Trader Joe's blog and cooking.
Trader Joe’s products sometimes like to play with fire. And when I speak about fire, I am referring to ghost peppers. This is by no means a humble jalapeno; this is many stages past it on the Scoville scale. For perspectives sake, a jalapeno is usually rated somewhere in 2,500-8,000 Scoville Heat Unit Scale. The assertive Ghost Pepper runs somewhere close to one million on the same scale. So, I cleared my calendar to try Trader Joe’s Ghost Chile BBQ Sauce.
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Welcome back to another edition of the Fearless Flyer Matchups! Here are the Trader Joe’s June 2019 Fearless Flyer Matchups for the flyer that landed this week.
If there is a picture next to the product, it is matched with a review from this blog. If it is just a link, then it is a review on a different site. If there is neither, that means I couldn’t find a review to match up with that product. To see the actual Trader Joe’s Flyer click here. They don’t archive them from month to month but at the bottom of this page are the past flyers I’ve done matchups for.
Happy shopping! My top 5 are listed at the bottom….
With summer upon us, on my most recent trip I was going to pick up the usual seasonal Key Lime Pie. In New York, this isn’t something you can find regularly. Nor can you find it at Trader Joe’s. It’s summer only. But next to that bright green box was an equally yellow box of Trader Joe’s Lemon Meringue Tarte.
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Vacationing in our household is really just about eating in a different city. And drinking for that matter. We pretty much go to different places and just bring back food. When we visited Watkins Glen, NY and Mystic, Connecticut we saw some sights, but the highlights of our visit were to fun little shops. In both of those towns we found our way to fun shops that only sold Olive Oil and Vinegar. None of it was technically drinking vinegar.
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One of my most frequent snack purchases at Trader Joe’s has been their frozen Big Soft pretzels. When that first came out, it was difficult to keep them in the house. My husband and I were eating them like they were going out of style. With a tub of pub cheese no less. Now, I have something new to dip them in: Trader Joe’s Honey Pale Ale Mustard.
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If this packaging looks vaguely familiar, then it should. You may have already tried a similar product called Trader Joe’s Shea Butter & Coconut Oil Hair Mask. And while the packaging is similar, so is the end goal of both products: to give you soft and luxurious hair. However Trader Joe’s Shea Butter and Coconut Oil Hair Serum is best before drying your hair.
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In school, we learned about the color wheel and how to mix colors. We also learned about shades and tones of various colors. So when it comes to cooking certain rules of color just don’t apply. For example, in Italian cooking a Penne Vodka sauce starts off as red. When you add white cream to the sauce, it breaks all rules and turns a color than can only be described as being orange. Except some people also refer to that as being a pink sauce. However, there is a new pink sauce that is actually pink: Trader Joe’s Creamy Pink Primavera Sauce.
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Have you ever looked at the calorie count of an item and put it back? Or prayed it was really good to justify the calories? Well, that’s pretty much how I felt after I picked up Trader Joe’s Kunefe. While this box isn’t big, this packs a heavy hit of calories.
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While the first day of summer is nearly upon us, the taste of summer has already hit the shelves of Trader Joe’s. Amidst the mango flavors that are both arriving and returning from a hiatus, Trader Joe’s Peaches and Cream Tarte sits quietly in the freezer section returning from a years hiatus. And if you are looking for a picture perfect dessert, then keep one of these handy, even if summer is over.
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If you buy fresh pasta from Trader Joe’s, you might have noticed they’ve updated the packaging on most of the ravioli products. They are now brightly colored. This means one of two things: either they’ve changed the product or they’ve only just updated the packaging.
