Cookout season is just around the corner, and nothing accompanies a juicy burger, grilled chicken or classic hot dog better than a pasta salad. Traditional pasta and potato salads are often made with a mayonnaise base that is high in calories and fat. As tasty as these side dishes are, there are some healthier options out there that taste just as delicious!

Sue, one of our Whole Story readers, sent us an idea for an orzo salad recipe makeover just in time for the season. This salad uses an oil-and-lemon dressing for a lighter profile. We boosted the nutrition in this already healthy recipe by adding plenty of vegetables for their nutritional attributes as well as eye-catching appeal.

Check out the recipe we developed for Orzo Salad with Broccoli and Tomatoes.

(Click through on the link above for the full recipe, including comments and ratings!)

• Tripling the broccoli adds calcium, fiber, potassium, vitamin C, folate and vitamin K. Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable, and like other cruciferous vegetables, is an excellent nutrient-rich addition to any salad.
• Grape tomatoes add potassium, vitamin A, fiber and vitamin C , not to mention flavor and bright color.
• Even green onions are good for you! They contribute potassium and vitamins.
• Olives, pine nuts and feta add tons of flavor to complement the veggies and mild orzo pasta.

This side dish is packed with essential vitamins and minerals, making it a great substitute for mayonnaise-based pasta and potato salads. Create your own variation on this salad by mixing up the combination of vegetables. Some nutrient-dense options include radishes, bell peppers of any color, red cabbage, cucumber, spinach or carrots. Choosing a variety of colors is appealing to the eye and helps you get the nutrients you need to be healthy.

You’ll be a favorite guest at summer cookouts with this salad in your repertoire. Enjoy!

Send us Your Recipe Request!

Do you have a recipe you’d like us to make natural? Post it in the comments section below! If we select your recipe for a healthy makeover and publish the improved version on our website, we’ll send you a $25 Whole Foods Market gift card.

Grilling is pretty simple, right? Make a fire, cook food over it. Perhaps that’s why those grill-gone-wrong experiences are so humbling. Here are a few of our favorite tips and we’ve got lots more in our Guide to Grilling.

Grill Tips

• Clean your grill, especially the rack, before each use.
• Oil the rack prior to heating to prevent sticking.
• The area of the fire needs to be wider than the area of the food you’re grilling.
• Preheat your charcoal grill and don’t skimp on the charcoal. Light the coals at least 30 minutes before you plan to begin cooking. Do not put foods on the grill until the fire dies down to glowing coals. (Real hardwood charcoal will always have a small flame, even when ready.)
• Even gas grills need to preheat. Turn on the flame at least 15 minutes before putting food over the fire.

Veggies and Fruits

• Use a light brushing of canola oil on vegetables and fruits to help prevent sticking. The use of non-stick grates, foil packets or a grilling basket lightly coated with oil can also be helpful.
• As a general rule, don’t peel vegetables before grilling—you’ll get more nutrients and enjoy a smokier flavor. Leave the husk on corn to act as a natural insulator, keeping the steam in and preventing the corn from drying out.

Poultry

• Thin pieces of poultry can be cooked over direct heat; larger pieces of chicken should be cooked over indirect heat.
• Pick up a butterflied whole chicken (backbone removed) from the meat counter. Flatten chicken and grill about 15 minutes per side. Check out our detailed recipe for Whole Grilled Chicken.

Meat

• Use direct heat for sausages, chops, steaks and hamburgers.
• Use indirect heat for roasts and larger cuts of meat.
• Slash the edges of steaks and chops on the diagonal, about ¼ inch into the center to prevent the edges from curling.
• Start sausage off on high heat to get a really nice char on the outside, then move sausage to a cooler part of the grill to finish cooking through.

Seafood

• Oil fish well with a neutral-flavored oil such as canola to help keep it moist.
• Once you put fish on the grill, don’t touch it for at least three minutes. A crust needs to form on the outside, which will allow the fish to naturally pull away from the grates.
• Fish is naturally tender and should not sit in an acid-based marinade (like lemon juice) for longer than 20 minutes, or it will start to “cook” the fish, turning it mushy.

