Support Greenwood Wildlife At Ideal

The various local Whole Foods stores usually offer you a choice of excellent nonprofits to which you can direct your 10 cent per bag donation while checking out. At Ideal Market in north Boulder, one of the current options is the incredible Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, where they do such amazing work on so little money to save injured or abandoned wildlife. All the way through July 6th, you have the opportunity to direct your bag donation to them while shopping at Ideal, and I can't say enough about how great that would be. Here's the word from Greenwood, including a goose with the right idea.

From January 20 - July 6, help Colorado's wildlife by shopping at Ideal Market, 1275 Alpine, Boulder. We can receive 10 cents for each reusable bag you bring in when you shop. When making your purchase, you'll be asked if you want to donate your bag credit. Please choose Greenwood as the recipient.

Enjoy healthy eating like this goose does when you shop at Ideal.  

Parmesan Cracking At Whole Foods Saturday

It has become an annual event, Whole Foods' gigantic simultaneous parmesan wheel cracking at many of its stores, generally accompanied by a big party. You could check with your local store for its particulars, but note that 3 pm EST below is 1 pm for us. Here's what they say:

The Mighty Wheel Crack

It takes 5 special knives, strength and expertise to cut open a huge, 85lb wheel of authentic Parmigiano Reggiano. Come witness this feat as we demonstrate this not-to-be-missed spectacle at Whole Foods Market stores across the US, Canada and the UK!

Check with your store for what they have planned but many will offer samples, entertainment, pairings and more! The crack happens on Saturday, March 8, at 3pm EST.

Tulip Sale Tomorrow

We may not have had our usual Wednesday sale yesterday, but Whole Foods will offer us a whole lot of tulips for tomorrow only, the 7th. Although with highs of about 70 we'll be very springlike today, the rain possibly changing to snow for tomorrow will make those tulips a necessity. Here's what they say:

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 March 11th. There also should be something new happening at Vitamin Cottage, which I should check out. Again, per the staff person I spoke with there, Trader Joe's highlights particular products rather than discounting them, evidently because they can keep their prices low every day via their private label.  Here's what's looking good to me now.

The big news to me this week in Sprouts' new sale through March 12th is actually old news from last week: conventional asparagus continues at 98 cents a pound and we still have last week's big BOGO sale going on. A few items looking particularly good in the BOGO sale are some Earthbound Farm organic salad blends, Fage Fruyo Greek yogurts, Cascadian Farm cereal (also granola or bars), Pellegrino sparkling mineral water, Annie's Homegrown mac & cheese, and Stonyfield organic Greek yogurts.

In meat and fish at Sprouts, fresh whole chickens are just 99 cents a pound, ground chicken, pork or chicken breast are all $2.99 a pound, three types of chicken breast are also $2.99 a pound, previously frozen cod fillets are $6.99 a pound, and previously frozen wild Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets are $9.99 a pound. Organic produce is looking good as usual, with curly or Lacinato kale just 98 cents a bunch, one pound bags of baby carrots $1.50 each, green onions or cilantro just 68 cents each, Valencia oranges 68 cents a pound, celery $1.50 a bunch, and organic broccoli has bumped up a bit from this week's great price but is still pretty good at $1.50 a pound.

No Wednesday-Only Sale Today?

Looks like we don't have our usual one-day sale today at Whole Foods, as their "sales insider" has arrived, and it doesn't mention one. Bummer.

Happy Mardi Gras

Today's Fat Tuesday, so don't forget to wear your purple, green and gold, plus your beads, if you have them. If you're still looking around for a culinary way to celebrate, here's a reminder of the post I did a bit ago with some good guides. Me, I've got my jambalaya already made, so we're set to easily laissez les bons temps rouler.

Comparing The Two Lucky's Markets

I've mentioned several times that much as I love the Lucky's Market that has been in north Boulder for eons, I rarely travel to that part of town, while the new Lucky's Market in Longmont often falls within my travel pattern. I've also mentioned that their sales actually differ, and having both sale flyers in hand for a change, I find the difference intriguing, perhaps showing how well they play to Boulder vs Longmont tastes. Of a four-page flyer, both feature produce for the front page, and it's very interesting that the produce in the Boulder flyer this week is entirely organic (broccoli just 49 cents a pound!!!!), while the Longmont sales are primarily for conventional produce (whole pineapples 88 cents each for example). While the produce I buy is almost always organic (and the Longmont store has plenty of that simply not on sale), to me the Longmont store really excels in the meat department. With Lucky's "never ever" antibiotic-free standards, prices like these in the Longmont flyer are outstanding: boneless New York strip steaks $7.99 a pound, boneless pork loin chops or roast $2.99 a pound, and whole frying chickens $1.29 a pound ($2.29 in the Boulder sale). Interestingly, the fish specials are identical between the two stores, except Boulder has to pay $1 more per pound than Longmont for PEI fresh mussels. So somebody at Lucky's knows its markets; organic produce pitched to Boulder, while Longmont gets its meat fix.

