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Trader Joe’s Pecan & Hazelnut Crusted Salmon

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Trader Joe's Fish and Vegies for Dinner tonight

Trader Joe's Fish and Vegies for Dinner tonight

Like salmon?

Well, we sure do and we found a new product at Trader Joe’s that is just wonderful:

Trader Joe’s Farm Raised Pecan & Hazelnut Crusted Norwegian Salmon (now that’s a mouthful!)

Now, you might be wondering how this tasty little number has escaped out notice for so long? We are wondering that ourselves. In our defense, it seems that our Arizona Trader Joe’s store, has created a new section in the cold case which can only be described as “Salmon Land”. There are a number of different packages of smoked salmon, and also a number of different packages of fresh salmon to try. (Yes, you guessed right-  we are going to be “tasting” all those new kinds of salmon soon)

As you know, we both just LOVE nuts, so when we saw this package of salmon with nuts all around, we knew what we were going to have for dinner tonight!

This meal for two was so simple to make that it would be great for those who are just learning to cook.  You can add your favorite side dishes (maybe you like rice or carrots or corn) and just have a quick and delicious meal.
Now, truthfully, the directions on the package were a bit lacking, and so we just cooked the fish the way we normally would. There were two pieces in this package, so we just placed each piece on a piece of tin foil (use a bit of oil or spray on the foil so the fish does not stick) in a pan, and cooked it in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Trader Joe's Fish and Vegies in the pan

Start Cooking!

We also served the fish with one of our favorite Trader Joe’s frozen vegetables: Trader Joe’s Brittany Blend (a mixture of green beans, yellow beans and carrots) as well as a piece (or two or three…) of Artisan bread. This week it was Trader Joe’s Artisan Bread-Roasted Garlic with Thyme– YUM!
This meal was just wonderful. The fish had a nice crunchy nutty crust that gave a special flavor to the entire meal. We just love that vegetable blend (good color on the plate as well) and the bread? Well, what can we say but YUM!

This meal would make a great special occasion dinner (think Mother’s Day Dinner) or a easy meal any night of the week (Hey it’s Wednesday!).

Trader Joe's Fish dinner

Ready to Eat!

So check out your refrigerated fish area the next time you are at Trader Joe’s- there may be a great surprise in store for you.

PS- that cute little wedge of lemon comes with the Fish- Nice touch Trader Joe’s!!

Easy Salmon Dinner any night of the week

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Trader Joe's Easy Salmon Dinner

Here is a great meal that is sooo easy to prepare that any night will some how seem to be a special occasion. So now when you have had a super busy day, or are just running around crazy, plan to try out this meal and see how easy a delicious meal can be with the help of Trader Joe’s.

This meal is not only healthy-ish  for the most part, salmon, green beans and potatoes…  (OK maybe the scalloped potatoes are NOT the most healthy choice, – but all things in moderation, right?– and these are GOOD! ) but this meal looks good, tastes great  and has these bonuses as well:

  • Bonus# 1 : This fantastic meal only has 3 main ingredients!
  • Bonus#2 : This delicious meal only takes 20 minutes to cook!
  • Bonus#3 : This wonderful meal is easy for new cooks!

How can this be, you ask? Well, because Trader Joe’s has taken care of all the prep work for you. When you roll into Trader Joe’s looking for something new and exciting, please give this one a try…

Ingredients:

  • Trader Joe’s Scalloped Potatoes with Quattro Formaggio (in the refrigerated case, near the pasta in our Trader Joe’s)
  • Fresh or Thawed Salmon Fillets
  • Frozen Green Beans

What to do:

1. Start with the Salmon. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Oil a glass pan (like a pie pan), or another size that you have. If you don’t have a glass pan, then use whatever pan you like, and just line it with tin foil. Rinse the salmon and pat dry with paper towels.   Place salmon in the pan, and sprinkle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Place the fish in the oven and set the timer for 20 minutes.

2. Next start the scalloped potatoes.  Following the package directions, remove the cardboard surrounding the potatoes and place the package on a cookie sheet or other kind of pan, and peel back one corner to allow the potatoes to vent. Place the potatoes in the oven next to the salmon for 20 minutes.

OR following the package directions for the microwave and cook so that the salmon and the potatoes are done at about the same time.

3. Next is the green beans.  Cook in your favorite way. My favorite is to place beans in a small pot with a lid, and cover the beans with water. Heat on the stove (medium heat) until they are as tender as you like them. I say give the beans about 5 minutes and then test the beans with a fork every 2 minutes and see how tender/ soft they are getting. Drain off the water when they are done, and then you can add  salt and pepper and butter if you like.

OK when everything is ready, serve em up!

We just love this simple (salmon and green beans) and yet rich (oohh those scalloped potatoes) on a cold busy night.

Drop us a line to tell us how you liked your Easy Salmon Dinner…

Happy Cooking!!!

Finished Easy Salmon Dinner

Easy Chicken Dinner from Jamie Oliver

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Trader Joe's Easy Chicken Dinner

Trader Joe's Easy Chicken Dinner

Here is a great, easy recipe from British Chef Jamie Oliver.

We were checking out Jamie’s website last week, and this wonderful recipe just sorta “poped” off the computer screen. Maybe it was the chicken legs all brown and toasty looking, or maybe all those little cherry tomatoes. It is hard to tell, but we can tell you that once we saw that photo, we were making out our shopping list for a trip to Trader Joe’s to purchase all the needed supplies. (OK- we are not the biggest fans of red chili so we did not include that in our recipe)

Ingredients:

  • Chicken Legs (or leg quarters, but we bought legs ’cause we like them)
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • One head/ bulb  of garlic
  • Olive Oil/ Salt/ Pepper

Serve with some crusty bread to grab all the sauces!

Ohhhh the smells……

This easy one-pot dish that just smells heavenly while you let it cook away (yes the directions say to cook for one and a half hours! eeks that was a LONG time to smell someting this good.)

We sorta followed the recipe that Jame had on the website. Here was how we cooked this delicious dish:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown the chicken legs in a pan.

Trader Joe's Chicken Legs

Trader Joe's Chicken Legs

2. While the chicken is browning, separate the garlic into individual cloves and set aside.

Trader Joe's Garlic Head

Trader Joe's Garlic Head

3. Wash the basil in a bowl of water and rinse. Then pull the leafs off the stems, and set aside.

Trader Joe's Basil

Trader Joe's Basil

4. Wash the cherry tomatoes and  then cut in half.

Trader Joe's Tomatoes

Trader Joe's Tomatoes

5.  Place the garlic cloves, the basil and the tomatoes into a pan. Toss them together with a few spoonfuls of olive oil.

Tomatoes, basil and garlic

Tomatoes, basil and garlic

6. Place the browned chicken legs on top. Next time we make this, we will brown the chicken a bit more.

Easy Chicken Dinner

Ready for the Oven

7. Into the oven for one hour and thirty minutes. Stir half-way through the cooking, but be sure to keep all the chicken on the top of the dish. It will brown better that way.

Easy Chicken Dinner

Easy Chicken Dinner

Well, what do you think? Again let us caution you that the smells that came from the kitchen while this was cooking  were just unbelievable.

We hope you try this Easy Chicken Dinner sometime soon!