Trader Joe’s Shea Butter and Coconut Oil Hair Mask
I find this to be an terrific conditioner for your hair. Well, Trader Joe’s calls this a “mask”. I call it an intensive conditioner, that really works to make your hair softer and silkier.It has a lovely smell as well. If you read the ingredients listed one can see it has a lot of moisturizing oils and other ingredients. These include coconut oil, shea butter oil, mulberry leaf extract, vitamin E, argan oil, coconut extract, açai extract, sunflower seed extract, and vitamin B5. You just put it on and leave it in for 3 to 5 minutes, then rinse. I even sometimes put a tiny dab of it on my wet (curly) hair after getting out of the shower like a hair dressing. I would call this a premium product but it doesn’t have a premium price, due to it’s own brand label and no marketing. Its a super reasonable $3.99 for the 5 oz tube. A real bargain. If you try this stuff I bet you will find it works well and thank me (a guy no less) for the tip!
(UPDATE: IT WAS OUT OF STOCK FOR SOME TIME BUT IS NOW BACK IN STORES (Jun 2022)
“Blend of pearled couscous, orzo, split baby garbanzo bean and red quinoa”
HARVEST GRAIN BLEND is a healthy blend of grains and beans and is both a healthy and tasty Trader Joe’s product that you must try if you’ve never had it.
Harvest Grain Blend makes a quick, super easy side dish, ready in as little as 10 minutes. It makes a great side dish, as shown here plated up with a piece of broiled salmon. Of course one could just as easily plated this up , restaurant style, as the bed with the salmon on top and the grains on the bottom, with a mound of this on the plate and whatever your Main or Protein is on top. Another idea for this grain blend is for the the base of a protein bowl. Make up a Protein Bowl with this and top with say an egg, or tofu or what have you, vegetarian or non. You can make this mix with water, butter and a little salt. Even better would be to use broth (veggie broth, chicken broth, etc) which of course make it even more flavorful. You could even toss in some veggies too if you like, maybe adding frozen peas or spinach (yum!) or mixed frozen veggies. Add them during the last 3 minutes of cooking. It’s easy to make and fairly foolproof.
Instructions: Bring 1 3/4 cups water or broth to a boil. Add 1 tbl butter (or EVOO). Add 1 1/4 cup Harvest Blend. Once its boiling again, reduce heat to a simmer. Cook covered for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Fluff and serve.
A 16 oz bag now goes for $2.99. This is something I must have in the house at all times. Its super fast, easy, healthy, and lasts a long time in the pantry. I find this great for those times when you think you have “nothing to eat” in the house. I can make this grain dish, open a can of TJ’s terrific poached salmon , put it on top. Dinner in 10 minutes with almost no effort!
Harvest Grain Blend is really good and worth trying. It helps make up for the loss of the brown rice medley TJ’s used to sell! (don’t get us fans started 😉
Ingredients: pearled couscous, orzo pasta, split baby garbanzos, red quinoa
Trader Joe’s GUAJILLO SALSA – “A spicy and flavorful salsa with smokey undertones”
This description on the label is right on the money.
I really liked this new GUAJILLO SALSA offering Trader Joe’s came up with, it’s truly an excellent jarred salsa. In fact this may be among TJ’s best salsas of the many they offer. Trying it for the first time I found it was full of complex flavors, spicy, a bit smokey, a bit acidic… just really interesting and delicious. It will spike up all your taste buds. TJ’s usually puts some kind of heat level indicator graph on the salsa’s, however this jar doesn’t have one. So just a heads up this is not “mild”, it’s got a nice little kick to it, I would say medium spicy, however not blow your head off spicy. So imagine a chile graph of “medium”.
Ingredients in this salsa include: tomatoes in juice, tomato paste, guajillo chile pepper purée, vinegar, salt, crushed red pepper, dried garlic, and both guajillo chile powder and chipotle chile powder. All those nice chiles give this a big authentic flavor. Stir before using or shake well, as this has no thickeners added so it’s a bit loose and chunky in a typical Mexican salsa style (unlike some American made salsa brands that are artificially thickened with starch so they stick on a chip and do not drip easily). Even not being thickend, just dip a chip in a little bit of this and I promise you will get it’s flavor.
