If you’ve never heard of it before, “horchata” is a beloved and famous Mexican drink. It’s made from milk, rice, water and cinnamon and super refreshing served ice cold on a hot day. I didn’t know of horchata until I first visited Mexico years ago. I absolutely fell in love with it with my first sip.
Well this new ice cream from Trader Joe’s is “inspired” by this Mexican drink. They say its a “sweet cinnamon and rice ice cream with horchata flavored cookie pieces”. The little pieces add little bits of crunchiness in the smooth ice cream. I found TJ’s new flavor to be quite good. In fact, our pint went pretty fast! Here’s what TJ’s has to say….
“The popular Latin American beverage called horchata [or-cha-ta] is creamy and sweet, like ice cream. With no good excuse not to, we decided to take it all the way there—from smooth beverage to frozen dessert! Trader Joe’s Horchata Inspired Ice Cream delivers all the delicious flavors of horchata in every spoonful.
Like many ice creams, its rich base includes cream, milk, egg yolks, and cane sugar. We horchatized it by adding cinnamon and brown rice flour, plus a touch of sea salt. And since inclusions are fun, we also added pieces of horchata-flavored cookies, contributing a nice textural variation.”
“Delicate flakes of Kosher salt perfect for finishing steaks, seafood, and veggies”
You may wonder as I did, why is Trader Joe’s selling huge boxes of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt? Well if you’ve watched The Bear or seen any chef cooking on TV or Youtube you may have noticed almost every one seems to use – and specify – Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt in their cooking. Its the “Go To” salt for most professional cooks and has even gotten trendy now. It may be on THE BEAR but my Grandma (and probably yours too) used it for 70+ years.
If a recipe specifies “1 tsp Kosher Salt” please know you that is you put that amount of regular table salt, it will be too salty. The bigger coarser grains take up more room than a fine salt if you are measuring it. Now I haven’t bought Diamond Crystal for a few years and when I saw this at Trader Joe’s the other day I got sticker shock seeing how much Kosher Salt seems to be now! $8.99 for a 3 lb. box?! ($3 bucks per pound!) Wow, I am pretty sure the last time I bought a box a few years back I paid about $5 so it’s really gone up, probably thanks in part to becoming Trendy via social media.
By contrast Trader Joe’s sells their regular Sea Salt (fine) for about $2 for over 1 1/2 lbs. However I am seeing “kids” (to me that is) buying the Diamond Crystal at Trader Joe’s recently. I was able to find a 1 pound box of kosher salt for about $2 on Amazon. (But it’s Morton’s brand not Diamond Crystal and you can’t just use the same amount, use less)
I really liked this blueberry preserve Trader Joe’s has come out with, which uses wild organic blueberries from “the Canadian Boreal Forest“. It has an intense and delicious flavor of wild blueberries which are much smaller than cultivated ones. It’s very tasty though I found it a bit on the sweet side, borderline overly sweet, so what I like to do with jams I find too sweet is tame down the sweetness with some lemon juice. I added the juice of about a 1/4 of a fresh lemon into the jar and mixed it in. That did the trick for me, cutting down the sweetness with some more acid and adding a very nice subtle lemon undertone. It made it even better and really improved the whole thing. So my recommendation is buy a lemon with this jam (if you didn’t have one already in the fridge).
TIP: after adding the lemon juice I add a little piece of the lemon rind and throw that it in to the jam for even more flavor from the rind’s oil. Just push it to the bottom.
The Organic Wild Blueberry Preserve is $4.49 for a 17.5 oz jar. Not cheap but then it is Certified Organic and taste-wise I would say this stuff is certainly a Gourmet Level jam. Probably elsewhere (say Whole Paycheck?) a similar one would probably go for more like six or seven dollars. Try this on just about anything but I really think it would be heavenly on a slice of TJ’s Sliced Brioche bread, toasted with butter, spread with the blueberry preserves. Ditto on an English Muffin, toasted Crumpet or on your pancakes….
Trader Joe’s says: “Our supplier takes wild, organic blueberries, harvested from the Canadian Boreal Forest, and simmers them with organic cane sugar to complement their pleasantly tart and rich blueberry flavor.”
This is a new nice pasta shape at Trader Joe’s. It super!
I really liked this pasta which is kind of a ruffled edged, ribbony flat wide noodle. Think of a mini lasagna noodle. Those ruffled edges holds sauces well. Malfada Corta pasta is a nice hardy noodle and will be great with almost any sauce you can think of. Its Organic and bronze die cut semolina pasta.