A Few Dinner Ideas

Another good cold and slightly snowy morning, Boulder, after yesterday's freak mini-blizzard with its 104 car pileup on I-25. Let's hope for a better day today. Tonight we have the Oscars, and instead of munching all evening on finger food from Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, or made via the recipe guides I previously posted, we'll be optimizing efficiency in this household, already looking forward to Mardi Gras on Tuesday.

Since Mardi Gras by definition falls midweek, my plan for tonight is to make something big that will also serve as a suitable easy reheat on Tuesday, not having a full day available in the middle of the week to be concocting authentic Cajun/Creole creations (think I did a post on the difference between those cuisines a year or so ago). I looked at the gumbo recipes in my fun Junior League cookbook bought long ago while in New Orleans, and also the ones in James Villas' Town & Country Cookbook, and although I've made some of them before very successfully, at this point they struck me as just too time-consuming and perhaps a bit heavy. Looking around for alternatives, I settled on chicken sausage jambalaya with shrimp from Whole Foods' website, adjusting the portions downwards as it makes a ton as written. Mardi Gras, convenience, and a perceived healthier approach are driving this choice, rather than any particular sale of the week.

The runner in the family will be wanting pasta by tomorrow, and it seems we've had rather an unusual amount of meat lately, so we'll be looking for something vegetarian as well. I'm looking at pasta with tomatoes and mozzarella from Bon Appetit, using part of a one pound log of Belgioioso mozz that are $6.99 each at Whole Foods this week, and adding in some arugula left from Friday's fish tacos. My only hesitation and possible reason for rethinking is that while tomorrow is supposed to be considerably warmer, an uncooked pasta sauce just doesn't sound that appealing on a day as cold as today.

Fat Tuesday is obvious, since I've already said it will be a quick reheat of tonight's chicken sausage jambalaya with shrimp from Whole Foods' website. Husband was googling what goes with jambalaya as I cooked dinner last night, and per some great advice from Chowhound, evidently cornbread is not a good choice, as that makes for too much starch given the rice in the dish, but any green on the side seems to be viewed favorably.

I might need to do more work on Wednesday and Thursday's plans, as they are too meat-centered for us, although if I add lots of veggies and cut out the carbs, I guess I could call it Atkins. The current sale at the Lucky's Market in Longmont (and not at least in the flyer for Boulder) through Wednesday is pushing me in this direction, as they not only have boneless pork loin chops for $2.99 a pound, but also boneless New York strip steaks for $7.99 a pound, both with Lucky's great "never ever" standards. Guess I'll need to get creative with light, generously-sized veggies for the sides to balance things a bit.

Stay warm and enjoy the Oscars.

Stress And Inflammation Talk At Alfalfa's

So amazing to be thinking it's March already, but this Wednesday, Alfalfa's will host a free talk regarding stress and inflammation that sounds pretty interesting. Here are the details from them:

Balancing Fire: Stress & Inflammation

Wednesday, March 5th

6:00 to 8:00pm

Alfalfa’s Community Room

FREE: register here

Join Jodi Van Bezooyen for an interactive and informative seminar on maintaining a whole-body inflammation response and promoting a healthy stress response through nutrition, exercise, and the proper supplements. A community workshop inspired by the teachings of Dr. Andrew Weil, “Balancing Fire” addresses the lifestyle steps and adjustments needed to address chronic inflammation head-on.

Jodi has been working in the field of health and wellness for about 10 years as a massage therapist, organic gardener, yoga teacher, meditator, and most recently as a wellness specialist here at Alfalfa’s! She enjoys traveling, spending time outdoors, dancing, and playing her ukulele. 

- See more at: http://www.alfalfas.com/events/balancing-fire-stress-inflammation/#sthash.1WBR8ZE3.dpuf

Mardi Gras Tuesday

Once you've gotten through your Oscar's partying tomorrow, it will be time to move on to an even bigger one for Tuesday, Mardi Gras. Here are a few guides to help you laissez les bons temps rouler: Mardi Gras Recipes and Party Ideas from Epicurious, Classic New Orleans Cuisine from Cooking Light, and F&W's Ultimate Guide to Mardi Gras from Food and Wine magazine. And indeed, if you plan to invite friends to laissez les bons temps rouler, please try to spell it correctly, as it is so frequently done using bon not matching the plural les temps, and roulez instead of the infinitive. Picky, I know.