Thanksgiving 2010: Made Easier at Trader Joe’s

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I wanted to call your attention to a nifty little Thanksgiving helper that we picked up at Trader Joe’s.  It was out in front of the store and at the checkout area. Called Trader Joe’s Food Pilgrimager~ cute name, right~ I took it home to really check it out.  BUT then I completely forgot about it for a day until the thing showed up again in the mailbox.. eeks! So today I really sat down with coffee to check it out!

The Trader Joe’s Food Pilgrimager is a short and sweet newsletter that showcases all the good stuff for Thanksgiving at Trader Joe’s.

Trader Joe's Food Pilgrimager

So if you are hosting a Thanksgiving meal this year, you might want to pick up a copy (and your Trader Joe’s turkey) before they are all gone.

What I liked best was the introduction to all kinds of items that were new, or new to me that would be great for Thanksgiving. For example, in the top 10 list on page two they highlight #1 Dried Cranberries and #2 Candied Pecans . Now I have seen and purchased both those items, but suddenly I was thinking… add some lettuce and cherry tomatoes and that would be a fantastic (and EASY ) salad for Thanksgiving with chewy dried cranberries and crunchy/sweet candied pecans….

Another interesting thing that I did not realize is that Trader Joe’s sells 3 kinds of Cranberry sauce!  I am not sure that I would have noticed that if I was just roaming up the isles (sipping my coffee sample….)

Whats more? Trader Joe’s is selling a 1/2 Turkey, fully cooked! WOW If we were going to cook this year THAT is they way I would go~ how easy would that make Thanksgiving day to just warm up the turkey?  OR in the freezer department a they are selling a turkey breast and cornbread stuffing combo (just heat and eat!) So many great ideas this year!!

So hopefully I have motivated you to check out the Trader Joe’s Food Pilgrimager and not just leave it laying around for days like I did.   Hopefully you will find some great ideas for your Thanksgiving table.

Meatless Monday:Garlic Chickpea Pasta

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I was searching around the internet this morning for something unusual to make for Meatless Monday dinner tonight. OK ~I was also secretly searching for a recipe that I could cook from all the ingredients I already had in the house too….  And…. success! I found a great-sounding and great-tasting recipe…Pasta with Chickpeas and Garlic sauce! This recipe uses a can of garbanzo beans, pasta, garlic, tomatoes and Parmesan cheese to make what sounds like a rich and garlicky combination. While I did not have all the ingredients mentioned (I have most), and I am sure that the addition of those extra ingredients would make it even better!

Sauce for Pasta

Here is a video from the website that I found this recipe at if you would like to watch:

Pasta with Chickpeas and Garlic Sauce

What you need:

  • Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper
  • 2 Cloves Garlic, Smashed
  • 1 Can Chickpeas
  • 1 Cup Vegetable Broth
  • 1/2 bag your favorite pasta (we used whole wheat spirals)
  • Tomatoes (we chopped up 2 Roma Tomatoes)
  • 2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
  • 1Tbs. Lemon Juice
  • 3 Tbs. Parmesan Cheese

How to:

1. In a small saucepan, heat garlic in olive oil and saute for a minute. Add drained chickpeas and 1 cup vegetable stock and allow sauce to simmer for 15 minutes.

2. While sauce is cooking,  cook and drain your noodles.

3.  Carefully puree sauce in a blender or food processor until smooth~ you might have to do this in batches depending on the size of your processor.

4. In a bowl combine sauce, tomatoes, chopped garlic, lemon juice and pasta. Toss gently and sprinke with Parmesan cheese.

We are planning to  serve this pasta dish with a salad and maybe some garlic bread ~  It sounds like it will be sorta like hummus!   We are planning to have a bit leftover and I am betting that this will taste even better tomorrow for lunch as all that garlic flavor develops!

Here is a video if you want to watch and see how easy this recipe is and the full list of ingredients ~ Including the ones that I did not have! HA

http://www.myrecipes.com/quick-and-easy/dinner-tonight/how-to-cook-pasta-with-chickpeas-garlic-sauce-10000001684855/

Let us know what you though of this recipe? What additions did you make? (Peas… Asparagus tips….)

Easy Taco Salad

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Last post I was telling you about our recent fantastic salsa discovery, Trader Joe’s Roasted Tomato Salsa. We were taking a moment to check out all the yummy salsas that Trader Joe’s carries when we found that one. We were specifically looking for a salsa that would taste great on a Taco Salad.

Taco SaladWe both enjoy taco salads~ they are quick and easy to make and are flexible, without food rules (at least in our minds) so you can add what you have on hand to the basics and have a tasty meal.

That is what we usually do. We start out with the salad basics, add beans or a meat of some kind, and then start adding the optional ingredients to sort of round out the salad.

Some of the optional ingredients we add include: broken taco chips, black olives, green onions, grated cheese, cold leftover veggies or rice~ you can add whatever you like ~ that is the beauty of this kind of salad.

For this salad, we browned a package of Trader Joe’s ground turkey with a spoonful of Trader Joe’s Taco Seasoning and used that as the point to build the rest of the salad.

We had lettuce, cherry tomatoes and an avocation to add some flavors as well. For a change we created Salsa Mayo by adding a scoop of Trader Joe’s Organic Mayonnaise to 2 scoops of our tasty new Roasted Tomato Salsa. We could have added it to some Sour Cream… but I forgot to purchase Sour Cream when we were shopping ….gr…

What is your favorite ingredient in Taco Salads?

Trader Joe’s Roasted Tomato Salsa

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We had the hankering the other day for a Taco Salad. I just love Taco Salad because of all the different flavors and textures in each forkful.   So off to Trader Joe’s of course to get all the goodies to make a few of them and tell you about a great new salsa: Trader Joe’s Roasted Tomato Salsa.

Trader Joe's Roasted Tomato Salsa

So as we were zipping around the store and gathering up all the ingredients, we started to check out all the many different Salsa choices at Trader Joe’s… and there are a LOT!

We started out with the jars of salsas as there are a few ones that we like in that section, but then remembered…. Trader Joe’s sells FRESH salsa as well.

There were a few different salsa choices for us, but when we saw Roasted Tomato Salsa we knew we had a winner. We love items that have a little oven roasted flavor/ grill flavor to them.

This salsa is really terrific~ but on the Medium /Spicy side (or at least we think so).

Have you tried this salsa? What did you think?