I’ve made this with a number of different sauces. One dish was this pasta with a homemade ragu bolognese-style sauce. Yummy. We both really liked the combo. On another occasion I made a tuna pasta with a bechamel sauce mixed with tuna and peas. That combo was was Excellent as well. Really, this pasta is super.
TIP: It has a recommended cooking time of 8-9 minutes. I was making my pasta Italian style, meaning under-cooking it a bit then fishing it out of the water and putting it in a pan to cook with some sauce till its done (al dente). So I fished out the pasta before it was al dente, a minute or two under than so maybe at about the 6 minute mark (2 minutes under the recommended 8). The noodles went into a pan with a 1/2 ladle of the pasta cooking water (great “secret” ingredient in restaurants) and I then added about 1 ladle of my sauce. I cooked that mixing it all the time for maybe 90 seconds, and adding another ladle of sauce. Turned off, then the pasta got plated. I put some additional sauce on top as well as some fresh grated Parmesan. This “Italian pasta cooking method” imbues the pasta with the sauce so it’s way better than just ladling a sauce on top of dry pasta which is unfortunately how many people in the U.S. make pasta. Doing this horrifies Italians!
I would gladly buy this again. I think the Malfada would be a great match for TJ’s frozen MUSHROOM MEDLEY. Try that combo.
You pretty much can’t go wrong with TJ’s PINEAPPLE SALSA. It’s one of Trader Joe’s best selling salsas and not for nothing. It hits all the right notes to make a good all around salsa. For one thing it’s not spicy. They say Mild to Medium (I say Mild) so this salsa is good for folks who say they don’t like it too spicy. Me I like spicy but I still like this too and can add something spicy to up the heat if I want. The Pineapple Salsa gets a nicely balanced subtle sweetness from pineapple blended into a tomato based salsa. The subtle sweetness adds a nice touch and counterbalances any spiciness. I add a few Sweet Hot Jalapeneno‘s on top if I want spicy. Another good thing about this is that it’s the cheapest salsa they sell as it’s only $1.99 and all the other ones cost more now. It has no preservatives and no artificial ingredients. Tasting wise, it was quite nice on tacos and quesadillas and some black bean burritos with cheese. You can use it for things other too. TJ’s says try it with cream cheese and crackers. Interesting. I would buy this again.
Amazing stuff. I had read somewhere on the ‘Net that this Ugandan coffee was one of the best coffees Trader Joe’s has offered, so I told myself I had to check it out. I had seen it sitting in the NEW ITEMS shelf but I was done shopping and had too much to carry already, so made a mental note to buy a bag the next day. Well when I went back, as luck would have it there were no more bags. My bad luck. It sold out. Of course by their very nature “small lot” means these coffees come in a limited batch from small producers. Think a Limited Editions.
Fortunately it just so happened that my upstairs neighbor, another big TJ’s fan, happened to have gotten some of this coffee. Yeah baby! She generously offered me some of the coffee, so that I could review it.
Well right after grinding it, it smelled so fantastic that I had very high hopes. I mean it smelled AMAZINGLY good. Then I brewed it up and wow was I impressed.
I was almost shocked at just how good this coffee tastes. Not to mention this may be the first time I’d even tried a coffee from Uganda come to think of it. I am sold. A fan. I definitely agreed with all those who gave this high marks. This must be one of the best coffees I’ve tried from Trader Joe’s, period.
The Mountains of the Moon UGANDA RWENZORI coffee is just a fantastic tasting coffee, which I found wonderfully balanced. To my taste buds its just perfect, hitting all right notes. Bold and robust but not over powering, it was both a little sweet and a little bitter, both smooth and robust, tasting surely like an “African” coffee a little ascertic and winy and yes even had those “notes of chocolate” describe on the bag. This is just terrific. Also TJ’s got it right that this is actually a “medium roast” as described (sometimes TJ’s roast descriptions are off). I loved this coffee and want more. I’m crossing my fingers we see it again (might be next harvest?) If by any chance you see it, do yourself a favor and grab a bag if you can. I have a feeling anyone who considers themselves a coffee lover is going to love this. If/when I see it again, I will be sure to stock up on a few bags. ($8.99 12 oz bag, whole bean)
Trader Giotto’s CHICKEN PICCATA – Seasoned, breaded boneless chicken breasts with a lemon and caper sauce
“Our Chicken Picatta is made for us using a special family recipe. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are seasoned and breaded then baked in the oven until crispy. We then add a buttery, lemon and caper sauce to complete the dish. A timeless Italian American classic that tastes like you made it from scratch” (-On the package)
This is actually pretty good. So if you want a tasty dinner that all you have to do is Heat & Eat, Trader Joe’s CHICKEN PICATTA with Lemon Caper Sauce dish could do the trick. Especially say on a hot day when you don’t want to cook? Or make that any day you don’t want to cook.
