Whole Foods Market Opens in Danbury On May 17

Back in March 2011, I was thrilled to announce that a Whole Foods Market was coming to Danbury, CT. And for the past two years since then I have anxiously awaited for it to actually happen. Finally, the grand opening is almost here! This Friday, May 17, 2013 the brand new Danbury Whole Foods Market will be opening its doors.

The other day I had the privilege of attending a media preview tour of the store. I was honestly giddy with excitement about being able to get a sneak peak and actually being there I felt like a kid in a candy store. All around me I was surrounded by natural foods that are free of chemicals and artificial ingredients and it was just plain awesome. Since this was my fist time ever stepping foot inside of a Whole Foods, I wanted to share some of the areas that excited me the most.

When you first enter Danbury Whole Foods, you will be face to face with the produce department. Here you will find fruits and vegetables from local Connecticut farms as well as regionally local farms in New York and New Jersey. To the right of the produce is the bulk foods area which I cannot wait to dive into. This section is great if you are trying a new recipe and only need a little bit of an ingredient that you don't normally use. It also has the peanut grinder where you can grind your own peanut butter. I'm not sure what it says about me that something like grinding peanut butter makes me super excited, but I can't wait to give it a go.

Over in the meat and poultry department, I learned about the 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating.

"All beef, chicken, pork and turkey in our fresh meat cases must come from producers who have achieved certification to Global Animal Partnership’s 5-Step™ Animal Welfare Rating."

Alright so I am a mom of four very picky little boys. So yes, when I saw that part of the grand opening sale was 12oz packages of chicken nuggets and tenders for just $3.49, I had to snap a picture. I foresee me dumping a bunch of these in my shopping cart this weekend. And I know other moms out there would be equally excited for this deal. Just don't elbow me for the last box please.

We took a quick peek into the grocery aisles and as you can see they are jam packed with yummy goodness. If you are shopping at Whole Foods Market, you are obviously conscious of what you are putting into your body and probably an avid label reader. Whole Foods is making that a little easier for us by labeling non-GMO products from their private label line.

Yes, another grinder caught my attention. This time it is the coffee grinder. I love the smell of freshly ground coffee... possibly more than I actually like the taste of coffee. I normally go for flavored coffees, and it is impossible to find any without artificial flavoring in conventional grocery stores. So I am anxious to shop Whole Food's selection of coffees and get to grinding.

Now I am not a huge beer drinker, but I thought that these shelves of every type of beer imaginable, many local, was pretty darn cool. And I may have drooled just a little bit. This is only a fraction of what was there, it actually wrapped around the corner. And you will notice that these are individual bottles of beer so that if you want to try something new, you only have to buy one bottle. I do enjoy trying local beers so I definitely see a sampling in my future.

The specialty area and counter was filled with some delicious looking cheeses. My husband is a big cheese and crackers snacker so we'll have to pick up some fresh cheese from here. I also thought it was cool that the wood that you see in the signs and those hooks on the wall behind the counter are all re-purposed. For Whole Foods Market, it is not only important that they provide customers with the best, natural food but they try to make their entire operation as sustainable as possible.

Those of you familiar with the Danbury area will know that this new Whole Foods Market is where the old Marcus Dairy and Dairy Bar Restaurant used to be. In honor of that, they added a "Burgers & Shakes Bar" where you can grab yourself a delicious, fresh burger after a day of shopping. And the prices are very affordable with a grass-fed beef burger or cheeseburger starting at only $4. I am already trying to make plans for when my sister-in-law and I can go their to shop and eat. And just down a little ways from here is the Coffee Bar. Sigh. I am going to have to add some extra time in at the gym for all the calories I am going to be consuming here.

