Day 120 - Lavender Hand and Body Lotion

I rarely buy toiletry items at Trader Joe’s, but because of this blog have started trying them.  And I have not always been met with great results…  (See Day 89 – Head to Toe Moisturizing Balm…)  But after that minor fiasco I got back up on the horse and I am glad I did!  This lotion is really nice.

Because it is lavender, and because I have previously been led to believe that lavender is a scent which relaxes you (or is it makes you sleepy??), I have been using this lotion only at bed time.  I have put some on my feet and hands every night the past few weeks. 

The SCENT is the most amazing part.  It smells so good!  The lavender scent is strong but not overpowering.  The description on the bottle says it has sunflower and lemon, too, and the lemon might be what gives it a bit of a “zing” in the scent.  I really like it.

Pretty bottle, terrific scent, and a great feel!

It also feeeeels nice.  It goes on easily and leaves my skin smooth and silky but not at all greasy.  Since I was going to write this review I just put some on my hands (I know!  In the middle of the day!  I hope I don’t fall asleep…) .  But my point is (and I do have one) – my hands are not slimy at all!  I am tapping away on my keyboard without fear of getting grease on my laptop.

Oh – I should also point out that the lotion dispenses very nicely.  I have had other lotions that are hard to get out of the bottle, but this has a very good pump. 

This product is good all around.  I will buy more when this bottle is empty.

Price – $4.99

Rating – 5

Day 119 - Fair Trade Organic Bolivian Blend (coffee)

Gosh, this is like the 4^th Trader Joe’s coffee I have reviewed on this blog this year, and I still have not found the PERFECT cup (see coffee reviews on day 73, day 47, and day 22 – and wouldn’t ya know, the one we liked the best was a SEASONAL ITEM so you can only get it around the holidays!).   I KNOW we have bought one there that was quite good, but which one was it???

The search for the most delicious Trader Joe's coffee continues...

This one bills itself as “sweet, caramel flavor, medium body”.  I would add “bitter”.  It is fair trade and organic, so those are pluses.  But it just does not hit the perfect coffee sweet spot that I am searching to find.   I mean, it will do to wake you up in the morning, but it won’t make you sing and dance, know what I mean? 

Sign doesn't say "bitter"...  Not that I'm bitter about that.

I will continue trying the other cans of Trader Joe’s coffee beans until I find the best one.  Keep your eye out for more coffee reviews! 

Price -$7.99

Rating – 3.25

Day 118 - Mini Pie Medley

Oh I wish I would have reviewed these Cabbage Patch Doll sized pies back when we had them this winter.  We really liked them, and they would have gotten a sweet review!

Alas, I didn’t review them then, and now I up and served them at our Trader Joe’s dinner party and they were not great.  L  The crusts were mushy and the filling just tasted like a glob of warm jam or jelly.  I made them the same exact way I did this winter – heating them (from frozen) in the oven, so I am not sure why the results were lack luster this go round.  I feel a bit guilty because I convinced a fellow Trader Joe’s shopper to buy these the other day!

Cute tiny pies

I should list the pros and cons of these little mini pies here:

Pros:

-          Perfect size for a little dessert

-          Mix of 3 flavors in one box (strawberry, blueberry, and peach) so you won’t get sick of one flavor

-          Nice sugar crystals on top

-          Easy to prepare

Cons:

-          Crusts were mushy

-          Filling was not “pie”ish but more jam/jelly-ish

-          Unsatisfying

If I were rating these myself, I guess I would give them a 3.5.  But because they were part of the dinner party spread, I will average all guests’ ratings for a final score.  But first, guest comments:

-          Sweet without being cloying – buttery crust.

-          Great yielding crust – tasty, fluffy, rich, and just the right amount of filling.  Just the right size as well.  4 – 6 small bits!

-          Supremely buttery, full of flavor, plenty peachy

-          Swarmy bland strawberry much inside a soggy pastry

-          Buttery, soft, sweet – lovely

OH!!!!!  Now that I have allowed myself to read these comments I think perhaps it was just the STRAWBERRY PIES that were not good in this box!!!  The people who had peach or blueberry really liked them!  Well, that makes me feel better.  I thought I served our guests something yucky!

Guest Joan demonstrates how adorable tiny pies can be.

Price - $4.49  (for 6 mini pies, which comes out to .75 cents per pie)

Rating (average of 6 guests’ ratings) – 3.75

Day 117 - Israeli Couscous

We are a STARCH family.  Be it rice, potato, or couscous, there is GONNA be a starch at the majority of our dinners.  Damn it, we like a good starch!   I like couscous (I think I like it more than my dinner date David does, but he will eat it).  Sometimes instead of “regular” couscous I jazz it up and make Israeli Couscous, which is bigger and “squishier”.  It’s good.

