The Produce Box

Delicious AND gluten free cookies & cakes! Your taste buds won't know the difference JP’s Pastry is an online gluten free pastry company located in the Raleigh-Durham area. They specialize in baking gluten free, artisan cupcakes and pastries with a whimsical twist that are both distinctive and delicious!  JP's story starts with a love of cupcakes! Joe Parker (JP) was working in NYC in the fashion industry about 10 years ago and baking cupcakes on the side. He hit a roadblock in 2008 when his wheat allergy resurfaced. Knowing he had to come up with a way to continue his love of baking, he started playing around with different gluten-free flours and his gluten challenged friends started asking him to bake for them as well. He knew he was onto something! In 2012 he enrolled in San Francisco Baking Institute where he began to master his technique of using alternative flours and voila a business was born! It wasn't long before he outgrew his home kitchen and opened...

Did you know that 70-80 million dogs and 74-96 million cats are owned in the US? That is a lot of fur babies!  Through the years, we have partnered with some great companies paving the way with revolutionary pet snacks and products that are healthy AND yummy and add to the daily quality of life for our four-legged companions. In that tradition, we have teamed up with two partners who have some awesome goodies for that dog or cat love in your life. Barley Labs - Cheese variety dog treats  Lab tested. Owner approved (Barley Lab's motto) Your pups are going to love these dog treats on the menu this week from our new partner Barley Labs!  Home brewer, Scott, and his partner, Theresa, started re-purposing the spent grain from Scott's brewing.  When their Lab, Barley, fell in love with the treats, they knew they were onto something that would benefit dogs, local breweries and the local community by reducing waste going to the landfill and turning it into delic...

Pumpkin spice is in the air...can you smell it? We can! Just as the cooler weather starts to envelope the warm, so do we see a change over on the farms. All of that summer bounty will begin to move out in the coming weeks and you will see a brand new rotation of fall produce begin to show up in your boxes. Here's a preview of some of those awesome fall goodies that are just around the corner: Fall Squash - Acorn, Spaghetti, Butternut and Butterkin, oh my! Whether you're making a soup or pasta dish or stuffing them with sausage and apples, these are some of the most versatile and delicious squash out there and we will start getting these in from Gary in Granville County next week. They have a fantastic shelf life so don't be scared to stock up for use through the winter. The health benefits of winter squash can't be beat. They are packed with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and insulin regulating properties. And don't forget the seeds! You can toast those up ...

But you already knew this right? Here at The Produce Box, we've been encouraging our members for years to get past the look of the produce and straight into the heart of what they are purchasing and where it comes from. You sometimes will find "the uglies" in a Produce Box and we've learned that these little guys are just as healthy and tasty as their more popular counterparts. They all come from the same North Carolina dirt in our case! For all our newbies and maybe some of our seasoned TPB members who just need a reminder, here are a few reasons why you should be eating those cosmetically-challenged fruits and veggies: 1.   Ugly produce may actually be more nutritious ! Ugly produce grows under more stress and the plant responds by feeding more nutrients to the fruit. In fact, a study published in The Journal of Horticulture Science and Biotechnology in June 2010 found that apple peels with those "ugly" brown hard spots you sometimes find on apple...

THIS IS A REPOST FROM LAST YEAR -- AN OLDIE BUT A GOODIE!!! Our Charlotte area manager, Meaghan, recently shared her tips for easy back-to-school lunch and snack recipes on Charlotte’s WBTV. Delicious (AND EASY!) recipes featured: Caprese Salad Kabobs What you need: Tomatoes, basil, mozzerella balls and optional balsamic vinaigrette. Preparation : Cut tomatoes in half. Put basil in between tomato and mozzerella ball on a toothpick. Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette if desired. BLT Salad What you need: Bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheddar cheese. Preparation: Mix lettuce (or spinach) with toppings, and you’ve got a BLT salad! No dressing needed (I know mine are not fans of it!) Vegetable Snack What you need: Cucumber and peppers. Preparation : Cut up cucumbers and peppers and put on skewers. Pack individual hummus or ranch packs for dipping! Fruit Snack What you need: Apples and peanut butter (or almond butter). Preparation: Slice apples horizontally. Scoop core out. Spread p...

