Green Fin Chardonnay 2013

/in , /by

Have you tried Green Fin Chardonnay 2013?

GreenFinChardonnay2013
The Green Fin Chardonnay offers all that one is looking for in Chardonnay.

The beautiful buttery color, the soft but fresh aromas delight the scenes before the tongue has a chance to taste. Oh but once that first sip is taken you will be hooked. The Green Fin Chardonnay’s rich buttery flavor slides into a Granny Smith apple crispness with ease.

Even better the Green Fin wine come from organic grapes and has a low alcohol level. If drinking organic is important to you, this Chardonnay is a wonderful choice. If you need to be mindful of the alcohol level in your wine choices, this Chardonnay lower than many wines at 12%

So with Green Fin Chardonnay you get to enjoy your wine and drink it too!

Have you tried Trader Joe’s Green Fin Chardonnay? What did you think? Leave a comment below or on the Facebook Page- Cheers!

Make Ahead Kefir Breakfast Parfaits

/in , /by

Super Easy Breakfast Parfaits with Kefir

Kefir is a wonderful fermented milk beverage that looks similar to yogurt, but packs more of a nutritional punch or pizazz! Kefir is loaded with lots of beneficial bacteria that can work wonders in our guts. To learn more about the benefits of Kefir, check out this site: http://www.culturedfoodlife.com/what-is-kefir/

 

photo 1 (2)

 

Kefir makes a fabulous and easy make ahead breakfast that we have been enjoying for a few months now. We make it the night before – and even make 2-3 days worth of breakfast jars at a time. This way in the morning, breakfast is essentially done, we just add some crunchy slivered almonds or sunflower seeds and a spoon.

 

photo 2 (1)

Super Easy & An Awesome Start to the day!

 

Here is what we do:

  • Pour 1 cup Kefir into a wide mouth glass jar with lid
  • Add 1/4 to 1/3 Old Fashioned or Quick Oats, dry OR 1/3 cup cooked brown rice
  • Add 1 tsp chia seeds
  • Add 1 Tbsp ground flax meal
  • Add 1/4 cup raisins

 

Then we stir the whole thing together, put a lid on it, and stick them in the refrigerator.

 

photo (13)

When we are ready to eat (usually in the AM, but we did enjoy one as a “breakfast for dinner” type quick meal recently) we add some crunchy topping such as slivered almonds or sunflower seeds or even granola. Use your imagination & get creative and add what you like.

photo 4

These Kefir Breakfast Parfaits are wonderful with fresh fruits instead of the raisins. We purchased the big box of peaches recently and cut up a peach each day- just lovely! Blueberries, raspberry and strawberries have also found their way into our breakfast and on occasion an over ripe banana too.

 

Added benefit: These parfaits seem to take me further so that I am less hungry!

 

Give them a try and let us know how you build your Breakfast Parfait! Share your thoughts below or on FB~ Thanks!

 

Easy Carrot Raisin Salad

/in , , /by

 We got a craving recently for a childhood favorite: Carrot Raisin Salad.

Don’t you love it when you can take a trip down memory lane simply by dining on a meal? Well, we were unloading our groceries the other day and noticed that we placed the bag of carrots right next to a bag of raisins. Hmmmm .. we both started to say, remember enjoying carrot raisin salad as a kid?

photo (12)

We decided to make some right away.

We also decided to keep it super easy and make homemade coleslaw dressing to use as the dressing for the salad as we both LOVE that easy and versatile dressing.

What we did: 

  • Grated up 1 lb of whole carrots
  • Tossed in about 1/2 cup raisins (maybe more…)
  • Tossed it with Easy Coleslaw Dressing

That was it! Super simple, right?

We enjoyed the salad right away on a bed of spinach. It was yummy. A nice mixture of an old friend and new tastes (in the form of the coleslaw dressing).

Luckily we had made enough carrot raisin salad to have it again the next day and this time we sprinkled the top with some sunflower seeds- which gave the salad a wonderful crunch and salty bit every now and then.

Do you love Carrot Raisin Salad? Try it and let us know what you think

Trader Joe’s Panko Breaded Tilapia Fillets

/1 Comment/in , /by

We love Fish & Chips- flaky fish- with a crunchy coating and potato wedges or chips- sprinkled with lots of salt and Malt Vinegar. This not-so-heart-healthy combo is our favorite during sporting events-  but especially when watching the World Cup-as we did over the weekend.

photo 1 (1)

When we were shopping at Trader Joe’s for our Fish & Chips dinner we decided to check out a new kind of fish- and it was just delish!

Trader Joe’s Panko Breaded Tilapia Fillets

This box just sorta jumped out at us while we were checking out all the other options. I think I was lured by the idea of the crunch Panko breading and the thinner pieces of fish.

photo 3

An added advantage was that the fish was individually bagged so that you could take out only the amount you needed for a meal, and keep the rest of the fish in the freezer for next time.  Nice!

We followed the suggestions on the box and placed the fish on a foil lined pan and cooked it for 10 minutes, then flipped it over for 10 more minutes on the other side. The fish was nice and crispy and golden brown- and it sizzled when we took it  out of the oven.  (We did take a piece of paper towel to each side of the fish just to see if we could get any extra oil from each piece- and there was a little bit to blot up- just FYI.)

photo 2

To TRY and keep this meal under some kind of control, we served it up with home made oven roasted potatoes to star as the “chips”  and a few carrot sticks.

Well…..

OK we just loved the fish. It was crunch yet still moist in the middle. The Panko breading was crisp without being super thick/ or way greasy. We sprinkled the fish with some Malt Vinegar- and it just went so well together… YUMMO!

Other Ideas to try with this fish:

Fish Tacos

This would be a great fish to use in Fish Tacos. The pieces cook up crunchy and the fish is nice and thin but still moist. My though is to cook the fish and split it in half the long way, then place each half in a tortilla or taco shell with your favorite fixings.

Salad Topper

Another idea we had was to bake the fish and then serve it on top of a nice bunch of salad greens, tomatoes, etc…   This would be a lovely contrast in flavors (cool- hot- crunchy- creamy dressing etc…)

 So the next time you are searching for a nice, crunchy fish for dinner, give Trader Joe’s Panko Breaded Tilapia Fillets a try and tell us what you think!