Trader Joe’s “BURRATA, PROSCIUTTO and ARUGULA FLATBREAD”. Sounds good but is it actually worth buying?
Please read my honest review if you want to see if I thought it was worth $5.50
First though. What do we think? Is it a Flatbread or is a Pizza? Aren’t they at times almost the same thing? I’m pretty sure all of us look at this and think “pizza”, but if Trader Joe’s wants to call it “flatbread” that’s fine by me. I guess they think it sounds slightly classier?
Actually this is pretty classy! I was in the mood to try either this one or the MUSHROOM TRUFFLE flatbread a few days ago. I thought I would try this one first as I especially love two thing on it: Arugula and Prosciutto.
Here’s what it looks like right out of the box, frozen. You get two packages, one being the flatbread/pizza and separately a small package containing a few slices of prosciutto. Aha! Why you ask is it separate? Because it will be added later, after the pizza is baked! Again. It’s for LATER. Don’t bake that.
The picture on the box looks very good. Is Trader Joe’s BURRATA, PROSCIUTTO and ARUGULA FLATBREAD as good as the picture? Well. You be the judge. Here’s what it looked like after I finished baking it and added the prosciutto on top…. Come on. Doesn’t this looks gorgeous? It tastes as good as it looks.
This looks so good, that you could pretend this came out of the restaurant pizza oven. It pretty much looked the same as their beautiful pizza in the picture. OK, theirs seems to have a bit more arugula that the one I got, but other than that, almost pretty the same.
FINAL VERDICT: OMG. So good! Well worth the money! You have to try this.
That prosciutto? It gives it a huge bump of Umami. It definitely adds a ton of flavor and really makes this great. Both my wife and I found this pizza about equal to something you would get at a restaurant.
Trader Joe’s made a smart decision to keep the prosciutto separate to add after baking. If they had put the prosciutto on the frozen pizza, it probably would just melt away into oblivion during baking or burn.
The pizza crust base was good and all the toppings match perfectly with the crust. It says it has burrata, mozzarella, pecorino, and marscapone cheese in there as well. All these cheeses, melt together and blend into a nice very cheesy mix. The arugula adds a very nice vegetable note however I didn’t think there was quite enough of it. I wished they put on just a little more arugula. I did add a drizzle of EVOO olive oil just before serving, plus a few grinds of fresh black pepper.
We both enjoyed this flatbread and thought this was quite yummy. Our only complaint was we wished it was a tiny just a tiny bit bigger so we each could have more! Two of us ate this for dinner along with a salad and a side of vegetables.
With our salad and a veggie, this was just enough for two of us to share for dinner. I would say this pizza might make one very large portion for one. But if you eat this whole thing by yourself that would be about 900 calories. Me, I wouldn’t eat the whole thing myself I figure this realistically could serve two people – along with some other things. If two portions, I figure that half would probably mean about 450 calories each. Not terrible at all and it was just enough to be satisfying (though we said we could eat more if there was more!)
HOW TO COOK: Remove from freezer and remove plastic. NOTE: You will use the prosciutto later – after baking! So just leave that out to defrost.
Set oven to 450degrees. Let oven heat for at least 20 minutes or until it lets you know it reached 450. While the oven is heating, they want you to let the pizza and prosciutto rest out on the counter for about 20 minutes, to defrost a bit.
When the oven is ready, put the flatbread on a baking sheet or baking tray and put it in the oven (Again, without prosciutto!)
Let it bake for about 12 minutes or until edges a nice golden brown color and the crust looks nice and crisp. If your oven is uneven, turn it halfway (6 or 7 minutes) so it bakes evenly.
Now in our oven, I found 12 minutes was not enough time. I put it back for maybe another 2-4 minutes, and I think I could have still added another minute. If you look at the picture on the box you will see the crust is really well baked and very golden brown, which is exactly how you want it to look like, without burning of course. So as every oven is different you will have to judge the baking time. Keep checking it every minute or so after 12 mins.
When it looks done, take it out of the oven and let it rest about one minute, maybe on a cutting board or rack. NOW ADD THE PROSCIUTTO. Artistically. In my package, there were 3 nice slices. I peeled them apart and cut it in half to make 6 pieces, which I tried to roll up a bit into rosettes. Put your prosciutto around the pizza in about 6 bundles. The fat will melt a little bit into the warm pizza. Which you want.