More info from Joe Van Gogh on this term and what it means for TPB members  Earlier in the summer, we introduced you to the folks at Joe Van Gogh, one of our favorite North Carolina coffee roaster! You'll find different varieties of their coffee on our menu throughout the year. Now we want to share more about the work they do with coffee growers all over the world. We have told you that Joe Van Gogh helps farmers by participating in direct trade . You might be wondering what that is.  You’ve probably heard of fair trade, and maybe even seen it at your local grocery store. In recent years, there’s been a big divide in the fair trade world, and what resulted from the divide was “Fair Trade USA” and “Fair Trade International”.  Direct Trade is another result of this split. Roasters realized that to be fair trade certified, farmers had to pay. This hurts small farmers who can’t pay for the certification. So, coffee-lovers and...

One of the many non-profits we have a relationship with is the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC. They serve a huge area (34 counties!) and The Produce Box donates several pallets of fresh produce each week which the Food Bank makes available to the individuals and families served by its community partners. Jennifer Caslin, the Communications Supervisor for the Food Bank, shares how our partnership started, “The relationship began when one of the TPB team members noticed that there was extra produce going to waste each week and wanted to find a solution. He called and we chatted about the great things The Produce Box was doing and we started picking up extra produce 1-2 times a week. It has been a great partnership ever since!" "In fiscal year 2015-2016, our donors [like The Produce Box] enabled the Food Bank to distribute more than 22 million pounds of produce." The Food Bank helps satisfy a serious need in our area. Jennifer says, “Hunger is a very...

Did you hear that microgreens are the newly announced member of the superfood family? Since these adorable, tiny veggies are fresh on the radar, we’re working with Sweet Peas Urban Gardens, our local Raleigh, North Carolina microgreens grower, to offer a chance to try microgreens, sprinkled with loads of recipe ideas. Click on over to The Produce Box on Facebook and learn how to enter our giveaway contest for a chance to win one, two or even three complimentary deliveries of these nutrient dense and seriously flavorful micro plants. The list of culinary creations you can make with microgreens is endless, you’ll see! OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES: 1. To enter for a chance to win a Sweet Peas Urban Gardens' microgreens sampler delivered through The Produce Box, Facebook account holders must comment on The Produce Box's contest Facebook post with an appropriate response to the prompt provided. To enter for a chance to win two deliveries of Sweet Peas Urban Gardens...

TPB Members donate fresh, healthy food for families in need In North Carolina, over 850,000 children qualify to receive free or reduced lunch in the public school system. But what about those long summer months when they’re not in school? Unfortunately, many kids face hunger and food insecurity during this time. Camp High Hopes, a fully subsidized seven-week YMCA camp where kids participate in athletic and educational activities, offers a solution. This summer, 1240+ students from 765 families are attending Camp High Hopes in the Triangle area. And with the help of our members, The Produce Box is donating $80,000 worth of produce to these families.  Every other week the kids are taking home Boxes full of fresh produce for their families! “The Produce Box and the YMCA want to make it easy for campers and their families to eat more fruits and veggies in the summer,” said Susan Pettengill, vice president of Healthy Living for YM...

This spring, The Produce Box hosted our first “Audience Awards!” We asked our members to make videos telling us the best thing they did with their Produce Box. We received some amazing submissions and wound up with some fantastic winners -- chosen by hundreds of jury votes and by our friends at 100 Days of Real Food. One of our winners was Terrie, pictured here with her family! She prepared a delicious- looking Stuffed Portobello Parmesan for her video, including step by step instructions starting with the recipe and going to the grill. She used fresh portobello mushrooms and tomatoes from The Produce Box, as well as balsamic vinaigrette and various cheeses. This recipe has our mouths watering! We caught up with Terrie to celebrate her victory. Q: What inspired you to make your video? The prize money inspired me! We have 5 family members over the age of 15 and one that's less than a year. When I saw the contest I thought about all of the gre...

Delicious tips to help you eat local and in season! Stacey Sprenz, local food photographer, recently taught a class on behalf of The Produce Box at Whisk in Cary. This great class helped emphasize the importance of eating fresh, local and in season -- while showing how foods that grow in the same season often combine really naturally into delicious dishes! When you belong to a food delivery service like The Produce Box, you'll see these items side by side in your Box - why not enjoy them side by side on your plate too! It’s easy to use seasonal vegetables side by side in a frittata, pasta, or stir-fry. Here are a few examples of veggie that grow together and go together easily: Summer: zucchini, tomatoes, onions, eggplants, and peppers Fall: sweet potatoes (or butternut squash), kale (or collards), and shiitake mushrooms Winter: kale, winter squash, and root vegetables. Spring: onions, spinach, and new potatoes. Some of Stacey’s unique ideas for serving seasonal fo...

