Wednesday, June 29, 2011

50% off Sale on Aisle 3 Frozen Meat: Cherchez la Green Dot



The Coop needs to reduce inventory on frozen meat, so here's your opportunity to savor (economically) such high-ticket items as Pollo Rosso heritage chickens and grass-finished short ribs of beef. Also a variety of sausages and pork roasts, ready for your 4th of July grilling pleasure.

Check the Aisle 3 meat freezer -- across from the soy milk -- look for the "Special Sale" Coop price sticker, and the green dot. The green-dotted items will scan at their newly-marked prices, which are 50% off the original price.

Bon appetit,
snowball.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

In the news


More on sunscreens and how to protect yourself from the sun from Jane Brody.

Do you need to take multivitiamins? Wall Street Journal does a review.

Mushrooms, shallots, garlic and lemon ricotta anyone? Interesting vegetarian recipes by an Isreali-born chef working in London are featured weekly in the Guardian, with archive access.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Eat like a Prince; Pay like a Pauper

You DO know that everything in the Aisle 3 frozen-meat case is 20% off the original fresh-meat price, don’t you? Of course you do.

So this is a great opportunity to make beef broth out of discounted short ribs and shank bones. They make the richest, silkiest, most flavorful broth you’ve ever tasted. Let the beef cool in the pot, chill and remove the fat the next day.

The French serve the broth as the first course and the meat as the second: pot au feu.

But you can use the broth for onion soup gratinee, or mushroom-barley soup, or minestrone, or beef borscht, or a hearty risotto.

The meat can be torn up and used any number of ways. It makes a great ropa vieja, with yellow rice and black beans.
Or a simple, delicious hash: sauté it with chopped onion and potato and add a bit of the broth.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

In the news...

Bearded brothers of Williamsburg bring in 20 tons of cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic by sail and unload in Red Hook--avoiding using that expensive fuel. So retro but apparently so expensive--the Mast Brothers predict that their "Black Seal" line of chocolate bars made from these beans will cost 25% more.

FDA issues new rules for labeling of sunscreens. Look for these changes next year.

You might want to get out your Microplane grater and forgo shredded cheese: it is likely to contain wood pulp. The plant fiber prevents the shredded cheese from clumping. Ditto for low fat ice cream--the powdered cellulose yields a creamy mouth feel. You may be comforted to know that "Only powdered cellulose in its least manipulated form can be used in foods labeled "organic" or "made with organic" ingredients by the U.S. Department of Agriculture," as reported by the Wall Street Journal. And the FDA only allows 1% to 4% wood pulp in meat. But hey, it is fiber and it is not synthetic.

Your DVR uses more energy than your refrigerator, according to a study published by the National Defense Research Council. DVRs continue to drain almost as much energy when they are programmed to record as when they are actually being viewed. The Gothamist has a nice graphic.

Wheat-free Gluten-free cookies


There are a number of wheat free cookies available through our distributors. Some are also gluten-free and dairy free. We are trying out some on the front endcap across from the eggs.

Nairn's chocolate chip oat biscuit has already proven to be very popular and has a permanent home in Aisle 7A. All of the Nairn oat biscuits are wheat-free, tasty and relatively inexpensive. Each compact box has four individually wrapped packets of 5 cookies each, which is handy for lunch boxes and keeps the cookies fresh.



Newman's O's are wheat-free and dairy-free.






Aleia's cookies are gluten-free. Standard flavors like chocolate chip and peanut but the Almond Horn made with almond paste and egg whites is the most popular. $$$

Smooze is back or DIY pops



The very popular Smooze ice pops are back--shelf stable (just put in freezer), dairy-free and gluten-free. And not just for kids--a sales rep recently suggested that they make a quick and easy pina colada.

However, if you want to go the very adult DIY route, here is a recipe for paletas--some cherries, some sour cream, some tequila......

We sell the molds for making the pops at the end of Aisle 4A