Board meeting, Closing early, Citrus Season, and recipes!

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!

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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

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.
 
I hope that you all have a terrific week!
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Dan Gillotte
Wheatsville GM and e-mail, blog, Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace guy...