Quick Tip: Wait to brush on any sugar-based barbecue sauce or other ingredients until the final 5-10 minutes of grilling. This allows the charcoal flavor to penetrate your food first, and prevents the sauce from becoming charred black.

Looking for grilling inspiration? Check out our recipes for the grill. Recipe search results for “grilled”

Confession time: What was your worst grilling nightmare? Was the food edible? Did your guests revolt? Please share!

I am often asked for good ways to improve one’s diet. One of my top suggestions is to eliminate overly processed oils and damaged hydrogenated fats. One great way to do that is to make your own salad dressing. The possibilities are endless and the result is healthy, refreshing and delicious.

Don’t get me wrong! Buying salad dressing is great when you need to save time. I certainly have my favorites that I will always buy, and I love the fact that the dressings at Whole Foods Market are clean and delicious, made without all of the chemicals additives so many commercial salad dressings have. They’re also made with good quality, non-hydrogenated oils.

Still, if you like experimenting in the kitchen like I do, and knowing exactly what goes into your food, then making your own salad dressing is a sure bet for a fun event! Might even save a bit of money too. Here’s my guide:

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This may be the best re-use of our Better Bag that I’ve come across. Cut drainage holes in the bottom and grow lettuce. Thanks to customer Kerry Michaels for coming up with this idea and the step by step instructions.   This is such a cool way to re-use one of our lunch-size bags. Honestly, I had no clue that growing lettuce could be so simple. Sounds like a great weekend project!

Here is a a sampling of the products that are new in our stores this month. if you try them, come back and let us know what you think.

Late July

Organic Mini Sandwich Cookies

• An endangered species animal on every cookie; 10% of profits goes to the Jane Goodall Institute!
• A good source of whole grains and calcium
• Milk Chocolate or White Chocolate, both made with organic chocolate

Organicville

Organic Teriyaki Marinade

• Made with the highest quality tamari, fresh ginger and garlic
• Sweetened with agave nectar; vegan and gluten free
• Sesame and Island varieties are also perfect for stir fry

Re-source

Natural Spring Water

• Made with 25% recycled plastic bottles with a goal of 100%!
• Enjoy the crisp, clean taste of natural spring water while reducing the impact on the environment
• Available in 700ml or 500ml singles, or a 24-bottle multipack

solixir

Sparkling Botanical Beverage

• Made with sparkling spring water, pure fruit juice and more than 1,700 mg natural botanicals
• 60 calories each with no added sugar or or artificial ingredients
• 3 flavors to choose from: Blackberry Chamomile, Orange Maté and Pomegranate Ginger

Whole Foods Market™ Wild-Caught Seafood Burgers

• Individually frozen for freshness and convenience, no need to thaw!
• Flaky, moist and perfectly seasoned for delectable flavor
• Easy and affordable way to enjoy wild-caught Mahi Mahi, Tuna or Salmon

Products may only be available in some stores and only while supplies last.

End of the Line, a documentary based on journalist Charles Clover’s book of the same name, is showing at a handful of film festivals and will play in some cities on June 8th-World Oceans Day.  I had a chance to watch the film and have a few thoughts to share.

The film begins with beautiful footage of marine life and quickly (and graphically) moves toward its key message: The oceans are overfished and fish populations are in trouble. Some of the most well-known and well-respected marine scientists are interviewed in the film to confirm these bleak trends.

I appreciate the filmmaker’s intention to tell this important story about the oceans. Our oceans are under incredible pressure and overfishing is a HUGE problem. In their latest global status report, the FAO states that slightly over half (52%) of fish populations are fished at their maximum sustainable limits, and there’s no room for further expansion. An additional 28% of fish populations are overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion. Why this happens requires a longer discussion, but the short of it is that overfishing happens when fishing quotas (i.e. limits on how many fish can be caught) are exceeded, or because no regulations or ineffective regulations exist to control fishing. Sometimes regulations are on the books but aren’t enforced. And corruption in the market is a reality that undermines even the well-intentioned.

