PCC Profile: West Seattle produce lead bakes up decadent wheat/dairy/egg-free cookies

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 8:00am

It was holiday season 2006 (that super windy winter) and Jon-Paul Pachenker decided to make some candy for his friends. But the ingredients he combined to create a roca-like sweet (coconut, cranberries, walnuts, chocolate and honey) turned out more like a cookie than anything else. And a good cookie at that.

His friends liked the chewy texture, the sweet-yet-not-too-sweet flavor, the dip of chocolate. Over time he realized that, beyond tasting good, his creation happened to be wheat, dairy and egg free. A friend talked to her boss at Seattle's Caffe Vita, which agreed earlier this year to sell them. And so began Chew-E-Core, his cookie venture. He calls it "the holiday every day cookie" -- why enjoy something so satisfying only during the holidays?

That's Jon-Paul below with a cookie jar left empty by Chew-E-Core fans at Seward Park's Caffe Vita. The produce lead at West Seattle PCC bakes each batch of cookies at Full Tilt Ice Cream in White Center, where another friend arranged with the owner to give him commercial oven access (see the benefits of being friendly?). Full Tilt has even made a Chew-E-Core ice cream on occasion, he says.

Where can you find Chew-E-Core? At all four Seattle Caffe Vita locations (including Seward Park, just across the street from Seward Park PCC, at Full Tilt and at Red Cup Espresso in West Seattle. Sadly, Jon-Paul's small batches (roughly 150 per week) are too small to fully supply PCC quite yet. But hopefully in the future.

Jon-Paul was born in New York but grew up in south Seattle. He's worked for PCC more than seven years now, first at Seward Park and now in West Seattle. "I like the people that work there," he says. "PCC is the kind of place where artists and musicians and free-thinkers would rather work."

Like so many fellow PCC employees, he plays in a band: He's the drummer for the Blank Its, a local punk-rock group. How he also manages to find time to bake between work and band amazes me, but it's nice hearing of all the support and encouragement he's received at work from co-workers and bosses. Of course, it's always smart to praise a baker: Maybe they'll share the cookies ;)

Another good thing coming in the future, Jon-Paul says: A peanut butter/banana version of Chew-E-Core!

This week at PCC: Back-to-school ideas, parties and anniversaries aplenty

Friday, September 4, 2009 at 9:35am

Hope you enjoy this last spurt of summer. Look for plenty more local, organic bounty in produce when you return :)

CELEBRATE with Seattle Tilth at the nonprofit's annual Harvest Fair, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 at Meridian Park, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. in Seattle. What you'll find: tasty treats, urban livestock, workshops on growing and preserving food and live music, along with the Kid Picks Mobile, the PCC Farmland Trust and PCC Cooks. Visit seattletilth.org/events for details.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY WEST SEATTLE PCC! Celebrate 20 years from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13 with a free barbecue, cake, PCC Cooks mini classes and product sampling. For more info visit our Web page.

LEARN new twists on back-to-school recipes from PCC Cooks Chef Lynne Vea on KING 5 TV's “Gardening With Ciscoe” show Saturdays at 10 a.m. And check out our new PCC video library for additional cooking inspiration. This week: Organic Tomato, Cucumber, Spinach and Turkey Pinwheel Sandwiches and Nectarine and Grape Salad with Honey-Lemon Dressing.

LISTEN to nutrition education manager Goldie Caughlan discuss how to shop for organics without breaking the bank in the first podcast of our new PCC Podcast series on Stir-fry!

SAMPLE new products on your next shopping trip. Visit our store demos page to learn what's happening at a PCC near you this weekend.

A peek inside the Kid Picks Mobile!

Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 2:11pm

If you shop PCC, no doubt you've come across our merry, green-and-purple RV that enables us to travel from festival to school to store with scores of food samples to be taste tested by Puget Sound kids for our Kid Picks program. It's the one, the only, the Kid Picks Mobile!

Lo and behold, there it stood at last month's Healthy Living Fair at PCC Edmonds. I decided to take a peek inside. Don't tell me you haven't been curious!

Inside is cheery and bright, with a place for everything.

Here are the cards indicating how everyone voted (smiley face or frowny face)

Kim, decked out in Kid Picks attire

Little cubbies and drawers for every little item!

Thom encouraging visitors to have a taste

Vanilla pudding! Not a hard sell.

And what could be more American than voting your preference? Check our Kid Picks database for a full list of kid-tested-and-approved foods. Click here to learn more about bringing the Kid Picks Mobile to your school or event!