an impressive pile of compost as well, but the boiled beans do pop out of their skins quite nicely, and I didn't find it nearly as much work as anticipated. I could see more fava beans in my future, but preferably in the reasonably sized bag I received from the CSA - no way would I tackle a couple of pounds of them.

Fresh From The Fields This Week

The emails I get from my Red Wagon Organic Farm CSA are always a good indicator of what's happening at the Boulder Farmers' Market as well, so here's what they have to say about this week. Note that we're moving out of the time for spring lettuce and zucchini is already in the picture, which means that the hard core summer faves like corn are just around the corner. Here's what they say:

Regular Share

-Grilling Onions
-Zucchini
-Beets
-New potatoes
-Lettuce (last time!)
-Choice: Broccoli Raab OR Kale OR Chard OR  Collards

Large Share Additions
-Extra Zucchini
-Extra Beets
-Extra New potatoes

Like

Braving The Fava Beans

I'd been angsting about what to do with the fava beans that seemed to be a given in my Red Wagon Organic Farm CSA pickup this week, but when I got there, it turned out they were actually giving me a choice: fava beans or new red potatoes? While the potatoes looked beautiful, there are other options for getting those kinds of staples, and since I'd been pondering the fava beans for days, I took a deep breath and grabbed a bag of them to contend with. I'd already checked my own Chez Panisse pasta cookbook that has some fava suggestions, plus I'd checked out a couple of books from the library for further guidance. (Having gone that far, how could I wimp out and take the potatoes?) So it looks like my first foray into shelling, boiling, then further shelling fava beans will be tomorrow night, with penne with fava beans, basil puree, and parmesan from Patricia Wells' Vegetable Harvest, not originally posted by Wells but copied by several people like this post. This will also give me a chance to finish off one more container of pesto in the freezer from last fall's bounty. If that proves successful and the brief fava bean season continues for a week or two, I might also try the fava bean puree I found in Alice Water's Chez Panisse Vegetables, which sounds like an attractive alternative to the hummus that gets devoured in this house. Interestingly, she notes that fava beans can cause a toxic and even potentially fatal reaction, called favism, in some people of Mediterranean, Asian, or African extraction, although it seems to be associated with undercooked or raw beans. Guess I'll be sure to cook mine a bit extra. Always an adventure.

Boulder Farmers' Market Today

Just a reminder that today's the Farmers' Market in downtown Boulder from 8 to 2 today, and also the one at the Boulder fairgrounds in Longmont (think that one closes at 1). Probably best to get out before it gets too toasty today, and/or storms move in. I'm skipping the crowds and relying on my Red Wagon Organic Farm CSA and also the store open five days a week at Cure Organic Farm at 75th and Valmont.

More Grand Opening Sales At Alfalfa's

Alfalfa's is continuing to publish great sales in celebration of its new Louisville store, and the sales are available both there and in the Boulder store. In this week's sale running through Tuesday the 15th, I find their housemade Asian slaw remarkable at 99 cents a pound, $4 off. Doesn't get better than that. Twelve ounce packages of Coleman chicken sausages can be found nearly half off at $3.99 each, sustainably harvested Corvina fillets (afraid I'm not yet familiar with these) are $11.99 a pound, $8 off, Pamela's yummy gluten-free cookies are great at $2.50 a box, 16 ounce containers of organic Boulder ice cream (obviously local) are just $3 each, Reny Picot 70% triple cream brie is $4 off at $7.99 a pound, and there's more I just don't have time for.

Last Call For Current Vitamin Cottage Sale

Just a reminder that the current sale at Vitamin Cottage runs through this Saturday, the 12th. You can read my prior post about it here. A caveat that they tend to out of stock on the most popular items towards the end of each sale, but who know what goodies the next sale will bring.

One-Day Sale At Whole Foods Tomorrow

Here's the news from Whole Foods, and I'd assume these are conventional, which I don't buy.

One Day Sale on July 11 This Friday only, snag juicy fresh cherries foronly $1.99 per pound! Selection may vary by store. While supplies last. No rain checks

This Week's Hot Grocery Deals (IMHO)

We have a new sale starting today at our Boulder Sprouts stores, while the current one continues at Whole Foods through July 15th, and at Vitamin Cottage just through this Saturday, the 12th. I'm also going to take a quick peek at Lucky's in both Longmont and Boulder, and the sales do differ between the two stores. Here's what's looking good to me now.

At Sprouts through July 16th, the news to me in meat and fish is fresh wild Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets continuing at $9.99 a pound. We had some on the grill pan the other day and it was quite fine. For comparison, it's also $9.99 a pound at Safeway, $12.99 a pound at King Soopers (both with card), and when I last looked a couple of days ago, still $19.99 a pound at the Pearl Street Whole Foods. Back to Sprouts, I'm also curious about the fresh wild Pacific white sea bass fillets for $12.99 a pound, but would want to take a look and know about sustainability. Less is grabbing me in meat, where the specials are generally things we don't buy with the exception of boneless pork loin chops, for which the $3.99 a pound sale price doesn't strike me as great.

In organic produce at Sprouts, romaine, red or green leaf lettuce are all wonderful at 98 cents a head, six ounces of blueberries come at just $1.98 each, on-the-vine cluster tomatoes are great at $1.50 a pound, some chards and kales are $1.50 a bunch, russet potatoes and yellow onions are both 98 cents a pound, D'Anjou pears are $1.50 a pound, and 6-ish ounce containers of raspberries or blackberries and one pound containers of strawberries are all $2.50 each. What a wonderful time for organic produce. Elsewhere in the store, I'm liking Galbani fresh mozzarella at $3 for a half pound ball.

I usually don't have time to add Lucky's into the mix on a Wednesday morning, and as I said, the sales do differ, making it doubly time-consuming. Generally speaking, it seems to me that the Boulder store excels in organic produce while the Longmont store has better meat and seafood prices, although while antibiotic-free, not necessarily with Lucky's Never Ever standards. For the bigger ticket items of meat and fish this week through the 16th, the Longmont store has crab cakes at an excellent $2.99 each, while you'll have to pay $1 more each at the Boulder store. Housemade chicken kabobs are $2.99 a pound in Longmont, while they're $4.99 a pound in Boulder. For fish kabobs, Longmont gets tuna for $5.99 a pound while Boulder gets swordfish at $7.99 a pound. In chicken breast specials, Longmont gets bone-in "all-natural" for a stunning $1.67 a pound, while at the Boulder store it's boneless skinless chicken breasts for $2.99 a pound, which is great considering Lucky's Never Ever standards are promised on that one. Also to note, all body care is 20% off at both stores.