More Good Stuff at Cure Organic and Munson Stands

Two very different scenes this afternoon at my favorite farmstands at 75th and Valmont. People are whizzing in and out of the parking lot at Munson Farm, many seeking their fabulous corn that's nearly sold out for the day. The peaches and cream is gone, and there were four ears left of the yellow, so white corn is the remaining choice of the afternoon (but their white corn is absolutely delicious, too). They have onions the size of cantaloupes, fresh chiles, tomatoes, peaches, and lots more, some from their own farm, some from elsewhere. While they're not an organic farm, they do seem to support pesticide-free produce.

Meanwhile, the little self-serve stand tucked away across the street at Cure Organic Farm was quiet and brimming with organic options, plus beautiful flowers. Particularly notable were the pints of yellow cherry tomatoes (of the type I think are called pear), tomatillos, leek-like onions, chard, arugula in the fridge, and just a ton of other veggies out on the table. Of special interest, they're selling their regular red tomatoes for $3 a pound, same price as the ones across the street that don't seem to be organic or from the Munson farm. Cure also has heirloom tomatoes for $5 a pound. So much to choose from at this wonderful time of the year.

Roasted Chile Prices on the Rise

Glad I started stocking up on roasted Hatch green chiles a few days ago, when they were $1.99/lb at the Pearl Street Whole Foods store. The price at Whole Foods (both Pearl Street and Superior) has now jumped 50% to $2.99/lb, and you'd better want the hot variety, as that's all either store was offering at noon today. Last I checked (several days ago) at the Boulder Sunflower, their Hatch chiles roasted onsite were $1.99/lb, so I'll provide an update on that price the next time I'm there. Roasted chiles freeze beautifully, so now's the time to lay in a stock to take you all the way to next year's season. More on that in a bit.

StrEATchefs at Boulder Creek Fair

If you get the munchies while wandering through the Boulder Creek Fair happening across this long Labor Day weekend, my favorite food truck, StrEATchefs has tweeted that they will be on the scene both today and tomorrow to keep you satisfied until you get back home to your own kitchen and grill. ("All day and into the evening," per their tweet.) The brainchild of Hosea Rosenberg, obviously our local celebrity as Top Chef Season 5 winner, the StrEATchefs Airstream trailer serves up tasty and decadent meals, with some lighter options like salads as well. Definitely not in the latter category, the grilled cheese sandwich with pork belly and apple jam that I got from the truck a few weeks ago lives in my memory as one of the greatest sandwiches of all time.

Now I need to get back to planning the rest of our dinners for the week, but our plans are in place through the holiday tomorrow. Will still stick with grilling the sausages tomorrow as planned, despite the fact that the temperature will barely make it to the 70s, yikes. I'm not ready to start cooking with winter squash. Let's keep that local corn, zucchini, and eggplant coming.

Best Pizza in Colorado?

Permit me a quick diversion from our usual home cooking theme. John Lehndorff does great food writing for Yellowscene magazine and elsewhere, following his years of writing for the Daily Camera and the Rocky Mountain News. In an article in the current Yellowscene issue, he takes note of the booming local artisanal pizza scene, and also mentions that he'll be naming The Best Pizza Joint in Colorado for USA Today. If you'd like to contribute your thoughts about your fave local pizza, email him at nibbles@yellowscene.com.

Burger Comparison for the Weekend

If you're considering grilling burgers for your Labor Day weekend cookout, here are some of the available prices:

Sprouts: extra lean ground beef, $1.99/lb (value pack).

Sunflower: extra lean ground beef, $1.88/lb (family pack).

Whole Foods: organic grass fed beef patties $3.99/lb today only, then on sale for $4.99/lb after that. Diestel turkey burgers $3.99/lb.

A Cornucopia of Labor Day Ideas

If you're looking for more ideas on what to cook across this Labor Day weekend celebration, Bon Appetit has the site for you. They've put together a great Labor Day food guide with just about everything you might want to know about grilling recipes, summer sides, ideas for seasonal produce like corn and tomatoes, plus a whole bunch more.

Organic Figs, a Whale of a Sale

Never mind the sale Sunflower has this week on organic fresh figs at $2.99 for an 8 oz package. The Pearl Street Whole Foods store has fresh organic figs for $2.99 a pound! (Through 9/7.) Since the sale isn't in the regional flyer, there's no guarantee you'll find the same price at other local Whole Foods stores, but it often happens. Wrap them in pancetta from the Whole Foods meat/cheese deli counter and put them on the grill. Heaven.

Dinner Ideas Across the Labor Day Weekend

This weekend marks our last big hurrah for grilling and celebrating our wonderful summer produce, although we'll continue to enjoy plenty of bbqs, corn, tomatoes, and the like for the next few weeks. To start off that celebration, I picked up some steaks at Sunflower's 40% off steak sale that ended Wednesday, since that seemed the better deal than the new sales that came out on Wednesday. They'll hit the grill, along with foil packages of diced potatoes seasoned with some chopped scallions and a few herbs. For another foil package idea, we'll try grilled mushrooms in packets that was published this week in the New York Times. And of course, for another side, there have to be ears of corn from Munson Farm.

Of course, there has to be fresh, wild salmon on the grill this weekend, too, with the prices you see for it just to the left. (N.B. King Soopers has coho advertised at $6.99/lb this week, but when I stopped by there, it was fresh sockeye they were selling at that price. The fish counter person reasonably explained that they couldn't control what was caught, so they were honoring that price for what came in their deliveries.) We might start with some grilled pancetta-wrapped figs, since organic figs are on sale at Sunflower, and Whole Foods has wonderful pancetta. For a side, we'll try something to highlight the season from Bon Appetit, tomato and corn salad with marjoram, plus some grilled peaches for a sweet finish.

To get off the grill for one day, create something big and yummy enough to reheat during the week, and also highlight our seasonal and/or sale ingredients, I'm conflicted, because two tempting possibilities come to mind. I'm so enthused about the arrival of roasted Hatch green chiles, now available at both Whole Foods and Sunflower, I'm leaning towards New Mexican chile verde from Cooking Light. But with hot smoked salmon at an excellent price at Sunflower this week, I'm also thinking about another round of sweet corn chowder with hot smoked salmon, also from Cooking Light, with corn of course coming from Munson's farmstand.

Finally, to complete the long weekend and get back on the grill, we'll do a spin on a classic, grilling chicken sausages on sale at Sprouts in lieu of bratwurst or hot dogs. We'll stuff the sausages into some crusty baguette sections, and am considering grilled eggplant salad from Cooking Light as the side.

A few details to still fill in, but that basically completes it for a long Labor Day weekend celebration. Hope yours is fun-filled and relaxing!

Last Call Headzup on Steaks

If you're planning on grilling across most of the Labor Day weekend, but not really impressed with enough specials in the new sales that came out today, don't forget that today is the last day of Sunflower's "ultimate 40% off steak sale," with ten varieties of Harris Ranch steak all 40% off.

New Deals Are Up

Highlights (IMHO) of this week's sale prices at Boulder's natural grocery stores are posted on the left, crowding in with the deals that are ending today. Had to look up the salmon prices for King Soopers and Safeway online, as my dear Daily Camera failed to include those inserts, so I hope they're accurate. I'm pleased to see that Sunflower notes they have Hatch green chiles roasted on site (we've already seen them at the Whole Foods stores on Pearl Street and in Superior). If you're looking for a easy way to get around a Labor Day weekend barbeque, Sprouts will be grilling baby back ribs over mesquite at the store on Friday and Saturday, offering full racks for $9.99 each from 11 to 6, while they last. Other dinner ideas for the week to follow shortly.