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We Shopped at Trader Joe’s Today!

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Trader Joe's Purchases

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??

5 Easy Ways to Cook with Pesto

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Trader Joe's Pesto

Trader Joe's Pesto

What exactly  is pesto you ask??

Pesto is a thick sauce made from fresh basil leaves, garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese and pine nuts. All these ingredients are blended together until a smooth paste is formed. There are many ways that you can use pesto to add a wonderful flavor to your meals. Trader Joe’s sells a nice little jar of pesto that frequently is seen in our refrigerator.

Here are 5 of our favorite ways to use pesto:

1. Pasta

Yep, our number one way to eat pesto is with noodles. We like to toss the hot noodles with a couple of spoonfuls of pesto and then mix in a little parmesan cheese and black pepper. You can serve the noodles plain, or add some cooked broccoli or your favorite vegetable to this dish as well.

2. Steamed Vegetables

This is a wonderful way to make sure you eat your vegetables. We just steam up our favorite vegetables (say green beans or broccoli) and then drain away any extra water. Now toss the hot veggies with a spoonful (or two) of pesto and add some pepper (to taste) and enjoy.

3. Pesto Mayo

A quick dip or spread idea the next time you need one is pesto mayo. It is easy to make:  a spoonful of pesto and ½ cup of mayo (Start with these proportions and add more pesto if you like it a bit stronger). Season up with some salt and/ or black pepper and enjoy. This pesto mayo is also good as a sandwich spread with cheese or turkey slices. Experiment and see how many ways you can enjoy this spread.

4. Pesto on a flat bread or  frozen pizza

Pesto right from the jar makes a tasty addition to a plain flatbread or frozen plain pizza. Spread the pesto thinly onto the frozen bread of choice and heat in the oven following the package directions. You may wish to add some cheese on top. YUM! We made this one night when a “surprise” guest arrived, and we were up late talking. We had a couple of pita breads in the freezer and spread the pesto on the frozen bread. Then we tossed on whatever cheese we had and heated them up in the oven at 400 degrees for maybe 10 minutes. We waited until the cheese was nice and bubbly. Not too bad for an “emergency” snack- and our friend raved on and on about how great it tasted.

5. Eggs

This one is the most odd, but then next time you make scrambled eggs and are adding leftover vegetables or potatoes to the eggs, try a small spoonful of pesto as well. The sauce never blends into the scrambled eggs entirely in the bowl, but once the eggs hit the pan the pesto melts and flavors the entire dish. This is a great way to use up some leftovers from other meals, and to also enjoy “breakfast for dinner” in a new way.

Remember that experimenting and trying new things is the fun part of cooking.  We recommend that you start with only a small amount at first, maybe 1/2 a small spoonful and then taste the dish. If you think that there is not enough flavor, add more pesto a little at time until you like the taste.  Eventually, the more you cook and try new flavors, the more confident you will be.

These are our top 5 ways to enjoy that small jar of pesto. What are your favorite ways to use pesto?

Trader Joe’s 4 Chocolate Dishes of Crème Brulee- Yum!

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Trader Joe's Creme Brulee

Trader Joe's Creme Brulee

Here is a great product that we just tried….. Trader Joe’s 4 Chocolate Dishes of Crème Brulee. It was a great “quick” dessert that we would serve again. If you like the vanilla taste and creamy “pudding-like” texture of a crème brulee, you will enjoy this dessert. Also as the package notes, they are 4 to a box so you can take out just as many as you need, and still enjoy some on another night.

Serving a fancy dessert like a crème brulee could not be easier… You just thaw them at room temperature for about an hour, and you are ready to eat. Each dessert comes ready in an individual chocolate cup so they are easy to serve and eat- no dish to soak and wash up afterwards…

Now, to be truthful this Trader Joe’s Crème Brulees are not “exactly” a replica of a traditional crème brulee. There is no signature “crispy sugar” crust burned on to the top of these brulees like in the traditional sense. Also the filling is more like a creamy vanilla pudding instead of the traditional egg custard. BUT if you are looking for an elegant dessert, with a little taste of chocolate to end a meal, that is like a crème brulee, this one is a winner.

We are sure you will agree: Chocolate, vanilla and all in an elegant thin chocolate shell. In fact these shells are so thin that you will want to follow the directions and remove them from their plastic packaging while they are frozen and allow them to thaw on a plate or platter.

Hint: we did not follow these simple directions/ recommendations from the Trader Joe’s package to remove them before they get a chance to thaw.  OOPS! Let’s just say that they still tasted good even if they looked a bit disfigured….

OK so please follow packaging directions and enjoy this dessert the next time you need a quick, fun “something” for dessert when you are shopping at Trader Joe’s.

Enjoy!

Creme Brulee package

Creme Brulee package

Easy Tasty Garlic Bread

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Trader Joe's Toast

Trader Joe's Toast

Do you love garlic bread?  We do too!

We used to only eat garlic bread when we were enjoying a bowl of pasta or some other Italian –inspired dish.  As there are only two of us, it was hard at times to justify purchasing this huge loaf of bread as we would never finish it before it got all hard and stale (not to mention all those unpronounceable ingredients).

Now with this new recipe, we can enjoy eating garlic bread with all kinds of meals such as soups stews as well as when we are eating pasta. This recipe is great for small families or singles who want to enjoy garlic bread as you can make as much as you need (a slice or two for each person) and not have half a loaf of garlic bread leftover.

Here is our easy recipe to make garlic bread at home that has a ton of flavor and few ingredients (and no “weird” stuff).  We are not sure where we first saw this idea. Maybe a TV program or we read it in a cookbook perhaps- who knows- (quite possibly Rachel Ray) …Wherever we gathered this idea from- THANKS! We just love to make our garlic bread this way. If you are just learning 2 cook, this is a great, easy addition to any meal. We bet you will make this garlic bread again and again.

Trader Joe's garlic

Trader Joe's garlic bread

Ingredients:

  • A “sturdy” loaf of bread, such as Trader Joe’s Artisan bread (Roasted garlic with Thyme or Asiago cheese are both good)
  • Garlic cloves (Trader Joe’s Colossal  Garlic )
  • Trader Joe’s salted Butter (or olive oil if you like)

Lets Cook!

Basically what we are going to do here, is toast the bread, and rub the dry toasty bread with a piece of garlic and then spread with butter. So you need to cut and toast the amount of bread that you would like to eat/serve per person.  The bread also needs to be hearty or sturdy- like a handmade or Artisan loaf (sourdough works great too) with a thick crust and a chewy texture.

Colossal Garlic
Colossal Garlic

Next, peel a whole clove of garlic, and cut off one of the tips. Now rub the cut clove over the surface of the hot toasty bread. Don’t forget to rub the crusts with the garlic clove too.

Now, spread the garlicky bread with butter (or drizzle with some olive oil).

That’s it! Enjoy!!

Yes it is THAT easy to make really great garlic bread.  Now that you are trying some new recipes at home, we hope you give this one a try. It would be great served up with a home made soup, pasta meal or anything really… Do you really  need an excuse to enjoy great garlic bread?

Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic w/ Thyme

Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic w/ Thyme