Thursday, April 28, 2011

Smashed and Crisped Fingerling Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

1.5 lbs fingerling potatoes
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (230 degrees Celsius).

Lightly scrub the potatoes. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil, then add the potatoes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and let cool.

Place each potato on a cutting board and use the bottom of a heavy saucepan to gently smash each potato until slightly flattened. Take care not to "over-smash", or the potatoes will fall apart. Transfer the flattened potatoes to a baking sheet.

Drizzle the potatoes with half of the oil and sprinkle with half of the salt and the pepper. Roast in preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Turn the potatoes over and sprinkle with remaining oil, salt, and pepper. Bake until golden and crispy, about 10 minutes.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

New Products & Specials Too

Every spring, there's a big convention in Vancouver for the health food industry. Manufacturers and distributors set up booths and you have to work for a health food store or related business to get in. This year's convention was just a couple of weeks ago and I went on behalf of Green Earth Organics for the third year in a row.

There are three main reasons to go to this show: to see new products, to sample all kinds of goodies, and to get show specials from the distributors. It took me about four hours to go through the whole show, and that was with skipping everything that wasn't organic (there was an entire aisle of protein shakes and muscle-building supplements that I skipped, for example). At the other end, I came out with a bunch of new products to share with you and some great deals. Over the next three or four weeks, I'll be receiving shipments and putting items on the website, so keep your eye on the sale items page. Here are some new items that are already available on our website (all prices are subject to change and the sales are until the current supply lasts):

Camino Fair Trade Tropical Juice: From the makers of Cocoa Camino chocolate chips and cocoa powder, this is the first organic and fair trade juice on the market. This isn't such a strange jump for the company, as many of their cocoa beans and coffee beans are shade grown, and the trees used to create the canopy of shade atop the bean crops are often fruit trees. 946 mL tetrapak. Regular: $3.75; sale: $3.00.

Steaz Iced Teas: Made with green tea and available in two flavours: peach and blueberry-pomegranate-acai. I tried the peach at the show and it was a very nice level of sweetness and very refreshing. I look forward to trying the other flavour this weekend. 240 mL can. Regular: $2.12; sale: $1.70.

YoBaby Yogurts: A favourite with moms and babies, we now have the Vanilla & Apple-Pear combo pack in stock. 8 x 100 g. Regular: $6.99; sale: $6.64.

We also have two new Simply Natural products. Vodka Cream Pasta Sauce for those who like a little cream in their tomato sauce, and Black Bean and Corn Salsa for a different dip or addition to tacos, fajitas, etc.

Things to look forward to: more Patel's Indian dishes, a delicious acai juice, some lime lemonade, free range egg noodles, and more. We will also have some existing favourites on sale, including some of the L'Ancetre cheeses and various pastas.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Did You Know: Email Reminders

"Did You Know" is our new series of blog posts about Green Earth Organics: how it works, how you can do more with your account, etc.

We have a new feature! Members can now opt in to receive an automated email when the bin contents are posted each Thursday evening. It will skip the reminder if you are not receiving a bin in the coming week.

When new members sign-up, they will be able to opt in at that time. Existing members are opted out by default (except those who were on my manual email reminder list, who will be moved to the automatic emails).

If you would to receive the emails, log on to your account, go the Your Details page, and tick the box "Send email when your bin is ready to be updated?". You can change your preference at any time.

If you have any questions or concerns, please give us a call at 604-708-2345 or email info@greenearthorganics.com.

Miso Gravy

INGREDIENTS

2 cups water
2 large Tbsp red miso
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
2 dashes tamari
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Milk as needed
Sea salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, whisk together first six ingredients, until no longer lumpy.

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Gradually add mixture to frying pan, stirring frequently. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until thickened. Add milk if required for texture. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To make a thicker gravy, add more flour. Add more water or milk for a runnier gravy.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Change to Bottle Deposits

At Green Earth Organics, we're always working on improving our website. Most of those improvements are behind-the-scenes type things that mostly make things easier for our office and warehouse staff, but occasionally something will be visible to our members when they are using the site.

Up until now, all the refundable bottle deposits for Avalon's glass bottles had to be manually added to each order. The deposits showed up as separate additional items on the invoices. Since this was so much work for the office staff, instead of separately processing all the smaller deposits for the Santa Cruz cans and Happy Planet containers, we just included those deposits in the prices on the website.

All of that is changing. We have just done another upgrade to our website and now we can automatically create bottle deposits on individual items. So, if you order a bottle of Avalon milk, the bottle deposit will be automatically added to your invoice. Instead of showing as an additional item, all of them will be added as a single item at the bottom, near where the HST is listed.

We will start this change with just the Avalon bottles, but over the next couple of weeks, we will be separating out the deposits for the pop cans and juice bottles. These are the same bottle deposits and environment fees you can see on all grocery store receipts; the stores don't set these fees and don't profit from them. You will see the prices on effected items drop by five to twenty-five cents each, but the final price will remain the same as the deposits are added to your final invoice. Each item's description will tell you its deposit amount.

Cold pack deposits will still be added as additional items in the old way, as the number of cold packs doesn't easily correspond to the number of milks ordered.

Unfortunately, due to the amount of labour involved in processing deposit returns (they still have to be tracked and processed manually), we're still only encouraging the return of Avalon bottles.

If you have any questions or concerns, please give us a call at 604-708-2345 or email info@greenearthorganics.com.

Thank you for being a member of Green Earth Organics!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Roasted Beets with the Greens

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch beets with greens
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp chopped onion
Sea salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp wine vinegar (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Wash the beets and greens thoroughly, leaving the skins on the roots (it is easier to peel them after roasting, if desired). Cut the greens off the roots, remove any thick stems, tear into 2 to 3 inch pieces, and set aside.

Place the beets in a small baking dish or roasting pan and toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cover and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until a knife can slide easily through the largest beet. Once the beets are cool enough to handle, peel if desired and slice.

When the roasted beets are almost done, heat the remaining 2 olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook until onion is translucent, about a minute. Add the greens to the skillet. Cook and stir until greens are wilted and tender. Season with salt and pepper. To serve, pile the greens on a plate and top with sliced roasted beets. Optional: drizzle with wine vinegar or add a bit of butter, salt, and pepper to the sliced beets.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The Joy of Cooking's Flour Tortillas

INGREDIENTS

2 cups unbleached white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 lard, butter, or extra virgin olive oil
3/4 hot water

DIRECTIONS

Mix together the dry ingredients with a whisk or fork, then add the wet ingredients.

Mix the dough together by hand until consistent, then, on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough by hand for 5-6 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6-8 equal-sized balls. Let sit in covered bowl for 20 minutes.

Heat a medium-large sized skillet at medium heat. Do not grease the pan. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a round about 1/8 of an inch thick.

Place your flattened dough on the hot skillet. Wait 30 seconds and flip it over with a spatula - you'll notice nice little brown spots all over. After you flip, let it cook for 15 seconds and then pull the tortilla off the pan. Repeat with each flour tortilla until done. Serve warm.