Pretty purple box

This Trader Joe’s version is fine.  It is not better or worse, really, than Israeli Couscous from other places.  It is CHEAPER than you will find at other stores, which is always nice. 

You do need to be a bit careful when you make Israeli Couscous, as it can get sticky and gloppy.   The most recent time we had it I made it using Chicken Broth (reviewed on day 112) instead of water and that worked well.  It gave it some extra zing.

Portobello mushroom (to be reviewed soon) served over Israeli Cousous

If you, like us, want a starch on your plate, try this!

Price – $1.99

Rating – 3.75

Day 116 - Baby Zucchini

We have eaten this vegetable from Trader Joe’s several times, so I was surprised when I looked at the blog and realized I had not yet reviewed it!  But now that I made it again and served it at our recent Trader Joe’s dinner party, I am glad I hadn’t already reviewed it.  If I had, I am sure it would have gotten a lower rating than it will now.  Let me explain.  J

This zucchini is very small.  In fact, I think they need to change the name and re-market it.  How’s this:  TEENY WEENIE ZUCCHINI.  Isn’t that fabulous??  Better than, “Baby Zucchini”, right??  Teeny Weenie Zucchini is catchy!  Trader Joe’s corporate, if you are reading this, you can send me a check for “naming assistance” at any time. 

This comes in a little package in the fresh produce section

The other times we cooked this, I steamed it.  And the result was PRETTY, but MUSHY, teeny weenie whole zucchinis.  For some reason we decided this was the green vegetable to serve at our recent dinner party, but then we both said, “Wait, isn’t it sort of yucky and mushy??”.  So we decided (thanks to David’s suggestion) to cut each one in half length-wise and SAUTE them.  I used a mix of olive oil, lemon juice, and pumpkin seed oil in the pan (and added freshly ground salt and freshly ground pepper).  The end result was much tastier teeny weenie zucchini than the mushy steaming technique.  These are inexpensive to purchase and pretty on your plate, too.  One cooking suggestion on the package is GRILLING, and I think that would make them tasty, also.  So I guess what I am saying is, don’t steam these suckers.

They are cute lil things

If I rated these on my own, I would give them a 4.0.  Now let me look at the reviews our guests wrote and add their comments here:

-          “Very delicate and tasteful”

-          “Very tasty but slightly mushy.  Goes very well with the filet mignon roast, but I love zucchini.”

-          “Very good size.  Just the way you’d want baby courgettes to be.”

-          “Nice presentation, but more skin and less flesh than normal sized zucchini.”

-          “Simple.  Delish.”

Note – we bought way too many for the dinner party, and last night I cooked more of them by chopping them up into very small chunks and sautéing them with thinly sliced Portobello mushrooms and shrimp.  We put that over pasta and it was really good!  So that is another cooking option for these!

Price - $2.49

Rating (6 ratings averaged together) – 4.5

Day 115 - Brownie Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies seemed to have a LOT going for them – first off, the name itself starts with BROWNIE, that’s a good sign.  Then CHOCOLATE CHIPS, hello, those are tasaty!  And wait a minute – WALNUTS, TOO?  Stop the goodness before you overload me!   There were a few varieties in the same sweet, down home’y” looking packaging and they actually took up a bit of prime real estate on the shelves.   I figured we might have hit a homerun with this one!  I mean, who doesn’t like a good cookie? 

Don't they look delicious from the packaging?

Maybe that’s the problem – this is not a good cookie.  Turns out, these cookies are bleck.  The ingredient list swears otherwise, but they taste really ARTIFICIAL.  The sugar in them does not feel all the way dissolved, either, so there is a grainy quality.  And David felt they were undercooked.  (I felt they were UNDERWHELMING…)

We do not take returning products to Trader Joe’s lightly.  Seriously, we do NOT return things very often.  But we each ate one of these and then said, “Nah, we do not need these in our lives.  They are NOT good”.  After returning them, we later found one of the cookies at home that David had taken a bite out of and left on a plate not finished.  He THREW IT AWAY rather than eat it.  If THAT doesn’t tell you something, nothing will.  Because NOTHING will get between David and a good cookie!!!

$4.29 is nothing to sneeze at - we took them back

When we returned these, the nice guy working at Customer Service suggested we TASTE the bag of cookies that we were exchanging these yucky ones for before buying them.  The replacement ones were in the same cute packaging but were called Sutter’s Formula – peanut butter cookies with milk chocolate chunks.  I thought for suuuuure they would be better than the Brownie Chocolate Chip ones!!

Same price, still yucky

David was worried before we even opened the package and tasted these....

