Valley Natural Foods, 13750 County Road 11, Burnsville, MN 55337

“A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot where it is being boiled. ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ The cook knocks him down with the ladle. ‘Don’t try to jump out. You think I am torturing you. I’m giving you flavor, so you can mix with spices and rice and be the lovely vitality of a human being. Remember when you drank rain in the garden? That was for this.’” And so goes “Chickpea to Cook” by renowned Sufi poet Rumi writing in the 13^th century. What a lovely vision of soft garden rain bringing us vitality. And considering their nutritional punch, there simply is nothing in our co-op that is healthier for you and your pocketbook than the legumes—the dried peas, beans and lentils found on our bulk trail. 

Only fresh dark leafy greens compare with legumes for nutrient-dense, calorie-sparse economical eating.  Not only a great source of low or no-fat plant protein and fiber, legumes are outstanding champions of the low glycemic foods that offer a slow, steady source of energy. They are loaded with nutrients that our bodies crave and need, including B vitamins necessary for a healthy brain, skin, nervous and digestive systems; calcium for strong bones and teeth and to keep the body more alkaline than acidic; and potassium, reducing the risk of high blood pressure and stroke. Along with the leafy dark greens, legumes are a stellar source of folate, the B vitamin that our bodies wisely utilize in protection against heart disease and cancer.

Humans did not start eating beans, peas and lentils after first reading about their nutritional goodness. Legumes have been a tasty meal staple across millenia, grown by wise gardeners worldwide. Visualize cowboys and cattle drivers keeping strong with pots of beans around the camp fire. Native Americans have grown and enjoyed a diversity of beans for generations, as East Indian families have survived on split peas and lentils. Vendors were selling hot pea soup in the streets of Athens as far back as 2500 years ago. Sick of city life, the Roman poet Horace longed for a rustic dish of chickpeas and pasta

Located conveniently closer in Welcome, Minnesota, Doug and Lin Hilgendorf of Whole Grain Milling Company grow and process the green split peas, red kidney beans and black turtle beans found on our bulk trail. About 140 miles southwest in Martin County and certified organic since 1989, the Hilgendorf’s commitment to high-quality, earth-friendly foods has helped them flourish for over 20 years. North Bay Trading Company, a small family-owned business in Brule, Wisconsin, brings healthy convenient “32 Bean & 8 Vegetable Soup Mix” to our bulk trail. Exercise your family brain cells by trying to name 32 beans over dinner hour!

Legumes make terrific soups, stews, chili, main dishes and salads. Cooking time can be shortened by soaking overnight first. Either way, fill a pot of water two inches above the dried legumes, cover and simmer until cooked (30 minutes to two hours depending on size and hardness), checking occasionally to add water as needed. Season during or after cooking, but add salt last. Beans love a touch of acid from tomatoes or vinegar, as well as Mediterranean and south-of-the-border spices.  It’s impossible to tell you all delicious ways that legumes can be your next best friends. Here are a few ideas that will have your taste buds begging for more. (You can always substitute canned legumes if you are short on time and longer on cash. Support BPA-free companies such as Eden Organic.)

• Cook or drain chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans), throw them in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and nutritional yeast (also found on the bulk trail), and enjoy their mild nutty flavor warm or cold. Did you know that “hummus” is Arabic for chickpea?
• Toss warm cannellini (white kidney beans) with sautéed garlic and fresh rosemary. Toss cooked yellow or green lentils with diced and sautéed celery, onions and carrots. Combine red lentils with olive oil, red onion and balsamic vinegar.
• Simmer green split peas in water or vegetable stock with sautéed onion and garlic until soft. Puree, swirl in a little Greek yogurt and top with fresh mint. Enjoy warm or chilled.
• The deliciously creamy texture of cooked pinto beans makes them idea of mashing and refrying or using in bean dips. Pinto beans play well with chiles, cilantro and lime.

Our new booklet “Discovering Bulk Foods: A Co-operative Guidebook” (available soon) and my FRESH & LOCAL demos and classes in February and March will show you how to easily buy and prepare package-free, earth-friendly bulk foods, while saving an average of 30 to 50% on our 300+ choices. Are you ready to reap all these healthy benefits in your life?

FRESH & LOCAL DEMO, VALLEY NATURAL FOODS: Chickpea Tacos, Tuesday, February 14, 11 am -2 pm. Stop by for a tasty sample and my recipe plus receive complimentary coaching for FRESH & LOCAL eating. 