Using a long knife, you can cut the flatbread up in half or quarters to Serve and Enjoy!
Optional: You could also grate on a little Parmigiano and add a drizzle of EVOO. I did and it made it even better. A sprinkle of hot pepper if you are a fan? Why not. If you have any arugula, I would add a few sprigs all over. I did and loved it.
YUMMY. Trader Joe’s BURRATA, PROSCIUTTO and ARUGULA FLATBREAD was $5.49 (12 oz) Is it worth that? Absolutely.
I would buy this again.
Portions/Calories: The Nutrition label describes this as being 290 calories / portion HOWEVER they count this pizza as containing 3 portions. HA! That might be a snack, not a portion, for an adult that is. I figure half a pizza (ie, 2 portions) might have about 450 calories/portion?
TJ’s: “Our supplier starts with hearty clusters of rolled oats – the kind of foundation that very important breakfasts are built upon – then sprinkles in bits of dried and sweetened blueberries and dried strawberries, so that every bite has an elegantly balanced blend of crunchy textures and sweet, fruity flavors. In other words: important, fun, and unarguably delicious.”
This is one of the newer granola’s Trader Joe’s introduced. Trader Joe’s VERY BERRY GRANOLA, as it name indicates, has a berry flavors, from dried strawberries and dried blueberries. It is just a wee bit on the sweet side. So rather than snacking out of hand, I think you want to eat this with something… milk, almond, soy milk, yogurt. I think its especially good with plain unsweetened yogurt, or especially Greek yogurt.
I liked it and found it good. Generally I don’t eat a whole bowl full of granola. I’m usually using it as topping, for a nice crunch on top of whatever else is in my breakfast bowl, which might have a mix of things: chia seeds, overnight oats, kefir, yogurt, bananas, blueberries or whatever fruit I have. This granola with it’s crunchy clusters is perfect for a bit of crunchy topping for me.
While I would not say there are a ton of dried strawberries and blueberries in it, as typical with Trader Joe, you get just enough so you don’t feel they gypped you. You taste the strawberry flavor in almost every bite as the dried berries have mostly broken up into small pieces so you will get a bit in almost every bite of it. As far as the dried blueberries, I wish they had more. I add frozen wild blues.
So this is a tasty granola and I would say this is worth trying.
I am still waiting to try the chocolate and coffee granola (huh?) people are talking about and see if that’s actually any good.
“Made for us by an expert supplier in Vietnam, each box contains eight miniature, clamshell-style Bao laden with a well-seasoned shrimp patty, as well as a sweet and sticky lemongrass, lime, and chili sauce for dipping.”
There are a fairly New Item in the Asian frozen section at Trader Joe’s that they introduced a short while back. These are “mini bao”, soft and fluffy bao buns with a shrimp patty inside, that comes with a some dipping sauce. They’re a product of Vietnam, where a lot of shrimp are produced.
I got them to try out and review. Each little mini bun is just a couple of bites. The patty inside is made of shrimp, cornstarch as a binder (its actually the second ingredient!) plus scallions, lemon grass, garlic….
“Heating Instructions (Steamer) Remove frozen bao from packaging and put in a steamer or double boiler. Steam for 6-8 minutes until heated through. Let rest for one minute.” (you can microwave these too)
COOKING: Bao are traditionally steamed so that’s what I tried using a metal steamer basket and a pot with a cover.
The two times I cooked these I had a problem with the bottoms of the soft buns sticking to the steamer. The buns are so soft and the bottom had a tendency to stick to my basket. They got a bit stuck on. I tried to lift one gently and carefully and not rip it, but some of the bottom bun was just stuck and ripped. Oh well. The second time I even tried the traditional method for making dimsum and buns where you brush a little oil on the steamer. The sticking was a little better that time, however they still got a little bit stuck and ripped on me.
So if I made them again I would try either brushing more oil on the steamer basket, or putting them on something like a lettuce leaf or parchment or oiled tin foil, very traditional with bao or soft dim sum doughs. So just FYI. Maybe this will not be an issue using a microwave? I didn’t try that method.
