Trader Joe's Purchases

Today was a great day at Trader Joe’s!

We got some of our usual items and also some “new to us” items as well.

First the usual items:

Today we purchased bread (Ezekiel w/ sesame seeds), eggs, milk and some frozen veggies that we love. We also got some nuts (Trader Joe’s Ballpark Peanuts and toasted Pecans) and salad items as well. For our salads we like to mix up Trader Joe’s baby spinach with some other kind of lettuce and this week it was arugula salad- this is also called Rocket in some places and has a nice “peppery” or “spicy” flavor.

To go with the spinach and arugula, we bought little tiny cherry tomatoes, sweet Hawaiian onions, pre-sliced mushrooms (so convenient- thanks Trader Joe’s!) and some organic baby zucchini. All in all, the starting point for some great salads! With these items as our “salad base” we then add some extra items to give our salads some “jazz”. Sometimes we use leftovers from dinner (cold cooked vegetables or potatoes), but this week we actually bought some fun new items for our salads: Trader Joe’s Giant White Beans and Trader Joe’s Feta Cheese.

TIP: If you are standing in the produce section at Trader Joe’s and are having trouble deciding which of the ingredients will make the best salads, check out Chef Jamie Oliver’s new book and movement Jamie’s Food Revolution. One of the sections in the book is devoted to salads (Lovin’ Salads, p. 101).  In this section Jamie discusses making home-made salad dressing, and also the “Pick and Mix” style salad. This was just a wonderful concept and we both thought it was a great way to think about salads. He notes that great salads have an assortment of colors and textures and he lays out a variety of salad ingredients in a grid to help readers choose and create fantastic salads. (More good news: Trader Joe’s carries many of the items that are mentioned in this great cookbook)

OK back to the other food items we purchased:

• A Ruby Red Papaya,
• Trader Joe’ Way More Chocolate Chip Cookies (for gifts & sharing)
• Trader Joe’s Roasted Poblano Peppers
• Trader Joe’s Bunny Gummy Tummies

We are excited about trying these items, and will post a review about each one soon.

In addition to all the great food that we purchased, we also found a lovely plant. Our Trader Joe’s in Tucson always has wonderful flowers and plants on display inside and outside the store and today we could not resist! We even had a few complements and questions from other shoppers who noticed our plant while we were shopping. (OK truthfully, we had stopped to nibble on the daily samples of Orange Cranberry Tea Loaf and sip the coffee- Trader Joe’s Dark- BOTH were yummy!!)

What did you purchase at Trader Joe’s today??