Trader Joe’s ORGANIC TART CHERRY FRUIT SPREAD

02 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

by promacnyc in All Natural, DIY, fresh, General, jar, New, News, organic, Pantry, Prices, Products, Rave, review, Trader Joes Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,


https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/organic-tart-cherry-fruit-spread-078687

“It’s made for us with a simple recipe of tart and tangy Organic Turkish Sour Cherries, organic sugar, pectin, and citric acid, so that every jar is a genuine jubilee of pure, sweet and sour cherry flavor….” – Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s new ORGANIC TART CHERRY FRUIT SPREAD reminded me a little bit of jams made with sour cherry that I’ve bought in Russian or Polish neighborhoods years ago.

Its sweet but a little bit tart at the same time. Quite delicious, though I confess I wish it weren’t smooth as here in a “fruit spread”. I kind of prefer a few bits of fruit aka jam or preserves.

I put in on so many things, toast, English Muffins, Crumpets, with good butter, on a toasted bagel with cream cheese, a peanut butter sandwich, on top of cottage cheese (yum!), other cheeses like Brie or Goat Cheese. This morning I spread some on pancakes and it really improved them.

It matches well with so many things. All I can say is my jar is almost empty now! I need another one. Pronto.


$4.29 (15 oz) I would buy it again (I do wish they gave you the standard 16 oz)

Organic tart cherries, organic cane sugar, water, pectin, citric acid.

Trader Joe’s ORGANIC HUMMUS review

09 Jan 2025 5 Comments

by promacnyc in All Natural, bread, condiments, DIY, fresh, General, jar, New, News, organic, Pantry, Prices, Products, Rave, recipe, Recipes, review, snacks, spices, Staple, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, vegetarian, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


INGREDIENTS include: Organic fresh steamed chickpeas, organic sesame tahini, organic sunflower and olive oils, sea salt, organic garlic, citric acid and organic cumin.

You are at Trader Joe’s and want hummus. Wow, you will find so many choices to pick from. So which one should you get to start off with?

I would say you can not go wrong with a classic kind, meaning at least for the moment, ignore those where they have added flavors or additions (I’m looking at you tomato/basil hummus, oh crikey… and that dreaded chocolate hummus, don’t even get me started….)

Stick to Basics. Start with a good simple classic hummus. Like this one. This should give you a base line for decent (store bought) hummus. Later perhaps branch out and start exploring the other varieties with things mixed into it. Or add your own additions, as I frequently do*.

With that in mind if you want a very good, classic hummus, I’d say you can’t go wrong with this one. Trader Joe’s ORGANIC HUMMUS.

INGREDIENTS: Organic fresh steamed chickpeas, water, organic sesame tahini, blend of oils, sea salt, organic garlic, citric acid, organic cumin

I like this hummus. I think it may be one of the best ones they sell. Trader Joe’s organic hummus is a tasty, well balanced, hummus with a deep flavor, one reason being this one has a little more tahini than some others. Tahini or sesame paste is a vital component of hummus, to me, at least. Trader Joe’s does sell some hummus that has NO tahini it it.

You can serve hummus in so many ways. As a dip, along with either warm pita bread, or any bread you love, or crackers. Add some to wraps or sandwiches. Use as a dip for fresh or cooked veggies.

Try mixing a dollop of hummus into your salad dressing. That will give it a nice creamy flavor. Or mix in some Tahini for that matter.

While fine as is, I do like to add a little squeeze of fresh lemon to my tub and mix it in well. Serving it, a drizzle of very good EVOO over the top. Serve with with some warm pita or lavash and a salad. Yes.

Now I’ve been known to make my own hummus, from scratch starting with dried chickpeas but that happens pretty rarely. Maybe I will do that twice a year. However I can zhush up this quite decent store bought one.

(Organic Hummus to which I added my own addition on top: chickpeas sautéed with onions and garlic)

$2.69 (10 oz tub)

Sauteed Chickpea Recipe

https://www.ramonascuisine.com/easy-sauteed-chickpea-recipe/

Trader Joe’s ORGANIC SOFT WHITE BREAD, review

28 Dec 2024 2 Comments

by promacnyc in All Natural, baked, bread, fresh, General, News, organic, Pantry, Prices, Products, Rave, review, Staple, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, update, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Though this is called “Soft”, rest assured it is not squishy soft. It has a nice crumb with a little structure. In other words don’t mistake the word “soft” here for something like squishy Wonder Bread soft. This is a high quality white bread.

I found this to be a very decent sliced white bread. For one thing, its just great for toast. Looking over the ingredient list one sees that it is fairly short and natural sounding, with no chemical names, no preservatives, no “conditioners”. All organic stuff. Has a little molasses and sesame.