How do these taste? Pretty good. The little bao buns are fluffy and soft and a little chewy. The shrimp patties are also soft and had a pretty nice taste, where you can taste that they are made with shrimp. The dipping sauce that comes with these has lemon grass and ginger and is a pretty nice match flavor-wise. Naturally you could also add something to their sauce (like Chili Crunch or LaoGanMa for example) A squeeze of fresh lime or lemon would not be amiss. I also tried some SWEET CHILI SAUCE and that went well with these and was good mixing their sauce with that.
TIP: As these are just soft, you need to add a little bit of veggie for texture. As per the “serving suggestion” on the package which says, “top with julienned cucumbers, carrots and cilantro”. You have to add a few veggies for the contrast in texture with the soft bun. Even a few slivers of cukes, carrots, or scallions will make these taste way better.
Cilantro? If you are a fan of cilantro that would be good (people seems to either love or hate cilantro. I love it).
I was able to make these into dinner for two with some other things. The two of us ate 4 buns each with fried rice and a little salad which proved satisfying. So either think of these as a snack or appetizer or you can make them into a dinner by adding something substantial along with them.
SHRIMP HACK? I did have one idea if you really want to improve these. Add shrimp! My hack with these if I make them again would be to add a cooked shrimp, butterflied and put that on top of the shrimp patty. Drizzle with sauce. I think that would make these outstanding.
Find these in the Frozen Asian section at Trader Joe’s. $4.99 for 8 mini buns (10.5 oz.)
“Moist, flavorful lemon cake topped with lemon cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with lemon zest.”
This cake has come back to Trader Joe’s shelves. This lemony sheet cake is yet another addition to their very popular line of of “mini sheet cakes”. This lemon one is in addition to the chocolate and Chantilly creme versions, plus a gluten free cake as well.
I heard this lemon version of the cake is popular and sells out fairly quickly. While I prefer the chocolate one as the best of them all, I did like this lemon version. My host who shared it with me, liked it but a bit less than me. She said it not wasn’t anywhere as good as the dark chocolate ganache sheet cake. Which I understand as I love the chocolate version of this sheet cake. Still I did find the lemon one tasty, the cake is pretty moist and the sour cream and cream cheese frosting pretty good, if a bit rich and on the sweet side. I think they could cut down the sugar. So try this with perhaps tea or coffee.
It has a mildly lemony flavor from some lemon zest. If you grated some fresh zest over this cake it might be a knock out and worth the extra effort.
I had to choose between the lemon and chocolate one I would pick the chocolate cake however this is a nice change if you are looking for something other than chocolate. The CHANTILLY CREME white cake is also good, and I hear there’s a gluten free mini sheet cake now as well.
“Drizzle on as a finishing oil for salads and roasted vegetables.”
Ingredients: Extra virgin olive oil, fresh Sicilian lemons
This was a new fall product at Trader Joe’s which got a little buzz around it. A nice extra virgin oil with a hint of lemony flavor.
LIMONE PREMUTO – a “cold pressed extra virgin olive oil with whole fresh Sicilian lemons” ($7.99 for about 8 oz)
This is for the real foodies. These types of oils are called “agrumato”.
Agrumato olive oil – “simultaneously crushing olives with fresh herbs or fruits together for exceptional flavor, distinct aromatics.”
It just says “Product of Italy”, so unclear to me if the oil is also from Sicily but I would assume it probably is. Other vendors of this type of (agrumato oil) usually say something like “this distinctive product is made by crushing fresh olives and Sicilian citrus fruits together. This unique process results in an extra virgin olive oil with a vibrant, bright citrus finish. The combination of olives and citrus fruits creates an oil that not only adds a refreshing twist but also brings an authentic taste of Sicily to your kitchen.”
This olive oil has a lovely flavor with that little bit of bitterness that hits the back of your throat, which is a sign of a high quality extra virgin oil that is fresh. There’s no visible lemon pulp or rind, its been filtered out but the oil looks a little cloudy from the pressing with the citrus. The lemon flavoring is subtle, just a hint in the background, its not strong at all. You want to taste this oil and you do.
When I’ve used this I’ve found that if I squeeze on some fresh lemon juice as well, it really improves everything, so suggest trying that. This is good as they say on salads and roasted vegetables, but you could drizzle it on practically anything, such as a pasta, or as a dipping for bread.
