All posts by Gary Huber

Pick-up Thursday at DM area sites or Friday in Ames

We had 122 members order 1,526 different items this cycle. Total purchases were $7,400. Thanks for ordering through your cooperative!

Pick-up is on Thursday at our Des Moines-area sites or Friday in Ames. Specifics on times and locations are to the left if you are receiving this as an email. We have an alternative pick-up time of 10:30 am to noon on Saturday at our Merle Hay Mall location. Please send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop if you want to pick up your order on Saturday.

Also, you can access your invoice access by logging in, going to the shopping tab, and click “view in-process invoice” on the left hand side of the page.)

Why I Appreciate the Iowa Food Coop

Member Patrick shares with us why he chooses the Coop:


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I feel much better purchasing food from local producers who openly disclose their farming practices. I am not just a consumer of meat, eggs, and vegetables. I want grass fed beef, range fed chicken eggs and organic, non-GMO vegetables. Before placing my order with a new producer, I review the information they provide about their products and decide what to buy based on their farming practices.

I do this first of all for my own good health. I’m convinced that the practices used by concentrated animal feedlot operations result in inferior-tasting products that are also polluted with antibiotics, synthetic hormones, residues of GMO toxins and pesticides. Non-organic fruit and vegetable producers are allowed a certain “safe” level of pesticide residue in their products, but I’ve yet to see a food label that provides information about what specific pesticides they used. I would rather not assume the risk to my health by consuming these products. Thanks to Iowa Food Co-Op, I don’t have to.

I’m glad to support producers who have invested time and effort to make grass-fed, range-fed, organic, non-GMO products available; because without them, what choice would there be?

IFC Shopping Cart is Open

Time to Shop!

 

The shopping cart opened last night at midnight. It’ll close at midnight on Sunday, Sept. 15. Delivery is Thurs., Sept 19 at our Des Moines area locations and Friday, Sept. 20 at our Ames location. Note that if you have a conflict with this schedule, our alternative pick up time from 10:30 am to noon on Sat., Sept 21.

See below for updates on new stuff, including a new producer. To shop go to https://iowafood.coop and log in. If you need help with your username or password, send an email to info@iowafood.coop.

Angel Acres, an IFC egg producer since October 2011, sold the enterprise (chickens, equipment, feed, etc.) to Cole Gruis, a 16-year-old FFA student from a small farm north of Indianola. Cole has listed eggs for the first time this cycle. Welcome aboard, Cole! 

Zaza’s Pasta is taking this cycle off (Julie’s getting married – congratulations!).

Maxwell Farms added Purple Peruvian and La Ratte fingerling potatoes, yellow tomatoes, and Minnesota midget melons.

Huber Family Farm added German Butterball and La Ratte fingerling potatoes as well as Beauregard and O’Henry sweet potatoes. They may be listing carrots later this cycle.

Wildwood Farms is back this cycle with several new products – Walnut Blondie Mix (a white chocolate version of their tasty brownie mixes), two sizes of Toffee Almonds (almonds roasted with a rich buttery coating, and two kinds of Trail Mix (peach crisp and freeze-dried).

Wild Rose Pastures added several new grass-fed beef items, including Porterhouse Steak, Chuck Roast, and Rolled Rump Roast.

From Jocelyn (the Pickle Creek Girl): “We’re nearing the end of our garlic – not much left now. We’ve also reached the end of our herb seedlings for this year, but we’ve started listing organic fresh herbs – Genevese Basil and Lemon Basil to start.”

Berry Patch Farm added 10 lb bags of Honey Crisp apples.

Red Barn Produce added fresh garden sage leaves, Overhome Farm added assorted hot peppers, Chef Connie’s Urban Farms added Hungarian peppers, and Sunny Gardens added swiss chard and Lacinato kale.

Broadhorn Farm has two beef products from its Belted Galloway herd on sale: Short Ribs @ $5/lb (regularly $5.65) and Ribeyes @ $14/lb (regularly $16).

Corazon Coffee Roasters has started using a bean from the 2013 harvest of Ethiopian Sidamo (grown by the Oromia Coffee Farmers Coop) that received a cupping score of “90” out of 100 possible points. Check it out – product #3276.

Yoke S Ranch has three products from its Corriente beef herd on sale: sirloin roast at $6 per pound (regularly $6.60), beef patties at $5/lb (regularly $5.50), and beef jerky at $15/lb (regularly $17.50).

 

Pick-up Thursday at DM area sites or Friday in Ames

We had 137 members order 1,585 different items this cycle. Total purchases were $8,554, which is down about $800 from last cycle. The website’s server went down for a few hours on Saturday, which may have been why we dropped a bit in sales. Hopefully we’ll bounce back next cycle.

