Rate this Recipe: Mashed Potatoes

do you feel like this year has just flown by?  I have to admit, I am not a big Thanksgiving meal person. I don’t get up early, stuff turkey and have it cook for hours with a nice place setting at the dinner table. I am the

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World Christmas Party

so Putumayo has assembled some of our favorite upbeat seasonal songs to get you rockin’ around the Christmas tree. So get ready to deck the halls with a !

(Read on for a chance to win a CD collection of Christmas music.)

I’ve always enjoyed looking out for compelling versions of Christmas music recorded in other parts of the world and how different cultures celebrate Christmas. On a trip to New Zealand last year, I found one of my favorites, a Maori recording of

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19 Delicious Ways to Enjoy Leftover Turkey

Hearty Turkey Noodle SoupTurkey Sweet Potato CurryTurkey with Sweet Potato DumplingsTurkey Picadillo

Casseroles, Enchiladas and Quiche

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Top Ten Holiday Wines Takeover Twitterdom

all under $15 a bottle!

Like many great holiday parties, we started off with a fresh, French bubbly with De Chanceney Crémant de Loire. Award-winning wine blogger 1 Wine Dude liked the tremendous value of this bubbly at about $12 per bottle and noted it was

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Holiday Gift Boxes – Online Now!

we’ve got the perfect holiday gift (box) for your friends, family, secret crush, office mate, your college advisor, or your kids’ teachers!

Ordering is simple. Go to our gift box page, choose one of five delightful (we think), affordable ($40 to $60, plus shipping) gift boxes, and you’re done! Place your order now through Monday, November 29 and it ships for FREE! And since it’s from Whole Foods Market, you know your gift is going to show your holiday spirit in a whole new way.

Keep in mind that these gift boxes are ONLY available to order online. That’s how we can give you the best pricing and the quickest delivery. Now let’s get to the goods!

The Gift of Grub

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Bring on the Green…with Fresh Trees

are you ready?

Did you know that Fraser Firs are one of the most popular choices when it comes to bringing home a fresh tree for the holidays? With a dark green color, full shape, classic aroma, and excellent needle retention, no wonder the Fraser Fir holds onto all that glitz and glam so well!  What’s your favorite reason for choosing a real tree? I think mine is that a well cared for tree can last up to three or four weeks, and who doesn’t love having that smell fill the air?

Check out this slideshow about the Bottomley farm.
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Our Outstanding Ham

Federal law does not allow the use of supplemental growth hormones in pigs.

Pretty compelling, don’t you think? Lots more reasons to get your ham from us in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned in and we’ll help you make sure your holiday is just right.

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Dispose of Electronics Safely

After almost two decades of faithful service, my first 6-disc CD player stopped working. I can still remember tearing open the huge cardboard CD packaging, and popping my Mariah Carey CD in the player

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Changing My Address

I was at the bank last week, and not surprisingly, the teller asked me for identification. As I passed my driver’s license to her, I noticed that the address on my license is out of date. How many other important records have my old address I wonder?

I didn’t move, but my address changed. I used to have one of those

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Rate this Recipe: Pumpkin Pancakes

Lee la versión en español

This month always makes me think of pumpkins- driving to the local pumpkin patch, going on a hayride and warm apple cider.

This recipe is from USDA’s SNAP-EdConnection’s Recipe Finderdatabase

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Grade A Parent/Teacher Meetings

Category: Home and Family

Kitty Vanzant came to Washington with a Master’s in English Education, but first worked at several federal agencies writing radio and TV scripts, speeches, and publications. After moving to West Virginia, she earned certification in gifted education and writing, and taught in rural areas of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. When a job offer led her back to Virginia, she resumed a career with the government. Today she manages a resource page for teachers of grades 6

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Calendar, Coupons and Change

Last year, shoppers purchased $65,000 in calendars, which empowered nearly 2,000 poor women and their family members with microloans to create or expand a home-based business and create prosperity. Each year these loans are repaid and we can empower 2,000 more women with an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty through entrepreneurship. Imagine what we can do this year, with your help.