Trader Joe’s LIMONE PREMUTO costs $8 for just over 8 oz. In contrast TJ’s sells a 17 oz bottle of excellent SICILIAN EVOO for about $12 (which used to cost $10!) That Sicilian oil is double the size of this bottle. If I add a squeeze of fresh lemon and perhaps even a little lemon zest on my dish and get a similar effect, albeit my lemon is not Sicilian! Therefore though I like this oil, it’s a “specialty oil”, a little splurge. Still, you would be drizzling on just a bit of this. On a budget I would probably buy the bigger bottle of their Sicilian EVOO and add my own lemon, or garlic as desired.
Just for comparison, here’s a similar item on amazon, same size, $20 https://amzn.to/4kXGv8Z
Worth trying if you are into olive oils and can afford it for a small bottle. Otherwise I’d say go for the bigger bottle of the SICILIAN oil at TJ’s.
TJ’s says: “One of our perennial favorite (cheeses) is Trader Joe’s Toscano Cheese with Black Pepper, an exceptional cheese that you don’t have to save for a special occasion. As it ages, each wheel of cheese is hand-rubbed with cracked black pepper, so every wedge features a burst of mildly spicy pepper flavor—the closer you get to the outside of the wheel, the more pronounced the flavor becomes, yet it’s never overpowering. Serve it on crackers, grated over pasta or shaved onto a freshly prepared steak.”
This TOSCANO cheese is one of my favorite cheeses that Trader Joe’s carries. I find this to be quite special. The Toscano cheeses kind of tastes like Asiago. There are a few varieties of them. Here the black pepper, on the rind and in the cheese, adds quite a bit to the overall flavor profile. However the black pepper doesn’t overpower the wonderful cheese, it just adds a little something extra. They also have other versions of Toscano. Another good one being the one with a “Syrah” wine coating.
I like it on its own, sliced very thinly with Wheat Crisp crackers. It’s great with fruit, like sliced apples or grapes. With pasta? Excellent. I like to grate this over pasta. Superb with any pasta sauce or just butter and cheese using this.
This is a really nice cheese, but all the “Toscano” ones at Trader Joe’s are. A hunk now usually runs about 5-6 bucks ($10.99 lb)
1 slice = 120 Calories, 4 gr Protein, and 10 gr of whole grains
Trader Joe’s EUROPEAN GRAINS & SEEDS BREAD is a European / Scandinavian style bread that Trader Joe’s introduced not too long ago. Here’s what they have to say about it :
“Our Danish bakery partner starts with a hearty sourdough rye Bread base, bolstering it with flax seed, sunflower seeds, rye flakes, and wheat bran before baking it to a deep brown hue. The resulting loaves are classically European—moist, toothsome, and somewhat dense, with a slightly sweet, delightfully nutty quality in each thin slice.”
I’m a big fan of these types of dense, hearty loaves of bread, seen all over Europe plus every Scandinavian country. I love these kinds of breads that have lots of whole grains. These type of breads are usually square loaves, sliced on the thin side as they are dense. Hearty, and delicious.
Wonder Bread this ain’t!
Here in the U.S., we don’t see these kinds of breads often enough, so over the years whenever I’ve seen this type of bread somewhere I will generally buy it. Especially pumpernickel breads which I really like.
I was so happy to find Trader Joe’s came out with this style of European bread, which are of course super healthy, compared to most any other breads. Is it any good?
Yes, this bread is good. Trader Joe’s new “European Grains And Seeds Bread” is deliciously nutty, tasty and full of seeds. It is baked for for them in Denmark by a Danish bakery, with the thin slices have a nice, nutty taste from sourdoughwholegrain rye and whole wheat floursplus a lot of seeds.
So healthy. I am going to guess this is probably the healthiest bread you can buy at Trader Joe’s.
How to enjoy European Grains and Seeds Bread: What this kind of bread is great for, is making things like open face sandwiches. Probably not so great for your average (thick) sandwich. It may not hold up. You could try thin sandwiches with two slices but really, think I would think about doing Scandinavian style open face sandwiches.
Of course you can just simply spread a slice with (softened) butter, cream cheese, cottage cheese, any cheese you love, jam, ham, or whatever you like. One way I love to enjoy this bread is to spread a slice with butter and top it with thin slices of cucumber or radish and a few grains of sea salt.
