It may seem a little silly for me to review frozen spinach but here goes anyway because it’s actually something I buy all the time from Trader Joe’s (along with frozen peas!) TJ’s frozen spinach is easy, healthy, tasty and super convenient to have in the freezer. Plus it’s one of TJ’s best bargains for just $1.99 for a pound in the organic version and $1.49 for the regular version.
At the risk of heresy there are a few vegetables which I propose are actually better frozen than fresh. Really. One is frozen peas. The other is frozen spinach. While I love fresh raw spinach, the reality is it’s a pain. Spinach is very dirty and sandy. You must it like crazy 3 or 4 times to get rid of all the grit in every nook and cranny. Then you start with what looks like an enormous amount, raw. You can fill the biggest pot you own with it to the brim, and that shrinks up into almost what looks like just enough for one person. It really shrinks up in cooking. All of these are reasons I find frozen spinach easier than fresh spinach.
RECIPE HACK – a two ingredient Trader Joe’s recipe hack I came up with for spinach with TJ’s Garlic Spread – which are so good together and takes minutes! SPINACH IN GARLIC – Put the spinach in a pot with a teaspoon of olive oil or butter (or 50/50 mix). Cook on medium till it’s just cooked but still bright green (don’t overcook it) then add a heaping tablespoon or two of TJ’s Garlic Spread and mix it together. Give it a grind of fresh black pepper, taste it and if it needs it, add a pinch of salt (as the Garlic Spread has some salt). Optionally give it a squeeze of fresh lemon. This garlicy creamy spinach combo is absolutely delish. You can even mix in noodles to this for an instant dish.
Spinach omelet – make the above and toss the spinach in the middle. Yum!
Spinach rice: Cook Basmati rice. Cook some spinach. Mix the two together when done with some Greek yogurt. Season to taste.
TJ’s organic spinach is $1.99. The regular spinach is even less only ($1.49). Either is a bargain and is a great thing to always have in your freezer. So eat your Spinach! It’s healthy – it’s what made Popeye so strong.
Trader Joe’s SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI with Butter & Sage (Product of Italy)
Trader Joe’s frozen “SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI with butter and sage” looked interesting enough for me to review. It even says “Product of Italy”, which sounds promising. These gnocchi seem quite popular and get a fair amount of interest here.
To review it, three of us tasted it as one part of a dinner we had put together. We all thought this was tasty, however we also all found it a bit different than what we were expecting. The main thing being all of us said the same thing to start with. Are they sweet potato? Well, other than that these have an orange color, if it didn’t say sweet potato none of us could have told you these were Sweet Potato Gnocchi as opposed to a regular potato gnocchi.
Butter and sage is a classic sauce and the sauce here was tasty. We were a bit surprised at how much sauce comes in this. So just know the dish is pretty saucy, which may not be a bad thing. The flavor of the sauce was tasty, nice and buttery with the hint of sage. Since there is so much sauce, be sure to have something to mop it all up with like some good crusty bread, as we did.
Again our main comment was about being if you can tell these are “sweet potato”. The first 3 ingredients listed in this are: sweet potato, wheat flour and potatoes, so they do have regular potatoes in it.
It takes about 3-6 minutes, Microwave or Stove Top to cook. I cooked this on the stove top in a pan (adding 2 tbls water or broth and cover) stirring occasionally.
RECIPE IDEAS :
You can easily turn this into a more substantial meal by adding something. For example, add your favorite Chicken Sausages (or meatballs. Maybe some veggies… They will match well with the dish. Brown some of Trader Joe’s chicken sausages – or chicken meatballs – and mix those in when the gnocchi are ready. I think Shrimp would work well too. Vegetarians might add the vegetarian sausage of their choice.
Adding VEGGIES. You could add some cooked or frozen vegetables. Frozen French green beans work well, or frozen peas. Or fresh or frozen spinach. You could just toss in a generous handful of veg for some extra taste and a little veggie protein and cook those along with the sauce.
MAKE THIS A MEAL: Add some salad and bread along with this and you can have a nice substantial dinner with this gnocchi. And maybe the additions mentioned above if you want to beef it up even more.
While I liked these I like other gnocchi choices available at Trader Joe’s. Boiled soft gnocchi such as this dish are fine, however I am quite partial to pan fried gnocchi which you make by sautéeing the gnocchi with a little olive oil and butter until they get golden brown – then add sauce at the end.
