More Dinners For This Week

It might be Halloween, but the dinner planning never ends, so we'd better get going. By tomorrow, it will be time for a pasta dish, and with basil chicken sausage on sale at both Sprouts and Sunflower, I'm thinking just a simple pasta with sausage, peppers, and onion, held together with pasta sauce conveniently coming from a jar (heavens!). If you want to be a little more elaborate, the sauce we made a couple of weeks ago for the mushroom and sausage ragu with polenta would also be delicious over pasta.

Then again we have our reprise of a big dinner made over the weekend, in this case the fabulous black bean chile with butternut squash and Swiss chard, with a salad on the side and a nice hunk of fresh bread from the Whole Foods Bakehouse.

Next, we need something with rice as a base, and with organic bok choy just $1 a pound at Sunflower this week, that spells stir fry. Stir fries are about the most accommodating meals in the world, made with whatever suits your fancy. If looking for a recipe, bok choy with beef from Gourmet looks good, and beef stew meat is $3.99 a pound at Sunflower this week. It would also work subtituting the pork stew meat that's just $2.99 a pound there.

Finally for Thursday (and the sale ingredients need to be bought by Wednesday, the last day of the current sale), I've had good luck once before trying the stuffed chicken breasts that are $3.99 a pound at Sprouts right now. They'll be accompanied by microwaved "baked" potatoes, and I saw large artichokes for just $1 each at Sunflower yesterday. (Looks like there's a bumper crop of beautiful artichokes coming out of California right now.) That would create a rather elegant meal at minimal midweek effort.

And that will do us until next Friday's planning. Don't forget to eat some fruits and veggies along with all that Halloween candy.

Boulder Farmers Market Today

Here's another reason for visiting the Boulder Farmers' Market today, in addition to the popcorn mentioned below and all the wonderful produce available. They're planning a Kids Costume Parade for 9 this morning, plus a free small pumpkin to kids in costume (and more). Should be a good time.

Boulder Popcorn Lauded

In the October issue of Bon Appetit, the "BA Foodist," Andrew Knowlton, gives a shoutout to Boulder's own Boulder Popcorn, declaring "my favorite brand right now is Boulder Popcorn (boulderpopcorn.com). The company sells three small-kernel varieties, which means that the hulls are smaller and less stuff will get stuck between your teeth." This is the same issue that declared Boulder "America's Foodiest Town 2010." You should be able to find Boulder Popcorn at today's Boulder Farmers' Market, so get out there (it opens in twenty minutes, runs until 2).

Getting Started on This Week's Dinners

Since it's Friday already (yeah!), it's time to get started on the dinner plans. I hate to be so predictable, but Sprouts' flash frozen salmon has been excellent in my experience, and since it's $8.99/lb this week, it's on deck for tonight. And with temperatures pushing towards 80 this afternoon, it's going on the grill one last time for the season, albeit in the dark. With avocados just 49 cents each at Sprouts, and organic apples on sale everywhere, invent your own salsa, tossing in some chopped roma tomato, parsley or cilantro, lemon or lime juice, whatever you feel like. I'll be roasting an assortment of winter veggies on the side, chunks of acorn and/or butternut squash (49 cents/lb for conventionals at Sunflower, 69 cents/lb at Sprouts), along with some parsnips, organic baby carrots ($1.25 a 1 lb bag at Sprouts, $1.50 at Sunflower), and organic onion wedges ($1/lb at Sunflower).

For tomorrow, to capitalize on the chicken breasts on sale at Sprouts for $1.97/lb, we're planning to try a recipe from the current issue of Bon Appetit, quick coq au vin. Wow the reviewers have given this recipe four forks out of four, which is a real rarity. Although it has "quick" in its name, appears in the Fast, Easy, Fresh section of the magazine, and purportedly takes 45 minutes to make, this looks complicated enough to be a weekend dinner only, at least in this household. To me, a 45 minute estimate translates to well over an hour in reality.

Then what for Halloween? I'm thinking a seasonal favorite, black bean chili with butternut squash and Swiss chard, will be perfect. This recipe proves beyond a doubt how delicious a vegetarian dinner that's full of veggies can be. Since the butternut gets peeled, I'll probably opt for the conventional squash that's only 49 cents a pound at Sunflower this week, and a big salad will go on the side (organic red or green leaf lettuce $1 a head at both Sunflower and Whole Foods).

And that at least will get us through the weekend, and through Halloween!

One-Day Sale on Honeycrisp Apples

In an usual Friday one-day sale, our local Whole Foods stores have organic honeycrisp apples half price at $1.49 a pound today. This Bon Appetit article recommends honeycrisps as the best starting point for getting out of the mundane variety rut. But the more common varieties have their virtues, too, and are available at good prices this week. At Sprouts, you'll find organic red delicious apples for 88 cents a pound, while Sunflower has organic red or golden delicious or organic Granny Smith apples, all at $1 a pound.

The Rib House Offer - $20 for $10

I've mentioned The Daily Deals that started recently, where various Boulder businesses offer their wares for at least 50% off for a limited amount of time. For those wanting to get out of the kitchen, today's deal is a particularly good one: $10 payment for $20 of bbq at The Rib House at either their Boulder or Longmont locations. You have until 11:59 pm this Sunday, the 31st, to purchase the deal, which you can then use between November 1st and December 31st. Check the details on the minimal restrictions, like one per table, not applicable to alcohol. You can also purchase an additional deal as a gift, and with your purchase you'll receive a code to refer your friends if you like. If three of your friends purchase the deal through the code, your deal is free, how sweet. They're selling quickly this morning.

It's National Chocolate Day!

If you needed a reason to celebrate, go for it. I'm not kidding, today is national chocolate day.

Two-Day Warning for Vitamin Cottage

Just a headsup that Vitamin Cottage's current set of long-lasting deals will be ending Saturday, the 30th. You can see highlights of the sale and link to the full flyer here.

Free Herbs and Spices From Penzeys

Today's Daily Camera has a coupon good at all Penzeys Spices Colorado stores for a free Mini Gift Box with a $5 purchase. The Mini Gift boxes contain four 1/4 cup jars and normally cost $11.95 (appearing in the picture are freshly ground pepper, cinnamon, granulated garlic powder, and Mural of Flavor). The coupon is good through 11/30, good deal.

New Deals Are Up

Sorry about the delay, but I've finally got the highlights up on the left for the natural grocery sales that started yesterday. The best news to me is that, while we've left the fresh wild salmon season behind, Sprouts is already offering their "flash frozen at sea" sockeye for $8.99/lb. While there, I'll also be picking up 1 lb bags of organic baby carrots for just $1.25 each, Hass avocados at 49 cents each, a boneless skinless chicken breasts value pack for $1.97/lb, and some things from their bulk department (especially their Fair Trade coffee), where everything is 25% off. Meanwhile, I'll debate whether organic is worth it on hard shell squash that gets peeled anyway, since conventional acorn, spaghetti, or butternut squash can be had for just 49 cents a pound at Sunflower (69 cents a pound at Sprouts). For red or green leaf lettuce, where organic really, really counts, both Sunflower and Whole Foods are looking great at $1 a head.