Everybody now knows that San Marzano Tomatoes are considered the ultimate canned tomatoes to make an Italian dish. Trader Joe’s came out with these that are “Marzanino tomatoes” (little Marzano) which I guess are in the same family but smaller than the standard San Marzano and possibly sweeter. The can has the small tomatoes in juice, cooked and peeled and ready to use in a dish. I usually get down and dirty and just dump them into a bowl and crush them up with my fingers to prep them for cooking in a sauce or dish.
These tomatoes were very tasty and a little sweet. They are great for making any tomato sauce or dish that calls for tomatoes, including pizza. I did make pizza using these as my fresh sauce. After crushing the tomatoes with my fingers, I used this as my fresh tomato sauce for my own version of a pizza Margherita, with fresh basil and mozzarella. The finished pizza came out terrific*. “Product of Italy” $2.99 a can.
*(Pizza dough – I made my own from scratch but if that’s too much for you, just buy the bag of fresh pizza dough from TJ’s ($1.49) – or you can use the ready to bake rectangular pizza crust there in the breads section.
I liked this granola. Its a bit different from TJ’s regular oat based granolas – which by the way are gluten free if made from oats!)
This Loaded Fruit and Nut Gluten Free Granola is made with corn for one thing, in the shape of some thick corn flake things…they are round cup shapes that are kind of a very thick and crunchy “corn flakes” TJ says they’re “super crunchy, lightly sweetened, corn-based, cup-shaped, circular flakes”.
It also has some rice based small round things that may remind you of Rice Crispies but much better of course. It has just enough fruit and nuts to justify the name “loaded”. I still usually toss in a few dried cranberries. This gluten free granola is super crunchy. It holds up very well to milk, and it matches great with yogurt. I like this as nice super crunchy topping on my morning yogurt & fruit. “Enjoy it as a snack right out of the bag”
Yes do I like this stuff by itself as a snack, again super crunchy. TIP: I usually turn the bag a few times and shake it to distribute all the things before pouring some out. TJ’s GLUTEN FREE GRANOLA is $3.99 for a 12 oz bag. It contains among other things, almonds, coconut, hazel nuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, raisins, cranberries, coconut….
I would buy it again.
Gluten Free? Sure, but most all granola is made with oats which are of course Gluten Free.
Trader Joe’s SPICY HONEY; it’s honey with chili, so obviously sweet and spicy. Make that Quite Spicy!
Now back in 2010, I had first heard of something called “Mike’s Hot Honey” . It created a bit of a buzz in the NYC food scene when it came out. I actually first tasted Mike’s Hot Honey on a delicious pizza from Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that Mike had come up working there doing pizzas. His Arugula Pizza with Honey was Mike’s hot honey drizzled over fresh arugula on the pizza after it came out of the oven. The whole thing was just terrific. Also the place (if you can, go try a Paulie Gee’s pizza). Mike was marketing his hot honey (his was made with a Brazilian birdseye chili). Hot Honey began to catch on with chefs. Hot honey became a thing. Other vendors came out with similar products. Trader Joe’s jumped on the hot honey bandwagon too a few years ago. They came up with what they call “Spicy Honey”. TJ’s spicy honey is quite good. It’s quite spicy as I said so you use it sparingly, just drizzles of it at the end on something. Interestingly I just realized as I had a bottle Trader Joe’s first sold it in an 8 oz container and the sold it for I think $3. Recently they increased both the price and the size. Its now 12 oz for $5. It’s Organic too I think. This is really Terrific if you’re into Sweet and Savory. I drizzled some on my Japanese Curry Rice last night, perfect addition.
“From something as simple as a baked sweet potato to something as rich as a slice of New York Cheesecake, a drizzling of Organic Spicy Honey Sauce instantly gives anything it’s added to an extra element of complexity. Try it on sandwiches, pizza, or shrimp tacos for an elevated everyday eating experience. Give it a go over pan-fried Gnocchi, roasted carrots, or barbecued meat skewers for a bit of gourmet experimentation…”
One of my go-to items for an inexpensive and easy dinner is Trader Joe’s Organic Polenta, which I’ve mentioned before. Still it’s worth mentioning again as this is one of their inexpensive items, even one of the few products that is the same price as it has been in the past for years (shh.. I’m afraid if TJ’s see this they may raise the price)
A package of the Organic Polenta ($1.99) can make a meal for two, say with some sauce plus maybe some salad and bread. It’s easy to prepare too. You just slice up the polenta and then bake, broil or sauté it until it’s a little crispy and browned (do NOT microwave it thought they say that’s one way).
When it’s nice and crispy, just top it with your favorite sauce and grate a little cheese on top. If you want a change from a tomato sauce, a good thing to match the polenta with would be TJ’s frozen Mushroom Medley ($4) or sauté some mushrooms ($2.29).
Trader Joe’s Organic Polenta is shelf stable and can safely stay for a couple of months in your pantry, just like pasta. I always have a package of the polenta on hand and suggest you do too!
Want to spend less than $1.99? Well fortunately you can still buy some bags of pasta at Trader Joe’s for just 99 cents! Plus they have some sauces for $1.99.