FRESH & LOCAL CLASS, VALLEY NATURAL FOODS: Easy Healthy Meals on the Bulk Trail, Tuesday, February 21, 6:30 -8:30 pm, $17 for VNF members; $20 for non-members

Sign up for classes at least one week ahead. Register online here or call VNF Customer Service at 952.891.1212, Ext. 221.

Valley Natural Foods, 13750 County Road 11, Burnsville, MN 55337

Follow us, talk to us and just stay informed at www.valleynaturalfoods.com

FRESH & LOCAL health coach Loris Sofia Gregory is based in Apple Valley and can be reached at 952.431.5586 or www.lorissofiagregory.com. Loris would love to hear your ideas and questions about eating FRESH & LOCAL. Request her earth-friendly seasonal recipes if you miss her monthly demos and classes.

If “eat healthier,” “try new foods” and “save more money” are on your list of resolutions for 2012, consider the dazzling diversity of our bulk foods trail from nourishing soups to energizing nuts. Our new helpful booklet “Discovering Bulk Foods” and my FRESH & LOCAL classes from January through March will show you how to easily buy and prepare package-free and earth-friendly bulk foods, while saving an average of 30 to 50% on our 300+ choices. Most of us are not looking to “get bulkier” in this New Year. So what’s the real story behind “buying bulk”? Read more to realize the benefits of shopping on our bulk trail.

First of all, don’t confuse “bulk foods” with buying in bulk from a big box store. For instance, when you purchase eight cans of soup in bulk at a big box store, you might get the soup in cans that are usually placed in a half box, and then wrapped in plastic. When you purchase fresh bulk foods out of package-free bins, you buy as little or as much as you need. Bulk foods are economical, fun to explore, easy to use and guarantee less waste for you and the earth.

Shopping on the Valley Natural Food’s Bulk Trail promises to:

Save you money: Buying natural, organic and many locally-produced foods in our bulk section offers an average savings of 30 to 50 percent over pre-packaged products. Stop by my BULK TRAIL DEMO at Valley Natural Foods on Tuesday, January 10, from 11 am to 2 pm to find out just how much you can save. Pick up a “Packaged or Bulk?” cost comparison handout and my monthly recipe, try a few samples and receive free coaching to create an FRESH & LOCAL inspiring kitchen for yourself and your family this year.

Introduce you to new foods while improving your health: There are infinite possibilities for creating easy delicious healthy meals from “mix and matching” the beans, lentils, peas and other legumes, whole grain pastas and rices, soups, seeds, seasonings and more found on our bulk trail. Bulk bins are an excellent way to expand your food repertoire. Purchase a small portion of something new, and return for more if you like it. Buying in bulk also offers hearty doses of plant-based vitamins, minerals and fiber, essential to heart health, building muscles, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure and keeping waistlines trim.

Offer convenient flexibility to buy a pinch or a pound: Buying in bulk offers you a broad selection that can be purchased in the exact quantity you desire. If you need a large bag of nuts for a party or just a pinch of chili powder for a new recipe, our bulk foods, herbs and spices provide many options. When your winter soup calls for 1 cup of dried beans, you can purchase exactly 1 cup from our bulk foods bins and put that amount in one of our convenient bags or jars or use one of your own reusable bags or containers. (Just remember to weigh your container first to subtract that amount from your final product weight.)

Ensure FRESH & LOCAL: Buying “as you need” on our bulk trail is always fresh, as opposed to purchasing a pre-determined packaged amount that may sit on your shelf for months (or years) and may not get used before its expiration date. The purity and quality of our bulk products are always visible prior to purchase plus we clean, fill and rotate our bulk foods regularly, rotating the scoop bins daily. Come to my January demo and class to learn more about the LOCAL companies who help keep our bulk trail FRESH.

Reduce waste and improve our environment: Buying in bulk radically reduces the amount and costs of packaging and transportation required from farm to table, as well as the amount of garbage that ends up in landfills. Nearly 80 million tons of waste is generated from packaging and containers annually, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and adds up to a third of our annual municipal solid waste. Bulk “fill-er-up” stations are the best way to cut back on food packaging, especially if you tote along your own reusable bags and containers.

