After four days of running between panels, keynote speakers and core conversations during the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) Conference, I was exhausted and needed refuge from the madness of the Austin Convention Center.

Thankfully, I’d received an invite to the Austin360.com SXSW Food & Wine Blogger Bash, sponsored by Whole Foods Market and Go Texan and hosted at our flagship store’s wonderful Lamar Culinary Center. Little known fact – I started with Whole Foods Market as catering staff for the Lamar Culinary Center, so I know the place well and was very pleased with how the cooking school space was transformed to house not only a foodie meet & greet, but also wine tastings from the GO TEXAN wine program and demonstrations from two of the best chefs in town – Tyson Cole from Uchi and Jesse Griffiths from Dai Due Supper Club.

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We thought we’d get in on the fun and post our own “25 Random Things” list. How many of these did you know about us? Do you have a favorite fact about us that has missed our list?

1. Several times a year, our stores hold community giving days (known as “5% Days”) where five percent of that day’s net sales are donated to a local nonprofit or educational organization.
2. Margaret Wittenberg, our Vice President of Global Quality Standards and Public Affairs, was the only retail representative on the board which created the U.S. National Organic Standards.
3. We stopped using disposable plastic bags at checkout on Earth Day 2008, keeping 150 million plastic bags out of the landfills since then.
4. We started with 19 Team Members in 1980, and several of them are still with us!
5. An old joke about our first store was that people confused it for a Volkswagen car dealership because of all the VW Beetles in the parking lot. Read the rest of this entry »

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday… hmm.  What are my plans for Sunday?  Well, I think I’ll kick off the morning with an aerial dance class, work my way through halftime with some local theater and make my final touchdown with having some friends over my place for a writer’s workshop.  Is there something I’m forgetting?

Oh right, it’s Game Day!  Well, whether this Sunday will be a football filled frenzy or just another beautiful weekend day, try out some of these great Game Day tips!

Each week we’ve been choosing customer tips to be featured in our weekly The Whole Deal™ blog post, and every chosen tip received a $25 gift card. This weekly giveaway ends this week with these last three tips!  We wanted to thank you all for your great ideas and hope that you continue to share this great info with each other in our Forums.

From Renee:

Here are some tips for how our family will have healthy and fun snacks for the game that will score praise without tackling our money.

Dips and healthy dipping options.

The kids love to make a sweet dip by mixing: vanilla yogurt with small amounts of vanilla, honey, maple syrup and raisins. Sweet dip for pretzels or your own pita chips (small pieces of pita bread cooked at 350 degrees for 8 minutes in oven). Tastes great with cut up fruit and carrot or celery sticks.

It’s fun to make your own guacamole (moderate spice level): mix two mashed avocados with cut-up red or green peppers, one small red onion, three tablespoons of fresh minced garlic, pinch of chile paste, four teaspoons of fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice and one jar tomato paste (or cut up some tomatoes).

To dip…we make sweet potato or regular potato chips baked with olive oil and sea salt and black pepper in the oven (10 minutes for 350 degrees).

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As excitement bubbles for the inauguration of our 44th president, hordes of supporters are flocking to Washington D.C. to witness this historic event in person.  If you happen to be in the area, check out one of our seventeen DC/Baltimore Metro area stores.  Find your nearest store using our store finder.

Having a celebration of your own at home?  We have some delightful recipes that we think will work perfectly – regardless of how you plan on celebrating.

How about a casual gathering with a decidedly Chicago-twist?  Try out this recipe for Classic Chicago-style Hot Dogs with Root Beer Floats.

Leaning towards a luau?  Celebrate Obama’s Hawaiian roots with a Fresh Pineapple Salsa or a Pineapple Ginger Chutney with Macadamia Nuts to accompany succulent and crisp Panko Crusted Pork Chops.

And finally, what better way to top off the election season that lasted a lifetime than with an arugula-studded meal?! Start with a fresh and healthy Arugula Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and then, as a main course, serve a rich and delicious dish like this Savory Fig and Goat Cheese Tart with Arugula. Certain to please Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Green Partiers and anyone else you might invite!

Happy eating and please do let us know what you plan on making come Tuesday!

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We just wanted to send out a big congratulations to two of our Local Producer Loan Program recipients who are now making an impact beyond our shelves!

Dr. Melina

Melina Jampolis of Dr. Melina is CNN’s new health and diet expert. She is a board certified internist and physician nutrition specialist (one of only 200 in US). She specializes exclusively in nutrition for weight loss and disease prevention and treatment.

She was the recipient of a Local Producer Loan from Whole Foods Market that aided her in rolling out her specially formulated protein bars and other products.

In her new role at CNN, she is advising people with a variety of diet and exercise related health concerns.

Justin’s Nut Butter

As mentioned on the Today Show, Justin’s Nut Butters are an excellent choice to keep on hand for healthy snacking.  His nut butters are produced in small quantities from the highest quality natural and organic ingredients and come in convenient single serving packs for taking on the road, keeping at your desk in the office, throwing into your bag, etc.

Whole Foods Market in Boulder was Justin’s first retail outlet for his nut butters, and our Team Members have worked with him to grow his business. Justin’s Nut Butter can now be found in five of our eleven regions! He’s using his loan to expand his production of the single serving packs.

If you have any questions about our Local Producer Loan Program, check out the FAQ section of the web page or contact the program coordinators directly at LPLP@wholefoods.com.

The whirlwind of the holidays (and my own post holidays travel schedule) have finally settled and in its wake, I find a messy house in desperate need of a good deep clean.  Pots and pans in my sink, spots on all my mirrors and a sadly neglected wall-to-wall carpet are all weighing on my mind.  Yet, somehow, I’m still using the excuse of an empty cleaning supplies drawer as an excuse to not take on these tasks.  Thankfully, our wonderful customers and their helpful tips are giving me a bit of a kick start – vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice and essential oils?  I have all those hanging around in my kitchen and bathroom and what better way to get clean than the natural way?

Remember, each week, we choose customer tips to be featured in our weekly The Whole Deal™ blog post. Every chosen tip gets a $25 gift card, so submit your tips and recipes here.  Please note that this weekly giveaway will be ending at the end of this month on January 29th, so get your tips in soon!

From Holly:

here are just a few handy helpful hints: lemon juice removes stains from clothes as does the sun. salt works as a lovely scrubber when cleaning. vinegar and water can clean almost anything. baking soda is a great cleaner and deodorizer. adding a few drops of dishwashing liquid to a bucket of warm water will do wonders for linoleum floors. plus, your home will smell wonderful and your pocket book will thank you. also, my beautician told me, do not wash your hair everyday, washing will ruin it. wash every other day. anytime you can use cloth products as opposed to paper, please do.

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So we’re nine days into the new year – how are you doing with your resolutions?

Still going strong? Excellent.

Not doing so well? Well, it’s all right. Many of us set lofty goals for ourselves at the beginning of this year and are at a loss as to where to start.  Oftentimes the biggest changes we want to set into motion in our lives require small pushes. Whether you want to be healthier, more environmentally minded or happier – all of these goals are attainable with a bit of a nudge.  Check out what we’re reading this week to inspire us into taking those first steps toward achieving our goals. What are you doing?

Fresh Start for a New Year? Let’s Begin in the Kitchen

Mark Bittman strips the cupboards bare and then stocks them back up in his NY Times column.

While you’re stocking up, you might clear out a bit of the detritus that’s cluttering your shelves. Some of these things take up more space than they’re worth, while others are so much better in their real forms that the difference is laughable. Sadly, some remain in common usage even among good cooks. My point here is not to criminalize their use, but to point out how easily and successfully we can substitute for them, in every case with better results.

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Hello 2009! I still can’t believe how quickly the holiday season passed and now, as we recover from weeks of decadent eating, it seems like healthy, budget-conscious eating tops most everyone’s New Year’s Resolutions list. Treating both our bodies and our environment with more respect is something we should keep in mind year-round, but it’s nice to have a moment to step back and reflect.

Just in time, we have our latest edition of The Whole Deal™ quarterly value guide in stores now — loaded with money-saving tips, sure deals, coupons, recipes and budget-friendly meal solutions. Along with the great customer tips below, you’ll have lots of help in keeping your recently made promises to yourself.

Remember, each week, we choose customer tips to be featured in our weekly The Whole Deal™ blog post. Every chosen tip gets a $25 gift card, so submit your tips and recipes here.

From Grace:

Eating healthy can be difficult when you are a poor college student but my boyfriend and I make a weekly meal plan and go grocery shopping once for the week. We make a big list and use the sale flyers as well as the Whole Deal newsletter to plan meals that include sale items. It is important for us to use seasonal, organic fruits and veggies and we have recently tried to make at least one or two vegetarian meals to cut back on the cost of meat. We LOVE the salad bar, if we don’t feel like cooking, we bike over to our local Whole Foods and create our own salads at about $4.00 per person and grab a piece of fruit for dessert. We have also found that buying bulk meat packages and separating them into 1 lb portions is a great way to ration the meat and save money! I am constantly online checking the sale flyers and finding recipes that go with the products that are on sale.

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We hope that you are all having a delightful last day of 2008!

Need some last minute help in ringing in the New Year?  Check out our Champagne Primer to make sure you’re serving the perfect bubbly for your taste and budget.  Having guests over?  Take a look at our Entertaining with Wine and Cheese guide.  And remember, above all else – celebrate safely and responsibly!

Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday that celebrates family, community and culture. Celebrated from December 26th through January 1st, its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, the most widely spoken African language.

A traditional Kwanzaa celebration feast includes rich and comforting dishes such as fried okra, chicken & sausage gumbo, cornbread and collard greens.  If you’re looking for some new inspiration, check out some of these recipes from our expansive recipe collection:

• Chicken Gumbo with Fresh Okra
• Buttermilk Cornbread
• Spicy Collard Greens
• Roasted Pumpkin Bisque
• Sweet Potato Pancakes
• North African Style Grilled Vegetable Salad
• Caramelized Plantains

What are your favorite dishes for Kwanzaa?