In this case they’ve altered the name from previous years. They’ve dropped the name “Girasoli” and added the word ravioli. But overall, the taste seems pretty spot on from previous years. …
I am a proud choco-holic. The more chocolate the better. In fact, I believe that chocolate is almost a dietary need. If you feel the same love and passion that I do about chocolate, then you might want to give Trader Joe’s Chocolate Lava Cakes a try. …
Growing up I know there were certain cookies that were more popular than others around the lunch table at school. Chips Ahoy was up there in popularity. I was probably the odd kid who really liked Keebler Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies. There was something in those that vaguely reminded of homemade cookies. So when I saw Trader Joe’s Soft Baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies I was hopeful.
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Once again, a seasonal favorite has returned. It does not seem to have changed much from the previous review. If you are looking for a fully cooked skewer with pretty grill marks and full of Caribbean flavor, then for a frozen item, Trader Joe’s Grilled Jerk Chicken Thigh Skewers is pretty good overall.
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If Cookie Butter had its year, and cauliflower had most of 2018, then why hasn’t Trader Joe’s taken the plunge and tried to make more Everything But the Bagel Products? Perhaps, 2019 will be the year they make that commitment. But for now, we have the second of such products with Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel Seasoned Smoked Salmon.
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Bacon. It’s like meat candy all on its own. Add something sweet and spicy and you have on heck of a combination. The combined saltiness and textural elements work so very well in Trader Joe’s Sweet Sriracha Uncured Bacon Jerky.
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So, let’s have a moment of honesty. I’m not sure about you, but I strongly prefer to brew my own brew. My coffee of last resort is usually something that comes from instant or comes out of a can. I like my coffee on the lighter side, so a latte isn’t too far away from how I would enjoy a drink. So, being that these two items are so similar, here is a two for one review of Trader Joe’s Cold Brew Coconut Cream Latte.
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Riddle me this- What color is watermelon really? Watermelon Jolly Ranchers seem to be pink, most watermelons I’ve purchased have a pink interiors. So why is there such a terrible mismatch between color of the box of Trader Joe’s Sparkling Watermelon Juice and of the liquid hiding inside these cute cans?
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It’s been a while since Trader Joe’s added anything to the dips and hummus options. They’ve taken away items, but not too much has been added back. Well, consider this a vegetarian (at least based on the ingredients) spin on the familiar 7 layer dip. Trader Joe’s 5 Layer Dip is new, delicious, and just needs something to dip it in or scoop it on.
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The longer I’m at this blog, the more patterns I see. I’ve seen products come and go. And come back again. Sometimes after years of disappearing. If you are familiar with Trader Joe’s A Dozen Sweet Bites, you might recognize this cake. In fact, Trader Joe’s Opera Cake hasn’t been on shelves in many years.
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I was beginning to wonder when we would see another cauliflower item appear in Trader Joe’s shelves. And now, it has found its way into breakfast through Trader Joe’s Egg Frittata. But don’t worry, the taste of cauliflower was quite muted.
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Lunches. There are so many times I am so guilty of not making my lunch. Before I moved close to a Trader Joe’s I existed off of frozen meals. But truthfully, they were pretty terrible. The calorie count was reasonable, but there was a sacrifice in taste. Most of those frozen meals tasted like cardboard. Trader Joe’s Korma Fish Curry tastes like anything but cardboard.
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It’s not often that I review things as basic and a half gallon of milk. Normally, I wouldn’t. But this product jumped out to me on a few different levels. First, it’s organic and grass fed (all buzzwords right now) AND for the price. Second, this half gallon set me back nearly $5 and that is a premium beyond the price of a regular half gallon and even the organic half gallon.
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Mochi. There isn’t really quite much that is like it. It’s one of those fun things to have people try. It’s quite polarizing too. Either you’ll love it or you’ll hate it. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground when it comes to this sweet confection and now Trader Joe’s Mochi Cake Mix is available to those who want to make it themselves.
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Trader Joe’s Green Sauce 2.0. However, this green sauce is different from the current green dragon hot sauce available on shelves. Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Sauce is overall pretty good and a completely different beast from the other green sauce, it’s a solid Jalapeño Pepper Hot Sauce.
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