Ready to reap all these benefits in your life? Sign up for my FRESH & LOCAL CLASS “FROM SOUP TO NUTS ON THE BULK TRAIL,” Tuesday January 17 (6:30 to 8:30) to learn more about the basics, the unique and the surprises of our 300+ bulk trail choices; including trail tips and etiquette; cost comparisons of your favorite packaged brands also in bulk; nutritional and allergy information and our local bulk producers and partners. Take home plenty of inspiring healthy ideas for “rise and shine” breakfasts, healthy super suppers and sustaining snacks. Bring your questions for what you would like to know about our bulk trail.

Please sign up classes at least one week ahead by calling VNF Customer Service at 952.891.1212, Ext. 221. Only $15 for members and $18 for non-members per class (ask about a discount coupon).

FRESH & LOCAL health coach Loris Sofia Gregory is based in Apple Valley, Minnesota. Contact her directly at 952.431.5586 or through her CONTACT page. Loris would love to hear your ideas and needs for eating FRESH & LOCAL, and request her healthy recipes if you miss her monthly demos and classes.

CREATING HEALTHY SOULFUL SPACES is BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY for birthing all your heart’s desires. I have attached my special December rates for any sessions scheduled this week and I look forward to collaborating with you. I always offer complimentary 30-minute coaching calls when you are ready to clarify and consider your next healthy steps. Here are some tips for creating healthy soulful spaces within and all around you. Consider what might be YOUR BEST STEPS to co-creating and enjoying our new heaven on earth.

ARRANGE each day so that you have a nourishing mix of intentional creation and free-form play and relaxation. One isn’t more important than the other.  Being and doing are both BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY for creating a healthy life you love and can sustain.

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE. With unlimited talents, skills and resources among us, we are all here to collaboratively create radiantly healthy lives, communities and planet.

BLESS all the stuff, unhealthy habits, relationships, etc. that you have been holding on to. Everything and everyone has served a divine purpose in your life.

CLARIFY and PRIORITIZE the life you want to claim. Keep the daily steps and your vision in sight, referring to them often. When something is accomplished, spark and embrace the next steps, always witnessing and reflecting just how much amazing you are.

CLEAR all that you have not used, worn or cared for in the past year. Time and life are great teachers and mirrors. Begin releasing things that you feel no emotional attachment to.  If you don’t love it, let it go. Freeing up energy around you also deep cleans and reenergizes your body.

COMPLETE any wobbly communications and unfinished business. If it simply isn’t possible to take immediate care of it, create a plan and steps to do so.

CREATE A PLAN that’s manageable.  You can’t recreate your spaces and your life in one day. What can you do each day? What steps can you hold yourself accountable to today or this week?

EMPTY out your bag of regrets and know that this now moment is the beginning of creating whatever life you desire.  What you choose to focus on today colors and creates your tomorrows.

FIND A HOME for everything in your home. Gather all that has no place to “be” and consider if you really need these items crowding your spaces and your life.

GATHER up your friends and family and let them know how much you appreciate them.  Praise their goals, their dreams and their lives. Don’t forget to continually bath yourself in appreciation and love.

GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION to release all that is no longer supporting the person you desire to be and the life you wish to live, whether it is objects, unhealthy food, unworn clothes, toxic relationships or draining situations. Whatever is not supporting your most beautiful vision for yourself is doing you harm.

INHABIT your days with acts of unconditional love.  Make it your intention to cherish and champion yourself and the best in others without expecting anything in return.

LET GO OF GUILT about “wasting” good stuff or leaving relationships that no longer serve you or the other person. The more you release, the lighter you will feel, the clearer you will think, the more energized and healthier you will be.

LIGHTEN up and stop taking yourself and your situation so seriously.  If joy is our birthright, then allow that quality of being to lead you down the path of rediscovering sustaining happiness.

MAKE IT EASY ON YOURSELF. Consider a moratorium on buying new things until you have created spaces that can properly receive and nourish all around you. This also applies to unhealthy food or foods that are emotional triggers and that you tend to grab when stressed or uncomfortable. A healthy inspiring kitchen creates a healthy inspiring life.

MAKE IT FUN. Create an ongoing list of playful nourishing experiences, places, friends, things and healthy foods that can easily serve as rewards as you accomplish all you desire. It’s usually the simplest acts that are priceless experiences.

