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Trader Joe’s Trimmed Leeks

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Trader Joe's Trimmed Leeks

Trader Joe's Trimmed Leeks

You know how there is just SO many items at Trader Joe’s? And even thought you shop at the store all the time (and maybe at the exact same locations) you STILL see new stuff?

Here is our latest find: Trader Joe’s Trimmed Leeks

We love the taste of leeks- if you don’t know about leeks, they are a bit like onions, but they also have a hint of garlic to them. They are not overpowering in any way, so they make a good addition to soups or other vegetable dishes.

Our favorite way to eat them is in a Potato Leek Soup!

Now leeks are tricky vegetables. They are grown in sandy soil, which then gets into their many layers and can get trapped if you are not careful.  So please follow the directions below to make sure you get all the dirt and sand out of the leeks before cooking.

How to clean Leeks:

1. Cut off the root ends and slice the leeks the long way.

Leeks cut and ready to wash

Leeks cut and ready to wash

2. Cut the leeks into 1 inch pieces, or whatever size you need for your recipe.

3. Rinse leeks in a bowl of cool water, rubbing the pieces together between your hands to separate the layers.

Washing leeks in cool water to remove grit

Washing leeks in cool water to remove grit

4. Scoop out the leeks into a strainer, colander or onto a clean kitchen towel to drain. Be careful not to disturb any of the dirt/sand at the bottom of the bowl. When the bowl is empty, wash away the dirt/sand.

Cleaned leeks ready for cooking

Cleaned leeks ready for cooking

5. Rinse the leek pieces a second time, in the clean bowl, and scoop out into the strainer.

6. Now the leeks are clean and ready to use.

This does seem like a long list just to get ready to cook with leeks. But it does not take all that long.

We are going to use our leeks in a Potato Leek Soup- What are your favorite ways to cook with leeks?

Trader Joe’s Super Amazing Kitchen Cloth

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Trader Joe's Kitchen Cloth

Trader Joe's Kitchen Cloth

Here is an unusual product from Trader Joe’s that we have been using for a few months. We have so enjoyed this product that we wanted to let you know about it.

Full name: Trader Joe’s Super Amazing Reusable Kitchen Cloth.

The package says that it replaces paper towels, is super absorbent, washable and durable. Well, the package is right.  You can feel good about going green and not tossing away lots of paper towels, and best of all, you will LOVE how these towels work in your kitchen. (Much better than paper towels any day…)

Each package contains two kitchen cloths that are a bit larger than a standard size piece of paper.  They also come in FUN colors and each package is a little different. You can hunt through all the packages on the shelf and find a combination of wild colors that suite your kitchen.

Replace Paper Towels– No Way!  We have used this item in our kitchen instead of reaching for a paper towel to clean counters, wipe up many spills and clean around the stove (especially good after an oatmeal boil-over). The nice thing is that you can squeeze out the excess water, and give this towel a mini-rinse between projects and it will still absorb up liquids, even if it is damp.

Like I said, we frequently give this towel a mini wash in the sink while we are using it, (especially if I have just wiped up something foodie- like tomato seeds and juice off my cutting board) But it also has made many a trip through the washing machine with other kitchen items and still works beautifully wash after wash.

[Note: we still use paper towels when we need to wipe up spills from raw meat items-eeks!]

Beyond the kitchen, Trader Joe’s Super Amazing Reusable Kitchen Cloth works magic in other rooms as well. We bought two packages, and use the “bright” colors for the kitchen and the “darker” colors for other rooms. For example, If you get it damp (OK get it wet and then squeeze all extra moisture out of it) it picks up dust like no other! (Sorry Swiffer…)

Trader Joe’s Super Amazing Reusable Kitchen Cloth is also fantastic for cleaning a floor. We just swish the cloth in our cleaning bucket and wring out so the cloth is damp and just attack the kitchen floor.  It is just fantastic on linoleum floors. (We do not have tile floors so I can’t tell you how it works on tile, sorry). It seems to attract those dust bunnies like a magnet!

So save some $$, and stop tossing away all those paper towels and give Trader Joe’s Super Amazing Reusable Kitchen Cloth a try. You will be glad you did.

Trader Joe's Reusable Kitchen Cloth

Trader Joe's Reusable Kitchen Cloth

Our tiny apartment kitchen has this fun metal rack under the cabinets, where we like to hang up our Trader Joe’s Super Amazing Kitchen Cloth to dry between uses. It is actually closer to us, the sink and all the cooking action than the paper towel dispenser.

Trader Joe’s Triple Fruit Treat

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Confessions of a super busy week: I forgot to post a note about a great product, until, um…. the last handful!

Here is the full story… while shopping at Trader Joe’s we found a new-ish product: Trader Joe’s Triple Fruit Treat with mango, cranberries and blueberries.

Well, we thought they were new, looked great, so we should give these a try, right?  Then the checkout person was like “hey these are fantastic!”  and the person bagging up our groceries (in those nice, cloth bags) also commented on this seemingly ordinary bag of dried fruit “yes, I just love those mangos!”

So while we thought this was a new product, we guess it has been in the store for a few days at least.

Anyway back to the review…. This item really was just delicious! The mangos were cut into small, thin squares so they were just the right thickness to be chewy, but not too thick that you were worried about your teeth.  We already love dried cranberries, and these were nice because they were more separated, and not all smashed into large chunks. And dried blueberries? WOW these are really a nice dash of flavor, and make this mixture really shine!

Just to go over the top, we added some cashews and some peanuts to the dish when we were snacking on this fruit mixture. So to us, this was like a super gourmet trail mix. YUMMZ!

Trader Joe's Triple Fruit Treat

Trader Joe's Triple Fruit Treat

So here is the final handful of this dried fruit mix when we said to each other  “I thought YOU took the picture!”

Go ahead and try it today!

Great Gifts at Trader Joe’s

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Great Gifts at Trader Joe's

Great Gifts at Trader Joe's

Trader Joe’s saved us again today!

You know how busy we all get, and then how someone’s birthday just sneaks up on you sometimes? OR maybe you need a little something for a “thank you” gift  for a friend in the office- something nice, but not too much, right?

OK … Trader Joe’s to the rescue!

This week, we needed a little gift to take with us to a meeting, and well, we knew that Trader Joe’s would have something nice for us to bring

(And we were going to go right past the store on our way to the meeting …. And they have those samples…..)

We were debating between cookies and a small flowering plant (you know, jazz up a desk, brighten up a dull area in the office etc..) so what do we do? We buy BOTH at Trader Joe’s!

The cookies were butter shortbread s with either apricot or raspberry jam centers. They looked nice and colorful and very tasty….

The plant was also fun, cute small blooms and according to the tag, would be good in a low light area. Perfect!

The nice thing about Trader Joe’s is that everything is a sure thing and everyone just loves getting stuff from Trader Joe’s

So the next time you need a fun, quick gift remember to check out Trader Joe’s!