Holiday Hours Coming!

As the weather cools down and the leaves fall from the trees, folks are thinking about the holiday season! To make sure our shoppers are prepared for the holidays, we want to give a heads up on how our hours will differ from our now usual 10-6 Tuesday-Thursday and 10-5 Friday schedule.

Here's the scoop:
For Thanksgiving, we will be closed Wednesday, Nov. 27 thru Friday, Nov. 29.
For Christmas and New Year's, we will be closed Tuesday, Dec. 24 thru Friday, Jan. 3.

Be sure that you stock up for your holiday meals in time!

P.S. Stay tuned for posts on holiday gift ideas!

Mac and Cheese + Squash

A favorite dish in many households is the classic macaroni and cheese. Whether it's quick and easy from the box, or Granny's old fashioned baked-in-the-oven, this comfort food is perfect for a cool weather pick-me-up.

The recipe geniuses over at Cooking Light have crafted a recipe to add a healthy twist to the old favorite. To start off, here's a comparison between the classic dish, and the healthy twist:

Classic                                           Healthy Twist
908 calories per serving                390 calories per serving
963 milligrams sodium                 589 milligrams sodium
36 grams saturated fat                   6.1 grams saturated fat

Wow!

What makes their recipe for Creamy, Light Macaroni and Cheese so healthy? Butternut Squash! If you haven't gotten a chance to try butternut squash mac and cheese yet in your life, you HAVE to try this.

It's a must.

The squash is pureed and adds a super-creamy texture to the pasta, plus there's still enough cheese added where it masks any sort of lingering squash flavor. This recipe calls for a few different types of cheeses, but feel free to substitute for what is available. At City Greens, we have white cheddar cheese (melts great and is SO good in mac and cheese!), smoked gouda (adds an awesome smoky flavor), and creamy Havarti (pairs perfectly in recipes with the cheddar). These cheeses will alter Cooking Light's nutrition facts a little bit, but overall the dish will still be way healthier than the classic version.

Seriously - you have to try this!

Creamy, Light Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

• 3 cups cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 [1-pound] squash) from Dry Dock Farm
• 1 1/4 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups fat-free milk from Ozark Mountain Creamery
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 tablespoons plain fat-free Greek yogurt from Windcrest Dairy
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black kpepper
• 1 1/4 cup (5 oz.) shredded Gruyere cheese (or other cheese from Marcoot Jersey Creamery)
• 1 cup (4 oz.) grated pecorino Romano cheese
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) finely grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
• 1 pound uncooked pasta from Midwest Pasta Co.
• Cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine squash, broth, milk, and garlic in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer until squash is tender when pierced with a fork, about 25 minutes. remove from heat.
3. Place the hot squash mixture in a blender. Add salt, pepper, and Greek yogurt. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Place blended squash mixture in a bowl; stir in Gruyere, pecorino Romano, and 2 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano. Stir until combined.
4. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain well. Add pasta to squash mixture, and stir until combined. Spread mixture evenly onto a 13 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray.
5. Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add panko, and cook for 2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from heat; stir in remaining 2 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Sprinkle evenly over the hot pasta mixture. Lightly coat topping with cooking spray.
6. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with parsley, and serve immediately.

Photo and recipe courtesy of  Cooking Light

New Hours!

We reminded all our City Greeners last week, but we just want to make sure that everybody knows - we have new hours at the market starting this week!

Now, instead of our staggered schedule, we have easy-to-remember hours starting up. Here they are:
          Tuesday 10-6
          Wednesday 10-6
          Thursday 10-6
           Friday 10-5

(Or, simply stated, we're open 10-6 Tuesday through Thursday, 10-5 Friday!)

See you at the market!

CHEESE at City Greens!

City Greeners know that for a long time now we've carried a selection of Marcoot Jersey Creamery's cheeses. The market has been stocked with Creamy Havarti, Gouda, White Cheddar, Habanero Jack and Smoked Gouda since Marcoot hit our shelves well over a year ago. Recently the farmers started making a Tipsy Cheddar, featuring St. Louis' own Schlafly Pale Ale.

We've branched out.

Recently we added on a few more regulars to the Marcoot lineup.

First up is farm-fresh mozzarella cheese. As many know, mozzarella is a semi-soft cheese and with a higher moisture content than aged cheeses. To help extend its shelf life, it is packaged in brine (salted water). This cheese pairs so well with basil and tomatoes, which are abundant in the summer, but scarce in the off-season. Try using this fresh cheese on homemade pizza (made with whole wheat flour from City Greens), mixed in with fresh pasta (like that from Midwest Pasta Co.) with HOSCO sunflower sprouts, OR baked into a casserole along with Dry Dock Farm's eggs and Patchwork Family Farms' sausage.

