More Pictures from the Cooking Demo's at Sobey's Nottingham and Sobey's Lakeland Ridge

Here are a couple more pictures from the taste samplings held this past weekend...

Quick Cooking Barley on the shelf at Sobey's.

Quick Cooking Barley Chiptole....mmmm.....

Cooking Demonstrations - Sobey's Nottingham & Lakeland

Hi All!

What a great weekend!! Sobey's Nottingham and Sobey's Lakeland Ridge in Sherwood Park, Alberta gave us the opportunity to have taste samples of our Quick Cooking Barley in two very yummy recipes this past weekend. The wonderful ladies at Sara Consulting, Shirley and Ivie are true professionals! They cooked up some Quick Cooking Barley Jambalaya and Quick Cooking Barley Chipotle! The enticing smells from their skillets brought everyone in the store to their booth wanting a sample. The feedback from customers was very positive and very exciting for us. We sold alot of product and hope this is the start of great things for our Quick Cooking Barley! A big Thank You to the Sobey's Store Managers. Their invitation to have us sample the QC Barley and their enthusiasm for our product is very much appreciated!

Thank you again to Sobey's Lakeland Ridge and Sobey's Nottingham for featuring our Quick Cooking Barley this past weekend.

In Good Health!

Since you asked...

This past week a customer bought some barley from one of our outlets and was wondering if the product was Organic and is barley a GMO product. This was the reply.

Progressive Foods currently sells two product lines, an Organic Quick Cooking barley and “Natural” Quick Cooking barley.  These can be identified by the package. The Organic package is 400g in size and has the distinct Canada Certified Organic Label.

The “Natural” product is in a similar package without the Organic symbol but in a 500g bag. All of the barley used in the Progressive Foods Quick Cooking Barley label is grown under Identity Preserve standards and each lot can be traced back to the farm where it was grown. Our standards require the grain to be free of disease and other grain contaminants. Therefore we ask the grower to use Falcon hull-less barley seed and be grown under seed quality standards for field selection and rotation. Barley must also meet food grade criteria.  The grain kernel must be bright in appearance, free of any staining caused by fall weather conditions and other field contaminants. These are also some of the same criteria used in selecting malt barley. 

Barley is not a GMO grain. Barley plant breeding is strongly regulated by the malt and brewing industry and the bulk of barley plant breeding research is directed to this area.  As the final product of malt barley is beer, the industry is very conscious about protecting their image. Most of the barley breeding is still done through the traditional methods of field crossing various lines and making selections for specific traits. Since the barley genome has been sequenced, it is now possible to snip the exact gene and blast it into another barley plant – but this is still quite random in its functionality.

I hope this answers the question and also gives some information on how we have developed our Quick Cooking Barley.

Good Health to You!

Welcome Sunshine!!

The sunshine has come back! The warmer weather has arrived!! Could Spring be Springing upon us??!! I hope so!!

I have a few great news items to share today. The first being...Congratulations to the students, teachers, parents, Chef Simon Smotkowicz, the Shaw Conference Centre for their fabulous efforts at the High School Culinary Challenge Awards Lunch held at the Shaw Conference Centre on March 10, 2011. What a great event and what wonderful results from the challenge. We have some very talented youth in this city and surrounding areas!! Congratulations! CCFCC was the main sponsor of this event and I am proud to say that Progressive Foods Inc. donated the Quick Cooking Barley for the competition and luncheon. The students prepared a Barley Risotto that was incredibly delicious! There was also a stuffed chicken leg, stuffed tomato and fresh carrots. The soup was very hearty and hit the spot. The dessert...well...let's just say I had to resist stealing others desserts who weren't so quick on the draw!! We are very proud to be a part of this event and wish all the the culinary students the best of luck in their very bright futures.

More news! You can now purchase Quick Cooking Barley at Community Natural Foods in Calgary. They have two locations there: Chinook Station Market (202 - 61st Avenue SW) and 10th Avenue Market (1304 - 10th Avenue SW). We are very excited to be on their shelves. They will be stocking both the regular Quick Cooking Barley as well as the Organic Quick Cooking Barley. We will be doing some tasting demonstrations there soon. As soon as I know a date, I'll post it here and on Facebook.

