Serve sliced in a salad, or create a salsa with mint and serve atop chicken.

Watermelon is so versatile and this weekend you can save nearly half off! Just pay 59 cents a pound for whole and 79 cents for cut watermelon. Whole Foods Market, superior ingredients, great prices.

Recipe idea: Watermelon and Arugula Salad

This refreshing salad makes a delicious first course for warm-weather meals. You can make it up to a day ahead, but add the arugula just before serving for best texture. If you’d like to save time by buying precut watermelon, you’ll need about 2 pounds of chunks to equal 6 cups diced.

Serves 6 to 8

6 cups diced seedless watermelon

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup feta cheese crumbles

1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds

6 tablespoons prepared balsamic dressing

5 cups lightly packed baby arugula

Cracked black pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine watermelon, onion, feta and sunflower seeds. Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat. Add arugula and toss again. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

Nutrition Info (per serving): 180 calories (110 from fat), 12 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 370 mg sodium, 13 g total carbohydrates (1 g dietary fiber, 10 sugar), 5g protein

This year, as you celebrate we encourage you to think of new ways to enjoy delicious, local ingredients that are healthier.

One of my favorite side dishes is Yams and Bok Choy.

If you use Okinawan Sweet Potatoes you can prepare a 90%+ local holiday dish (see below):

Yams & Bok Choy

Serves four

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

2 small bok choy, finely sliced

2 small yams (substitutes include Okinawan Sweet Potatoes – a local favorite), cut into bite-sized chucks

1 onion, sliced and quartered

1 tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp Thai chili paste

1/2 lemon

Put yams into a deep skillet and cover with water. Cover skillet and boil yams five to ten minutes until soft when pierced with a fork. Add onions and garlic and continue to simmer until about half of the water has boiled away. Add Worcestershire sauce, chili paste, and bok choy. Simmer until the bok choy is soft. Squeeze lemon over the mixture and serve. YUM!

Join us all month long as we focus on new, fun and exciting ways to stay fit and well.

For May we have created two new classes focused on wholesome food with an eye on simplicity and ease of preparation as well as creating meals that are budget-friendly. To RSVP please email  spmmm-marketing at wholefoods.com

NEW! Healthy Dinner Club

Wednesdays, 5:30 PM

Join us for new class focused on nutritious and delicious food that is both easy to prepare as well as light on the pocket book. This month’s series will concentrate on fresh spring vegetables including arugula, spinach, green peas, chard, and asparagus. Learn and taste how good it is to eat well.

NEW! Rawsome Foods with Chef Ethan

Saturday, May 7^th 5:00 PM

Ever wondered how to make elegant raw wholesome food? Well the wait is over – meet our master Raw Food Chef Ethan and learn first-hand how easily you too can prepare live and raw foods that are guaranteed to wow and delight family , friends and even meat lovers too!

Hello Everyone! My name is Kristin and I am the Payroll Benefits Specialist here at Whole Foods Market on Maui. When the opportunity came my way to embark on the 28 Day Challenge I thought “why not?” There are about 25 Team Members and Customers that started the challenge last Tuesday, 3/01/2011, with me and each week of the challenge I’ll be sharing what the experience has been like for me and what I have learned.  Everyone participating is doing so for various reasons…I am doing the challenge to see how I feel by eating a Plant Strong diet and the effects it has on my LDL Cholesterol. To find out what my numbers were before starting, I had my LDL tested and it was at 120. After completing the challenge, I will have it screened again and let you know the results.  With all that being said, here we go…

Week 1

This isn’t called a challenge for nothing! I decided to start out at the Firefighter level which means no animal products, of any kind, and no added oil from Day 1. Cutting out the animal products wasn’t as difficult as it might have seemed but the no oil has been. It’s amazing how so many foods, that you would even think of having it, contain oil. What has really helped me is reading all labels of packaged food and logging everything I eat. Writing down what I eat has helped me stay true to the plan. This first week went by fast and I was hungry all the time. Planning is the key! Having snacks and lunches ready to eat have kept me going. One of the yummy treats my wife made this week were the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, page 253, in “The Engine 2 Diet” book.

Week 2

Still going plant strong! This second week has flown by and we are half way through the challenge. This week I wanted to focus on incorporating variety and being more creative with food. It’s important to shake things up a bit and to think outside the box on the foods we eat on a regular basis. I’m big on veggies and I eat a lot of them everyday. When I grocery shop, the Whole Foods Market Produce department fills up at least 3/4 of my purchases in my basket. It’s good stuff. One of the creative recipes I came up with is a chocolate pudding dessert. Here’s my recipe if you’d like to try it out. Some of the ingredients I list are my personal favorites but you can substitute them with whatever your preference is. I’ll catch up with you all next week…exercise will be my focus for the start of the third week.

