Sauteed Spinach and Mushrooms

The Spiral Path Baby Spinach clamshells have built up in my store, so I decided to demo them. A quick, easy demo is to saute it with organic baby bella mushrooms, grated/shredded parmigiano reggiano, and basting oil. Bacon bits are optional but seem like they'd make the ensemble.

Ingredients:
6 clamshells SP Baby Spinach
4 containers (5 oz. each) whole Organic Baby Bella mushrooms
1 container grated or shredded Parmigiano Reggiano OR Italian Blend (OWC)
1 16 oz. bottle Basting Oil
Hormel Black Label Bacon Bits
salt and pepper to taste

Tools:
If no electrical hookup available: Gas burner, butane cans, and pan from kitchen
If electrical hookup is available: Induction burner with induction pan (must be an induction pan)
salad spinner
Non-scratch non-plastic tongs
cambro for spinach w/ lid
smaller cambro for mushrooms w/ lid

Merchandising:
In a 2ft case: 2 rows of clamshells and 2 rows of mushrooms. Top of case: basting oil (either size), cheese, and (optional) bacon bits.

Directions: Victory wash and spin spinach, place in paper-towel lined cambro and cover with lid. Victory wash and wipe off dirt from mushrooms. Dry and slice up. Place in cambro and cover with lid. Heat basting oil in pan. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper, and optionally about a tablespoon of bacon bits. Saute until mushrooms darken a bit. Turn off the heat. Add spinach and mix until spinach is a bit wilted. Sprinkle on the parmesan liberally. Mix more. Serve.

**Make sure to have a sign out that says the dish contains pork/pig if you add the bacon bits.**

*Note: the spinach will eventually completely wilt. Don't worry about it. It may seem like you're putting in way too much spinach compared to the mushrooms, but spinach collapses very quickly when heat is applied.*

Summer Squash Spaghetti

The Spiral Path Farm goldbar squash and zucchini should be arriving in your store any day now! We now have a code for SP veggie noodles, so spiralize away! It's only fitting that we take a break from our (albeit delicious salads) and show off our culinary prowess by whipping up a 10 minute spaghetti. We have several different pasta sauces that pair well with these noodles, you can demo whatever you have the most of. You can pair this with cheese or add no cheese for a completely vegan dish. If you tend to have a meat-loving crowd, you can add one of the sausages below.

Create your own veggie pasta dish!!

Sauce (Wegmans Italian Classics Organic Pasta Sauces-$2.99):
Chunky Marinara (Vegan)
Roasted Garlic (Vegan)
Grandpa's Sauce Goes Vegetarian (Vegan)
Roasted Tomato and Red Wine (Vegan)
Blush (NOT Vegan)

Our Organic Basting Oil is also an option as well.

Cheese (optional)
Wegmans Italian Classics Italian Blend Cheese
Wegmans Italian Classics Parmigiano Reggiano
 Organic Valley Organic Parmesan

Meat (optional) (Wegmans Organic Chicken Sausages-*all are fully cooked*-$6.59):
Italian with Red Peppers
Spinach and Garlic with Asiago
Wild Mushroom and Herb

Tools:
Induction Burner
Frying Pan (preferably w/ lid)
Non-scratch tongs (I like OXO, as always)
2 Cambros w/ lids for noodles and sausage
Kitchen Shears
Cutting board/knife (if adding sausage)
Spiralizer (Only if you want to demonstrate how we actually make the noodles.)
(The Veggetti Pro will work just fine. We usually sell it in GM.  It's a cross merchandising opportunity!!)

Merchandising:
In a 2 ft case: 2-3 rows of veggie noodles with "From Farms Near Our Stores" stickers, 1 row of chicken sausage (optional). Top of case: cheese and sauce/basting oil. If you have any other room near your display you can advertise Veggetti Pros.

Directions:

1. Wash squash and chop off ends.
2. Spiralize squash. Line a cambro with paper towels and place noodles in cambro.
3. Cut up the noodles with the shears or it will be a bear to get into the little cups! Cover with another paper towel and the lid.
4. (optional) Cut up the sausages into bite sized pieces (slice lengthwise and then into slices) and place into cambro.
5. Heat the sauce in the pan.
6. (optional) Add sausage to pan and heat in the sauce.
7. Add noodles, toss to coat.
8. Cover (optional) and let cook until soft and slightly wilted.
9. Remove cover and sprinkle with cheese if desired.
10. Serve.

Ask your coordinator if there are coupons for the Wegmans Organic Sauce available.

Wedge Salad

We've got delicious Jersey Legacy Iceberg Lettuce in, and what better way to show off a crisp head of iceberg than a traditional wedge salad. We have a new Wegmans Organic Blue Cheese Dressing, and this salad lets it shine.
This recipe is very similar to the Wegmans one, Iceberg Wedge with Blue Cheese

Many people think that Iceberg Lettuce is devoid of nutrients. While it may not be as nutrient dense as spinach or kale, it still provides some good stuff with very few calories. According to Organic Facts.net, "Iceberg lettuce is an excellent source of potassium and manganese, as well as a very good source of iron, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous. It also contains traces of sodium, copper, and zinc." Its simple, crisp flavor lends itself to both heavy cream based dressings and light vinaigrettes.