Even so, I wish that a more complete story was told in the film. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s safe to say that here at Whole Foods Market, herbal and botanical ingredients are a pretty basic part of what we are about. We even have a whole section of the store dedicated to medicinal herbs and supplements, called Whole Body. And over in the beverage section, some forward-thinking vendors are using herbal and botanical ingredients to make functional drinks more interesting.

One such product line is Solixir, a blend of sparkling spring water, fruit juice and a unique formulation in each of its three drinks: Blackberry Chamomile, Orange Maté and Pomegranate Ginger. Solixir was developed by an expert herbalist, Amanda McQuade Crawford. Amanda says, “Solixir is a truly exceptional drink with natural botanicals like Lemon Balm, Panax Ginseng, and Elderberry that I have been prescribing to my clients for 20 years.”

Solixir, with over 1,700mg of these standardized herbal ingredients per can, has no added sugar and stacks up at less than 60 calories. According to Amanda: “At Solixir and in my own life, we keep rooted in respect for ancient wisdom, growing with current science to make sure our beverages deliver on the promise of herbal medicine and the needs of consumers for a beneficial and great tasting drink.”

My personal favorite is the “Relax” Blackberry Chamomile. I am a big fan of chamomile, especially after a long day at work, and I like the mild tartness of blackberry and lemon juice. Not too sweet and just a little sparkling. This is good stuff! You can find Solixir in most of our stores.

From an early age I was a summertime kitchen helper for my grandmother, sent to the herb garden to snip a bit of this or that. I loved to watch as she nonchalantly minced, tossed and sprinkled the aromatic snippets into all kinds of dishes, including her unique Summer Cucumber Salad. In my 20s when I wanted to learn more about growing and using herbs, I turned to an aunt who dismissed my entreaties for a logical learning method and told me basically to “just do it” and I could start by helping her weed her own herb garden. While I felt a tad hornswoggled, she was right-as she is about most things-and getting my hands, eyes and nose right down there with the herbs was indeed a good first lesson. The pleasure of watching, tasting and listening across the counter as she cooked became Lesson 2, and I was off! Read the rest of this entry »

The time to worry about apricots is in February. Every farmer in the central valley dreads the series of warm days and moderate nights that awaken their trees from their winter dormancy. Being the first to put out a bloom anyway, the apricot is particularly susceptible to early signs of spring and as the delicate white flowers emerge the apricot farmer knows his crop is in trouble. Joining the late variety citrus grower, the apricot farmer must now endure the last of the winter’s weather – with a fragile blossom’s survival deciding the fate of the season.

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Wow! We were amazed by the number of entries to our online Mother’s Day contest – 1400+ comments. Thanks to all of you for sharing your product recommendations and mom stories. We loved reading them all! In fact, we couldn’t stop with one $100 gift card winner, so we also have named 5 Honorable Mention winners of a FEED 100 reusable bag.

Hope you all had  a very happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

WINNER: Willis Weber

That is how I would celebrate my wife on this very special Mother’s Day for us!

My wife and I were surprised a few days ago with a premature son! Born 30 days early, Henry came in time to make my wife a full-blown mother on this Mother’s Day! For her I would buy the world if I could! But limiting it to products found in Whole Foods is ok, too.

FIRST, a plethora of organically grown daisies! (Her favorite flower and the same one I gave to her on the day I asked her to marry me.) Cut or potted it doesn’t matter. Regular or Gerber it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they are organically grown Whole Foods daisies for my wife!

SECOND, for appetizers, she craves the freshly made guacamole at Whole Foods. Just enough flavor and kick! A bag of 365 non-salted white corn tortilla chips to dip with.

NEXT, more apps! This time baked brie and bread. She’s had to watch which types of cheeses she ate while pregnant–the hardest to give up was brie. And this Mother’s Day meal would be the first time she’s had brie in over 8 months!

FOURTH, her main course, freshly-made sushi from the deli section in Whole Foods. Sushi is another one of her favorite foods that was nixed from her diet during pregnancy. Sashimi, Tempora, California Rolls…all of it because she loves it so much!

FINALLY, for dessert, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s FroYo Half-baked. I still remembered when she discovered the froyo version of it, she went bonkers! And the only place to carry it is our local Whole Foods.

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