Chocolate Pudding

1  24 ounce container of WholeSoy Plain Yogurt, 1 bar of 70% dark chocolate (Endangered Species Mint is yummy), 1/4 cup 365 Organic Unsweetened Almond Milk, and 1 cup of fresh strawberries(rough chopped). A touch of agave can be used to sweeten(optional)

In a small sauce pan, on medium heat, melt the chocolate and milk until it looks like a syrup. Next, in a medium size bowl, mix the warm chocolate to your container of yogurt. Add your Strawberries and pudding is on! This is a fast and easy recipe and it tastes better then any pudding in a cup you can buy. A 1/2 cup serving will satisfy your sweet tooth. Enjoy!

Week 3

Well, last week didn’t turn out to be a successful exercise week for me but I can honestly say that I will do better this week. Wow, this is our last week of the challenge! It’s hard to believe it’s almost over. As time has gone by, the challenge isn’t such a challenge anymore. It has really become more of a habit/lifestyle modification. It’s all about making better food choices for me, for my health. I’ve really noticed that I have more energy and I’m feeling pretty darn good. One of my favorite dishes is Eggs Benedict and my wife came up with a yummy plant strong spin on this breakfast classic. Check out her recipe below for “Bene & the Veg.” Try it out and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Bene & the Veg

2 sprouted grain English muffins

1 package organic extra firm tofu

¼ cup Braggs Liquid Aminos

¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes

1 package Yeves Canadian Bacon (you’ll use 2 pieces of bacon for each serving)

4 slices of tomato

Non-stick cooking spray

Drain tofu and cut into 4 slabs. Using a paper towel, press excess water from the tofu. Marinate tofu in the liquid aminos. Spray a large pan with cooking spray setting the heat to medium. Dredge your tofu in the nutritional yeast and then lay them in the hot pan, turning them over half way to cook on both sides. Separately, cook your Canadian bacon in a pan and toast your English muffins.

Hollendaze!

1 large avocado

½ lemon (juiced)

1 T mustard

1 T apple cider vinegar

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

Hot water (added to warm the mixture and thin the consistency a bit)

Mix all the Hollendaze ingredients above together, using a hand emulsifier or food processor.

All that’s left to do now is to assemble your Bene…stack 1 piece of your tofu, Canadian bacon, and tomato on each English muffin. Top it off with your Hollendaze and dig in to the awesomeness of this breakfast creation!

Week 4

My Engine 2 28 Day Challenge is complete! As mentioned at the beginning of this journey, I wanted to see what effect changing my diet to a plant strong one would have on my cholesterol. I just got my results back and the proof is in my numbers. Besides feeling great, I lost about 4 pounds over the past month and both my total and LDL cholesterol levels went down.  Here are my cholesterol results…the proof of how eating a plant strong diet is beneficial is in my numbers!

Before Challenge                             After Challenge

Total     188                                         Total     168

LDL       125                                         LDL       100

I’ll be participating in the next E2 Challenge coming this summer and I hope you all join me! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blog and sharing in my experience. It feels good to be Plant Strong!!!

Orientation is Tuesday, March 1^st at 6:00 pm.

E2 participants come together on this evening to learn about the two E2 options available for the 28-Day Challenge. Registered participants will receive a Get Your Engine Started kit!

The 28-Day Challenge begins March 1^st and runs through the 28th.

March 8^th, 6pm E2 Challenge Meet Up

March 15^th, 6pm E2 Challenge Meet Up –special guest Chef Tyua from joy’s place

March 22^nd, 6pm E2 Challenge Meet Up – special guest Catherine Blake

March 29^th, TBD Graduation-a pot luck special evening with dessert created and prepared by Raw Foods Chef, Ethan.

Recipes and samples available in the Seafood Dept at 3 PM TODAY!

for more information on our Get Started Programs please email Chandler at chandler.morphew-tarbuck@wholefoods.com

-posted by Chandler, Maui Mall Team Member

posted by, Chandler Morphew-Tarbuck, Healthy Eating Specilist, Team Member Maui Mall

Peanut Banana Dip

1 large ripe banana, mashed

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/8 tspn ground cinnamon

½ tspn vanilla extract

Mash all ingredients. Use as a dip with celery, apples, crackers or whole grain bread. Or, use as a spread on toast or as a sandwich filling.

-Get your healthy fats from mostly plant sources, such as nuts, seeds, and avocados.

-Minimize extracted oils and processed fats.

-If eating a diet that includes animal products, choose leaner meats and seafood as well as low-fat dairy products.

Next, let’s talk a little more about fish:

-Fish is a good source of protein, and unlike some meat products that are high in fat, fish is very low in saturated fat.

-Fish is an excellent source of Omega-3 fatty acids.  Omega-3 fatty acids help to support and assist in healthy heart, brain and nervous tissue.

Tips for preparing fish:

-Enjoy fish baked or grilled, not fried.

-Use spices, herbs, and lemon juice to cook and season.

-Eat 1-2 ounce portions and pair fish with nutrient dense fruits and vegetables.

Last but not least:

-Stop by Seafood to taste a wide variety of our freshest Fish, and hear more about why our Seafood is so unique!

-Healthy Eating tastings and recipes will be available on Aloha Friday at 6 PM in the Seafood Department!  Hope to see you there!

Feel free to email Chandler, Healthy Eating Specialist, at chandler.morphew-tarbuck@wholefoods.com for further information about Health Starts Here! Mahalo!