You can eat as is, or warm or toast it a bit. As usual with breads, warming it up even a little bit always improves the flavor. But you don’t have to, its fine at room temp.
While I love how this bread tastes there is one area I think they could improve it. The slices tend to break apart if you are not careful with it, as there are so many seeds in it which make it less solid. Which just means you have to be a little gentle with it. So if using butter for example, I let the butter get a bit softened enough to spread easily, least you rip your slice. Sometimes I cut the slices into half or quarters as its easier to handle. Toasting it makes it a bit more firm so try toasting this too. I do really like it just a little toasted.
I made an simple open faced sardine sandwich on this bread and enjoyed it a lot ; it matched great with the fish. SO GOOD!. Try it with your favorite cheese too.
TJ’s says: “When it comes to toppings and fillings, the thin-yet-sturdy slices of European Grains & Seeds Bread are ready for near-infinite riffing: try topping a slice with a pat of Cultured Salted Butter and a swoosh of berry preserves; sliced Cave Aged Le Gruyère and Rosemary Ham, or ripe avocado and a spoonful of Crunchy Chili Onion. Enjoy a slice as the base of an open-faced sandwich topped with Whipped Cream Cheese, Smoked Salmon Pieces, and plenty of fresh dill. If it’s soft & chewy you’re seeking, use un-toasted slices of European Grains & Seeds Bread to scaffold scoops of tuna salad—and don’t forget the pickle on the side!”
Will this last as a TJ’s product? I hope so. Like all new products, if they see it is selling well they will keep it. However if not enough people buy this, then it may go bye-bye unfortunately. So if you try and like this, keep buying it. I sure will.
I think it’s even gotten a little popular. A few times I have found this sold out, but it seemed to get restocked after a few days.
“Trader Joe’s ORGANIC CAESAR SALAD KIT with croutons, shredded Parmesan and a creamy Caesar dressing.”
I have read that this salad kit is pretty popular among the fans of Trader Joe’s. So I had to finally check it out. Before we begin with my review I should state a few times over the years I’ve made Caesar Salad myself. I mean the real deal. From scratch. Even making croutons (homemade ones are fantastic). Plus making the dressing (Ummm, with ANCHOVIES!)
If you’ve ever done that, or had a Caesar Salad in a decent restaurant then you know how good a real Caesar Salad can be. I mean the Real McCoy is fantastic. So good. You should try making one yourself at least once. Outside of the dressing its really basically three ingredients : lettuce, croutons, cheese…
Here are a few links to give you ideas (Natasha’s recipe looks good. But leaves out the anchovies. So another link with a dressing that has them…. )
Naturally you can make this salad into something substantial by adding a protein on top of your salad. I could easily see one putting slices of cooked chicken or a piece of cooked salmon on top. Do that and you have a complete dinner, especially with a bit of good bread.
So having said that, let me review Trader Joe’s ORGANIC CAESAR SALAD KIT.
A bag can serve 2 with other food or maybe one very hungry salad lover.
For a packaged kit, it’s pretty good. Does it compare to my homemade one, or one from a good restaurant? Of course not but for just something Grab and Go, again pretty decent. For convenience, I can easily understand why people go for it. Just toss this in a bowl and voila a passable Caesar at a fair price ($4) and all in all fairly tasty and satisfying.
The Romaine was nice and crisp, the crouton very crunchy and are bite size rather than too big for your mouth or fork. So pretty good. But I have a few qualms.
Romaine lettuce – Nice and crunchy! However I did find a few bad pieces which I threw out but only about 6-10. Anyway as with all packages of salad, be sure when you buy it to examine it carefully for quality. Check dates on the packages. Get the best date you can find. If possible, try to use it the day you buy it, or the next one.
Dressing – Again, pretty decent, creamy and tasty (however no anchovies!) Of course its not going to match up against a “real” fresh made Caesar dressing. I did think it tasted decent for a commercial dressing. Looking at the ingredients though no “anchovies” listed and the main flavors of a classic Caesar Salad are Anchovies and Parmesan. In most recipes. Anchovies can be controversial.
They give you plenty of dressing. I would suggest add it stages. Don’t put the entire bag of dressing at once. Add about half or 3/4 of the bag of dressing, toss the salad, see what it looks like and if you think you need more then add the rest. You want salads well dressed but not drowning.
