Tag: Trader Joe’s (Page 6 of 6)

2012 Xmas Eve Cheese Course: Thanks Trader Joe’s!

My oldest daughter has fallen in love with cheese, so she insisted that we have a cheese course as part of our Xmas Eve dinner this year.  I don’t think I’ve ever done one before, but boy am I glad I did.  The cheeses were wonderful, and for a couple of my guests (including my husband) the best part of the dinner.  Those guests won’t be invited back 🙂

I did my cheese shopping at Trader Joe’s, as it made it easy, so I was able to research TJ cheese recommendations before.  The day I went shopping, TJ was offering samples of one of their cheeses and it  may very well be my favorite cheese of all times – my daughter also loved it.  This is what I ended up serving, in addition to sliced french bread and sliced apples (I also had jams but they proved less popular).  Remember that the key to a good cheese course is that the cheeses be close to room temperature, cold cheeses are less flavorful cheeses.

– Le Délice de Bourgogne, a triple cream softened ripened cheese from France.  It’s similar to a brie, though even creamier than the triple cream brie they have at TJ, but with a stronger, richer flavor. It’s really delicious.

– Castello Blue, a triple cream soft blue veined cheese from Denmark.  This is a real winner, and a real competitor to TJ’s stilton.  I think we all liked it, and was one of my 10-yo’s favorites.

– Double Cream Gouda, from Holland.  Another all around winner, but not as spectacular as the other two.

– Cotswold Double Gloucester with Onion & Chives, from England.  This is the cheese that they were offering tastings of and that blew us away.  It has an intense flavor, it’s super cheesy and slightly bitter, and just delicious.

– Arla Dill Havarti, from the US.  I got this at Grocery Outlet and my daughter liked it, but it was mild and boring in comparison with the other cheeses.

Marga’s 2012 Xmas Eve Dinner

Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains Blend

Trader Joe’s Harvest Grain Blend is a blend of Israeli couscous, orso, baby garbanzo beans and tiny red quinoa grains. Israeli couscous predominates. I don’t remember how much it cost, but it was cheaper than the bags of pure Israeli couscous. Most importantly, my kids love it, and I think it’s probably marginally more nutritious than the Israeli couscous by itself.

Though the instructions say to cook it with 1 Tbsp of butter ( I guess to make it more buttery), I always omit it without any adverse effects. I do the same with regular couscous and other grains, why have added fat if it’s not needed? Once you have the water boiling, it cooks in 10 minutes. So it’s a great and easy side for stews.

Trader Joe’s Seasoned Mahi Mahi Fillets

fish.jpg
We had that for dinner. Mike liked it, so did Camila. I thought the seasoning was too salty, but I’d buy it again. I served Mika plain mahi mahi, she has a problem with anything that’s in the least spicy (read “seasoned”). It was a struggle to get her to eat the fish – she had to really understand that that was all there was for dinner – but she finally did it and did not complain she didn’t like it.
I served the fish with steamed broccoli and it was wonderful to hear Camila repeating “I want more broccoli”. Mika used to like it too at that age, but she stopped liking it with age 🙁

Trader Joe’s recalls food for listeria

The Food service and Inspection Service has recalled several ready-to-eat meat and poultry products sold at Trader Joe’s (under its marks). Listeria was found at the processing plant. Listeria is a bacteria that causes listeriosis, normal adults are not at much risk for it, but pregnant women are 20 times more likely to develop it. It can cause miscarriage, pre-term labor, stillbirth and serious health problems for newborns. Concerns about listeriosis is why pregnant women stay away from sushi, soft cheeses and deli meats. Apparently, they should also stay away from TJ’s ready-to-eat foods.
Here is the recall notice:
Recall Notification Report 044-2005

Trader Joe’s Mole Sauce

Tonight for dinner we had grilled chicken thighs served with heated up Trader Joe’s Mole sauce and couscous. This is the sauce that is labeled under TJ’s name and comes in the small jar – they also serve another one. We were not happy with it. The sauce had a distinctive chocolate flavor and was slightly spicy, but it had no complexity of flavor a all. It was monotonous and slightly bitter. I wouldn’t buy it again.

Trader Joe’s Thai Green Curry Simmer Sauce

Last night I made chicken simmered in Trader Joe’s Green Curry sauce. It was yummy. The sauce is a little bit too spicy for my taste, but it had a very light and yet full flavor, with a strong hint of cilantro. Its high fat content made the chicken feel wonderfully buttery and in all it was very enjoyable. I added some orange bell pepper to the chicken and served it with rice. In all, a thumbs up.

Trader Joe’s goodies

We just made another trip to Trader Joe’s so I figure I’ll write a few words about new products we’d bought. I’ll keep adding more items to this posting as we try them.
–Corinthians Chocolate Cream Wafers. These are very long cylinders filled with dark chocolate cream. They are very brittle and most of them seemed to have broken at least in two even before we open the can. They are good and addictive but not as good as others I’ve had. I probably shouldn’t buy them again.
–Think Thin Sugar Free Sour Citrus Slices. These are little soft candies in sour flavors. Mike bought then and didn’t like them as they weren’t very sweet, though he says they are growing on him.
–Piccolo Limone Italiano. This pre-squeezed lemon juice comes in a little plastic bottle in the shape of a lemon. Unlike other commercial lemon juice, it’s neither lemon juice from concentrate, or pure-lemon juice. Instead it’s a mixture of water, lemon juice, citric acid and lemon oil. It does need to be refrigerated after opening it. It was quite good, it had a distinctive lemon-oil flavor that I actually found quite pleasant on top of last nights milanesas. Of course, fresh lemon is better – but if you don’t have your own lemon tree it can be quite expensive.
–Kettle Corn. Though obviously not as freshly made as the kettle corn from the farmers market, it tasted quite fresh. It was very good, but much sweeter than the farmer’s market stuff. That’s not bad in itself, though a concern if you’re watching your sugar intake.
–Orange Chicken. This is a frozen product that has to be heated by baking or sauteeing (in 1/2 cup vegetable oil!). I was VERY dissapointed. The chicken was pretty tasteless without the sauce, and the sauce was too runny and not very good. It didn’t really taste much like orange and not at all like the sauces you get at Chinese restaurants. Given how much time it takes to make this dish, and how it’s not microwabable, it’s certainly not worth it. It probably wouldn’t be worth it either if it was microwabable.
–Chicken Curry. This is a frozen entree under TJ’s label. It was very disappointing, much worse than the other frozen Indian entrees that TJ sells under a different label. The “basmati rice” was long-grain and may have been basmati, but it was completely tasteless. The curry had very few pieces of chicken and the spicy sauce tasted mostly of cinnamon. It was edible but not enjoyable.

Trader Joe’s Swiss Almond Crunch Cookies

They’re so good they are evil. Mike warned me against getting them. He knew I’d not be able to stop myself from eating them. He even took them off the cart (but then went and got himself some shortbread!). But I had to have them.
They are sooo good, so crunchy, they taste just like you expect them too.
Obviously, I won’t be buying any more tubs.

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