Sprouts Opening In Longmont Wednesday

The natural foods trend will continue to march eastward in Boulder County when Sprouts opens its long-awaited new store in Longmont this Wednesday, the 2nd, open daily from 7 am to 10 pm.  In addition to prize eligibility (with email sign-up), they'll be giving out free reusable shopping bags with purchase while supplies last (like I need another bag, but who can resist?), and the first 300 customers to make a purchase will receive a coupon booklet for five free sandwiches.  The store is at 1101 S. Hover Street, which I think is the location that used to be Borders bookstore.  This will be pretty handy for me, as I pass near that location fairly frequently, while the Vitamin Cottage in Longmont, while much roomier than the Boulder one, has generally been too far north for me.  More natural food options!

Doing The Lobster Tail Math

I've been excited about the Craig's lobster tails from Maine that Whole Foods has on sale for $6 each (technically two for $12, but you can buy in any quantity).  The fish guy told me these are four ounce tails, a decent size.  At the Pearl Street store, I also found eight ounce packages holding three Craig's lobster tails on sale for $17.99 a package.  (Hope I'm remembering these details accurately, as I didn't write anything down.)  So do the math before buying.  Two four ounce tails equals eight ounces, and you can get them individually at $12 total for the two, meaning you'd spend 50% more if you pick up the package to get your eight ounces.  I used to think this stuff was obvious, until I encountered a woman who was about to buy a one pound package of fresh mozzarella at full price, when I pointed out that the half pound packages were BOGO (so she could get a pound at the price of the half pound).  She considered this for a bit, then asked me "Is that a better deal?"  I'm not kidding.

Weekday Dinner Ideas, Including New Year's

With the holiday, this is no ordinary weekday, but time still remains awfully tight.  Tomorrow night being New Year's Eve, we'll do a special dish I've been wanting to try from the November issue of Cooking Light, creamy lobster pappardelle.  Whole Foods has beautiful lobster tails from Maine on sale for $6 each right now, which is my motivation for the dish.

We need some lucky food for New Year's Day, and our usual is Mark Bittman's rather healthy spin on hoppin' John, black-eyed pea soup with ham and greens, from the New York Times.  I take his suggestion to increase the meat and greens to make it a stew, and usually make my own corn bread to go one the side (although the corn bread you'll find at Whole Foods is pretty darned good too, in a pinch).

We'll simplify for Wednesday, just sauteed pork chops ($2.99 a pound at Sprouts through that day), with microwaved russets and some big green veggie on the side.

Then we'll reprise the soup that really is a stew for Thursday, making life even easier.  It will be a week of salads, too, since they'll be on the side for everything but Wednesday.  Last time I looked, organic spring mix was still a steal at Sprouts at $3.99 a pound.

Have a safe and enjoyable New Year's Eve, and beware the possibility of snow and wackos out on the road.

No Sale Currently At Vitamin Cottage

Unless they've started something in the past couple of days, it looks like our local Vitamin Cottage is taking a well-deserved sale hiatus across the holidays.  I was in the Boulder store a couple of days ago, where there were no sale flyers to be found, so I asked the cashier about it, who replied that there currently wasn't one.

Lucky Foods For The New Year

Everybody could use a boost to get the New Year off to a good start, and there are traditions around the world about foods that can in theory help.  Here's a link to my prior post about great articles from Saveur and Bon Appetit, and you can add to that this one from Whole Foods, much briefer but just out.  You'll see common themes among them, and I don't swear allegiance to the prosperity aspect of the luck, since I got laid off since eating these "lucky foods" a few years ago, but I believe there were other aspects in that layoff that indeed proved to be fortunate.  I'll probably stick with the black-eyed pea tradition.

Weekend Dinner Ideas

If I thought time was tight previously, that was nothing.  Here's a quick rundown, two thirds of which is driven by the boneless skinless chicken breasts that are $1.97 a pound at Sprouts this week.

Tonight:  chicken paprikash from Cooking Light, using the chicken from Sprouts.

Tomorrow:  something called New Spanish Rice from an old but excellent cookbook, Great Good Food, and harking back to a childhood favorite, to boot.  Doesn't look like that one's hit the web, sorry.

Sunday, chicken with mushroom sauce (that Sprouts chicken again, as we're burned out on beef after our fabulous standing rib roast), from Cooking Light.

And that's all there's time to write!

Food Is Your Best Medicine At Alfalfa's

Alfalfa's will offer a class on healthy food three times in January, with the first one coming up shortly, next week.  It comes with a $25 price, and registration is required.  Details below:

Food is Your Best Medicine with Charley Cropley


Jan. 3, 6:00pm to 9:00pm

Jan. 5, 10:30am to 1:30pm

Jan. 13, 10:30am to 1:30pm

Charley Cropley has been a practicing naturopathic physician in the Boulder/Denver area for 25 years. Charley will teach participants how to transform their lifestyle by building a wholesome menu around an active lifestyle. It only costs $25 to register!

This Week's Hot Grocery Deals (IMHO)

Good morning on a cold, white day after Christmas.  Through all the festivities, we still have grocery sales to consider, but with much else to do, this will be quick.  We have new sales starting today at our Boulder Sprouts and Whole Foods, while the current one, which I have yet to get to, should be continuing at Vitamin Cottage.  Here's a brief look at what I'm liking.

At Sprouts through January 2nd (!), value packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts are $1.97 a pound, fresh (farmed) Atlantic salmon fillets are $6.99 a pound, king crab legs are $9.99 a pound, pretty big 26/30 count cooked shrimp are $6.99 a pound, four types of grass-fed organic boneless roasts are $5.99 a pound, boneless center-cut pork loin chops are $2.99 a pound, their very good stuffed chicken breasts are $2.99 a pound, and ground chicken, pork, or chicken breast are all also $2.99 a pound.  It's a two page ad again, instead of the usual four pages, so we're lacking info about the organic produce specials.  Organic avocados are known to be 99 cents, but I'm going with the conventionals, which this week are very good at three for $1.  Party trays are 25% off.  Also, five ounce lobster tails are $5.99 each, but keep reading for another option.

Once again, Whole Foods has posted just a few featured specials instead of the entire sale flyer for their new sale running through January 15th, so there's not much to see.  One special however is jumping out at me:  lobster tails (no size specified) at $6 each, effectively the same price as Sprouts.  When Whole Foods does a lobster tail, it comes with a fine pedigree of sustainability and provenance, probably from a place like Maine.  I know what New Year's Eve dinner will be...  Two other specials get my attention, ground turkey breast at $4.99 a pound (pricier than the ground meats on sale at Sprouts and I guess this is what happens to those fine turkeys that didn't get sold for Christmas at Whole Foods), and their own rustic spelt bread at $2.99 a loaf.

Whole Foods has also been known to throw three-day sales following Christmas.  There's no word of one that has reached me yet, but sometimes you only find out about those when you walk in the store.

Stay warm!

Merry Christmas To All

For all those observing it, or simply going with the holiday mood, best wishes for a very merry Christmas day.  I'm thinking my standing rib roast for dinner is going to be spectacular.

Christmas Recipes Reminder

Happy Christmas Eve.  If you're still angsting about Christmas dinner, here's a reminder about the post I did a bit ago about various online guides to Christmas dinner from my favorite sources.