Use this anywhere you would use your favorite salsa or hot sauce, and be creative. I drizzled some over some simply grilled chicken. This guajillo salsa added a bunch of terrific flavors that went great with the chicken to jazz it up nicely. Drizzle it over Mexican rice, refried beans, tacos, eggs, you name it. Ground turkey tacos? Boring no more. I also just chopped up some fresh ripe tomatoes and mixed in a few tablespoons of this salsa to them to come up with a “salsa fresca” variation which was very tasty. I really like this salsa and if you are a fan of salsa you will likely too. Its way more interesting than the rather plain Jane TJ Hatch Valley Salsa (however I bet if you mixed the two they might be good blended for some red and green salsa flavors). In sum, TJ’s GUAJILLO SALSA is delicious and well worth trying. A 12 oz jar was $2.69. Would I buy it again? Yes. This is something I now like to have in the fridge at all times.
SHAKE OR STIR BEFORE USING. REFRIGERATE AFTER OPENING.
This shape, “Gigli” is sometimes also called “Campanelle” (tower) a twisty corkscrew shape with a frilly edge. This is one of TJ’s premium pastas that go for a bit more than the regular Organic pastas they carry. This one goes for $2.99 for a 1.1 lb bag, a premium price but its a premium pasta. This is a high quality Organic Pasta made in Italy by a premium manufacturer. You can note by the closeup of the pasta, it has that rough exterior indicating it’s bronze die cut and the lighter color indicating it’s slow dried, like the best Italian pastas you might find at a specialty Italian grocery – and which probably sell for double or more than this.
The cook time is only 5-7 minutes and I would stop it at a minute under Al Dente for finishing with a sauce (which means maybe around 4 minutes). I cooked this pasta with a sauce of sautéed fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and feta cheese and everyone seemed to love it. My only minor complaint is when it was cooked some of the frilly edges detached into little stringy things, which look a bit weird but again this a very minor complaint. Taste wise this is another excellent quality pasta from Trader Joe’s. This corkscrew shape will be good with any sauce especially any sauce that will get into every nook and cranny of this shape. Though I haven’t tried it yet for CACIO E PEPE, I have a feeling they would be good with each other
RECIPE – EASY CHERRY TOMATO AND FETA CHEESE PASTA
Put up a large pan of salted water to boil for the pasta. In a large sauté pan, cook about 12-16 oz of cherry tomatoes (sliced in half) in a good amount of olive oil on med-high heat until the tomatoes start to soften up, about 5-7 minutes. Throw in about 4-5 cloves of minced garlic and cook for another few minutes and at the same time, I push the tomatoes to the side and put a good amount of FETA cheese cut into cube on the other side of the pan and cook on medium heat until they start to brown a little bit. Turn off the heat. Cook the pasta; check it for about a minute underal dente and toss the drained pasta into the pan with the sauce adding about a ladle of the pasta water. Cook for one minute until al dente and mix it all together. Top with a bit of more grated cheese (Parm, Pecorino, or Asiago), some fresh ground pepper and plate it up. Enjoy!
Traditional Italian pasta is made with only two ingredients, durum wheat semolina flour and water—a small amount of softer wheat flour is allowed by law, but Trader Joe’s Organic Italian Artisan Gigli Pasta is crafted with 100% organic durum wheat semolina sourced from farms in Puglia. Our supplier has been producing artisan-made pasta for more than 35 years. Most dried pasta are made in huge batches and dried quickly, from three to 12 hours. This Artisan Pasta is made in small batches, and dried at much lower temperatures for up to 24 hours, resulting in a more rustic texture that cooks to a delightfully al dente texture. Gigli, also known as Campanelle (translates to “bellflowers” or “little bells”), has a ruffled edge and hollow center, so it holds any sauce extremely well. Marinara? Carbonara? Just a bit of olive oil and shaved Parmesan? Any of these will do, deliciously.
