We are so pleased to give a year’s supply of Country Choice Organics to Kellie, creator of Powerhouse Poblanos! This was a flavor-packed combination of veggies and protein. The crew here at Country Choice Organic was excited to use steel cut oats for the stuffing — a surprising savory application that many of us had never tried. Delicious!

Thank you again to everyone who participated! The sharing doesn’t stop here — we’re always interested in hearing about how you use oats. Let us know what’s cooking in your kitchen!

Powerhouse Poblanos

10 Poblano peppers, tops removed deseeded and cleaned.
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
12 oz lean pork loin, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup corn
1 cup Country Choice Organic Steel Cut Oats, prepared
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
½ tsp fresh ground pepper
1 jar mild salsa
8 oz shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375F. Over your stove’s burner or under a broiler, char the outside of the peppers until blackened. Promptly place peppers in a brown bag and close to steam –about 5 minutes. Remove skins from the peppers. Meanwhile heat olive oil in a skillet, brown pork and add garlic and onion. Cook on medium until onions are tender. Mix onions, beans, corn, oats, and spices together. Stuff peppers with mixture and place in a baking dish. Pour salsa over top and finish with cheese. Bake until bubbly and cooked through, approximately 30 minutes. Serve!

As you would imagine, we have quite a few oat fanatics around our office. We love our steel cut, rolled, multi-grain… not to mention our Soft Baked Oatmeal Cookies. In fact, we spend a lot of our working hours perfecting new and delicious ways to deliver our organic oats to you. Most recently, we introduced several new products: Quick Cook Steel Cut Oat Pouches, Apple Cinnamon Multigrain Instant Oatmeal and Maple Spice Multigrain Instant Oatmeal. You should see them soon where you buy organic products.

However, we know we aren’t the only ones with “outside the canister” ideas for enjoying Country Choice Organic oats!

So now it’s your turn to get creative! We’d love to hear the delicious ways you make eating organic easy. How do you incorporate organic oats into recipes enjoyed by you and your family? Enter the Outside the Canister Recipe Contest before February 8, 2012, and let us know what you are whipping up in your kitchen. You could win a one-year supply of Country Choice organic products. What better way to start the year?

While it’s too easy to get caught up in the holiday whirlwind, now more than ever, it is important to step back and look at the big picture.  At Country Choice Organic, we try to do this daily by making it easy for everyone to eat our great tasting organic food.  At this time of year, however, it’s rewarding to make a concerted effort to make our heart-warming products available to those who need it most.

So again this year, Country Choice Organic needs your help to give the gift of breakfast to thousands in need.  Last year you “liked” us so much, we donated over 18,000 bowls of oatmeal to Hope for the City to help them fight hunger around the country.  This year we would like to do even more.  So now through January 8, Country Choice Organic will donate 5 bowls of oatmeal to Hope for the City for each new “like” we receive on Facebook.

With just one click, you can help warm hearts and nourish lives!

Happy Holidays,

Your Friends at Country Choice Organic

In some ways, the doors mimic the food choices we make every day.  And to be honest, I’m more disturbed by Door #2 (Seattle Sutton) than Door #1 (YoYo Donuts).

YoYo Donuts is a local entrepreneur baking scratch donuts daily using real ingredients.  They choose to use “no preservatives or dough extenders” so the half life of one of their beauties is about 8 hours.  Obviously, this is not a door you should darken on a regular basis, but as a deliberate, if irregular choice, you could do a lot worse.

Seattle Sutton is a national chain making money on our inability (or antipathy) to feed ourselves.  They will “prepare 21 fresh and tasty meals” so you don’t have to…because it’s hard.  You make one decision (and write a hefty check) and don’t need to think about food for an entire week.  Think of the time you’ll save to watch the Food Network.

Maybe I should stop being amazed when people abdicate responsibility for what they eat, but, how hard is it really to identify and consume our 2000 calories each day.  No, food shouldn’t consume your life, but shouldn’t your life be consumed – at least a little bit – by some deliberate thought about food?  After all, we are talking about nutritional support for the only body you’re ever going to have.

I realize this is an overly simplistic analysis that doesn’t begin to capture the myriad influences on our diet.  However, since we have to choose a door 3 times a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for our entire life, we might as well give it some thought…don’t you think?

My most recent choice: a Pumpkin donut with Maple frosting from Door #1.  It was delicious.

One effort, Just Label It! has filed a legal petition calling on the FDA to label genetically engineered (GE) foods.  It points out that many countries around the world require GE labeling, as well as results of the ABC News poll which found 93% of American consumers want the government to mandate labeling of GE foods.  And it is sure to meet stiff resistance in Congress.

Another, The Non-GMO Project, offers a unique label that indicates “a product has been produced according to rigorous best practices for GMO avoidance, including testing of risk ingredients.”  The fee-based verification program encourages manufacturers to leverage the Non-GMO Project seal on packaging and advertising.  And it is sure to cause consumer confusion on the shelf.

