As our September Eat Local Challenge rolls on we hope you’re enjoying the bounty that Vermont has to offer! We’ve been thrilled to see the rows of corn kernels continuing to grow on our Big Corn at the store entry, indicating the dollars paid to local farmers and producers thus far this month! Our Weekly Sale from September 21st – 27th features another lineup of local ingredients that can be pulled together into this hearty localvore Cottage Pie that will fill your belly, earn you points in the Eat Local Challenge, and help us add even more kernels to Big Corn!
As we reach the halfway point of our September Eat Local Challenge, we’re excited to share this quick and easy Apple Yogurt Parfait featuring a list of some of our favorite local ingredients. This parfait makes a delicious breakfast, snack, or dessert that you can prepare in advance and enjoy on the go! For the dessert version, consider subbing in a local ice cream in place of the skyr and drizzling the top with a bit of local honey or maple syrup. You’ll find most of the ingredients you’ll need in our weekly sale from September 14th – 20th, including Gammelgarden Creamery skyr and Quaker Hill granola, so it’s a perfect time to whip up this localvore treat!
What do you get when you layer local Vermont Fresh basil pesto, Maplebrook Farm fresh mozzarella, Dell’Amore pizza sauce, and local, organic red peppers onto Slice of Vermont fresh pizza dough? A localvore pie that raises the pizza night bar to new heights! You’ll find these ingredients featured in our Weekly Sale from September 7th – 13th at a great price, and they’ll all help you tally points in the September Eat Local Challenge. They’ll also help us continue to add kernels to the Big Corn located at the Co-op entry, which tracks dollars paid to local farmers and producers all month long!
Savor these last sweet days of summer with this simple recipe that calls for putting it all on the grill. It’ll keep the heat out of the kitchen, minimize cleanup, and it’s a perfect way to celebrate the flavors of the season. You’ll find most of the ingredients in our weekly sale from August 31st – September 6th, including local sausages from our friends at Vermont Salumi, and it’s a perfect way to kick off the September Eat Local Challenge!
We know what you’re thinking: “Wait, cheese on the grill? What a gooey, sticky mess!” And we get it: a slice of cheddar or mozzarella would melt right through the grates. But thanks to a category of grilling cheeses including halloumi, berloumi, paneer, and coalho, to name a few, you can enjoy a cheese that sears and becomes crisp and charred on the outside, while remaining soft and almost squeaky on the inside. Halloumi, which hails from Cyprus, is perhaps the most widely-known grilling cheese and has a uniquely firm texture and high melting point, so it can stand up to all sorts of cooking methods: pan-frying, roasting, broiling, grilling, or frying. Halloumi is a registered trademark owned by the government of Cyprus as a protected Designation of Origin, so only those products made in certain parts of Cyprus can be called “halloumi”. Therefore, halloumi-style cheeses produced outside of Cyprus are often simply labeled “grilling cheese.” Our weekly sale from August 31st – September 6th features Kourella’s Grilling Cheese, so this is a perfect time to fire up the grill and give it a try! It’s a highly versatile dish that can be enjoyed as an appetizer, a salad, a sandwich addition, or even drizzled with honey for a sweet-and-savory dessert!
Savor these last sweet days of summer with this simple recipe that calls for putting it all on the grill. It’ll keep the heat out of the kitchen, minimize cleanup, and it’s a perfect way to celebrate the flavors of the season. You’ll find most of the ingredients in our weekly sale from August 31st – September 6th, including local sausages from our friends at Vermont Salumi, and it’s a perfect way to kick off the September Eat Local Challenge!
It’s back to school time, and whether you’re packing lunches to send with your kids or pulling together simple lunches for homeschool breaks, we think you’ll love this twist on a classic salad. You’ll find many of the ingredients in our weekly sale from August 24th – 30th, so it’s a great time to give it a try. Serve it over a bed of greens with crackers, on your favorite sandwich bread, or in one of the wraps featured in this week’s sale!
Back-to-school time is just around the corner and we think these healthy and versatile homemade granola bars will be a big hit with your little lunch packers. You’ll find many of the ingredients featured in the weekly sale from August 17th – 23rd, so it’s a perfect time to whip up a batch or two. If nut allergies are of concern, feel free to use sunflower seeds instead of almonds and sun butter in lieu of nut butter. Also, feel free to be creative with add-ins. Substitute 1/3 cup of the oats for 1/3 cup of shredded coconut, add chocolate chips instead of raisins (or a combo of the two!), sub in other dried fruits, add up to two tablespoons of chia seeds, add cinnamon or cocoa powder…you get the idea!
We’re always game to honor and celebrate food traditions associated with various holidays, enjoying the opportunity to get a glimpse into the beauty of a different culture through the preparation and sharing of a delicious meal. With this in mind, our Weekly Sale from August 10th – 16th celebrates the food traditions of Ferragosto! The celebration has Roman origins, dating back to Emperor Agustus in 18 BCE, and the term Ferragosto derives from the Latin “Feriae Augusti,” which translates to “August rest.” The feast was part of the period of the festivities dedicated to Conso, god of the earth and fertility, and was called with the aim of ensuring an adequate rest after the efforts made in the previous weeks of work. The date of the ancient Ferragosto was August 1st, though the Catholic Church later moved the date to the 15th, in order to make Ferragosto coincide with the religious celebration for the Assumption of Mary, so you may often hear the holiday referred to as The Feast of the Assumption.
In more recent times, Ferragosto signals the long summer vacation for Italians, and the culinary traditions of Ferragosto reflect the simplicity of summer cuisine in Italy. Dishes generally include carpaccio, seafood, fresh produce, and small plates of olives, cured meats, and cheeses. You’ll find some of these items in our Weekly Sale and this recipe offers a delicious way to pull them together! It’s a perfect way to showcase the succulence of a soil-grown Vermont tomato, and it’s the kind of meal that can be tossed together in 15 minutes without bringing too much heat to the kitchen.
This versatile summer salad makes excellent use of the abundance of fresh cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and herbs coming out of local farms and gardens this time of year. It can be prepared in advance, served warm or chilled, and results in a perfectly healthy lunch, light supper, or side dish. It’s also very flexible in that you can substitute just about any veggies and herbs that you happen to have on hand, so consider this a general template and feel free to get creative! You’ll find bulk organic pearled couscous featured in the Weekly Sale from August 3rd – 9th, so it’s a perfect time to give this dish a try!