Guest post from a TPB Neighborhood Coordinator A few years ago, I thought being a part of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program was the best way to source my family's fresh food. It’s a great way to support a local food system: invest in the farm at the start of the growing season and get a weekly share of the crops throughout the harvest. It wasn't until a couple of years later that I joined The Produce Box and realized how much it operated like a CSA, but worked much better for my family. Wondering how they compare? Check this out: Cost. While the cost for the whole season is comparable, a CSA requires a hefty payment at the beginning of the season (or several large payments spread out over the season) to help the farmers procure, implement, and maintain everything they need for the year's crops. Paying a small enrollment fee with The Produce Box and then only when you order (every week, every other week - whatever works for you!) for a Box is much m...

Learn about our contributions to Second Harvest Food Bank and PORCH and how YOU can get involved! Part of our mission at The Produce Box is to “Eat Good. Do Good. Feel Good.” For us, doing good involves donating produce to local charities. Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina (SHFBM) is a non-profit with four distribution warehouses that give food and other groceries to non-profit or other community agencies that then serve people in need. SHFBM serves 14+ counties in NC, mostly on the Western side of the state. They partner with almost 650 agencies, including soup kitchens, emergency pantries, residential care facilities, homeless shelters, senior programs, and low-income daycares. Last year, they distributed 46 million pounds of food and other essential grocery products! Second Harvest offers a wide variety of programs for kids, seniors, disaster relief and more. Approximately 80% of the food SHFBM distributes has been donated to them -- that’s where The Produce Box comes ...

Microgreens Add Big Nutrition to Your Produce Box Tami Purdue and Julie Gauthier of Sweet Peas Urban Gardens grow 30 to 40 delicious varieties of nutritious microgreens for you to add into your weekly Produce Box. But just what ARE microgreens, some of our members have asked! They're tiny vegetables and herbs harvested at the formation of the first leaves, at their maximum nutrient density. Studies have shown that microgreens contain between 4 and 40 times the nutrient density of the full-grown plants. So a tablespoon of raw microgreens is a full serving of vegetables! In addition to their superfood properties, microgreens also give tremendous fresh flavor in a small bites. And where these microgreens grow at Sweet Peas might surprise you! The farm is actually a Crop Box, which is essentially a trailer engineered to act as a greenhouse. "By growing the equivalent of an acre of field grown crops or 2,200 square feet of greenhouse space within just...

It’s almost Father’s Day, and you know what that means - dads need to be spoiled! This week, we are featuring something special in the Breakfast Box: Joe Van Gogh’s Honduras Finca Mogola to keep Dad going for his busy Father’s Day of golf, grilling, fishing and other dad stuff! (And don’t worry, that Honduras Finca Mogola can be added to ANY Box if another one catches your eye!) What makes Joe Van Gogh (JVG) coffee special? Not only do they roast our coffee when we order it so you are receiving some of the freshest flavors the coffees can offer, but Joe Van Gogh also has a strong commitment to community -‐ both globally and locally – through their charitable and farm partnerships. Globally , they are committed to enhancing the lives of the farmers they work with by participating in direct trade. Locally , they are bringing sustainable and direct‐trade coffees to the Carolinas ‐ a place where it’s not grown! And, like The Produce Box, their efforts to create a thriving local comm...

If you’re trying to decide if a Produce Box membership is for you, you may be wondering, “Can’t I get this stuff at the grocery store? And is it cheaper there?” Well, the answer to both those questions would be sometimes. The grocery store doesn’t always have everything the farmers of North Carolina can offer.  And sometimes, you may not like the reasons WHY the grocery store is cheaper. Farmers make pennies per pound from the grocery stores, and they often have to wait 30-60 days (or MORE!) to get their payment. At The Produce Box, we pay every single one of our farmers when they deliver the food to us.  In addition to this, the produce at the grocery stores often comes from across the country (1500 miles on average!) or even other countries, and has traveled for days or weeks to get to you -- it's definitely not the most fresh choice or LOCAL by any means! Keep in mind, too, that by buying from us, you’re also supporting their effort to DO GOOD in our communit...