These sweet potato one in sauce were about $3.69. I like them and give them a good if not great review mainly as as they don’t stand out as being “sweet potato” gnocchi but still we thought these were tasty.
I love gnocchi when they are fried up and get a little bit of a delicious texture on the outside which you can’t get with prepared, sauced frozen ones, like this dish.
Frequently I make Trader Joe’s (shelf stable) potato gnocchi–a productI just love and buy all the time(and its cheaper, just $1.99 $2.29). I cook those up so they get a golden brown on the outside, and add my own sauce. In this case, I might add my own butter, sage and grated cheese and a squeeze of lemon to come up with a dish a bit like this one, but with a bit of a crispier texture, and frankly I don’t need so much sauce.
My go to gnocchi, as mentioned, are the packages of Trader Joe’s shelf stable potato gnocchi on the shelves along with their pastas. Those gnocchi are not only cheaper but you can get those crispy by frying/baking/air frying them up to brown them.
Trust me, try making crispy gnocchi at least once. So good that way. So honestly I would say try out both kinds, this dish, and later make your own dish, with TJ’s regular potato gnocchi pan fried up crispy (and add butter and some sage and cheese for a sauce).
Here’s a link on “How to fry gnocchi, and why you should want to!)
I like that you don’t have to buy a whole package now. Sometimes when I have a package of jalapeños in the fridge, often I don’t use them up quickly enough and they start to get old, then go bad and I end up throwing them out. So this is better by the piece for 29 cents each. Naturally I will grab the biggest, freshest one I can find in the bunch to get the best bang for my buck (er, 29 cents). In fact, other than a banana I think this one of the cheapest items you can buy at Trader Joe’s, right?
“Plant based Bulgogi style strips marinated in a sweet and savory soy sauce”
Bulgogi is a popular Korean BBQ dish consisting of grilled marinated beef. It’s delicious, I love it.
Trader Joe’s frozen “Korean Beef-less Bulgogi is their vegan version of it, consisting of small pieces of “mock meat” made from soy protein, wheat gluten and other things. Judging from the internet, this product seems to be a bit of a hit especially of course with vegetarians, which I am not. The vegan “bulgogi” strips have a pleasantly chewy texture that kind of make it resemble beef with a pleasantly chewy but tender texture. There isn’t really any sauce on these and I promise these will be tastier with some kind of sauce on them. A no-brainer sauce for these would be some Korean Gochujang (red pepper paste, $1.99 at Trader Joe’s). You can make a fast easy sauce which will match well with the strips with it and give it a little bit of sweet heat. You can either sauté these and cook in a little Gochujang or put it on top after cooking which is what I did (recipe at the end)
TJ’s Bulgogi Vegan Strips cooked up into a tasty Stir Fry with vegetables and a little seasoning
Ingredients include soy sauce, pear puree, onion, garlic, apple puree, sugar, cornstarch, guar gum, soy protein, rice flour, wheat gluten and soybean oil
To best enjoy these, what I strongly suggest is don’t do this lazy thing I see on the ‘net about these TJ Beefless Bulgogi strips where people say all they do is microwave this package and put them on top of a bowl of rice., and they exclaim “this is da bomb”. Really? To me, that sounds like a pretty low bar. Makes we wonder if these folks ever tasted real Korean cooking where flavors can explode all over your taste buds? Anyway, to me just nuking the package and putting this on rice may be edible – but that is so boring people!
I suggest you think of these strips as an ingredient, as the main protein to cook up into a dish with. Make a stir fry for instance using these strips which will take you ten minutes of work, most of which is cutting up veggies. Below is one recipe stir fry idea for these vegan strips. First off, these will taste better if you get a nice sear on them, so I suggest rather than just nuking them in the microwave, you cook them in a pan or wok to brown them up a bit. You can throw a dish together in about 10 minutes with just a little effort. Defrosting needed?! Yes. TJ’s often says “Heat From Frozen” on the package. I tend to disagree about cooking food from frozen – something TJ’s often recommends on their packages (again, geared towards making everything “easy”?) Anyway I do suggest defrosting these before cooking. They defrost fairly quickly. I just left the package in my fridge overnight. Or you could take it out in the morning for that night’s dinner. Or just leave the bag on the counter for maybe an hour or two? In a pinch you could just run water over the (unopened) bag in a bowl till the strips are defrosted. See below for a Stir Fry recipe featuring the “Bulgogi Strips”….