The bread was best I think when I lightly toasted it, or at least slightly warmed it up, which let’s face it, applies to most any bread as far as I’m concerned. Warmed bread always tastes better. One of the reasons I always have a flat cast iron skillet on the stove.

This made nice toast, spread with butter and jam. It was particularly good when we used it to make your typical “egg in a hole”. You know… Cut out a hole using a with a small glass. Toss a nice hunk of butter in a pan, then toast one side till golden brown. Flip it over and carefully drop an egg in that hole. Add salt and pepper and let cook for a few minutes until your desired level of runiness, which in my case is pretty runny. My wife on the other hand likes hers cooked “well done” which I find a total waste as my favorite part is slicing open the yolk with my knife on my plate to let that lovely yolk ooze all over the place. Ha ha! I bet you want one of those right now after reading this don’t you!?

$3.49 loaf (24 oz) This bread is pretty good, priced fairly well, and I would say certainly worth a try if you want some “white bread” for sandwiches, toast and the like.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/egg-in-a-hole-recipe-1925587

Trader Joe’s ORGANIC GROUND BEEF

22 Nov 2023 Leave a comment

by promacnyc in All Natural, fresh, General, organic, Prices, Products, Rave, review, Trader Joes, Uncategorized, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: , , , ,


Trader Joe’s ORGANIC GROUND BEEF (85/15 meaning 15% fat). From organically raised 100% GRASS FED cattle. Certified Organic.

“Trader Joe’s Organic 85/15 Ground Beef comes from organically raised cattle that are never given antibiotics or artificial growth hormones. The cattle are 100% grass fed, grazing on wide-open pastures—their diet of natural grasses and vegetation contributes to full-flavored, well-marbled beef that’s rich in healthful Omega-3 fatty acids. 85/15 refers to the ratio of lean to fat, meaning that this Organic Ground Beef is 85% lean.”

The beef was delicious when I made it into a classic hamburger and cheeseburger (with Unexpected Cheddar). For ground beef 85/15 mix is considered “lean”. Most ground beef you buy is generally 80/20 (20% fat). I am OK and prefer the slightly leaner 85/15 ground beef, and this was still plenty juicy. This ground beef will be good for any recipe. Next up for me, tacos.

Trader Joe’s tends to put rather long “use by” dates on the bag. I say use it as you would any ground meat you buy, within two days of purchase to keep it as fresh as possible, and if not just toss this into the freezer, and when you need it do an overnight defrost.

Organic Ground Beef is $7.49 (1 lb.) Way cheaper than you would pay at Whole Foods.

Trader Joe’s ORGANIC KETCHUP

20 May 2021 3 Comments

by promacnyc in All Natural, condiments, organic, Pantry, Prices, Products, Rave, spices, Staple, Trader Joes, vegetarian, WhatsGoodAtTJ? Tags: , , , ,


RAVE

Great tasting ketchup

My wife thinks anything “organic” tastes better, while I think some things marked “organic” do, but some things don’t taste any better. This is one of those cases where yes ORGANIC is in fact better. Or should I just say that TJ’s Organic Ketchup is a great tasting ketchup, period, and possibly “the best” I’ve had. Now like most Americans Ketchup has always meant “Heinz” as I’ve been eating Heinz ketchup since well, forever, and it was probably the first ketchup I ever had in my life. When my wife brought home the Trader Joe’s organic ketchup and I tasted it (with doubts) my tastebuds did somehow react with something like, “wow, now this is ketchup”! I was pleasantly surprised and I had to admit to my wife yes this organic version was better tasting. She gave me a “I told you so” looks. Now I know Heinz switched from using sugar in their ketchup recipe to using high fructose corn syrup in their (regular) ketchup years ago, like most companies, as sugar is more expensive than corn syrup. Heinz has now come out with another version, a more expensive Heinz ketchup they call “Simply Heinz” (hah!) which does use sugar not corn syrup and the ingredients look more or less similar to Trader Joe’s. However for one thing all of Trader Joe’s ingredients say Organic. Interestingly also is the fact that TJ’s ketchup spells out the actual spices in their ingredients while Heinz just lists the generic word “spice” (why singular, not “spices”?!) TJ’s ketchups says organic spices than spells out: allspice, clove, red pepper, paprika and salt. Frankly I had no idea what specific spices were in ketchup, so maybe it’s the spices at least in part that makes TJ’s ketchup taste so good. In short, in our house we have switched brands to now buying only TJ’s ketchup. Sorry Heinz. This is better. And probably cheaper than Simply Heinz. TJ’s ketchup is $1.99 (24 oz) and for “certified organic” that’s not bad.

So if you’ve never tried TJ’s Organic Ketchup it is well worth giving a try. You just might switch brands too.

TIP: Want some Spicy Ketchup? I just mix this with as much or as little Sriracha as your taste buds are in the mood for. So good! Especially with burgers….