Tastes Like Spring

Well, I have looked and looked and I can't find a link to a website for this company. I am so sorry because their products are delicious and I think that everyone should try them. I bought these on a whim during my monthly assault on Rainbow Grocery with Kristina, and I cooked it up a couple of nights ago, and I was hooked! Each package comes with 3 clusters of pasta, each of which is good for one generous serving, and the sauce distributes perfectly in thirds as well. I should know because I have had this pasta for the past three nights in a row. Yes, that's right, the woman who can't stand to have the same country's cuisine for lunch and dinner has become a repeat diner. At Casa di Liz.

This is not your run of the mill grocery store pasta - which I usually dislike for its thick, gummy texture and overly salted fillings. The smell from the pot as the pasta is cooking is heavenly - the lemon aroma just wafts up, almost as if from some baked goods like lemon bread. The rocket (aka arugula in these here parts) makes the pesto sauce less sharp than when made with basil, and it just lightly coats the pasta with its fresh, green, nutty goodness, with a little texture added from toasted pumpkin seeds rather than pine nuts. It doesn't leave that heavy garlic taste in your mouth either, which is a plus if you actually plan on talking to people in the near future.

Not sold yet? How about that the pasta and sauce are:

• whole grain
• vegan
• local (Santa Rosa represent!)

A couple of tips: Take the sauce out of the fridge about 20 minutes before you start cooking. Only cook the pasta for 3 minutes at the very most, otherwise you will have a gummy mess on your hands. Just a short dip and swirl in a boiling water bath is all that it needs.

I may have to go back on non-coupon day to get more - it's that good.

Power Up

Behold the main reason I went to Rainbow Grocery last week. I wanted to get all of the ingredients for Heidi Swanson's Power Bars recipe, a recipe I have been wanting to make for years, but have never bothered to attempt because it's too hard to find all of those ingredients at just one store - Rainbow is the only place where I would be guaranteed to hit everything on my list. Well, it was totally worth it. These are delicious bars, very similar in texture to a sweet, sticky rice crispie treat, and just as enjoyable, without any of the guilt. I think it would be easy to make substitutions, too - dried cherry and pistachio, apricot and pecan - you could go on and on.

One suggestion that I would make is not to make them in the 9 X 13 pan - that was how I made them the first time, and while delicious, they were much too "loose", totally falling apart at the touch and not really bars. Go for the 8 X 8 size. But other than that, a great recipe.

DO-IT-YOURSELF POWER BARS
- makes 16 to 24 bars -

Ingredients
1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 1/4 cups rolled oats

1 1/4 cups chopped toasted walnuts

1/2 cup oat bran

1 1/2 cups unsweetened crisp brown rice cereal

1 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

1 cup brown rice syrup*

1/2 cup natural cane sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

Procedure
1. Grease a baking pan with the coconut oil. If you like thick power bars, opt for an 8 by 8-inch pan; for thinner bars, use a 9 by 13-inch pan.

2. Mix the oats, walnuts, oat bran, cereal, cranberries, and ginger together in a large bowl and set aside.

3. Combine the rice syrup, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly as it comes to a boil and thickens just a bit, about 4 minutes. Pour over the oat mixture and stir until the syrup is evenly incorporated.

4. Spread into the prepared pan and cool to room temperature before cutting into whatever size bars you desire.

*The second time I made these bars, I decreased the brown rice syrup to 2/3 cup and it was far less gooey and easier to manage.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

It sounds so happy, crunchy, hippie-dippy: Rainbow Grocery. A large, neighborhood cooperative with a long history, a place where every food item is bought with a conscience, where the business is owned and run by the workers, in a democracy. You might expect to find Wavy Gravy greeting you at the front door like a Wal-Mart greeter. A place to go after your yoga class to buy spelt bread and gluten-free pumpkin pie. Who doesn't like rainbows?

And basically, it is all of these things. Until coupon day. When it becomes anarchy.

In 2003, Rainbow started putting 20% off coupons in the back of the phonebook to increase the sales on their slow days. They picked a few months out of the year, and made the coupons valid for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Little did they know what mayhem this would cause - people in San Francisco are dead serious about their health food, and at 20% savings, this is practically like inviting a stampede.

It seems like all of that yogic meditation goes right out the window, and people are stepping on their neighbors' Birkenstocks just to get the last bit of oat bran and bleach-free tampons.

Nonetheless, 20% is a pretty big deal, especially in this economy. So it's worth it to go to Rainbow on coupon day, if you have a strategy. My friend Kristina and I are working on a Rainbow Survival Guide that is sure to make us millions (or at least millions of agave-sweetened soft drinks). We will accept payment in cash or Rainbow coupons.

1. Do not park your car in the garage. You may never leave, or at least pop a vein in anger at the clusterfuck that you are guaranteed to find yourself in the middle of. You might be tempted to throw your vine-ripened organic tomatoes at people's heads - don't do it. Park on the street and walk.

2. Go with a friend. It will help you keep your sanity and focus as you slowly lose your mind.

3. Do the Cart Park. That is, get a cart, but then park it somewhere near where you need your supplies. Dart to and fro, stopping back at the cart every once in awhile to drop things off. This will make your experience exponentially faster and less frustrating.

4. Make a list, and stick to it. Otherwise you will find yourself buying some of the weirdest things you have ever heard of, which you will discover taste like the cardboard box they are packaged in. They will be doomed to the back of your cupboard, because you will refuse to throw something away that you paid $8 for.

5. Learn the nuances of buying in bulk. It's one of the best things about shopping at Rainbow, and everyone knows this, so the area is swarming with people, who tend to get cranky. Fill up your bag, memorize the bin number, write this number on a twist tie, and twist it around the bag with the number showing clearly. Don't take more than you need and then put the rest back. That's just gross. Do not sample. It's not a bowl of chex mix at a bar.

5. Bring your own bags. Otherwise, you will get the "look" as you reach for a paper shopping bag, which means that you are resource-draining, consciousless n00b.

All of that said, they do have amazing products, from the bulk foods, to produce, to beauty and health products. I don't know where else I would find pearlized barley and coconut oil, or raw milk and 10 types of firm tofu. And I always see things that arouse my curiosity - which is a rare occurrence at regular chain grocery store. Being inspired by good, wholesome food, at a significant saving to boot, is definitely worth the effort.