PUT YOURSELF FIRST. My favorite tool to declutter and to consciously create my life is my computer calendar.  I use it for “work” and play, including deadlines, housekeeping, random things to remember, as well as weekly times for exercise and relationships. I schedule ample time for healthy meals and travel between commitments. My calendar also holds the details of all events that sound like fun and I evaluate if it still seems appealing when that day rolls around. My calendar reflects commitments to myself and others each day, weeks, and months ahead—some negotiable, some not. I plan and commit wholeheartedly and modify as I decide. I’ve found that just making an appointment with yourself or another starts to clear and release what has been dormant for years. My calendar allows me to continually see whether I am creating the healthy, energizing life I desire. I even schedule nature walks. After all, if you don’t make yourself a priority, who will?

BOUNTIFUL BLESSINGS for creating and enjoying the fabulous life you were born to live, each and every day!

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. Begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with old nonsense.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Reconnecting to your heart’s desires and honoring the heart of your home are complementary. Both hearts nourish a deep inner need for connection and balance. Ancient homes were built around a central hearth to provide a focal point for family life. Still today, your heart and your home serve as an interconnected energetic core, around which all life revolves. Optimum physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health lies within aligning your home with your heart.

The physical center of your home is the perfect place for a home altar, or you may wish to create sacred space in a more intimate private area. We create altars often unconsciously as we intuitively arrange photographs, flowers, candles, books, art objects and mementos on coffee tables, fireplace mantles, dresser tops, window sills, desks, and even next to our computers.  This practice of deliberately grouping valued objects is an outer manifestation of whom and what your heart holds dear.

Each holy space created at home or work can serve as oasis of gratitude where the important aspects of your life come into focus. It is a place where you can pause in stillness to sort through your values and desires, and get to the heart of what you really want in your life. Allow yourself to reflect on your deepest dreams every time you pass by these sacred spots. When you gratefully honor and align your inner and outer heart centers, you unify and balance all things within you, your home or workplace, and your life. This alignment creates a serene, peaceful field of energy that nurtures all residents to feel less stressed, more balanced and be blessed with infinite healthy energy.

Gratitude is the highest vibration that we can live within. To live in a state of gratitude, despite what your world currently looks like, will indeed start to rearrange all that is around you. The loving energy of gratitude will clear and purify all that is within you and surrounding you. Anything less will not find you. Feel gratitude for even the hardest of life lessons or the most challenging person in your life right now. Every experience comes in the service of soul learning and clearing all that no longer serves you. Stubbornly holding onto feelings of loss or deprivation will prevent the flowering of all new life that is continually being offered. Your mind may argue with who or what is knocking at your door, but your heart will recognize its teachers and graciously invite them in. Practice noticing all that is infused with healthy energy ─ within yourself, family, friends, animals, plants, flowers, trees, nature, and the earth ─ even the spring winds that are gracefully bringing life and love towards you.

Our hearts beat in unison with those we love and your home is the container for this love and gratitude. Honor your home and all those you love as you honor yourself. All that is of love and light will flourish and all that is no longer needed will not be sustained. Unlike humans, nature does not judge what is being offered nor do flowers hesitate to bloom in the world. Your heart is your ever-loyal guide towards creating a healthy home and life. Allow yourself to open fully to the rewarding richness of loving energy that surrounds you. Drink deeply and often from all that life desires to give and to receive ─ to your heart’s delight.

As a holistic health coach and energy healer, I am passionate about creating healthy soulful spaces for personal, community and planetary sustainability. I artfully reconnect you with your intuitive wisdom and your heart’s desires to align you and your home with your own brilliant radiance. Together we explore visionary ideas, processes, tools, and resources to reclaim a healthy body, mind, home, and life – one empowering step at a time.

Nature and local producers collaborate to bring us fresh succulent green and red gifts this month. Even after we have been gifted with a moisturizing blanket of pure white snow, local producers still deliver FRESH & LOCAL, including lush deep green upland cress, crisp bright green and white bok choy, crinkly red bib lettuce and juicy rich red vine-on tomatoes.

Look closer at the bunches of upland cress (the hydroponic version of native watercress and also called winter cress) in the produce department and you’ll notice long white roots have grown in water rather than soil. Hydroponics is the official name and it’s a splendid way for us to be gifted with fresh local produce through our winter. Michele Keller, owner of LaBore Farms of Faribault, Minnesota, has been growing chemical-free hydroponic greens since 2004. Her co-op and restaurant customers are amazed and satisfied, proclaiming these water-loving winter veggies, including her upland cress and red bib lettuce, to be crisper, fresher, tender and sweeter. 