The grand opening of the Whole Foods Market Danbury start at 9:00 AM on Friday, May 17, 2013. 5% of the day’s sales will be donated to the Danbury Museum and Historical Society. The first 350 customers will get one free pound of chicken and one free pound of shrimp. Now I am told that the turn out is expected to be pretty big, with customers lining up outside as early as 8:00 AM. So if you want to get it on these freebies, get there early. I will most likely be waiting till after the initial craze of the weekend so I can shop leisurely and enjoy a juicy burger and milk shake when I'm done.


To stay on top of special one day sales, be sure to follow @WFMDanbury on Twitter and Whole Foods Market Danbury on Facebook. To check out the current sale flyer, visit http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/danbury.

Applegate Organic & Natural Meats Review & Giveaway

Giving my family healthy food is something that is very important to me. Over the past 4 years I have worked very hard to move away from all of the processed junk, and believe me, we ate too much of it. We still eat some processed foods but the ones we do eat I try to keep them either natural or organic so that the ingredients are not horrific. One of the things we pretty much eliminated all together were lunch meats since it was nearly impossible for me to find nitrate-free options and studies have show nitrates linked to certain cancers.

Then I recently discovered Applegate Farms who makes quality organic & natural meats. Their range of natural meat products is actually quite extensive from more than 20 cold cut meats to hot dogs, sausages and bacon to frozen meat products like chicken nuggets and beef burgers. They even have cheese. Some of their products are certified organic and the rest are all-natural and antibiotic free. You will also not find any added nitrates or nitrates in any of the Applegate products.

When you pick up an Applegate Farms product, you can be assured that...
~ Our animals are never given antibiotics. Healthy animals don’t need medicine. Instead, we give them space, fresh air, and a healthy diet, which we’re certain beats the alternative.
~ Our livestock eat a completely vegetarian diet with no animal by-products. Cattle in our organic program are grass-fed. Hogs and poultry in our organic program are fed a grain diet that includes corn, soy, barley, and flax that are free from GMOs.
~ Our animals are never given hormones or artificial growth promotants. They grow at their natural rate.
~ All of our products are made with natural and organic ingredients. If you aren’t familiar with a particular ingredient, email us and we’ll tell you what it is.
~ Our products are all minimally processed, allowing for a wholesome texture and taste.
~ Our products never contain artificial nitrates or nitrites. Instead, we use celery juice and sea salt to preserve our products the natural and old fashioned way.
~ Our deli meat, hot dogs, burgers, and bacon are gluten and casein free.
~ Our products are made from natural and organic whole muscle meat. Yes, even our hot dogs! No mystery here.

Applegate Farms sent me a bunch of yummy food to try out and believe me I enjoyed it! From their cold cuts line I tasted the Natural Roasted Chicken Breast and Natural Pepperoni. Up until this point I had never had chicken in lunch meat form so this was totally new for me. The Applegate chicken breast was so good that it has now become a staple for me in my house. I don't like to eat lunch meat every day, but maybe two to three times a week I will have the chicken bread with lettuce, tomato and dried cranberries on toasted bread. It is delicious! Oh and smeared with mayonnaise which I realize negates anything healthy I was trying to do but I don't care. I am getting hungry from just typing that. now when I opened up the package of Applegate pepperoni my 6 year old came over to check it out and ask what it was. Then he asked to try it and most parents know that when a kid asks to try something new on his own, that is HUGE. So he tried a slice. And then another. And another. Yeah their pepperoni was a huge hit. I have to admit that it even made me a fan. I am not a fan of spicy foods and this was not overly spicy at all and had a really nice flavor. I found myself opening the fridge just to grab a few slices to snack on.



I was also sent some of Applegate's frozen breakfast sausages to try out. Now my husband will not touch any kind of bacon, sausage or burger made with turkey. I have no idea why because it doesn't make any sense to me since he does like turkey. So he ate the Natural Classic Pork Breakfast Sausage while I ate the Natural Savory Turkey Breakfast Sausage. He was so excited to have sausage with is eggs in the morning! The breakfast sausage can either be cooked in the microwave or in a pan on your stove top. The first morning we tried it in the microwave and I would not recommend that. It could just be the strength of ours, but they came out very tough. So on morning #2 I did it on the stove and they were so much better this way. My husband gobbled his up and definitely enjoyed them. A lot. What I found interesting is these sausages also had a little kick of pepper to them. It was very different and tasty.

