Wheatsville Co-op Austin, TX

["Dan gillotte" <dangillotte AT gmail.com>]

Hello Wheatsville Friends!

I hope the new year is
starting off well for you! It's been good for us so far! And since it's
the year of the Wheatsville Renovation, we're excited!

Scroll down for:
Board Meeting
Closing early
Citrus Season
Sail into Beer
From your deli
in the land of Cheese!
Words from our butcher including recipes!
New frozen fruits
Clean out your pantry for the new year!

Board meeting
Last board meeting of the 2008 board year and the first of '09 as old and new board members join up for one great agenda! Monday Jan. 12th 6-9pm in the Large Meeting Room in our new offices at 3105 Guadalupe St. Agenda here: http://wheatsville.coop/bodagenda.pdf

Closing early to appreciate our staff!
Our staff works
very hard to deliver the best store possible for our owners and other
customers every day and while we try to do regular appreciation there's
nothing like a formal opportunity to acknowledge our appreciation. So, we will be closing early on Wed. Jan. 14th at 9pm
to allow all staff to attend the celebration. We're sorry for any
inconvenience, but I'm sure that you agree that appreciating our staff 
is a really important thing to do!

Citrus Season
We've brought in some conventionally grown
citrus to ease in to the season. Once the organic varieties are
available, we'll switch over to those. For now, try the delicious Satsuma mandarins.
(Dan here, I am loving these!) These are best when they feel saggy, and
look kinda ugly. They have been sweet, sweet, sweet, and have few (if
any) seeds. Also, the Cara Cara (pink navel oranges) have been pretty nice so far as well. Blood oranges are in, and make colorful, tasty, additions to salads.

Mushrooms
We are running a coupon this month on packaged
mushrooms. We have several varieties of organic mushrooms available,
and we'll be posting recipes featuring them throughout the month.
 
Packaged Salads and Lettuces
We're having trouble getting these through our distributor, and hope
that we will have them back in stock by the end of the week. Thank you
for your patience.

In the Beer Aisle
 
Beer of the Week: Full Sail IPA
 
Generously hopped to 60 IBU's in the classic style, this IPA is a real
thirst quencher. It has a full, malty body and there's even a hint of
fresh citrus to it. If you haven't tried a brew from Full Sail, a small
brewery in Fort Hood, Oregon, pick up a six pack of the IPA today!
 
From your deli
Despite our Under Construction appearance,
the Wheatsville Deli is working harder than ever to continue to bring
our owners the tastiest, most divine dishes in Austin! Zucchini Falafel
– fried crispy on the outside, with a lovely interior of fresh shredded
zucchini mixed with lightly spiced, mashed garbanzo beans – are back –
as is Wild Rice with Apricots, a delicious and seasonal salad
pairing hearty wild rice with sweet, chewy dried apricots and
cranberries, plus crunchy almonds and celery, all tossed in a
garlic-Dijon dressing.
 
Through the 15th, we will have our January Fresh in the Deli items in stock daily – Asian Cabbage Crunch, a crunchy bok choy slaw with arame seaweed and Japanese flavors, and Creole Yams, spicy, roasted sweet potatoes. Both dishes are vegan and both are delicious! 

Playground Bars are one of our very creative Bakery's latest
concoctions – homemade chewy granola bars, full of sweet, plump raisins
and tasty but good-for-you ingredients like flaxmeal and wheat germ.
They're the perfect addition to a bagged lunch or after-school snack
whether you're in kindergarten or college!
 
The Deli standards are all here as well – Frito Pies, Lemon-Pepper Catfish, Rice & Beans, Popcorn Tofu, Risotto Cakes – as well as our personalized sandwiches made with Applegate Farms and Boar's Head meats and cheeses on fresh, local baked breads with your choice of many veggies and spreads! Come on in and have lunch with us!

 
Land-o-cheese
 
This month we are bringing in a couple of more Organic Valley Farms shredded cheeses. We will be bringing in the OVF shredded Cheddar and Mozzarella both of which are on sale this month. Also we still have plenty of the OVF Blue cheese crumbles and shredded Mexi Blend. This month's featured cheese is Blue Cheese. Currently we are carrying a domestic Gorgonzola, an Argentine Blue, Danish Blue, an English Stilton, an English Shropshire and a raw milk  Fourme d'Ambert. We still have a few wedges of Pureluck's Hopelessly Blue.
I am currently sourcing a local blue cheese. These blue cheeses make a
wonderful topping for pizzas. My favorite pizza includes a gorgonzola
with caramelized onions, avocado and bacon.
 