A dark green member of nutrient-dense Brassica family along with broccoli, cabbage, kale, mustard and turnip greens, upland cress offers a spicy bold flavor. A bouquet of this winter cress will cheer up your kitchen counter for about a week, if the roots are supplied with fresh water. Upland cress will give a healthy peppery punch to your sandwiches or wraps, mixes well with other salad or smoothie greens, can be chopped or pureed into soups and offer a lively raw, steamed or sautéed compliment to fish or meat.  A holiday salad idea from a local chef who uses LaBore Farms upland cress is to toss it with red Craisins, chopped walnuts or pecans and a light balsamic vinaigrette. Sprinkle goat or other favorite crumbly cheese on top, as desired. The red bib lettuce delivered from LaBore Farms also offers an excellent FRESH & LOCAL accompaniment to healthy holiday salads and sandwiches.

Throughout December, Harmony Valley Farm gifts us with fresh organic bok choy, grown in an isolated southwestern Wisconsin valley near Viroqua. Bright green bok choy has a mild crunchy taste with thick juicy sweet white stalks and an even-sweeter “choy sum” heart. A Chinese member of the Brassica family and the healthiest type of cabbage, one cup of bok choy has roughly the same amount of calcium as ½ cup of milk, as well as rich in fiber, Vitamins A and C and potassium, with only about 20 calories. Great eaten raw, lightly steamed or stir fried, be sure to slice off and discard about ¼ inch at the base and thoroughly rinse off any collected dirt within the stem. Harmony Valley is a family-owned farm that has been growing high quality vegetables and berries while nourishing their family, soil, nature and customers for over 30 years.

Don’t forget to consider the healthy holiday possibilities for the fresh and cheery red vine-on tomatoes, delivered from the hydroponic greenhouses of Living Water Gardens, 100 miles southwest on the outskirts of Wells, Minnesota. With each juicy bite, envision an acre of greenhouses “full of life, full of water and full of healthy nutrients” tended through Minnesota winters by producer Steve Klingbeil, his wife Miriam and their daughters.  The Klingbeils have grown nearly 7,000 hydroponic tomato plants for the past 17 years, from seed to maturity, without pesticides or contaniments. Now that’s FRESH & LOCAL!

Want more inspiration for eating FRESH & LOCAL?

1) Stop by my FRESH & LOCAL demo at Valley Natural Foods on the second Tuesday of each month from 11 to 2, including December 13 and January 10. Enjoy tasty samples and recipes, receive free coaching to create a FRESH & LOCAL healthy kitchen, and pick up a colorful catalog of all our healthy classes and educational opportunities. December Recipe: Red Quinoa with Apples,  Pomegranate Seeds and Cress

2) Sign up at least one week ahead for my FRESH & LOCAL class on the third Tuesday of each month, including December 20 and January 17. Call Customer Service at 952.891.1212, Ext. 221. Only $15 for members and $18 for non-members per class. Ask about a discount coupon.

3) Keep reading my FRESH & LOCAL blog each month.

FRESH & LOCAL health coach Loris Sofia Gregory is based in Apple Valley. Explore more at www.lorissofiagregory.com. Contact her directly at 952.431.5586 or lorissofia@frontiernet.net. Loris would love to hear your ideas and needs for eating FRESH & LOCAL, and request to be on her email list if you want to receive her monthly healthy FRESH & LOCAL recipes.

Mushrooms are easy to overlook in our nutrient-rich rainbow of fruits and vegetables. But research increasingly reveals why fresh mushrooms join the ranks of “super foods” such as broccoli and blueberries that are nutrient dense and calorie sparse. In Asia where food and medicine are one, mushrooms are a staple. “Mushrooms may seem plain, but they really are a super food.” says dietician Dr Sarah Schenker, “They contain virtually no fat, sugar or salt and are a valuable source of dietary fiber as well as five B vitamins,” not to mention a good source of plant protein and essential minerals.  Most significant among their minerals is selenium that protects against viruses. Adding mushrooms to your warming November stews will make you feel satisfied and healthy without boosting calories.

How about making mushrooms one of your main dishes this month, and adding them to your pasta and rice dishes, pizzas, soups, salads, sauces, stir frys, Thanksgiving dressing or holiday shish kabobs? Portabella, shitake and crimini mushrooms are delivered FRESH & LOCAL from Forest Mushrooms in St. Joseph, MN. Led by owner Kevin Doyle, Forest Mushrooms has been researching, cultivating and distributing edible specialty mushrooms since 1985.