Next on the bill are Marcoot's fresh cheese curds. They have a mild flavor and are somewhat salty. City Greens carries both Plain Curds as well as Herb Curds (made with garlic, dill, and chives). Cheese curds may be served as a snack all by themselves, add them to a tortilla for a quick quesadilla, or try frying them (not the healthiest, but delicious for sure!). 


The last newbies at the market are Marcoot's selection of quark. Quark is a fresh, soft, spreadable cheese. It is one of the only cheeses that you can freeze. It has the thickness of sour cream but is slightly dryer, which makes for a slightly crumbly texture similar to ricotta cheese. (The texture is comparable to that of goat cheese.) The farmers at Marcoot make three flavors of this cheese - plain, herb (with garlic, dill, and chives), and strawberry. Enjoy quark spread on a Companion Bakery bagel (or cornbread, or crostini!), add it to homemade salad dressing to add creaminess, or head over to QuarkMaker.com to find loads of dessert recipes featuring quark!

...So that's the lowdown on all the latest Marcoot Jersey Creamery products on the shelves at City Greens Market. Next time you come shopping, don't forget to say "CHEESE!"

Winter Hours are Coming!

Many City Greeners have come shopping and asking what our schedule will  be like come the winter months. In past years, we have been open on just one day per week during the chilly season. While our all-natural, all-local produce selection drop significantly (although we still have products like lettuce, spinach, kale, and other greens; as well as produce that stores well like winter squash, sweet potatoes, and white potatoes; plus Ozark Forest Musrhooms), we'll still have a great selection of other products.

 

As City Greens continues to grow our membership and shoppers, we've tried to diversify our products as much as possible. During wintertime we'll have the shelves stocked with our Amish farmers' local honey, jams, pickles, and other preserved goods. Plus we'll have all the meats, dairy, fresh pasta, eggs, beans, and cheeses in addition to the dry goods we have every week during the summer - flour, rice, nuts, wheatberries. (And of course fresh breads, too!)



So, because we'll have all these delicious goods all year long, even through the darkest of the winter days, City Greens will be open from 10-6 Tuesday through Thursday, 10-5 Friday. These hours will take affect next week - starting Tuesday, November 12.

We realize that some folks take advantage of our hours that extend in the summer to 7pm two days per week. Well, as soon as we're settled into our new space on Manchester we'll be able to have some hours on Saturdays! (YAY!)

So we invite shoppers to the market this week during our regular season hours:
Tuesday 1-7
Wednesday 10-5
Thursday 1-7
Friday 10-5

...and then 10-6 Tues-Thurs, 10-5 Friday after that!

See you at the market!

del Carmen's Super Delicious Super Foods

Regular City Greens shoppers know that we've been getting in new products left and right lately. One new favorite is del Carmen - authentic, Cuban-style black beans. Our market sells the original style, gluten free, and gluten free hummus.

Owner of del Carmen, Estie Cruz-Curoe, was born in Cuba and moved to the United States as a child. Her beans are made in the traditional Cuban method, only in small batches, which means they are hand-made with the slow cooked method and fresh, quality ingredients.

These delicious del Carmen beans are sold at City Greens in 16 oz. containers (8 oz. for the hummus). There are no preservatives in these products, so they're found in our freezer section.

The best thing about these products? They're already cooked and seasoned, so all you have to do is heat them up. Pair them with rice (Martin Rice from Bernie, MO is sold at City Greens at $0.70/lb), add some leftover chicken if you like, a size of veggies, a dollop of plain Windcrest Dairy yogurt, and you have a complete, well-balanced meal. (Or you can eat them right out of the container on their own - they're that good!!)

Come on over to City Greens to check out these super delicious super foods from del Carmen!

Closing Early on Thursday

City Greeners, we at the market know that many folks have been taking advantage of our extended hours on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Being open until 7pm allows the working 9-5 crowd to stop by the market without feeling the impending doom of locked doors.

Unfortunately, for this Thursday, October 3rd, that feeling will be surfacing once again.

For this Thursday and this Thursday only, we will be locking the City Greens doors at 4pm. We apologize for any inconvenience, especially to that 9-5 crowd, but will be open again on Friday the normal 10-5 hours, and then we'll be back to the normal schedule next week!

Many thanks to our loyal shoppers for the continued support!