Trader Joe's Products (2017–)

[rotuts]

Ive purchased the three vac'd veg boxes above.

 

Ive tried the Mediterranean pack

 

and found the artichokes OK , and the rest mushy and flavorless.  

 

the pack says the veg are in EVVO , but the oil is completely tasteless to me

 

the Tapas artichoke 1/2's were  better , simply because they were just artichokes.

 

the oil is sunflower , and thus tasteless.

 

I have not tried the tomatoes yet , but Im not optimistic .

[BeeZee]

Just finished the last of a bag of blood oranges. They held up well, probably had them for a month in the fridge. It was a good value and I will look for them again next year, the oranges were Sunkist brand and I think there were 10 in the bag, only had one that had a bad spot.

[rotuts]

I went to the Trader this AM

 

these items i mention :

 

 

Im at the age that True organic will not make any difference in mylie

 

NaCL and Sugar will , in commercial doses

 

the Marmalade you see id delicious , not too sweet  Id forgotten about it

 

I was looking for some Pinto beans , so thought I d try these

 

looking for a pinto bean " refried "

 

Old El Paso makes a decent one

 

but that would involve a trip to another store

 

Tj's has ReFried black beans w jalapeños , 

 

probably one jalapeño / each 100 gallons !

 

but what interests me is the Hath salsa

 

we know a green chili out side of Hatch

 

is still green ..............

 

and the TJ's canned Hatch are vile and insipid ............

 

so Im trying this

 

I like the flavor of Green

 

[Ed.:  not Bells BTW ]

 

so we will see

 

if you like jellies and marmalades

 

TJ's has a few , fairly priced.

[rotuts]

the pinto beans were terrible.  orange colored and awful  no Pinot flavor at all.

 

have no idea what they put in this can.

 

the hatch salsa was nice , and hot.

 

marmalade excellent.

 

went back to TJ's  refried black beans.

 

Ill check market basket if I remember and get and old stand-by for refried pinto beans 

 

that taste like Pinto :  Old El Paso

[Katie Meadow]

On 4/25/2019 at 9:43 AM, rotuts said:

Ive purchased the three vac'd veg boxes above.

 

Ive tried the Mediterranean pack

 

and found the artichokes OK , and the rest mushy and flavorless.  

 

the pack says the veg are in EVVO , but the oil is completely tasteless to me

 

the Tapas artichoke 1/2's were  better , simply because they were just artichokes.

 

the oil is sunflower , and thus tasteless.

 

I have not tried the tomatoes yet , but Im not optimistic .

I tried the artichokes. I used them as a pizza topping and agree, they are just okay. The bath they come in is not only oily but also heavily over-flavored. To use them I decided to drain and rinse them to get rid of the saturated seasoning. They are on the bitter side, which wasn't too much of a problem, and the texture was okay after being in a hot oven, but nothing can compete with sautéed fresh  artichoke hearts made from real artichokes; not these, not canned,, not jarred, not TJ's frozen. So labor intensive that I rarely prep artichokes any more.

[rotuts]

@Katie Meadow

 

thank you for your ideas

 

i was thinking of working with TJ's Fz.

 

Id cut off some of the fibrous leaves

 

and go from there

 

do I love A's or not ?

 

I grew up not that far from the A's capital of the World : Watsonville , CA

 

I used to make them for my father, late in his life when in season , w thick long stems

 

which are an extension of the " Heart "

 

the prep is not my Forte.   but ................

 

I agree , this sort of work , when you get to a certain age

 

or way before ........   but Fresh from WatsonVille ?

 

I now live on the other side of the country

 

 

My mother ,  used to buy them when we were young , and steam them

 

and you peeled off the leaves , and dipped them , and pulled off the ' meat ' w your teeth

 

she never grew them , which was too bad.

 

but in the end

 

so delicious

 

I might take a try on TJ's Fz , and see If I can make something

 

not unreasonable from them.

 

[blue_dolphin]

These Banana Date Nut Crisps are nice:

I had them with some of the Silver Goat chèvre.  Nice for a snack with a cup of coffee...or glass of wine. 

My only complaint is that quite a few of them were broken.  Not an issue for me but annoying if you were planning to arrange them on a cheese platter for guests.

[Katie Meadow]

@rotuts I moved to the bay area in the mid seventies. We used to go to Monterey via Watsonville and in season the chokes were often ten medium size for $1. Those days are not going to come again. I grew up in NY. My mother used to steam them whole and we dipped the leaves in butter. When I moved to CA I was amazed to discover that people liked to dip the leaves in mayo. Oh those kookie Californians.

[rotuts]

even better

 

flavored Mayo  , ie Hollandaise and the other -aise's

 

yum yum

 

[MelissaH]

Is that mango sauce the same amba that's used on sabich sandwiches? If it is, the frozen eggplant cutlets would make prep a snap.

[blue_dolphin]

57 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

Is that mango sauce the same amba that's used on sabich sandwiches? If it is, the frozen eggplant cutlets would make prep a snap.

 

Yes I believe it is supposed to be very close to that.  Eggplant is an excellent idea.  I thought it was very good on falafel.  I used homemade falafel and pita (from Shaya) I had stashed in the freezer but TJ's sells frozen falafel that would probably be good, too. 