With a little butter or your favorite oil, mushrooms can be sautéed or grilled with great flavor enhancers like fresh basil, garlic, ginger, marjoram or thyme, mustard, colorful sweet or hot peppers, leeks, shallots or onions. A simple marinade or balsamic vinegar may be left to soak in the upturned cap of the larger portabella mushroom. Portabellas can be served whole as a tasty vegetarian “burger” or sliced on top of salads. Eaten raw or sautéed, crimini mushrooms are the brown more distinctive-flavored “cousins” of the familiar white button mushroom and also the “baby stage” of the full-bodied portabella.

Generally not eaten raw, shiitake mushrooms are believed to have numerous health benefits, including reducing cholesterol, preventing high blood pressure and stimulating the immune system. First removing their fibrous stems, sauté shitakes in oil for 5 to 7 minutes, or cook them in a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pan for 15 minutes. The distinct smoky flavor of shiitakes complements chicken or fish.

Most mushrooms will remain fresh from seven to 10 days. Wipe each mushroom clean and trim off its stem. Refrigerate and store in a porous bag where air can flow freely around the mushrooms.  To learn everything else you’ve always wondered about mushrooms, visit Forest Mushrooms.

Don’t forget that tart tangy organic Sandhill cranberries are delivered fresh from Wisconsin throughout the November and December holiday season. Recognized for consumer popularity, nutrient content, antioxidant properties and enhancing everything from cereal to salsa, cranberries have attained commercial status as a “super fruit.” Located in the heart of cranberry country near Wisconsin Rapids and Vesper, Sandhill Cranberry managing partner Dan Wandler and employees produce just under 50% of the certified organic fresh cranberries marketed in the United States. Dan proudly proclaims, “Our family-owned market share is the result of producing the best quality cranberry in the United States.” Organic cranberries are 10 to 20 percent naturally sweeter than conventionally-raised cranberries.

On average, every acre of an organic cranberry bog is supported by six to seven acres of wetlands, woodlands and uplands, offering a healthy refuge to a rich variety of wildlife.  Since turning towards organic production in 2001, Sandhill cranes have raised their chicks in the land that surrounds the bogs. Northern pike, perch, bass, bluegills and croppies are now plentiful across the wetlands that support the 55 acres of low-growing vines at Sandhill Cranberry and employees who like to fish reap the benefits of a fresh catch. Owner Dan, family and employees enjoy bald eagles and other birds flying overhead, with great blue heron, osprey, wild turkeys, deer, wolves and bears also finding home at Sandhill Crandbery. Read more about Sandhill Cranberry in “This is Living Naturally.”

Want more inspiration for eating FRESH & LOCAL?

1) Stop by my FRESH & LOCAL demo at Valley Natural Foods on Tuesday, November 8th from 11 to 2. I will be handing out samples and recipes for “Cranberry Salsa with Pumpkin Seeds.” Receive free coaching to create a FRESH & LOCAL healthy kitchen. Valley Natural Foods is located at 13750 County Road 11, Burnsville, Minnesota, 55337.

2) Sign up at least one week ahead for my FRESH & LOCAL class at Valley Natural Foods on Tuesday, November 15 (6:30 to 8:30 pm). Call Customer Service at 952.891.1212, Ext. 221 at least one week ahead. Only $15 for members and $18 for non-members per class, take one class or keep FRESH & LOCAL the third Tuesday of each month, including December 20. Get a $3 off class discount coupon here.

3) Keep inspired by reading this FRESH & LOCAL blog each month.

FRESH & LOCAL health coach Loris Sofia Gregory is based in Apple Valley, MN.  Contact her directly at 952.431.5586 or on her website contact page. She would love to hear your ideas and needs for eating FRESH & LOCAL.

Visualize bringing the jewel tones and earthy tastes of autumn to your dinner table. Beware: eating a cornucopia of deep reds, oranges, yellows and greens can lead to radiant optimum health. The USDA currently recommends eating at least four cups of red and orange vegetables per week and 1 ½ cups of dark green veggies for an average adult. The good news is that you most likely can’t eat too much FRESH & LOCAL. And your wallet and your waistline will breathe a sign of relief.

