Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Enjoy Your Labor Day Holiday!

We will be CLOSED on Monday, September 2, 2013, Labor Day.


Please stop by soon for your picnic and party foods!



Whatever your plans for Labor Day weekend, have FUN!  

If you are gathering with friends and looking for something special, stop by to see what's new in the store this week.  In the deli department:
  • Yoder's Macaroni Salad
  • Tribe's Roasted-Red Pepper Hummus
  • Willey's Sweet and Mild Salsa
  • Yoder's Home-Style Mashed Potatoes
  • Havarti Cheese (Denmark)
  • Barrel-Cured Sauerkraut
  • French Onion-Sour Cream Dip
  • Cheese Tortellini - Tri-Color
  • Smoked Sausage (natural casing)
  • Ricotta Cheese
  • Walnut Creek Summer Sausage - Beef with Jalapeno and Cheese
  • Yoder's Sharp Cheddar Cheese
  • Troyer's Trail Bologna (Ring style)
We also have a lot of steaks and chops in the freezer as well as seafood and sausage:
  • 10 oz. New York Strip Steak (beef, top loin - USDA "choice") - $6.75 each
  • 6 oz. Ball-Tip Sizzler (beef, bottom sirloin butt steak, USDA "choice") - $3.75 each
  • 12 oz. Pork Chop "porterhouse cut" - $5.50 each
  • 4 oz. Yellow-Fin Tuna Steaks - $2.85 each
  • 8 oz. Salmon filet (boneless/skinless) - $5.50 each
  • local lamb chops $13.95/pound (2 chops per pack)
  • 12 - 5 oz. (3 pounds) Salmon Burgers - $22.50
  • Finely ground, aged, lean, beef steak trimmings - $5.75 for 1.33 pound package
  • Wild-caught Louisiana Alligator white meat filets - $15 per pound
  • Frogs Legs - $32 for 5 pounds (4-6 pair per pound) or $1.00 each (6-8/pound)
  • Ground Pork Sausage $2.50 pound; maple-sausage links $3.25  (12 oz. package)
Plenty of bread, milk, granola, bacon, and eggs are on hand as well as your favorite flavors of ice cream from Smith's Dairy.   We also have Nickles donuts and Danish for that morning sweet tooth, plenty of cold beverages, ice, charcoal, and lots of interesting sweet and salty snacks.

Beverages include all Pepsi's Products, including Gatorade, energy drinks,  as well as iced tea, grape juice, cranberry juice cocktail, tomato juice, sparkling grape juice cocktail,  V-8 juice, and many varieties of bottled water.    Need a lemon?  We have that too!

Hope to see you soon!  Have a safe and happy holiday!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Seven Year Anniversary August 15, 2013

Every August I remember that day in 2006 when we opened the door to our first customers!   I was a nervous wreck, never having operated a cash register before and only a few days practice!  Making change is not one of my favorite things to do, but I do enjoy meeting and greeting everyone and seeing smiling faces!

For those of you long-time customers, maybe you remember what the store used to look like back in those early days.

 
 
 
Over the years, we found out nobody likes to buy the newspaper.....or if they do, they like to buy one and take the rest for the coupons.  So we no longer offer any newspapers outside or inside the store. 
 
In 2010, we tried to spruce up the front of the store with a knee-wall and windows.  This offers a little bit more protection from the weather, the noise of traffic, and the glare of the sun.    After that we added some fencing too.  Then came the feed shed and the food cart.  The parking lot is getting smaller!  
 
Maybe someday there will be plans for expansion.  Meanwhile, thank you for shopping in the tiny store in Homer!   You are the reason we are here!
 


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Good Week to Make Chili

Now that the temps are well below 80 degrees again, with evenings in the 50's, heating up the kitchen isn't going to cause any complaints from the family, especially if you are making something they love!  Now is the time to use some of the garden veggies you have been accumulating, or head off to the farmer's markets in Granville or Mount Vernon to get fresh veggies from another local garden.

