holy guacamole Super Bowl

One of the biggest grocery spending day which is only second to Thanksgiving happens this Sunday, Feb 7. Yep, there’s something magical about the Super Bowl, food, and football.

Avocado Wars

Sunflower Market has Hass avocados for 39 cents/each. Limes are 4 for $1 and roma tomatoes costs 39 cents a pound. What a deal! Stock up.

Safeway serves up avocados at 3 for 99 cents. You can also get 8 pieces of fried chicken or all natural roasted chicken (trans fat free) for $3.99. The Football Meal Deal is $9.99 for 16-inch take & bake pizza, 25 bone-in or boneless chicken wings, and 2 liter of Coke. Club Cards required for the deals.

Food City has avocados 2 for $1 and Herdez salsa 2 for $3. Food City also has mini sandwich trays and mini chimi trays.

Fry’s avocados cost $1/each, roma tomatoes are $1/pound and cilantro 2 for $1. You can get $5 off any party tray of $25 or more; 24 hours notice recommended. Lots of cakes are decorated to look like footballs or football fields including a Carvel Snickers football ice cream cake for $6.99. Today is the first Wednesday of the month and 55+ year olds get 10% off their total purchases. VIP cards required.

Albertsons has avocados for 99 cents/each and roma tomatoes for 99 cents/pound and cilantro 3 for $1. They have the same chicken deal as Safeway but fried only and buy 1, get 2 free of pork baby back ribs (in store coupon required).

Holy Guacamole
I once heard a rumor that the sale of avocados was over the top on Super Bowl Day. It’s only a rumor according to snopes.com. Sales do rise by 5 percent not 67 percent. The biggest selling holiday for avocados is Cinco de Mayo (May 5).
However, guacamole is a popular dip to serve for Super Bowl parties. It’s a perfect match for tortilla chips, chips of all kind, and crudites or raw vegetables. Avocados are usually on sale the week before the Super Bowl. Don’t wait until the last minute to buy the avocados because they will most likely need to ripen.
Avocado is a nutritious “fruit” filled with monosaturated oils otherwise known as good fats or healthy fats.

Trader Joe's brand recognition

A few weeks ago Trader Joe’s asked people who get their email list to vote for their favorite products.

Well, the tally is in and here’s the list. (PDF)

I forgot to vote but don’t see cranberry walnut salad dressing on the list. It’s only seasonal and I wish they would keep it all year. The dressing works well on spinach or lettuce with very little enhancement needed and only 70 calories for 2 tablespoons.

I also love their chipotle barbecue sauce and will mix it with mayonnaise for chicken salad or slaw. Add diced apples and a handful of raisins or nuts, and you get an easy dish with a kick.

Or shred a TJ’s pot roast and cook in the barbecue sauce along with chopped onions and you’ve got some filling meat to stuff into a pita pocket or whole wheat bun.

I also frequently use the frozen garlic, basil, parsley, and cilantro cubes. They’re perfect to pop into soups or stir fries when you don’t have fresh.

My friend told me she bought four cases or their Chariot red wine blend. Her being a wine snob, I was impressed when she said bottles were only $5.99. I ran to Trader Joe’s but they were sold out. An employee said people bought cases like never before. Trader Joe’s has free wine tasting now too.

Just don’t get attached because when the products are gone, sometimes they don’t come back like the Cuban sauce.

Here’s two enterprising women who love to shop at Trader Joe’s and love to cook and have a blog and a cookbook.

What are your favorite products at Trader Joe’s?

(Photo from Pachelbel)

Santa Cruz Farmers Market
The hours are from 3 to 6 p.m. As usual the market brims with garden fresh produce such as green beans, melons, chilies, tat soi, mustard greens, winter squash, (I’m getting hungry), spinach, bok choy, beets, pomegranates, apples, locally roasted coffee, honey, red and sweet potatoes, hot peppers, and more. Fresh eggs are available for $3/dozen. Mark your calendars because next week – November 19, Desert Harvesters will be here grinding dried mesquite pods into flour.

What’s Tat Soi?
Tat soi or tatsoi is an Asian green that is also called flat cabbage, rosette bok choy, and spoon cabbage. It’s a member of the brassica family which includes broccoli, brussels sprouts, collards, and kale. Tatsoi can be used in salads or sautéed, steamed or braised and mixed with sauces, chicken, tofu, and pasta. Tatsoi is low in calories and high in minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants.

Mesquite Pancakes
Last week I reported about Desert Harvesters mesquite pancake breakfast on November 7. This was their most successful breakfast ever selling over 2,000 pancakes, and milling over 960 pounds of mesquite pods with three mills on the pancake fiesta day and two mills the next day.

Sprouts Goes Green
Sprouts Farmers Market has joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership and voluntarily committed to decreasing refrigerant emissions through innovative HVAC, refrigeration design and leak-tight practices. Sprouts wants to be your  environmentally conscious neighbor and grocer. Sprouts is located at 7665 N. Oracle Road.

Please send your Tucson farmers market and grocery news to eat.tucson@yahoo.com