So how close is this to actual beef Bulgogi? First off I should state I’m an omnivore, not Vegan. I adore real Bulgogi especially in a smoky Korean BBQ restaurant using old school charcoal. Now that is Da Bomb (so tasty but smells up your clothes!) These Beefless Strips don’t compare but THEY ARE pretty good and do slightly resemble beef though they won’t fool an omnivore that they’re beef. However, my Korean wife ate my Stir Fry dish and until I told here this was Vegan and not real beef she didn’t know at first. I almost fooled her. What they got right here, is the chewy texture, which is good, it’s a little “beefy and chewy”. But I totally recommend you fix them up as mentioned above and cook them into something tasty, where they are an ingredient and not just the star of the show. A package was $3.49. (Yikes. they went up since I wrote this; now 4.29?) If real beef, at least 10 or 12 bucks I would guess.
Note: While this is Vegan it is NOT Gluten Free as it contains Wheat Gluten. In fact Gluten is what gives this the nice, chewy texture. Buddhist have been using Wheat Gluten to make Vegetarian Mock Meat for a thousand years. This is what “Seitan” is.
RECIPE – EASY BEEFLESS BULGOGI STIR FRY : Put a tablespoon of TJ’s Toasted Sesame Oil (or any oil) in a wok or pan. On medium heat, add the defrosted bulgogi strips in a single layer and let them brown and get seared (maybe 3-5 minutes?). Don’t move them around until they are seared. When they are browned, add vegetables* of your choosing, cut into bite size pieces. In the dish in the picture above I used 3 cloves of sliced garlic (fresh garlic is a must) 1/2 an onion, 2 sticks of celery, 1/2 a yellow pepper. Increase the veggies as you see fit. Sauté the veggies with the strips for about 5 minutes, stir frying them till crispy tender. I seasoned this for a little more flavor. Add 1 Tbs soy sauce, and a 1/2 tsp of TJ’s Red Boat fish sauce if you have it, or maybe Oyster Sauce. Add a tablespoon of Palm Sugar or honey and splash of apple cider vinegar, lime or lemon juice for acidity. Turn off the heat and add another teaspoon or two of Toasted Sesame Oil. If you have them, sprinkle on sesame seeds and chopped scallions. I suggest drizzling Gochujang sauce over the top. For a super easy sauce, just mix a tablespoon or two of Gochujang with an equal amount water slowly until its a smooth sauce. Serve with rice of course. Also – Soft lettuce with these is nice (to make “Saam” lettuce wraps) If you want to be a bit lazy and not have to cut up * vegetables, you can just buy a pack of TJ’s frozen Asian veggies mix and cook that with these strips after the browning part.
PS – Trader Joe’s came out with a prepared Gochujang Sauce since I wrote this…
This has become one of my favorite items at Trader Joe’s! If you love garlic as much as I do, you too will love thier “GARLIC SPREADDIP” . It’s great and has become yet one more TJ’s must have item I have to always have in the fridge now. I think of it as much as an ingredient as a “spread”. You can add a spoon of this to a dish to give things an immediate flavor boost, almost like you would fresh garlic. I put this in mashed potatoes, spinach, pasta, hummus…. It’s so versatile. It makes a great spinach dish. I came up with a super quick recipe hack using just 2 things: frozen) spinach and this stuff. See my “recipe”below.