Ottolenghi has a recipe for a yogurt/amba sauce that's about 50:50 if I remember correctly. I tried that with the TJ's mango sauce and it kind of got lost I needed to add some of the TJ's Yuzu kosho sauce to perk it up!

  

[lemniscate]

I went to TJ's to get the Chocolate Chip Pain au Lait, but sold out, sad face.  I grabbed a bag of the Benne Wafer cookies, from Savannah GA.   Tiny cookies, crispy, caramelly, salty, and nice healthy hit of sesame nuttiness.   These are very dangerous and want you to eat the whole bag at a sitting.

 

 

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

We really enjoyed the kouign amann they cold in the freezer compartment, usually next to croissants.    They carried them consistently for maybe 6 months then,  Nada.    Anyone with juice to get these reinstated?     Questions to staff are usually met with "It's probably seasonal."

[Maison Rustique]

13 hours ago, lemniscate said:

I went to TJ's to get the Chocolate Chip Pain au Lait, but sold out, sad face.  I grabbed a bag of the Benne Wafer cookies, from Savannah GA.   Tiny cookies, crispy, caramelly, salty, and nice healthy hit of sesame nuttiness.   These are very dangerous and want you to eat the whole bag at a sitting.

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I made the mistake of buying a bag, too. Thankfully they are gone now. And I probably added 2 inches to my hips. I just can't resist sweet/salty.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

Yesterday, I spied the Vault No 5 Cave Aged Cheese from Jasper Hill featured again as the "Spotlight" cheese at my local TJ's.  $10.99/lb. 

[rotuts]

TraderJoes has two ' crisps '  

 

Apple  ( some tartness there ) and Peach ( sweeter , with decent peach flavor

 

I love Crisp , crumbles etc

 

they demo'd both the other day   very nice Id say for No Work , etc if you like crisp

 

 

 

very nice.  forgot the vanilla Ice Cream

 

Peach up next.  too bad their isn't a Sour Cherry

[lemniscate]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

too bad their isn't a Sour Cherry

 

Or plum.  My favorite, favorite is a plum crisp.   I would call that a crisp since it has oatmeal in the topping.  Crumbles were always just flour, sugar, butter topping where I originated from.

[chromedome]

18 hours ago, lemniscate said:

 

Or plum.  My favorite, favorite is a plum crisp.   I would call that a crisp since it has oatmeal in the topping.  Crumbles were always just flour, sugar, butter topping where I originated from.

That's more or less how it works in my neck of the woods as well, though the taxonomy is always tricky.

[lemniscate]

TJ's chocolate chip pain du lait are now my favorite doughnut substitute.  The dark chocolate is just enough to meld with the soft, barely sweet bread.  I eat it as is, room temp.  Hard to describe at first taste because it's so understated, but satisfying for a mild sweet tooth.

[patris]

Spied this in the cheese case yesterday:

 

 

Delicious, if a bit salty. Good pimento flavor and the cheese is nice and sharp. I enjoyed it slathered on some fresh crunchy veggies for a quick breakfast.

[MetsFan5]

I cannot stop eating those Benne cookies. I blame EG! 

 

  I saw the pimento cheese but didn’t grab it. I will next time. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

11 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

 I saw the pimento cheese but didn’t grab it. I will next time. 

 

You have a food processor, you can make it very easily.    Adapt recipe to use on hand need-to-use-up cheese, adapt for other flavors, pickles, peppers, etc.    

[blue_dolphin]

16 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

I cannot stop eating those Benne cookies. I blame EG! 

 

I've also become quite addicted to the Benne wafers. Along with a handful of nuts, they are the perfect accompaniment to a cocktail or a glass of wine.  I put the blame for this new habit of mine squarely on @lemniscate & @Maison Rustique!

 

I also picked up some of the pimento cheese.  I won't hold @patris liable as the TJ cashiers were the ones to tip me off on this one.  I like my homemade version better but this is not bad at all with a significantly better sharp cheddar punch than any other commercial product I've tried.  The recipe I have makes a volume larger than I should have in my house without large numbers of guests so this was a nice treat that probably won't kill me.

[Smithy]

24 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

I also picked up some of the pimento cheese.  I won't hold @patris liable as the TJ cashiers were the ones to tip me off on this one.  I like my homemade version better but this is not bad at all with a significantly better sharp cheddar punch than any other commercial product I've tried.  The recipe I have makes a volume larger than I should have in my house without large numbers of guests so this was a nice treat that probably won't kill me.

 

Would you be willing to say more about your own pimento cheese over here, please? I started exploring recipes and methods last year, then got distracted by other projects. I'd like to see what yours is like (other than too big unless company is coming).  

[blue_dolphin]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Would you be willing to say more about your own pimento cheese over here, please? I started exploring recipes and methods last year, then got distracted by other projects. I'd like to see what yours is like (other than too big unless company is coming).  

I shouldn't call it "my" pimento cheese as it's rightfully Vivian Howard's recipe but I've made it numerous times in the last few years. Go back to my older post for a link to the recipe and the cheeses I used: