Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. Do you know what you’ll be making on the big feast day? There’s still time to try some new recipes and tweak your menu to make it perfect.

We put together some menu ideas to get you started.

Mix and match according to your tastes and favorites! Hungry for more recipes? Browse our full collection of holiday recipes. Read the rest of this entry »

I really enjoy the changing of the seasons. Growing up in Honolulu, there wasn’t a whole lot of difference in the weather between Christmas and the 4th of July. I’m not complaining by any means, but there is something so inspiring about each clear season. Once the cool air sets in, out come all my cookbooks and in comes new ideas for using all my old favorites.

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Drum roll, please…our exclusive Isigny Ste. Mère Holiday Brie is in stores now. We’ve been (somewhat) patiently waiting all year for this holiday tradition to grace our tables again. This delightful cheese comes from a co-operative of 700 farmers in Normandy, France. Normandy is a lush area of rolling hills that produce very fertile grasses and the cows that graze on these grasses produce high butterfat milk.

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With Thanksgiving upon us in just a couple of weeks, we’re starting to dream of all the pies that will be part of the feast. There’s no need for dietary restrictions to keep you from enjoying your favorite Thanksgiving dessert! We revisited our gluten-free pie crust recipe in preparation for the holidays, and we think it’s better than ever.

This recipe is similar to a classic pie crust, but instead of wheat flour, we used a combination of potato starch, tapioca flour, millet flour and almond meal. This crust is perfect for everything from pumpkin pie to quiche. If you’re using it for a savory recipe, be sure to leave out the sugar. Read the rest of this entry »

Some of the basic staples of my family’s fall and winter diet are potatoes and yams. Fall brings a virtual cornucopia of new crop, freshly dug varieties and with that new crop we reintroduce some favorite ways of preparing them at home.

Potatoes and yams (or sweet potatoes) are one of the largest and most geographically diverse crops produced in the U.S. Many of the large-scale organic producers are concentrated on the west coast, so regardless of where you live you will likely see some Washington or California product in your store. But all over the U.S. there are large and small producers that provide varieties often unique to the region where they are grown. Ask our Team Members in your store’s produce department if there are potatoes and yams local to your area. Read the rest of this entry »

Learn about the art of the Affineur from a world-renowned master, Hervé Mons who discusses the business practices of Mansion Mons as well as their Tommes de Bois Noir goat’s milk cheese.

It’s November 5th and Thanksgiving Day is exactly three weeks away. (Cue Psycho-esque scary music here.) Whether you will be serving a house full of guests or a special dinner for two, preparing your kitchen ahead of time and thinking through your entertaining plan of action now can definitely save last-minute hassles on the big day.

Here are some of our ideas and tips for getting ready for the impending holiday crunch. Read the rest of this entry »

October is a perilous time for apple and pear growers everywhere, because you never know what Mother Nature will dish out this late in the fall. The 2009 harvest season is no exception – snow in New England and hard freezes in Michigan and Washington State are putting late harvest varieties at risk of severe damage or even total loss. This is also an El Niño year, which means a wetter, more blustery winter – a concern even after the harvest is finished and the trees enter dormancy. The damage this season has been minor so far, but still painful. A prized organic Braeburn apple crop in Washington was nearly wiped out by cold that also caused severe damage in Pink Lady crops (generally the last variety to come off the trees). The risk of freeze damage is a powerful motivator for growers to get apples and pears off the trees all over the country. The positive side effect? Local product is now at its best and most abundant. Read the rest of this entry »

Chili. That’s what sounds good to us right now (it’s been rainy and cold in Austin lately) and that’s what we are focusing on for this edition of “Best Meal of the Week.” Some chili recipes simmer away all day on the stove; others can be tossed together quickly on a weeknight. For this post, we’re providing links to recipes from our website as well as tips and favorite additions from our team members. What’s your best chili made of? Let us know in the comments section below.

Chili Faves

My chili, whether I do a quickie version or an all-day cook, always includes a little bit of ground clove for depth of flavor. I also add some oregano or marjoram, but not too much or it will taste like spaghetti sauce! And I often use beer for some of the liquid.
—Susannah Read the rest of this entry »

The end of September at the national buying office is “apple in the mail” time. Every few days we receive a carefully packaged box in the mail courtesy of our longtime friends in the apple trade. It is something of a silly tradition because all of us here know just about everything there is to know about the varieties produced for commercial sale. And while there are slight variations from year to year in the quality and condition of the fruit, I suspect the real reason growers send us apples is to remind us, after many months of apple availability being limited to imported and stored apples, that it is once again time for new crop apples. Read the rest of this entry »