My upstairs neighbor actually wanted to check out this Heat and Eat dish to see if it was worth it. She invited my wife and myself to dinner for a review and tasting.
So how was it? Well I was at bit surprised at how good this dish actually tasted. In fact, all three of us who tried it all said it was quite tasty, though we all thought there were a few things that could be improved. Like is should have more capers. My neighbor who loves capers almost as much as I do, wanted more capers. Since we had them in the fridge, we tossed in a tablespoon of capers in the sauce, and that did make it better.
We also thought some fresh lemon would improve it so we added a squeeze of lemon juice. Those simple things really improved the whole dish and made it taste almost homemade.
If you don’t have a jar of capers in the fridge (I do) then at least give this a squeeze of a quarter of a lemon, as that will really improve the sauce to make it taste almost homemade. If you add a tablespoon of butter that would not be amiss either!
To cook the dish, we followed Trader Joe’s “recommended method” instructions to bake it in the oven. I really recommend baking this over nuking it. It will be best baked in the oven, as in the oven the chicken will crisp up a bit. PLUS when you add the sauce at the very end, it will reduce a little and get a little browned and bubbly, both of which adds flavor. So baking is best and worth any little extra effort.
The chicken breasts were actually tender and juicy, and of course the sauce helps a lot with this as you bake it with sauce so they were moist. The included lemon caper sauce was tasty, however they don’t give us enough capers IMO. If you add capers, lemon juice and a pat of butter it will really make this dish taste almost like you made it yourself.
RECOMMENDED HEATING INSTRUCTIONS (OVEN): Preheat oven to 375. Set sauce packet aside. Remove packaging and place chicken pieces on a rimmed baking sheet or pan. Place in oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until hot. Remove from oven and pour sauce over chicken. Return to oven for about 3 minutes or until sauce looks bubbly and slightly browned. Optional: add a few tablespoons of capers, a tablespoon of butter and squeeze a quarter of a lemon over your dish. To serve restaurant style you can plate with thin slices of lemon on top.
SERVING: Plate the chicken with sauce. If you add some slices of lemon on top it will look like it came from a restaurant.
PORTION: The box states “Serve 3”. Ha! Maybe it might serve 3 kids? No, this package does not “serve three” adults. They do include a generous amount of sauce but there is not that much chicken. In the package we got, there were 2 large pieces plus 2 small pieces of chicken. So think realistically that it “serves 2“.
I did manage to make this serve three ONLY because I made some sides. I made a little quick easy zucchini, garlic pasta to have enough food to feed three for dinner and some pasta goes perfectly with this. So realistically this will make 2 portions for dinner, or 3 slightly skimpy portions, which you could stretch by adding sides. Serve this with some rice, potatoes or pasta and maybe a salad and/or a veg. Some nice crusty bread for mopping up that lemon caper sauce?
So in short we thought that Trader Joe’s Chicken Piccata with Lemon Caper sauce was good, and improved if you add some more capers to it. Find this in the refrigerated section with other prepared dishes. It’s $8.99 (16 oz).
I would buy this again.
Addendum: Many months later. I wanted to try my hand at making this dish myself so I did it. Here’s a shot of my own home made CHICKEN PICCATTA from scratch. Fantastic and not terribly hard to make. Recipe I used as a guide line follows (I did not use heavy cream as per the recipe, I made a roux with some home made chicken stock) And added a TON of capers!
You will find this stuff mentioned all over Instagram, TikTok and Reddit. Its quite good, maybe one of Trader Joe’s best New Items.
They took TJ’s incredibly popular Unexpected Cheddar cheese and made it into a spread like a pub cheese by adding things like butter and whey to make that hard cheese now spreadable. What a great idea, no?