To invite more diversity, energy and health into your life, explore the whole colorama of vegetable and fruits delivered fresh each week in October from local Minnesota and Wisconsin farmers:

Orange, green & yellow squashes and pie pumpkins: Acorns and Spaghetti squashes offer a sweet nutty flavor, while the Buttercups, Hubbards, Kobochas and Turbans are richer in flavor. Butternut is similar in taste to a sweet potato. Consider the yellow-fleshed Delicata for flavor reminiscent of sweet corn. Consult the helpful chart above our squashes and try a new one each week.  The cute pie pumpkins from L & R Poultry and Produce are “New England Sugar,” a smaller variety with thick sweet succulent flesh. You can bake and eat like the squashes or make a super smooth pumpkin pie that will be eaten in no time.

Root vegetables including Yukon Gold and Russet potatoes, bright copper super-size Beauregard sweet potatoes, yellow and red Candy Apple onions and creamy horseradish root: Yukon Golds are less starchy and a little sweeter than the Russets. One colonial physician called sweet potatoes the “vegetable indispensable.” Their moist deep orange flesh is an excellent source of vitamins A and C, not to mention low in calories with zero fat. Candy Apple onions are much sweeter than a typical onion and are great eaten raw or to add amazing zest to any recipe. Folk medicine suggests a teaspoonful of fresh grated horseradish mixed with local honey to clear one’s autumnal nose in minutes.

Leafy and cruciferous greens, including broccoli, cabbage, kale, microgreens, dandelion and turnip greens: You can’t beat the high fiber, vitamins, minerals and proteins of the dark green veggies. Consider keeping a variety of greens on hand for quickly tossing into fresh salads, light steaming or blending into a green smoothie for a super jump start every day.

Don’t forget to eat a FRESH & LOCAL apple every day, Explore the tart, sweet, crisp and crunchy taste treats of our Cortland, Freedom, Haralson, Honeycrisp, Northern Lights, Sweet Sixteen, SweeTango and Zestar! apples.

Want more inspiration for eating FRESH & LOCAL in October?

1) Stop by my FRESH & LOCAL demo on Tuesday, October 11^th from 11 to 2. I will be handing out samples and recipes for “Spicy Squash & Lentil Soup.” Receive free coaching to create a FRESH & LOCAL healthy kitchen.

2) Sign up at least one week ahead for my FRESH & LOCAL class on Tuesday, October 18^th (6:30 to 8:30 pm). Call Customer Service at 952.891.1212, Ext. 221. Only $15 for members and $18 for non-members per class, take one class or the whole series that continues the third Tuesday of each month, including November 15 and December 20.

3) Keep inspired by reading this FRESH & LOCAL blog the first Wednesday of each month.

FRESH & LOCAL health coach Loris Sofia Gregory is based in Apple Valley. Explore more under “Classes”  at lorissofiagregory.com and contact her directly at 952.431.5586 or lorissofia@frontiernet.net. She would love to hear your ideas and needs for eating FRESH & LOCAL.

As September arrives on our doorsteps, we notice a change in the air and in what’s FRESH & LOCAL at Valley Natural Foods in Burnsville. We may still have a few fleeting days to savor our last bites of fresh cucumber, sweet corn and watermelon. Our supplies of ripe red local tomatoes and aromatic basil are winding down, to be upstaged by the arrival of all that thrives in cooler weather, including the nutrient-rich Brassica oleracea family of luscious greens, including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale and kohlrabi.

All cousins to wild cabbage native to the wind-swept limestone sea cliffs of coastal England and Europe, these hardy Brassica veggies love our autumnal weather and offer the highest level of disease-fighting nutrients per serving of anything FRESH & LOCAL, not to mention naturally low in calories, fat and sodium. You can’t find a healthier return on your grocery dollars than serving these beautiful greens to your family.

Consider trying the eye-popping member of this cabbage family this month: lime green Romanesco delivered FRESH & LOCAL by Gardens of Eagan of Farmington.  Crunchy and nutty, this unique veggie offers a sweeter and milder flavor and a creamier texture than the white cauliflower. Serve it raw with a dip, steam and season with butter, salt and pepper or toss with a little olive oil and roast in the oven, just until the edges start to brown.

Take note of the imminent arrival of red and yellow onions and red, russet and Yukon gold potatoes, delivered FRESH & LOCAL by L&R Poultry and Produce, a family owned and operated woodland farm near Kenyon in Goodhue County.  This organic farm offers Valley Natural customers a wide variety of delicious, fresh earthly root crops in September. Expect a fall cornucopia of beets, carrots, radishes, rutabagas, radishes, turnips and the start of the winter squashes.