So I have to ask…why bother when the government already has a sanctioned program that addresses GMOs?  It’s been around for over 10 years with its own easily identifiable seal… USDA Organic!  The USDA Organic seal sets the standard for organic production, but it’s so much more.  According to the National Organic Program, products displaying the USDA Organic seal must:

• Integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources
• Promote ecological balance
• Conserve biodiversity
• Contain No
  - Synthetic fertilizers or pesticides
  - Sewage sludge
  - Irradiation
  - GMOs

That’s right.  Certified Organic = Certified No GMOs.  Who knew it could be so simple?!

So before we rally the troops toward another DC stalemate or create a redundant (and costly) new sticker, why not spend our limited time and energy raising awareness of the already approved USDA Organic program.  After all, if it’s not broke, why relabel it!

Perhaps it’s instinct passed down over generations, or it could just be the cool, dry air making us hungry, but in Minnesota we tend to stock up on essential foods this time of year, preparing for the long winter ahead. Time to bulk up, in more ways than one.

For those who love buying our products in bulk – say, six canisters of Steel Cut Oats or a half dozen boxes of our Instant Oatmeal with Flax – we’re offering significant discounts on Amazon.com through the end of the month. Visit our Amazon page, purchase your favorite oats and cookies through “Subscribe and Save,” and you will save up to 25% off regular deliveries of your favorite products. Did we mention free shipping?

There’s no limit to what you can buy. So stock up and enjoy the oatmeal and cookies. Here’s to hoping the fall colors are beautiful for you wherever you may be.

How do you eat local? 

Enjoy!

Rhubarb Crisp
serves 8

Ingredients
8 large stalks rhubarb, cut into ¼” pieces
1 ½ cups of organic sugar
½ cup organic flour
1 Tbs unsalted organic butter
Organic Topping (recipe follows)

1. Combine cut rhubarb with ¾ cup of sugar and let stand for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Turn rhubarb into a large bowl and add remaining sugar.  Mix well.  Add flour and mix again.  If mixture is too soupy, add flour to thicken.
3. Butter a 2 ½ quart gratin dish and pour in rhubarb mixture.  Sprinkle with topping.
4. Place dish on middle rack of oven and bake for 1 hour, until rhubarb is tender, juices are bubbling and topping is crisp.

Oatmeal Topping
¾ cup organic flour
8 Tbs (1 stick) cold unsalted organic butter, cut into small pieces
1 Tbs organic ground cinnamon
1 cup organic rolled oats
½ cup organic brown sugar

In a food processor, combine flour, butter and cinnamon.  Pulse until large crumbs form, about 20 seconds.  (If you don’t have a food processor, cut butter into dry ingredients until large crumbs form.)  Pour into bowl with oatmeal and sugar.  Crumble with fingers until well combined.

Online retailer amazon.com has gotten in on the action as well, creating a program that rewards regular customers with savings.  Called Subscribe & Save, the program offers consumers a 15% discount on specially marked products and throws in free shipping to boot.  All you do is sign up to have the items delivered at a regular interval of your choosing. There are no additional fees, risks, or obligations.

You can subscribe to a wide variety of grocery products, including the entire Country Choice Organic line-up.  Based on the number of comments on amazon.com, there seem to be quite a few oatmeal lovers subscribing to the favorite morning food.

I realize it’s called the Natural Products Expo for a reason – a compromise to sell space to the spandex-clad women who hawk supplements and colon cleansing.  But the true purpose must be to get everyone excited about natural and organic food…real, honest-to-goodness, food that matters.  Unfortunately, this year’s show was dominated by bars/water/chips being sold as nutrient carrying devices and touting the benefits of the super fruit du jour.  The only thing in short supply was real fruit.

To be fair, Earthbound Farms was displaying fresh salad mixes and Alexia was sampling yummy sweet potatoes fries.  Industry stalwarts Organic Valley and Applegate Farms were there, too.  But for the most part, the aisles were filled with people and companies competing to sell empty calories.

Obviously, some of our cookies could be considered “empty calories”.  But in everything we do, we make real food with simple ingredients and offer better-for-you alternatives to our counterparts.  That’s the beauty of organic – every ingredient is real.  You’ll know we’ve “jumped the shark” when we start selling “energy bites with ginko”.

It should surprise no one that the Natural industry is in the same boat as mainstream producers.  Since we collectively produce far more calories than we could (or should) possibly consume, selling food in the U.S. is a zero-sum game.  Growth comes from stealing “share of stomach” from the next guy by figuring out how to sell more calories, whether we need them or not.  This explains why we can buy food virtually all day and anywhere.  As an expandable consumable, food has become the growth vehicle that is driving ever expanding waistbands and obesity rates.

So while I’m disillusioned, I expect I’ll attend future shows with an eye out for the interesting developments in real food (and eating my way around the world of dark chocolate).  As for hydration systems, I’m happy to fill my reusable bottle from the tap.