Trader Joe’s says: “Our supplier combines our crumbly Unexpected Cheddar with salted butter and whey to create a superbly savory, creamy Cheese Spread that’s ready to enhance sandwiches and glorify grazing boards with the simple flick of a knife. Spread this pub-style cheese on a Raisin Rosemary Crisp, and you’ve got one classy snack on your hands. You might also add it to an appetizer of puff pastry topped with chopped figs to bring out its subtle fruity notes. No matter how you use it, it’s guaranteed to be a real crowd-cheeser.” (ok a groan for the bad pun)
Search around you you’ll find pictures using this spread to make the trendy fancy “cheese boards” which are all the rage on Instagram. Here’s TJ’s idea to make one with this spread, nuts and honey
Remove cheese spread from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to assembly to help soften.
To a medium-sized cutting board, use a butter knife or spoon to spread the unexpected cheddar over the entire board, leaving a small outer rim exposed. Use your utensil to make swooping motions as you spread to help create nooks and crannies.
Top with chopped pecans, thyme leaves, and a drizzle of honey.
This flavor is the one I’m now seeing of TJ’s yummy “bread cheese“. This “pizza seasoned bread cheese” is quite good, perhaps dangerously good!
Just grilling it with some halved cherry tomatoes basically I came up with kind of a “deconstructed pizza” when I served the soft warm cheese with grilled cherry tomatoes and toasted bread. A drizzle of EVOO and a sprig of fresh basil completed the picture. What’s not to like? All the flavor and fun of pizza in five minutes. Eat it while it’s still gooey and melt-y. I would say a package made roughly two portions. I’d go with “sauté” and not microwave as grilling it will brown it more and so be better that way. This Pizza Bread cheese version is now $1.99 (!) Used to be over $4.
Trader Joe’s HEIRLOOM GROUND CHICKEN – “All Natural, Pasture Raised, Slow Growth, Air Chilled, No Added Hormones, No Antibiotics”
What is Trader Joe’s HEIRLOOM CHICKEN you ask? Well here’s what Trader Joe’s says: “Trader Joe’s All Natural Heirloom Chicken is a very special chicken. First, it comes from a recognized breed with a genetic line that traces back multiple generations. And unlike so many other chickens raised very quickly on processed meal and antibiotics, these Heirloom Chickens are slow-growth, pasture-raised birds. This means they are allowed to mature at a natural rate and forage for food in a natural environment. They also have never been given antibiotics.”
That sounds pretty good, right? While they don’t say “free range” they say “pasture raised” which sounds the same? After reading about TJ’s Heirloom Chicken I wanted to try some. I got the ground heirloom chicken to test out and in short I thought it was quite good. Obviously an “heirloom chicken” is going to cost more than TJ’s regular chicken as this is a “super premium” chicken, and to me it actually seems like it Whole Foods item. Though if it was at Whole Foods I can only imagine it would cost more (maybe $10-12lb)? Trader Joe’s sells the Heirloom Ground Chicken for $6.99/lb. By comparison TJ’s regular ground chicken, something I have been getting for years and like very much as well, is $3.99/lb (now 4.49). One difference I noticed between the two is that the texture of this Heirloom Ground Chicken seems to be better, not quite as finely ground as the regular ground chicken (and this one seems to be less wet?) So this seemed to brown a bit faster. It’s 90% lean with 10% fat.
To cook the ground chicken, I added seasonings and mixed in quite a bit of chopped scallions. I shaped the mixture into patties, sprinkled them generously with the terrific AJIKA blend which is great on chicken and also helps browning. I sautéed them in olive oil for about 4 minutes on both sides until golden brown. I served these burgers/kebabs on warm pita doing kind of a Middle Eastern chicken burger thing. I sauced them with some TJ’s Garlic Dip and some Green Dragon. These chicken kebabs were really tasty; we really enjoyed them. One could of course make something similar and shape them into meatballs or long cylinder kebabs. What I didn’t do, but might in future is compare the two kinds of ground chicken TJ’s sells side by side, cook them up the same to compare. Meanwhile I’ll say yes this “premium” chicken is quite good. I would buy it again. Trader Joe’s also sells boneless breasts of this Heirloom Chicken for the same price as the ground chicken, while whole chickens are $3.99 / lb. (Again, cheaper I think than it would be at Whole Foods?) So you can either try a whole bird (roasted) or the boneless breasts, or this.
There’s more you can read about ALL NATURAL HEIRLOOM CHICKEN on the TJ website (Whole chickens are $3.99/lb)
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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