Where else is Quick Cooking Barley popping up? Here in Edmonton we are also at Wild Earth Foods (8910 - 99 Street). They carry both regular and organic Quick Cooking Barley. Also, in Stony Plain we are on the shelves at Homegrown Foods (#10 - 19 Granite Drive). So, our Quick Cooking Barley is making its way into the stores and homes of Edmontonians. It's great!

MARCH 19 & 20th...come on by to the Sobey's Nottingham and Sobey's Lakeland in Sherwood Park from 12 - 6pm. We will be cooking up and handing out taste samples both days. So please come out and sample some great food!

MARCH 26 - If you're from Airdrie or passing through, stop by Nutter's Bulk and Natural Foods (#102, 400 Main Street) for their Grand Opening. Marvin will be there cooking up a storm and serving Quick Cooking Barley in a couple of different recipes. They will be delicious that's for sure! Come by and say Hi!

Enjoy the sunshine my friends!

Happy February 28, 2011 Everyone!!

Hi All,

February is nearly over...and I think March is coming in like a Lion!! Yikes!! Whoever is sending us this nasty weather can now stop!!
The only thing this weather is good for is for experimenting and creating warm and nourishing meals...like Quick Cooking Barley Mushroom Soup or Quick Cooking Barley Chili...now that will warm you right down to your bones!!
I am happy to announce that Marello's Market and Deli in the Telus Plaza downtown Edmonton is now featuring our Quick Cooking Barley in their deli AND they are selling our Quick Cooking Barley in their marketplace. How great is that?? We are very excited about it and have just recently (like today recently) placed one of our shelving units with recipe cards and bags of our regular and organic product on the shelves. This is new for us so we are looking forward to a success at Marcello's Market and Deli. Also, you now have another place to purchase our Quick Cooking Barley.
Till next time...stay warm...cook up some wonderful Quick Cooking Barley and if you'd like to share your recipes, we'd love to try them.

Take Care!

Gail Hall - CBC Radio

We'd like to extend a huge thank you to Gail Hall, Edmonton's Gem, for featuring our Quick Cooking Barley on her show this morning on CBC Radio. We are honored! The recipe you created to sample the Quick Cooking Barley looks great! Can't wait to try it. Thank you again for your endorsement and kind words!

Here is the recipe and link to the newsclip. Enjoy!! I know I will.

Tuesday February 22, 2011

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Gail Hall - Quick Cooking Barley With Fruit and Yogurt

 QUICK COOKING BARLEY WITH FRUIT AND YOGURT

Yield: 3 cups

1  cup      Progressive Food's Quick Cooking Barley

3/4 cup   Organic Apple Juice (try my favourite - Santa Cruz available at Planet Organic and Safeway)

3/4 cup    Water   

pinch        Ground Cinnamon

pinch        Ground Nutmeg

1/4 cup     Raisins

1/4 cup     Dried Cranberries

1/2 cup     Chopped Figs

1/2 to 3/4 cup  Yogurt (try my favourite - Lemon Liberté Yogurt)

¼    cup      Toasted Almond Flakes

In medium saucepan, add quick cooking barley, apple juice, water, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, stir well and reduce to a simmer. Add raisins, cranberries, and figs. Stir well.  Cover and let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Shut of heat and let steep for 10 to 20 minutes. At this point you can eat as a hot cereal, or cool down and add ½ to ¾ cup Liberté Lemon Yogurt (or your favourite). Mix well, serve and top with toasted almonds.

Feel free to add any other of your favourite fruits: chopped apples, pears, berries, etc.

Play Audio Clip

 

CBC.ca | Edmonton AM | Gail Hall - Quick Cooking Barley With Fruit and Yogurt

CBC.ca Edmonton AM Gail Hall - Quick Cooking Barley With Fruit and Yogurt