Pick-up is on Thursday at our Des Moines-area sites or Friday in Ames. Specifics on times and locations are to the left if you are receiving this as an email. We have an alternative pick-up time of 10:30 am to noon on Saturday at our Merle Hay Mall location. Please send an email to distribution@iowafood.coop if you are coming on Saturday.

NOTE: Parking will be a bit of an issue for our new Merle Hay Mall location. We were warned that parking by “No Parking in Fire Lane” signs is not good. You can pull in by the loading dock just to the west of the mall entrance, or you can park use the parking lots to the south and west of the parking ramp that’s being torn down. Also, we now have several shopping carts to help folks get their orders out to where they’ve parked.

Also, you can access your invoice access by logging in, going to the shopping tab, and click “view in-process invoice” on the left hand side of the page.)

Roast it, Grill it, Saute it!

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This is a hodge podge of things from the coop and my own gardens. I find the best dishes generally come together without much of a plan, but rather simply based around what is available fresh! This all might sound a little involved, but if the Baba Ghanoush is prepared ahead of time, it goes quickly.

Lamb burgers:
1 lb ground lamb(Fieldstone Farms)
1/2 TBsp Penzey’s Greek seasoning
1 TBsp safflower oil

Veggie sides:
8 okra, sliced thin
3-4 turnips, peeled and cubed (Raccoon Forks Farm)
3-4 potatoes, cubed
1 bunch collard greens, chopped
oil as needed
salt and pepper
1-2 TBsp honey (Ebert Honey Co)
1-2 TBsp balsamic vinegar (we have to use brown rice vinegar)

Baba Ghanoush:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baba-ghanoush-2/
The eggplant I used in this was grown in my own garden, but from the lovely heirloom plants purchased from Pickle Creek Herbal!
I also added a bit of cumin in our BG, because cumin makes everything better.

Lamb burgers- Take the thawed lamb, add a 1/2 TBsp of Greek seasoning, plus a full tablespoon of safflower oil, and mix all together in a bowl. Form into patties and grill over medium high heat for approximately 3 1/2 minutes each side.

Veggie sides- Preheat the oven to 425. Put sliced okra in a bowl and drizzle with oil(safflower, sunflower, etc). Lightly salt/pepper, and mix together to get it evenly coated. Place the okra in as much a single layer as you can manage on a large rimmed cookie sheet. Leave some space, because the potatoes and turnips are going on it, too! Place the potatoes and turnips in the bowl used for the okra and drizzle with a little of the same oil, lightly salt/peppering again. Arrange on the sheet but keep them separate from the okra. Roast for 10-15 minutes, or until the okra is tender. The potatoes and turnips will take longer, so remove the okra via spatula and place in a covered dish to stay warm. Continue roasting the potatoes and turnips until they are tender or browned.

For the collard greens- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a heavy skillet over medium high heat. Add the greens and stir until just wilted. Then pour 1/2 cup water in the skillet and cook 5-7 minutes. You can make a separate sauce if you’d like, or take the easy way and just add a tablespoon or two of honey and balsamic vinegar to the skillet while it cooks. Drain and serve. (What I did was loosely based on this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-and-tangy-sauteed-collard-greens/ )

Potato & Savoy cabbage soup

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I was on a mission for something new to try with the beautiful Savoy cabbage we bought from Black Cat Acres, and came across this recipe on www.bbcgoodfood.com. Due to severe food restrictions for my son, I modified it heavily, but it still was very good. This is one to put in your back pocket for the upcoming brisk fall days!

1 onion (7 Pines)
1 carrot (we omitted)
1 celery stalk
garlic cloves to taste (Pickle Creek Herbal has some amazing, very strong garlic and one clove was enough!)
4 cups cubed potatoes (Maxwell Farms’ Red Thumb Fingerling potatoes)
stock of choice or water, we used 2 cups homemade lamb stock
1/2 head of Savoy cabbage (Black Cat Acres)
Bacon of choice (we omitted, by error as I forgot to pickup turkey bacon!)
2 TBsp oil, grapeseed, safflower, or sunflower

Chop the onion, carrot, celery stalk to preferred size- the smaller the piece, the quicker it will cook. Cube the potatoes to about 1 inch size. Heat oil in a cast iron dutch oven on the stove. Put all vegetables in the pot, except the cabbage. Season the vegetables to taste with salt and pepper. Cover the pot and reduce the heat for about 5 minutes while they soften. Stir as needed. Add the garlic, minced, to the pot towards the end and allow it to soften for a minute. You do not want it to brown! Then add the stock or water until the vegetables are just covered(this will vary, and that is ok). Bring the pot up almost to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer covered until the vegetables are tender.

While the vegetables simmer, fry the bacon and set it aside to cool. Then break into small pieces. Shred the cabbage and discard the core.

When the vegetables are almost done, add the cabbage to the pot and cook until just tender. Serve with bacon pieces on top.