Homer Village Market just received freshly ground steakburger, which is very flavorful and lean.  This ground beef makes great hamburgers on the grill and also is excellent for making chili, stuffed peppers, or stuffed cabbage.    In addition to the beef steakburger, we have the following ingredients on hand for your cooking pleasure:

  • Poblano peppers (great for roasting, grilling, stuffing, sautéing - love them in chili)
  • Local Zucchini
  • Jumbo white onions
  • Vine ripened tomatoes
  • Cans of whole roma tomatoes and cans of diced tomatoes (quick solution for chili)
  • Jars of roasted red peppers
  • Jumbo sweet potatoes
  • Jumbo heads of cabbage
  • Broccoli
  • Fresh lemons
  • Fresh Blueberries
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil (first press) imported from Italy
  • Wedges of parmesan cheese
  • Cheddar, mozzarella, and hot pepper cheeses
  • Large variety of commonly used dried herbs and spices if you do not have an herb garden
My all-time favorite chili recipe (adapted from Alice's Restaurant) calls for about 3 pounds of fresh garden tomatoes (or substitute canned),  a couple of chopped/sauteed green bell peppers, a large chopped/sauteed onion, fresh garlic, tomato paste, kidney beans, water, and spices (salt, pepper, basil, cayenne pepper, cumin, paprika, and bay leaf).  I love to serve it over a little brown rice and top with chopped onions and cheddar cheese...sometimes sour cream too.

Zucchini is another favorite of mine for cooking.  It can be delicious very simply prepared baked or grilled, or you could hollow out the center and stuff with a rice/veggie (meat optional) mixture held together with a little egg and bread crumbs and cheese and roast then broil to brown tops.   My grandmother used to grate the large zucchini (first peeled and seeded) using a box grater to get long thin strips.  This she sautéed in butter and oil with chopped onion.  Then after about 10 minutes, when it was almost tender, she added  a sauce made with salt and pepper and a mixture of sour cream, freshly chopped dill weed, paprika, and a dash of vinegar.  If the sauce is too thin, you can add a little water with flour; and if it is too thick, just add a little water and reseason to taste.  I enjoyed eating this dish warm with mashed potatoes or even cold all by itself.

If you have a lot of zucchini, bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes, even if you do not have any eggplant, you can make a tasty recipe of ratatouille.  This vegetable stew can be served over rice or by itself as a nice vegetarian meal or as a side dish with a meat entrée (especially good with lamb).   I will let you find your own favorite recipe for this dish.  It is so much fun to experiment.  This is one of my favorite summer meals because it is healthy, uses up a lot of veggies, and looks extremely interesting and colorful on the plate.  I like to top mine with freshly grated parmesan cheese if I'm in the mood for Italian, or with feta cheese if I'm in a greek sort of mood.

Whatever you decide to make, take advantage of these nice cool, late-summer temperatures to fire up the oven and range! 



Thursday, August 1, 2013

Graeter's Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Pints



Have you enjoyed Graeter's ice cream yet?   This one is my all-time favorite!   Once known as "Double-Chocolate Chip," it is now called Chocolate Chocolate Chip.  It is a rich, chocolate ice cream with huge semi-sweet chocolate chips.   Graeter's is based in Cincinnati but has several stores in the central Ohio area and also ships their ice cream nationwide.

The list of ingredients for this flavor is simple:

  • Cream
  • Milk
  • Cane Sugar
  • Cocoa
  • Semi-Sweet Chocolate
Graeter's uses a small-batch, French pot method of making this rich ice cream and then hand packs it into the pints.    If you lift one of these pints and then lift a pint of any other brand on the shelf, it seems twice as heavy as the other brand!

The ingredients, process, and the hand-packed container make this ice cream about twice as expensive as the usual brands, but you will know it is worth every penny once you taste it!   It is so rich that you will only want to eat about a half cup to satisfy your craving! 

So if you are looking for a special treat or wanting to impress that special someone, stop by for one of these pints!    Let me know how you like it!