Quite a few countries have some type of garlic spread like this. In Lebanese cooking, they have the garlic spread called “Toum” (and basically TJ’s spread is Toum). In Greece, they have a spread called “Skordalia” made from garlic, olive oil and potato. In the South of France they have the yummy yellow garlicky mayonnaise called, “Aioli” famously served on toasted baguette slices alongside Bouillabaisse. Mashed garlic acts as an emulsifier with oil to make a spread. Trader Joe’s version like Lebanese toum is an emulsified paste of garlic, oil, lemon juice and salt, traditionally made in a mortar and pestle. They did not skimp on garlic. TJ’s GARLIC SPREAD is so garlicky it’s not funny. True garlic lovers will want to try this on everything. So what can you use this Garlic Spread on? To start with just try it on thin slices of toasted baguette, which will be match well with a salad or soup like croutons or garlic bread. This stuff is especially good for any pasta dish. Just toss in a spoonful into your finished pasta, especially tomato pasta (PESTO ROSSO? Add some of this to jazz it up! Use this instead of butter for cooking grilled cheese sandwiches. Put a little into your tuna or egg salad. Eggs, try some in an Omelet for some kick. Salmon or other fish, for sure. I’ve found it’s fantastic in mashed potatoes to jazz them up. Almost any vegetable dish will be enhanced with a spoon or two of this vegan garlic spread, so it’s ideal for vegans and vegetarians as well as us non-vegetarians. It was amazing on the CHICKEN SHAWARMA. Greek yogurt plus some of this spread makes and instant super easy tasty sauce. Here’s a recipe I came up with using spinach. This is a great tasting spinach dish in under 2 minutes.
SPINACH WITH GARLIC SPREAD RECIPE – Two ingredients: frozen spinach and garlic spread. Toss the spinach in a pan with a little olive oil (or butter) and cook for a few minutes till done (keep it bright green!) then add in a nice heaping tablespoon of this Garlic Spread and mix. Fresh black pepper and a pinch of salt if needed. DONE. It will look a little bit creamy and taste absolutely delish. If you want squeeze on a few more sprinkles of fresh lemon.
In fact most vegetable dishes will be enhanced with a spoon or two of this VEGAN spread, so it’s ideal for vegans / vegetarians to give a enormous flavor boost to most things. One thing to remember, it does have calories. It’s mostly oil, like mayonnaise. 2 Tbls have about 150 calories. Its $2.99. GREAT ITEM! I would buy this again
“Corn, black bean and pepper salsa. Smoky sweet with just the right amount of kick” – Trader Joe’s
If you like salsa but this one is a must try. Its terrific. I love it. My wife loves it. In fact both of us think it could be a pick for a TJ’s Top Ten.
Trader Joe’s Cowboy Caviar is a great version of this classic, maybe more in a salsa style with corn, black beans, red bell peppers, onions, jalapenos, lime juice and spices, with some kick to it from chipotle chiles in adobo, which give it a bit of heat plus a smoky undertone. TJ’s doesn’t have one of their heat level pictures on the jar. Call it a medium heat? This stuff is soooo good as a salsa, as a dip for chips, especially with the yummy Organic Corn Dippers, and its great on tacos, rice, eggs, mixed into veggies, alongside grilled chicken, or as a little side dish…. you name it, I think it will perk it up.
It comes in a jar so its a really good pantry item to have on hand. You can put out some of this with chips or crackers and you can have something in a few seconds for unexpected guests. A jar now goes for $2.99 $3.49 (13 oz)
“A mild cow’s milk cheese seasoned with garlic powder and baked golden brown”
What is Trader Joe’s “bread cheese”. Well, there’s no bread in it, its just a cheese that you can grill and it’s really good ! Perhaps, too good. Dangerous 😉
Inspired by a popular grilling cheese from Finland, Trader Joe’s “Bread Cheese” is made to be grilled. It’s a firm cheese with a high melting point which has been pre-baked until golden brown, then packaged up. We now grill this cheese up in a pan until it it gets all melty and gooey. While it is all nice and soft, you eat the slightly squeaky yummy cheese which is kind of like a mozzarella stick without the breading. In fact they suggest you dunk it in some tomato sauce. Some people have put the Hot Honey on it. Some have put Ranch on it. I like it “Greek style” with fresh lemon juice sprinkled over the hot cheese. This stuff is wonderful on top off a salad, or eaten with with a crusty baguette or other bread. Trust me, this is so good and you will come up with lots of ways to enjoy it. Anyway you eat this, you will find it delicious. Its about $4.29 for the package (6 oz). I would buy this again.
My suggestion. Try it Greek Style like Saganaki. Cook it up in a small pan with a little olive oil until golden and sprinkle it with fresh lemon, then bring the whole pan to the table for everyone to tear into and enjoy with warm bread or pita and some salad. TJ’s sells another yummy cheese for grilling called HALOUMI, which is also delicious. Try them both.