I was so excited to see that our Big Y in town carried their products and just recently our Stop & Shop started carrying them as well. As I mentioned since receiving my samples of Applegate Farms meats I have been continuously buying the Roasted Chicken Breast lunch meat. Last week I picked up some of their bacon and no joke, the best bacon ever! I am dying to try their grass fed organic beef hot dogs, which have rave reviews on their website. I might have to pick up a package of those very soon.

Giveaway
Applegate Farms sent me a bunch of coupons to giveaway! So four (4) winners will each receive ten (10) $1.00 off coupons good for any Applegate Farms product.

Mandatory Entry
Leave me a comment telling me which Applegate Farms product you want to try the most.

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#Win 10 coupons for $1 off @ApplegateFarms products via @GreenMamaspad. 4 winners. #Giveaway ends 6/14 http://bit.ly/mvoe3c
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This giveaway is open to legal US Residents 18+ only and will end on Tuesday, June 14 at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and will be posted on the Winner's Announcement Page. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Please leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

Please note that the opinions and views expressed in this review are my own and based on my personal experience with the product and/or company. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. I received a product free of charge for review.

My Plea to Trader Joe's

Oh Trader Joe's, how I love you so. Just walking in through your doors make me feel so happy. And your staff are always so cheerful and helpful, always asking if I need help finding something. That makes is such a pleasant shopping experience. Your selection of natural and organic foods is just awesome and the prices are too. No where else could I find organic chocolate syrup to make my son his morning chocolate milk. And your organic vodka sauce just may be the best vodka sauce I have ever tasted (well, except for my dad's). This past weekend I made a quick run to you to pick up a few things. I could have spent hours there, really. But I kept it short and walked out with some new treasures to try like organic alphabet pasta for the kids and organic probiotic yogurt for me (excellent, by the way). Of course, my Trader Joe's shopping trip would not be complete without a bucket of your mini chocolate chip cookies. Heaven.

However, I am sorry to say that I do have a complaint. You are just too far away. Just to drive to you takes me 30 minutes and as a mom of 3, I simply do not have the time to spend an hour round trip driving for groceries. So unfortunately, due to the distance I can only make it to your store once every other month or so. All of my online mommy friend chat about all the great stuff they get at Trader Joe's and I am jealous. I want to be able to shop there every week too!

So I am begging you to open up a location near me. I know the economy stinks right now, but I really think it would be beneficial to the both of us. Our town has a great mix of rural and business and we are in desperate need of healthy grocery store like you. And if you do come, I vow to come work for you and be a proud, happy member of your staff. So think about it, really think about it. Please. You can always email me for my location details. :)

My Love/Hate Relationship with Organic Peanut Butter

I absolutely love organic peanut butter. We get ours at Costco (Kirkland brand). It comes in a 2 pack, it is reasonably priced and just super yummy. Peanut butter was one of the first foods I switched to organic since my oldest eats it so much. The best thing about organic peanut butter is of course the ingredients:

Dry Roasted Organic Peanuts
Salt

That is it. Isn't that lovely?

However, I did mention that this is a love/hate relationship and here is why. I hate the stirring. Your regular, non-natural, non-organic peanut butters are made with hydrogenated oils (yuk) and do not separate. But since natural and organic versions are just peanuts and salt, the oil does separate to the top of the jar. Trying to mix that oil back into the peanut butter is the biggest pain in the neck. And arm. And wrist. I've tried shaking it a lot to get things started, even letting a new jar sit upside down for day, but it does nothing. I have seriously wondered if the staff at the Home Depot paint department will let me put a jar in one of their paint stirring machines.