Ingredients:
1 head Jersey Legacy Iceberg Lettuce, washed, spinned, and chopped
1 bag Hormel Black Label Real Bacon Pieces
1 organic red onion, washed and thinly sliced
Organic Radish bunch, washed, leaves cut off, and thinly sliced
1 bottle Wegmans Organic Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing
Optional:
Organic Creamery or Organic Valley Blue Cheese Crumbles

Tools needed:
Large sharp knife
Large cambro+lid
Small cambro+lid
Tongs for onion/radish
Optional mandolin for radish

In a small cambro have the onion and radish. In another larger cambro have the lettuce, chopped into small pieces. Keep the cheese (optional) in its container. Add dressing to the cups as you serve. Sprinkle the bacon pieces on top.

Merchandising:
In a 2 ft case: iceberg lettuce heads in right or left third of case. Radishes (just regular organic) in middle third of case. Cheese crumbles (optional) and dressing in left or right final third of case. I butted up a plastic divider to the side of the case, longer side vertical, to allow the dressing to slide down as customers took it and to keep it from falling over. Top of case: bacon crumbles. {My store doesn't carry the ones in a bag, but we do have the ones in a shaker container. Whichever one works just fine.} Optional next to you (unrefrigerated): more iceberg, bags of organic red onions, or more radishes.

Ask your coordinator if there are coupons for organic dressing.

Greek Salad

Warm late spring days are perfect for grilling, so remind your customers to pair this restaurant style greek salad with a Greek Turkey Burger (don't forget the Tzatziki!).

Greek Salad

Ingredients:
2 heads Spiral Path Green Leaf Lettuce (Romaine or Iceberg/Romaine mix works too, or a mix of all three), washed, spinned, and torn into pieces
1 8 oz. container Odyssey Organic Feta Cheese, Greek Style- Crumbled (OWC)
1 6 oz. container Organic Divina Kalamata Olives, drained and sliced (OWC)
3 Spiral Path Cucumbers, quartered and sliced
1 organic red onion, sliced
2 containers Wegmans organic grape tomatoes, halved

Mix the tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion in a cambro. Keep the lettuce in a separate cambro. This keeps the lettuce dry and fresh. Have an open container of feta and an open container of the olives. Set those aside and ask customers if they would like olive with theirs. Many people don't like them. As always, add dressing to the cups, not the big serving bowl.

Dressing:
**Note: I decided against using the Wegmans Organic Greek Dressing, and instead opted to make my own. You can choose to attempt to make the dressing with organic ingredients, however you're going to end up with expensive shrink unless you make a large batch. If you don't plan on making much, try to use the kitchen's ingredients to save money. An excellent cross merchandising opportunity is to use a TableCraft Olive Oil Dispenser for your dressing. I also can't demo salads without my OXO Salad Spinner.**

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1.5 teaspoons garlic powder
1.5 teaspoons dried oregano
1.5 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard


Combine all. Stir/shake/mix well. Shake frequently when demoing.

Merchandising:
2ft case: feta cheese column, olives column, grape tomato column. Top of case: Wegmans Italian Classics Chianti Red Wine Vinegar, Wegmans 100% Mediterranean Blend Olive Oil- Pure- 16.9 fl oz.
Beside you on the table: cucumbers and green leaf/romaine/iceberg lettuce, maybe bags of organic red onions if you have room.

I'm writing this Thursday night so I may come back and edit to reflect what actually happened over the weekend. Questions or thoughts? Post below! :)

Edit: Edited some directions for the demo, 6/15/16

-Caroline

Pecan, Gorgonzola, and Cranberry Salad

The first recipe is from today, Friday June 3rd. I used the "Super Greens" salad idea in the Summer 2016 menu magazine, but I used the Mixed Greens (formerly Tasti Crisp) instead. Most customers liked it. Gorgonzola is an acquired taste for some however. You can do many variations on this recipe. I told customers that if they didn't like the gorgonzola, a feta or a crumbly goat cheese would do just fine. The 12 oz. Organic Raw Pecans were too pricey for most of my customers at $14, so I pulled some small bags of Diamond chopped pecans ($3.29) for my display. Grilled chicken would go great with this recipe!

Pecan, Gorgonzola, and Cranberry Salad

1 (5 oz.) clamshell Spiral Path Mixed Greens

1 (4 oz.) container Gorgonzola cheese crumbles

1/2 of a 6 oz. bag of Wegmans Organic Sweetened Dried Cranberries

3/4 c. Wegmans Organic Raw Pecan Halves, broken up

1/3 c. Wegmans Organic White Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

Demo Instructions:

Mix all ingredients EXCEPT DRESSING in a large bowl. I like to pour some dressing in a plastic sample cup, and as I dole out the salad into the sample cups, I scoop a bit of dressing out of the dressing cup and into the sample cup. This way the salad doesn't get as soggy. Try to make sure each customer gets some cheese, a pecan piece, and a cranberry or two in the sample cup.

Merchandising:

The main focus is on the mixed greens here, so in a 2ft case I had 2 columns of clamshells, 1 column of cheese, double or triple stacked, and a column of dressing. I used a clear divider (L shaped), and I butted it against the side of the case, taller side vertical so the bottles of dressing would gently slide down on the plastic when a customer took a bottle out. This kept me from having to re-position the dressing as customers took it, and it keeps the bottles from falling over. The cranberries and pecans went on top of the case. I made sure all prices were clearly written. Ask your coordinator if you have coupons for the organic dressing.

If you have any questions, comment below! :)

-Caroline