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.
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 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)
These cans of “stuffed vine leaves” (grape leaves!) are a very good pantry item to have on hand as they can make a super fast and easy appetizer, lunch or dinner. Trader Joe’s calls these “vine leaves stuffed with rice”. The vines in question are grape vines so just to be clear these are grape leaves stuffed with rice. These little packages of stuffed leaves wrapped around the rice are called “dolmas” or “dolmades” which are a classic dish eaten all over the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Grape leaves are filled with a stuffing of rice and onions (sometimes lamb as well). The stuffed leaves are slowly simmered till they are plump and almost bursting. They are delicious. Dolmas are a perfect example of thrifty grape farmers figuring out how to use everything. They take the grape leaves – a waste product – and pickle them to make them tender. They use the leaves in recipes throughout the year. The first time I ate Dolmas were in a Greek restaurant near Boston University. I liked the stuffed grape leaves so much I even learned how to make them myself. The best way to cook them is in chicken stock with lots of olive oil and lemon slices. However Trader Joe’s VINE LEAVES are Vegan using only rice and onions and water. The Ingredients lists: cooked rice, water, grape leaves, soybean oil*, onions, dill, spearmint and black pepper. Obviously they use (tasteless) soybean oil which is cheaper than olive oil to save costs. Therefore you must pour good extra virgin Olive Oil over these, ditto squeeze on fresh lemon juice to make these taste like something. If you have fresh mint, dill or parsley these herbs will also gin them up flavor wise. They can make a very easy appetizer and/or serve them as part of a “Mezze” plate. A 10 oz can of TJ’s Dolmas are $2.99. They are a “Product of Bulgaria. There are other good canned items at Trader Joe’s too, like Giant Beans in tomato sauce. These are great items to have in the pantry.
If you’re curious how to make these I put a link with a recipe below. If you actually make these, I recommend cooking the dolmades in chicken broth if possible though you can use water or veg. broth. I had to learn to be gentle rolling up the leaves lest you rip them.
(On the bag…) “Sumatra is the sixth largest island in the world with volcanic mountains extending the length of Western Sumatra. Coffee on this lush island is grown on small farms, where the beans are picked, washed and pulped by hand using the wet hulling process, creating some of the most flavorful and complex beans on the planet. Our organic and fair trade Sumatra beans are carefully roasted to a medium dark level to reveal smooth earthy flavors with little to almost no acidity.”
If you are a fan of darker coffee beans you will probably like this “Fair Trade Organic Sumatra” coffee. I sure do. I’m a big fan of this coffee.
Opening up the foil bag one gets a very appealing aroma. These coffee beans smell wonderful and are roasted to what TJ’s calls “medium dark”. Dark medium?
As you know, coffee roast descriptions can vary wildly, especially Trader Joe’s it seems but to me. I would say this is just south of what some might call a French roast? The beans are dark and shiny. This is not however an Espresso roast. Nor would I call these “over roasted” myself (hard to trust even this picture, you kind of have to see beans in person really). For this coffee I think the roast works, perfectly.
You will hopefully grind up your beans just before brewing of course… and all I can tell you is when I do and open up the grinder, I get an intense, heavenly coffee smell. For me the Sumatran is an excellent coffee, one of best coffees that Trader Joe’s has in a dark roast. I think this would be especially good for espresso machine owners as well as Moka pot brewers, like yours truly now. My brewing method the last few years is using a Moka pot . I also use a little milk with this to make something like old school “cafe con leche” as this coffee really stands up to and goes well with milk. While great as is, sometimes I will make my own custom blend of light and dark beans using this Sumatran with some lighter beans like the excellent TJ’s Azmari BUNNI Afro-Latin coffee to come up with a wonderful blend of both light and dark beans from Latin, African and Asian countries. If dark roasts are not your thing.
And of course you can brew doing a drip or pour over, I still say mixing some of this into your lighter beans, will make a good and slightly more intense coffee for drip and pour over brewers.
The 13 oz bag of the Sumatra Coffee goes for $8.99. For Fair Trade beans, that’s not bad at all. For best flavor, I say best to use this up fairly quickly, say within a two weeks after opening the bag, or in a pinch freeze some. TIP: I save empty bags for doing this. PS Even darker? The other very good espresso roast beans I like that TJ’s has is the organic Five Countries Espresso. (Update: Unfortunately Discontinued!!)
Left: Organic Sumatra Right: Azmari Bunni beans (TJ’s calls Left, “medium dark” and the Right “medium”. Go figure) But both are very good!
“Old Fashioned Blister” Roasted Peanuts and OMG these are Oh So Good. Maybe these are THE BEST roasted peanuts you ever had. Old Fashioned like ones I remember when we were kids we could go to a real “Nut Store” and buy them just out of the roasting pan. These taste super fresh and are seriously delicious. If you like peanuts you must try these. I promise you will not be sorry, they are just so yummy it’s hard to stop eating them. These are $2.99 a bag (15 oz). INGREDIENTS: Extra Large Water Blanched Virginia Peanuts, Peanut Oil, Salt. Simple and delicious.
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
Recent Comments