“Known in its native Finland as juustolepä, Bread Cheese contains no wheat, or gluten, nor anything else of that nature, but rather gets its name from its hearty, remarkably bread-like consistency and squeaky, Halloumi-like texture. And much like Halloumi, Trader Joe’s Garlic Bread Cheese is best served nice and warm, after it’s had a chance to get just a little melty and gooey.”
These look almost exactlu like a RITZ cracker, something I love and which in my lifetime I’ve probably eaten a few thousand of. These however I think these may be slightly healthier than those and made with better ingredients. For one thing, comparing the ingredients labels I immediately notice the GOLDEN ROUNDS list Sunflower Oil and Cane Sugarwhereas Ritz’s ingredients have Palm Oil and High Fructose Corn Syrup. But how are these compared to Ritz taste wise? Not bad at all, in fact they are pretty good (if maybe a tiny bit less than Ritz which are a classic) Still the ingredients here are a bit healthier for you and that small difference in taste is outweighed by this. These crackers were very tasty eaten with some Unexpected Cheddar cheese on top. These crackers are perfect for a cheese plate or snacks. There are about 100 crackers in a box. TJ Golden Round crackers sell for $1.99. $2.69. These are worth giving a try. I would buy them again.
Just to give you an idea of how small it really is, the cute little pineapple growing on the stalk is about the size of my thumb. It looks so cool and adorable.
Full name of the plant is PINEAPPLE BROMELIAD. See the link for info on care and growing.
TJ’s was selling these for $15.99
Now have you ever wondered why you see so many pineapples in depicted in design, old buildings and architecture? There is a reason: it showed wealth and hospitality.
“A Southern Mexican inspired salsa made with guajillo chiles and peanuts”
“A peanut based salsa with a unique mix of creaminess, nuttiness and peppery heat. Versatile. Enhances food from burritos to shrimp.”
(summer 2022) New Product – SALSA DE CACAHUATE. I found this to be just terrific, pretty much a “wow” new Trader Joe’s product.
This is bit of an unusual and atypical (regional) salsa (for us at least in the US) which originates from Southern Mexico. It’s a peanut-based salsa. Cacahuate is “peanut” in Spanish, based on the Nahuatl word (you pronounce it : kaka-wa-te). I found this new salsa to be really, really good. It’s unusual compared to more typical tomato based salsa’s at Trader Joe’s due to fact it’s peanut based and creamy. The salsa has a huge depth of flavor. It’s definitely got a kick (med. hot spicy!) and its thick and creamy. Be sure to stir it. This salsa was really tasty on some tortilla chips. It was also delicious with some spinach and cheese quesadillas I made. But it is not “just for Mexican food”. This can be great with lots of things. This can be a great sauce or ingredient for many kinds of foods as Trader Joe’s suggests. For one thing, great with chicken. It is fabulous on chicken, say grilled chicken breasts or thighs. Pork too, it was delicious on some TJ’s CARNITAS cooked into “slices of pork loin”. I also like the idea of trying it with shrimp as TJ’s suggests. It would even be great with TOFU. I will experiment with this, and you should too. It’s excellent! Definitely worth trying. Trader Joe’s indicates this is a summer / seasonal item so if this sounds interesting I would not wait too long to grab a jar to try out (or two). $2.99 for a 12 oz jar.
“If you’ve ever sampled the cuisine of southern Mexico, you’ve likely come across a version of salsa de cacahuate, a savory, often spicy, peanut-based sauce that’s used on a remarkably wide range of dishes, from street tacos to roast chicken to grilled shrimp, and more. Etymologically derived from a Nahuatl word for peanut, salsa de cacahuate has a unique mix of creaminess, nuttiness, and peppery heat that makes it an uncommonly versatile condiment—just the kind of sauce that cries out to be put on everything.
In tribute to this southern Mexican staple, we’re proudly offering Trader Joe’s Salsa de Cacahuate for the summer. And just like the namesake sauce that inspired it, this rich and flavorful jarred Salsa is almost endlessly versatile. Aside from enjoying as a dip with your favorite tortilla chip, you can use it to enhance everything from burritos to burgers to breakfast fare. It adds an extraordinary depth of flavor when served over salmon, steak, or stuffed peppers, and brings out the best of a sizzling plate of fajitas. For a true treat, try spooning it generously over a plate of sliced pork loin.”
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