This is a great new pasta Trader Joe’s recently introduced with a great shape. It’s a “Fusilli” (corkscrew) curly shaped pasta with a little hole (bucati) in the center. This shape is very good and will hold lwhatever lovely sauce or ingredients you use with it. You can tell it’s a premium quality pasta just by looking closely: the exterior is not smooth but rough indicating it was *bronze die cut, and produced by a high end artisanal Italian manufacturer (closeup below: note the rough texture). This pasta has a fast cooking time, the package says 7-8 minutes. I just cooked it and at around 6 minutes it was al dente, meaning if I’m going to finish this with the sauce in a pan the way Italians do, I would fish the pasta out at around the 5 minute mark – a minute under al dente.
closeup
I just cooked some to taste, quite simply with butter, grated cheese and pepper. It was excellent. This is indeed terrific pasta. This corkscrew hollow shape should be great with many sauces, either tomato based and I think especially with a pesto sauce (green or red)
Trader Joe’s ORGANIC FUSILLI CORTI BUCATI PASTA. Imported From Italy. Organic Durum Semolina Wheat. $1.99. Try this if you see it, it’s really good. Me, I will buy a bunch for our pantry.
TJ’s HATCH GREEN AND RED CHILE FLAKES are terrific and apparently a hit and a popular Trader Joe’s item. When I saw this “Trader Jose’sHatch Valley Salsa” with “fire roasted Hatch Chile peppers” I guess I was expecting it to have a special taste but in fact found it to be just OK, nothing special at all. Trader Joe’s has had a GREEN SALSA (Salsa Verde) for some time which is fine in this salsa verde style and but which is cheaper at $1.99. This one is $2.99, a premium price. Both have green chiles and tomatillos. On its own this Hatch Valley Salsa was again just OK when we ate it with TJ’s Corn Dipper chips, it didn’t bring a great deal of flavor plus as it is thin and not great for dipping (on the plus side of that, no thickener agents) I haven’t tried this and the regular Green Salsa together to compare them side by side but still, I probably won’t buy this again as I just don’t think the higher price is worth it against the Salsa Verde. It might however be good for cooking a dish like Green Chile Enchiladas. TJ’s has so many very good salsa’s and related products (like Cowboy Caviar which I love as well as the Chlpotle Black Bean Dip) So I am giving this HATCH SALSA a “Meh” as its $2.99. Medium spice heat level. Ingredients: Hatch Chile Pepper, Tomatillos, Lime Juice Concentrate, Garlic Salt.
Wait a second… You want me to eat those yucky looking fishies?
Don’t click away in disgust.
There are a so many reasons for you to add sardines to your diet, if you aren’t eating them already. If you think sardines look yucky, read about all the health benefits they have. They are one of the healthiest foods you could eat and come with a TON of health benefits. And they are pretty cheap! At least at Trader Joe’s.
Sardines are not just good for you, they are one of the healthiest fish you can eat. Into Protein? A can of sardines is loaded with protein (21 grams) and they are a terrific source of calcium (the regular ones with bones, not the boneless/skinless). Women especially need to get lots of calcium.
Sardines also provide heart-healthy Omega-3’s that may help with reducing inflammation, improving cognition and more. Sardines have the lowest levels of mercury of any fish.
Are they farmed? No way. All sardines are WILD caught and they are plentiful in the oceans. So sardines are a highly sustainable fish, unlike many fishes that we like to eat. And they are cheap, they are probably the least costly fish you can buy. So lots of benefits.
But not only are sardines healthy to eat, they are DELICIOUS. Europeans love them, and eat lots of sardines. While this may not be the case here in the U.S, you should change that by adding them to your diet if you don’t already.
Trader Joe’s sells at least three varieties of canned sardines. My favorite ones are the SMOKED SARDINES IN OLIVE OIL (purple can). One can gives you a whopping 21 grams of protein. Plus Calcium and Omega’3. I probably eat a can for lunch at least once a week.
SERVING SUGGESTION: Take out the sardines, put them into a dish, and mash them up with a fork. Add 1 large teaspoon of mayonnaise, a squeeze of fresh lemon (1/4 lemon?), and a nice grind of fresh black pepper. If you like hot sauce, add a bit. (optional, chopped parsley or scallions) Mix the mixture up well. You can spread the mashed sardines on your favorite crackers, or some freshly toasted bread with a little butter. This will go great on the Scandinavian kind of flatbread (open sandwich) or on some warm Lavash. Enjoy!