Interested in who you are helping? Check out our photo stories page to learn about microcredit clients like Gulbeyaz in Turkey, who used her microloan to buy items to sell in her small shop that her relatives helped her set up.

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What Sets Our Shrimp Apart?

we don’t want anything to take away from the sweet, delicate flavor of shrimp raised right. In fact, our shrimp are harvested to order and flash frozen within hours of harvest and you can taste the difference.

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Help for the Holiday Cook

Earth Balance Natural Spreads

Earth Balance natural buttery spread is free of  trans fats, hydrogenated oils and artificial ingredients. There are several varieties, with vegan and organic options, to suit all your cooking needs, from sautéing to baking: Whipped Buttery Spread, Buttery Sticks, Soy Garden Spread, Shortening, Soy-Free Buttery Spread and Original Buttery Spread.

Warm up your ovens and keep up with our Whole Story blog because later this month we’ll be announcing the details of a Whole Foods Market and Earth Balance holiday baking contest. Prizes will include a year’s supply of Earth Balance products and Whole Foods Market gift cards.

 

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This Season, Every Sip is a Story

This holiday season, you’ll be able to uncork a whole array of stories while pouring top wines that are affordable, easy-going and have a few tales of their own to share

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Meet Our Turkey Ranchers

The other point I made was that we have complete traceability to the farms and ranches where the turkey was raised. That’s so rare in the industry and it’s one of the things that I really like about working here. Whole Foods Market goes to the effort to know exactly where our turkeys come from. And since we do, I thought you’d like a chance to meet our turkey farmers and ranchers and find out a little bit about the people behind your Thanksgiving dinner.

Here’s a handful of turkey farms to get us started. Check back between now and Thanksgiving to meet more or check our local stories page to read about them now as part of our holiday website.   

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Favorite Holiday Side Dish Recipes

typically on the Thanksgiving table. Plan to include one or more on your menu.

Broccoli Salad with Walnuts and CurrantsGruyere Salad with Apples and Cider VinaigretteSpinach Salad with Aduki Beans and Clementine VinaigretteThanksgiving Green Salad

Grain Salads

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What’s New in November

Amy and Brian’s Coconut Juice 6-pack

Made from the water of young coconutsWith naturally occurring potassium and electrolytesRehydrate without the added sugar or artificial colors and flavors found in conventional sports drinks 

 

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Amazing Shrimp Sale This Friday

either way, it’s only $5.99 per pound. You can stock up for the holiday season.

Since this deal is so crazy good, we are limiting each customer to no more than 10 pounds so everybody can get in on the fun. Need some ideas for how to prepare your shrimp? Try these faves:

Quick and Easy Shrimp Dip Shrimp Cocktail with Creamy Spicy Green Onion Dipping Sauce Seafood Cucumber StacksChicken Sausage Jambalaya with Shrimp

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Planning a Holiday Menu for Special Diets

some that are personal choices and others that are medically necessary. Whatever the reason, you’ll want to make sure all of your guests are well-fed and satisfied. I’ve got some special tips to help make this easy and delicious!

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Think Outside the Can

using organic ingredients, when possible, loaded with veggies or beans, considerate of salt and sugar content and other special dietary needs.

So, this season, I plan on stocking my pantry with some of these soups. Besides being full of quality ingredients, they all come in easy-to-store, aseptic packaging. While we may be used to cans, my bet is that these great soups are going to change our minds!

Pacific Natural Foods is a really cool, family-owned company based in Tualatin, Oregon. They can trace all the ingredients in their products back to their origins through their Certified to the Source

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A Whole New Gift Box

PACKING MATERIALS
Other gift boxes frequently come with a lot of waste. Inside our gift boxes you’ll find the finest natural and organic products, but you won’t find Styrofoam peanuts or bubble wrap filler. Instead, we used 15% post-industrial waste shredded paper that is compostable and recyclable.

SHIPPING BOX
Other gift boxes are frequently shipped inside yet another box to protect the interior. Not very green. We did things differently. By using a higher quality corrugated cardboard in one box instead of lower quality in two, we were able to use fewer resources. And the cardboard we did use is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (license code FSC-C101601).

