Trader Joe's blog and cooking.
The pros: Trader Joe’s Thai Red Curry Sauce makes for a quick dinner. It has good flavor for a jarred sauce.
The cons: This still won’t measure up to going to your favorite Thai restaurant and if you are a spice junkie, then you’ll want to keep the hot sauce close.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Pad Thai Noodles is vegan if that’s a concern for you. It’s ready in 2 minutes.
The cons: It’s vegan which means that some of the familiar seafood/fish flavors will be absent here. While the ingredients say scallions, I couldn’t detect any in here as this dish lacked any freshness.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Spicy Thai Shrimp Fried Rice is a relatively spicy rice dish that will need some supplementing of protein in order to bring it up to the standard of a meal.
The cons: I thought of this more of a side than its description of being a meal. For 4 servings to be in this bag, I would not consider 2 shrimp to be a meal. They were heavy handed on the Thai Chilis. Not even a lot of veggies on this one either.
The verdict: …
The pros: Super tasty, unexpected flavor in both the rice and the curry. Trader Joe’s Vegetable Panang Curry is a really well done vegan Thai dish.
The cons: Almost 600 calories for a vegetable dish. Yikes. Quite a bit of saturated fat in a veggie dish.
The verdict: …
The pros: Trader Joe’s Vegetable Pad Thai is quick, easy, tasty pad thai that is ready in the microwave in about 4 minutes. Not overly spicy. For $2.69 you are getting a lot for your money compared to going out or attempting to make this at home. Trust me a lot goes into making a pad thai.
The cons: Surprisingly low in protein and relatively high calorie. Should come with an optional packet of sriracha or hot sauce. By being vegan this does not contain any seafood flavors so you might want to change some of your expectations.
The verdict: …
Below is sectional list and an alphabetical list of all the Trader Joe’s Reviews on this site so far. It should be in order based on the name that appears on the packaging. If you don’t see it, use the search feature. Feel free to comment on product you’d like to see me do a review on and I’ll add it to my list of items to try! I’m not affiliated with Trader Joe’s. Some ladies are excited to bring home a brown bag from Bloomingdale’s. This Betty gets excited when the brown bag is from Trader Joe’s….
If there was ever a foodie Home Depot, it would be called Sur La Table. I confess it is the one store I have a weakness for. Some women struggle with going into Target and walking out with numerous unplanned purchases. I have the same struggle, but it’s at Sur La Table. Yes, it could be so very easy to not walk in. But I have to. You see Sur La Table has Cooking Classes. If you struggle to boil water or just want to learn, they have a calendar set up (and even occasionally offer sales) just with classes. If there were just one class I would recommend everyone to take, it’s the Knife Skills class. After that feel free. You’ll walk away with solid recipes or the knowledge that you should not try this at home (Yes, sushi class I am speaking to you). I’ve taken more than a dozen Sur La Table Classes. They’ve all been excellent….
Some of my cookbooks are ones that will be cherished and unopened on a coffee table in the house. Others look like the have waged kitchen warfare. In addition to the iconic Betty Crocker books that line my bookshelf, this is one book that deserves to also be a “Betty.” A funny story about this one:
One Christmas, I asked my then boyfriend for a series of cookbooks as a gift suggestion. One of which included Gina Homolka’s The Skinnytaste Cookbook. Upon opening the gift it was difficult for my then boyfriend (now husband) to not see the joy in my face. With a big “Thank you” he promptly replied, “I’m glad your happy, just don’t make me any of that crap.”…