About mid-September, look for L&R’s popular “Speckled Hound” kabocha squash, a squatty round specimen with bluish gray speckled skin and tummy-warming sweet orange flesh on the inside. Originally hailing from Japan, kabocha squashes are increasingly becoming favorite dining companions in the U.S., as well as the budding stars of ornamental autumnal displays.  Rae Rusnak, farmer/owner of L&R Poultry and Produce, says that these stellar squashes can be enjoyed into March, if stored in a cool dry place. She advises laying out squashes on newspaper, paper bags or wood without touching one another for adequate air circulation and optimum winter preservation.

Check out my FRESH & LOCAL monthly series of blogs, demos and classes under CLASSES and Valley Natural Foods at 13750 County Road 11, Burnsville, MN 55337 or www.valleynaturalfoods.com (952.891-1212).

Loris Sofia Gregory, Healthy Kitchen Coach, August 3, 2011. Written for Valley Natural Foods, Burnsville, Minnesota.

Follow my FRESH & LOCAL blog the first Wednesday of every month at http://valleynaturalfoods.com/wordpress/

August brings some of the healthiest peak pleasures of the summer.  This month gives us a dazzling abundant palette to tantalize our taste buds: the crisp greens of broccoli, cabbage, cucumbers, kale and zucchini; the succulent oranges and reds of beets, carrots, peppers, radishes, melons and tomatoes; the sunny yellows of sweet corn and summer squash, not to mention a fragrant riot of flavorful herbs.

Satisfying meals and optimum health are not the only benefits of eating a rainbow of our FRESH & LOCAL produce. You are also supporting 25 Amish families who comprise the Wisconsin Grower’s Cooperative. These farmers of rural Black River Falls and Mondovi use horse-drawn plows and hand tools to provide VNF shoppers with some of the highest-quality produce grown in the Midwest. Most of the farms are certified organic and all grow their produce to organic standards. Nourishing their soil and growing crops without pesticides is a time-proven way of life for these farmers, while supporting health for themselves, their farms and our shoppers.

Al Weinrich, former logger and neighbor of one of the families, serves as the cooperative’s sales and delivery man. Al only delivers farmer-satisfied produce. Hand picked fresh the day before, stored on ice and delivered twice a week to VNF, buying produce from these farmers enables parents and children to work side by side in their fields while making a living. Wisconsin Cooperative Growers exemplifies sustainable agriculture at its best and is proof that small family farms can still thrive.

The best medicine for our fast-food culture is as close as a kitchen brimming with FRESH & LOCAL food. Gather family and friends for a satisfying summer picnic of life-sustaining local food and conversation. As author Barbara Kingsolver has noted, “Food is the rare moral arena in which the ethical choice is generally the one more likely to make you groan with pleasure.” What’s fresh, local and inspiring in your kitchen right now?

Look for this FRESH & LOCAL blog the first Wednesday of each month at http://valleynaturalfoods.com/wordpress/ and be inspired by my monthly FRESH & LOCAL class series starting on August 16.  See my “CLASSES” for all the tasty details.

Loris Sofia Gregory is a holistic health coach and writer based in Apple Valley, Minnesota.  Contact her at 952.431.5586 CDT or through my contact page.

“…Only the human community has the idea that we somehow live apart from the Earth, that the Earth does not respond to our breathing, to our thoughts, to our actions. It’s incomprehensible, to be sure, to even hold such a perspective. But the Earth is that sensitive. Recycling, I assure you, is not enough. Consider the Earth as a family member instead, as a Being that sees you as clearly as you see it. And you are on the “Earth” as much when you are standing in the midst of New York City or London as you are in the middle of a forest. You are still “on the Earth”. Standing on concrete or in a building does not make it any less “Earth” except if you hold to the perception that what qualifies for the “Earth” is out of the city in green or desert nature. But that’s an illusion. How can you ever be off or away from the “Earth”? It’s precisely that perception – that Nature is in the country but not in the city – that maintains the illusion of separateness. You may prefer to be in the country but you always on the Earth…

“We are truly learning an enormous cosmic truth: We are one. And we are meant to use that truth: Pray together, heal our fellow human beings together, and heal our beloved Earth together. Put your soul to work.” Myss.com