(TIP — Fresh LEMON really help this salad so if you have a lemon handy, squeeze on about 1/4 to 1/2 a lemon. Fresh lemon juice will definitely improve the overall taste of this salad quite a bit.)
Cheese – I thought this was one place they do the typical Trader Joe’s skimping. They don’t give you very much grated cheese and its just OK. Not actual Parmigiano I am pretty sure. So I added some of my own cheese, I shaved on Grana Padano with a vegetable peeler. Add cheese if you have some. It will help improve it.
Croutons – The croutons are OK but nothing special. They are well baked (dark) and fortunately bite sized. VERY crunchy. However these seem to be just baked bread. Actual croutons are seasoned. These croutons are nice and crunchy bordering on too hard however they will soften a bit of course when you add dressing.
The quality of these croutons here are not as good as Trader Joe’s packaged croutons – which are very good. Which makes me think. Couldn’t one come up with a pretty easy Caesar Salad yourself just by buying a few ingredients from Trader Joe’s?
I certainly think so. Get a package of Romaine lettuce hearts. A package of TJ’s good croutons. A bottle of Romano Caesar dressing. Some cheese (Parmesan, Grana Padano or Pecorino) With those ingredients you could could make your own Caesar salad which will be better than this one in about five minutes. You could have enough for a few days too and I am guessing it will work out to $2-3 a portion?
So this gets a thumbs up mainly for the convenience, as TJ’s Caesar Salad Kit is Grab and Go and if not great, its pretty decent and OK.
Would I buy it again? Well honestly I am not sure about that. Maybe only if I had to come up with something fast? Frankly I would probably DIY it and buy some Romaine lettuce, croutons, and a bottle of dressing at Trader Joe’s and make it myself with only a little more time and effort.
Now could you open up a can of anchovies and add some (mashed up with lemon juice) to this Kit? Why not!? You would have a way more authentic salad.
“Butter Cookies! From France! Dipped in Dark Chocolate!”
“Just about everyone loves butter cookies. If they’re French butter cookies, there’s an expectation that those cookies are going to be truly great. And what if those French butter cookies are also dipped in dark chocolate? …Made for us in France”
I got these to review and my review is these are quite good. We really liked them.
Very tasty, buttery cookies that have been dipped in good chocolate so that they have a nice coating. The cookies are on the thin side.
Frankly these taste way better than you would expect something which costs $2.99! (Note: they are only you about 10 cookies in a box). So you don’t get a lot of them but the quality of these cookies is pretty darned good!
“These Cookies are, indeed, made for us in France. The usual cookie-dough suspects—flour, sugar, egg yolks, milk, leavening, and salt—are combined with cultured French butter (13% of the recipe) to create a dough that is shaped into thin rounds. The baked biscuits are coated in rich, Dark Chocolate (40% of the recipe), yielding an exquisite Cookie that is at the same time: smooth, crunchy, chocolate-y, and buttery!“
Yummy. A big thumbs up. Put these out for company. Or eat them all yourselves!
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Trader Joe’s has come out with another variety of their CHOCOLATE BARK. I liked the original one with pretzels and sea salt (sweet and salty)
The new one comes in a pink bag. DARK CHOCOLATE BARK plus Puffed Quinoa and Freeze Dried Raspberries.
From Trader Joe’s: “The Bark you’ll find within each bag starts as a thin(ish) slab of rich Dark Chocolate studded with pieces of pleasantly tart freeze-Dried Raspberries and Puffed Quinoa.”
So I got some to review. At first I thought it was a bit sweet, however as frequently happens when I am tasting something from Trader Joe’s, I could not stop eating more. I kept saying to myself, “just one more bite.” Then I realize I had already devoured 3 or 4 pieces. Be warned, this chocolate may be slightly addictive.
This new variation on the dark chocolate slab is good. Quite tasty. In the bag quite a few largish pieces of the bark which you can break up into smaller bites. The chocolate combo is pretty yummy,, just a little bit on the sweet side however the tart dried raspberries in this does counterbalance it all out. There is a nice crunchy texture you get from the puffed quinoa in these, kind of like chocolate with Rice Krispies. Here its tiny puffed quinoa bits. The dried raspberries give a nice backnote of fruit in each bite.
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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