When you open a new jar, there all the oil sits on top and usually right to the very top. I stick my butter knife in and gently try to stir, inevitably spilling the oil all down the side. Stirring is hard as the stuff on the bottom is so thick. I've actually bent a butter knife in the process and it has now become the designated knife for this job. I can never get it mixed 100%, thought it is good enough.

There has got to be a better way though, right? Tell me there is a better way! For fun, I just did a search for "peanut butter stirrer" and lookie what I found: Natural Peanut Butter Hand Mixer!

Is it sad that I am so excited that someone makes this? I think I will be adding this to my Christmas list!

In the meantime, I would love to hear any tips or tricks YOU have for stirring peanut butter. Maybe I am just going about it the wrong way. And if you have tried this mixer, please tell me about it!

Free Sample of Kashi Cereal

If you visit http://www.kashi.com/surprise you can sign up to receive a free sample of Kashi cereal. It is a single serve sample and you can pick one of three cereals to try: Honey Sunshine, Heart to Heart or GoLean Crunch. Or if you are adventurous, select "Surprise Me!" and wait to see which one shows up in your mailbox. I chose the Honey Sunshine because the look of it kind of reminds me of Cap'n Crunch. I can't wait to try it!

Pirate's Booty Natural Snacks Review & Giveaway!

When it comes to snacks for my boys, I always try to go with all natural options. That means avoiding things with hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup and any other artificial ingredients. About a year ago we tried the Aged White Cheddar Pirate's Booty and have been hooked ever since. My oldest affectionately calls it "Pirate Popcorn".


Pirate's Booty is a product of Robert's American Gourmet Food. All of their snacks are:

* All-natural
* Gluten free
* Trans fat free
* No preservatives
* No artificial sweeteners
* Kosher

"Robert’s American Gourmet Food snack food products are delectably crunchy, all-natural, baked, trans fat, gluten free and possess great subtle flavors that will have you craving more!"

As I mentioned we have been fans of their Aged White Cheddar for some time. My kids devour it and I've been know to eat my fair share as well. Pirate's Booty was kind enough to send me a treasure chest full of sample of each of their flavors. I actually had no idea there were so many other favors available! My oldest was so excited when he saw this treasure test and he couldn't wait to open it up and dig in! You'll notice its not full in my picture since we ate some before I could get my camera out. I plan on using it to store some of their toys now that it is empty.




So what other flavors are there? Besides the Aged White Cheddar they make Veggie, Barbeque, Sea Salt & Vinegar, Bermuda Onion and Caramel. In addition to all of these Pirate's Booty flavors, they have Wisconsin Cheddar Smart Puffs and Original Tings Crunchy Corn Sticks. I have to say that my new favorite are the Smart Puffs. Absolutely delicious! They are similar to your traditional cheese doodle type of snack, but much yummier and minus the bright orange coloring, which can't possibly be natural. I loved the Smart Puffs so much that I went out and bought myself a full size bag right away. (By the way, for those who shop at Stop-n-Shop, the Pirate's Booty and Smart Puffs are on sale, 2 bags for $5).

Not only are all of the snacks great for at home, but they are also perfect for your kids lunch box. With pretty much everyone back in school now, you'll want to make sure you put healthy snacks in there! Our grocery store also happens to sell the snack size bags which is really convenient. But if you want to save some trash, you can pick up a few of the big bags and fill up small reusable containers to put in with the kids lunches.

Shop
I would say that most of the big grocery chains carry these. If you are not sure who caries them in you area, you can check out their store locator or even buy by the case online.

***Giveaway Closed***

Win
One lucky reader will receive their own treasure chest full of Pirate's Booty snacks!

Mandatory Entry
Visit the Pirate's Booty site and then leave me a comment telling me what your favorite flavor is or the one you want to try the most.

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This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Thursday, September 24th at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. You must leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

Please note that the above review is based solely on my experiences with this product. You may have a different experience or result than I did.