From the Butcher
 
Starting
this week you will be seeing some new product in the meat case. We are
expanding the Applegate meats selection to include: Natural and Organic Sunday Bacon, Chicken and Apple sausage, Turkey Bacon, and Sweet Italian sausage.
 
Applegate
meats are a fantastic company, and are committed to quality natural and
organic products using no gluten, casein or additives. They're
recognized by Certified Humane .org and use grass-fed beef in the beef
products. You can read more about Applegate meats at www.applegatefarms.com/Products/ . They even have a UPC code tracker program so you can trace your dinner back to its origin, Wow!

 
Don't miss our great specials on Niman steaks and Grateful Harvest Turkey legs, breasts, thighs, wings, ground turkey, and parts for stocks.
With
a member coupon you can get $1 off the total price of Niman Boneless
Ribeye and Niman Boneless Strip Steak. Also with coupon you can get 50
cents off Grateful harvest turkey parts.
           
Try these recipes out…
 
Italian Sausages, Greens, & White Beans Skillet

Serves 4

This recipe also works with virtually any kind of fresh sausage and sturdy fresh greens.

1 head escarole, leaves separated, washed, and torn into pieces
Salt 
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
8 Applegate Farms Organic Italian Sausages, cut crosswise into 1"-thick pieces
1 small yellow onion, peeled and chopped 

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped 
1 28-ounce can whole peeled plum tomatoes 
1 15.5-ounce can white beans, such as navy, great Northern, or cannellini, drained
2 heads Belgian endive or 1 small head radicchio, rinsed, trimmed, and quartered 

Freshly ground black pepper
 
Blanch
the escarole in a large skillet of boiling salted water over
medium-high heat until just wilted, about 30 seconds. Drain and set the
greens aside. Wipe the skillet dry, add the oil, and heat over
medium-high heat. Add the sausages and cook until browned all over,
about 5 minutes. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions
are soft, 2–3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hand
as you add them to the skillet, then add the canning juices. Add the
blanched greens, Belgian endive or radicchio, and the beans. Season to
your taste with salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Cook until the
endive or radicchio wilt and the brothy skillet juices thicken
slightly, about 5 minutes.
Bacon strips keep these turkey burgers moist and tasty. Add a salad and you have an easy dinner with a gourmet twist.

Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Burgers
8 strips of bacon 
1 pound ground turkey 
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs 

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Preheat broiler.
Lay
bacon on a baking sheet and broil until beginning to brown, but still
limp. Place on paper towels to drain. In a large bowl combine together
turkey, bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt and pepper.
Shape into 4 patties, 1/2-inch thick. Crisscross slices of bacon on
each patty, tucking the ends under and securing with toothpicks if
necessary. Broil 4 inches from the heat until turkey is done, about 4
minutes on each side. Remove toothpicks and serve on buns with desired
condiments.         
Makes 4 servings.

Here's the latest from Chill Buyer Mike Crissey:
 
New in the Freezer!
Sustainable Fruit from Stahlbush Farms!
 
We
have a great new line of frozen fruit in the freezer from Stahlbush
Island Farms, a second-generation family farm in Oregon's Willamette
Valley that has been certified 100% sustainable by the Food Alliance,
which was started by Oregon State University, Washington State
University, and the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Some
shoppers may be familiar with the Stahlbush Island Farms' line of
Farmer's Market Organic canned fruits and vegetables.
 
Stahlbush
Island Farm's frozen fruit is not all certified organic but many of its
sustainable practices meet or exceed organic standards.
 
Stahlbush Island Farms uses:
      Crop rotation to prevent disease, control weeds, improve soil health and reduce pesticide use.
       Cover crops like wheat, ryegrass and common vetch after harvests
to help build their soil, control weeds and generate nitrogen in the
soil, which reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers. 
      Independent soil residue testing to check for 20 chemical residues, including DDT.
       Product residue testing by the National Food Laboratory to check
for 200 compounds, including organophosphates and organochlorines which
are found in pesticides.
 
Stahlbush Island Farms frozen blueberries, strawberries and health berries will be on sale for $2.99 all January.
 
Learn more about Stahlbush Island Farms at http://www.stahlbush.com
Learn more about the Food Alliance at http://www.foodalliance.com.
 
Clean out your pantry!
Here is a link to a terrific article by Mark Bittman, blogger and New York Times food critic. It's all about organizing your pantry and stocking it with the right (according to Mr. Buttman) items. A what's in and what's out list for your pantry! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/dining/07mini.html?_r=1&8dpc

I hope that you all have a terrific week!
Twitter us at http://twitter.com/wheatsville

Dan Gillotte
Wheatsville GM and e-mail, blog, Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace guy...