Trader Joe’s carries a few varieties of sardines. My favorite? I recommend the sardines in the purple can (“in olive oil smoke flavor”). They are probably my favorite of all TJ’s sardines.
But if you can’t bear the sardines with skin (which by the way contain the most calcium due to the soft edible bones, so soft you won’t notice them) If that is beyond your ability, then get the skinless boneless ones (grey can). They could be a good starting point if you are squeamish, however when you mash up sardines, frankly they almost look like tuna fish.
I recommend the lightly smoked sardines (in the purple can) as the tastiest sardines Trader Joe’s sells. You can even sauté potatoes in the left over oil in the can which will make a delicious potato dish.
By the way, the bones? They are so soft when cooked you probably won’t notice anything.
Country of origin: Portugal (purple can), Canada (blue), Morocco (grey)
Trader Joe’s OLD FASHIONED CINNAMON GRAHAM CRACKERS
I loved graham crackers when I was a kid and these kind of remind me of the graham crackers we used to eat, which I am guessing were Nabisco’s, except for one thing. These Trader Joe’s cinnamon graham crackers are WAY BETTER than Nabisco. Far better. Besides probably having better sourced ingredients these TJ’s grahams are thicker, heartier and have a way bigger cinnamon flavor. One might call these “gourmet” graham crackers. Both adults and kids will love these as well.
When my wife and I both tasted these for the first time, the two of us immediately gave a big thumbs up at how delicious they are. They have a great blend of cinnamon and sugar. They are simply delicious. I tried them with milk (big thumbs up) as well as with some tea, with coffee, and even ice cream. They were great with those too and great just on their own.
Trader Joe’s Old Fashioned Cinnamon Graham Crackers are $3.99 for a 1 lb box.
I like making a kind of parfait with these and GREEK YOGURT with Honey. They match well together. Layer them, put in the fridge and wait about an hour till they blend together. Yummy and easy dessert.
Bakers: If you make graham cracker crusts these would be fabulous.
Trader Joe’s FURIKAKE Japanese multi-purpose seasoning
“Furikake” is so typical in Japan you’ll probably find a shaker of it next to the salt and pepper in most any eatery, as well as on most people’s kitchen table at home. So what is FURIKAKE? Furikake is a seasoning made up of finely chopped dried seaweed (Nori) along with sesame seeds and other flavors (even sometimes tiny whole dried fish!) Japanese will sprinkle furikake on rice to to enjoy the combined flavors, and it is really delicious on rice. However one can use it elsewhere too. Besides trying this on rice, sprinkle some furikake over some grilled fish (salmon!), or chicken, meats, on top of eggs, noodles or a bowl of ramen. It’s really versatile and goes with so many foods, all of which is why Trader Joe’s calls its “multi-purpose seasoning”, it really is. This TJ version of Nori Komi Furikake is a basic version containing sesame and seaweed. In Japan they make lots of kinds with different flavors (like dried salmon and other fish, shiso leaf, green tea, wasabi, sour plum, etc) Here is some on Amazon with 8 different kinds (and its crazy expensive, yikes!)
You know those times when you have “nothing to eat” in the house?? Well say you at least have rice; eggs and this jar of FURIKAKE… Top a bowl of rice with a fried but still runny egg, and sprinkle a liberal amount of Nori Komi Furikake over everything. Mix it all in with a spoon. Voila! EASY. YUMMY. DINNER. This is a great simple, satisfying dish. You should try it, period. (BTW in Japan where you can get can get super fresh eggs, they even crack raw eggs into the hot rice, aka GohanTamago).
Trader Joe’s Nori Komi Furikake contains: white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, nori (seaweed), salt and kelp powder (yup, more seaweed!) Seaweed of course contains glutamates. Glutamates have “Umami”.
Personally I have to have Furikake in our pantry at all times. A jar will last some time (you can keep in the fridge too). You’ll find it in TJ’s spice section and it is really worth checking out. A jar is $2.49. At a Japanese grocery it would be twice that. Want more info and ideas: check this link, even how to make your own!
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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