Down2Earth Farms began in 2011 in Rougemont, North Carolina, on a former dairy farm surrounded by protected forestland. After 25 years in the food and beverage industry, owner Cecilia Redding and her family finally realized their dream of owning and operating their own organic farm. Today, Down2Earth grows many of the fresh, organic fruits, vegetables and shitake mushrooms you order each week from The Produce Box! From the beginning, Cecilia’s team used only organic growing practices, but USDA regulations require that a farm be exclusively organic for three years before it can be certified organic. Down2Earth is proud to have recently achieved their organic certification through CCOF. CCOF is a non-profit that certifies organic farms to ensure that the food being grown meets all organic standards. CCOF is accredited by the USDA and was the first organic certification program in the United States. In 2014, Down2Earth added a greenhouse to their already busy farm and in 2015, th...

We love our members at The Produce Box. Y’all are awesome at spreading the local love with us! This week, we wanted to introduce you to Pantea Dougani, a Produce Box member and co-founder and managing director of Excel Body Fitness in Cary. Excel is a fitness center that offers classes and group personal training to help clients push themselves and achieve their fitness goals. In addition to being a fitness enthusiast and business owner, Pantea is passionate about volunteering and served as the Vice President of the Laura Holland Uzzell Foundation, which is a governing board for Sterling Montessori Academy and Charter School in Morrisville. She also somehow manages to do all of this while being a mother – you go girl! When she does finally have some down time, some of her hobbies are cycling, hiking, camping and reading. Here we’ll share our conversation with Pantea, so you can get to know a bit more about our member community: You joined The Produce Box in 2010. Why did you...

The Produce Box deliveries aren’t just for home doorsteps. We also deliver healthy, local produce to companies across the state as part of employee health and corporate wellness programs. With a third of Americans struggling with obesity and healthcare costs rising every day, corporate wellness programs can be a very effective way to improve employee health, increase employee productivity and engagement, and offer a valuable tool for companies focused on recruiting and retaining top talent. From tastings to lunch-n-learns, health fair booths and on-site deliveries, our corporate wellness program has helped North Carolina companies and their employees create healthier eating habits. Our first corporate wellness partner was SAS in RTP, beginning in 2008. Since then, we’ve grown to The Lending Tree in Charlotte, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Quintiles, Howard/Merrell, and now Fujifilm. (Fujifilm’s new program buys 8 weeks of Produce Boxes for employees who sign up for a Produce Box m...

April showers bring May flowers – and delicious, fresh, local vegetables!  Some of our favorites? Beets, mushrooms, radishes, broccoli, cabbage, green peas, snow peas, and turnips, just to name a few. Of course we can’t predict the weather so we never know exactly what we’re going to get, but we gathered some of our favorite spring veggie recipes to get you thinking about what to make when you get your next Box!     Roasted Spring Veggie Medley – a great and simple side dish that pairs well with everything. Steamed Spring Vegetables with Garlic Herb Aioli –  a simple side dish with a delicious sauce. Springtime Veggie Pasta Primavera – a great main dish for a light dinner that packs in tons of vitamins and minerals.  Fresh Veggie Rolls with Peanut Ginger Sauce – spring veggies with an Asian flair; these are sure to be a hit! Spring Veggie Frittata – a great dish for a healthy breakfast (or lunch or dinner for that matter – it...

We all know that kale and spinach are both great for you, but we wanted to have these leafy greens face off to see which one is the better choice. Read below and let us know what you think! Fiber: Although both have fiber, spinach contains slightly more fiber than kale does.  Protein/Iron: Kale has more protein than spinach, but spinach has more iron than kale.  Calcium: Kale wins here, coming in with more calcium per serving than spinach. Magnesium : Spinach takes the prize for being higher in magnesium than kale. Vitamin C: Kale has almost four times more vitamin C than spinach! Vitamin A: Both kale and spinach have an incredible amount of vitamin A, but while spinach has about 400% of your recommended daily value, kale wins here because it has over 650%!!! Vitamin K: The same thing goes for vitamin K – both veggies have a huge amount of Vitamin K but kale wins here with over 900% of your recommended daily amount!!! So when facing ...