Now that you know you can feel good about giving these, here are the five gift boxes to choose from.

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Roast or Toast Pumpkin Seeds

Spiced, toasted, raw and more, there they were again. My favorite little Halloween treat, only shelled and prepared in ways Mom never dreamed of!

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Le Gruyere from Switzerland

at breakfast, in sandwiches at lunch, for snacks, at dinner and for dessert. This is my kind of country!!!

I had the opportunity to visit a few cheese production facilities in July with a group of Whole Foods Market team members from around the country. A few were making their first trip to Europe…it was fantastic. How wonderful that your first trip to Europe was to Switzerland to taste some of the best traditionally produced cheeses in the world! We began every day before 6 am to “follow the milk.”

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Our Best Holiday Helpers

from handmade to store-bought and everything in between.

Holiday How-To’s
See experts in action, demonstrating valuable how-to’s and sharing tips for everything from traditional holiday cooking to festive, eco-friendly décor and other special touches.

We hope you find all of this great stuff helpful. Did we miss anything? Let us know and we’ll try to add it!

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Long Line Atlantic Cod

remote. This small fishing village of less than four hundred people is only an hour plane ride from Reykavik but a world away from standard industry. To reach the village you have to travel miles through the mountains in a dark tunnel, emerging out onto a beautiful landscape of peaks and valley with the ocean spread out on all sides. The town features an inn, your classic pub or two, and a few dozen modest homes. The industry here consists of long line cod fishing, with a nod to passionate sport fishermen from Europe who often visit in the summer to catch hook and line cod

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Fall Into Organics: Butternut Squash

Butternut squash is available domestically most of the year and grown all over the country, but fall is a peak time to enjoy it. (Check with your local store, there is a good chance you will find locally grown squash!)

When shopping, look for squash that are firm, heavy for their size, and that have hard, tough skin. Winter squash can be stored at room temperature in a cool, dry place for a month or more, so don’t be shy about stocking up while it is at its best!

The variety of growing regions makes the list of organic butternut growers that we love a long one; but here is one of the many that we want to thank! Thank you, Justin Trussoni and Organic Valley for supplying our stores in the Midwest with tasty organic squash!

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Caring for Caregivers

Statistics say that over 20% of husbands leave their wives after they’re diagnosed with breast cancer. I was lucky. From the beginning, James told me, in no uncertain terms, that we were in this together; that he would always be there for me no matter what. A friend of mine was not as fortunate. The day after her diagnosis, her husband left her. Not only did he abandon her, he left their 10-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter to become their mother’s primary caregivers. What kind of man does that? What kind of message is he sending his children? Another breast cancer husband I know was so unsympathetic during his wife’s chemotherapy he actually told her to take an aspirin and

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Green Power Salute

The competitive Green Power Partner of the Year award recognizes EPA Green Power Partners who distinguish themselves through their purchase, leadership, overall strategy and impact on the green power market. We were recognized for increasing our green power purchasing to include nearly 818 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power in 2010, which is more than 100% of our purchased electricity use. According to the EPA, 818 million kWh of renewable energy credits (RECs) is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 71,000 average American homes annually.

For 2011, we have committed to purchasing RECs from NextEra Energy Resource’s EarthEra program, 3 Degrees and Renewable Choice Energy. This will be the fifth year for us to offset 100% of our purchased electricity use. We currently rank third on EPA’s National Top 50 Partners list, which highlights EPA Green Power Partners that have completed the largest annual voluntary purchases through July 6, 2010. Back in 2006, we were the first Fortune 500

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Achatz Pies

are local to Michigan. are perfect for Whole Foods Market shoppers, who know that what they’re buying is free of hydrogenated oils, chemicals and preservatives. You can also pronounce all the ingredients. Learn more about by watching this short video.

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Team Members Give Back in Guatemala

One day on the street I was sitting reading the book from Dr. Yunus about Microcredit (Creating a World Without Poverty). A woman approached me to sell some of her textiles, as they often did, and I recognized her from the Grameen meeting earlier in the week so I asked her if she was a member of the group and she was very proud to say yes! She explained that every 15 days she paid 100 Quetzales (about $12) to the bank.

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