I was wrong again.  And boy was I glad the Trader Joe’s guy recommended we taste them before buying, because in the end we just said, “No thank you!  We will just stick to the big pile of stuff already in our cart,”.   So, although David and I each only ate part of one Sutter’s Formula Cookie, this will be their only mention in this year long blog.  I don’t feel as if I can give them a complete review on their own, or a score of their own, since we didn’t even purchase the bag and take it out of the store with us.

The score below is based only on the Brownie Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Price – $4.29

Rating – 2.25

Day 114 - Filet Mignon Roast

Holy kamole!!!!  We had this for the first time last night.  Color me a happy eater!!

Let me explain – last night we hosted our first ever (maybe last?) TRADER JOE’S DINNER PARTY!  David’s cousin and her husband were in town visiting and we wanted to get together with them, so we invited them (Sheila and Paul) along with my lovely in-laws Greg and Joan over for dinner.  But instead of just having a “regular dinner party” I made it a TRADER JOE’S DINNER PARTY!  This meant everything served was from none other than, you guessed it, Trader Joe’s J.  Sheila and Joan follow the blog (and I think Paul might be kept up to date by Sheila) so they were keen to join in the fun! 

Here are the Trader Joe's ingredients BEFORE THE PARTY 

I made “score sheets” for everyone and they were elegantly displayed on the table (as elegant as stapled together pieces of paper can be).  Everyone was asked to rate the items listed (Joan counted – there were 26 different items to be served!) and write any comments they wished.  I have collected all the score sheets but HAVE NOT READ THEM yet.  I will write my review of the roast here first so my opinion is not “tainted” by the other reviews, but I will be sure to share their comments and scores, too!

I LOVED THIS ROAST.  We chose it for the dinner party because, as a household of two people, something as big as this roast is not normally practical for us.  But since we would have 6 people at the table, it looked like a perfect size!  And it was – we have a bit of it left over (which we are grateful for and plan to eat later today!).

David with the tasty roast in the store

It was super easy to cook – David roasted it in the oven following the instructions on the package.  He lifted it off the bottom of the baking dish using the little metal rack that came with our old, inherited crock pot.  The roast comes pre-seasoned, but he added a bit of olive oil before putting it in the oven.  When it was done cooking, he followed a tip a co-worker had given him to cover the pan with foil, then with TOWELS to keep the warmth and moisture in.  Boy howdy did that work well!  We didn’t cut into that roast for another 45 minutes after it came out of the oven but it was still warm, juicy, and dellllicious! 

The spices on it are just right – nice and peppery.  In my opinion Trader Joe’s hit a home run with this item.  It is more expensive than we would normally spring for, but hey, it was a DINNER PARTY and after tasting it, I realize that in this case, the cost is totally worth it! 

Yes, more expensive than some dinners but WORTH IT

If I were rating it myself, I would give it a 5.  But because of the dinner party set-up, I am going to now peek at the other guests’ ratings and I will average them together for the final number at the end of the review.

Here are some other diner’s comments on this filet mignon roast:

·         “Tender and peppery but a bit dry.”

·         “Tender, flavor is elegantly beefy.”

·         “Very tasty rub – lots of pepper flavor.”

·         “Wonderful texture; great flavor.”

·         “Instructions for cooking were accurate.  Roast was moist and flavorful.  Easy to prepare for dinner with guests.”

Price - $17.49 lb.

Rating (6 ratings averaged together) – 4.75

Day 113: Spinach and Kale Bites

I like spinach.  I like kale.  So what could go wrong with “Spinach and Kale Bites”???

Nothing goes spectacularly WRONG, but it doesn’t go amazingly RIGHT, either.  Turns out these are little blobs of super chopped up (blended almost?) spinach and kale, held together by a bit of egg and panko breadcrumbs.  There is a touch of parmesan (I think that is the tastiest part).

Here is what the box looks likes

And here is what a WHOLE BUNCH of the boxes look like

These really don’t serve the purpose I grabbed them out of the freezer for – to be a quick tasty dinner substitute when it is almost midnight and you haven’t gotten it together to cook anything.  (Note:  another Trader Joe’s frozen appetizer item DOES serve that purpose well – Mushroom Turnovers.  We pop those puppies in the oven around midnight a couple nights a month and have at ‘em and they make for a good super late night dinner (reviewed on day 21).  I guess we were spoiled by the experience of those…)

Spinach and Kale Bites (cooked) on a plate.

I think Spinach and Kale Bites would be okay if you were having a few friends over for dinner and wanted a little appetizer.  I wouldn’t recommend them for like, a fancy dinner party appetizer, unless the guests were the sort of people you don’t like all that much.   My partner David says, “They would be good for the kind of a party where you have a drink in one hand and you can just hold the Spinach and Kale Bite in the other hand and eat it in two bites.  You don’t have to have a toothpick or anything.”  (Note – David takes VERY SMALL bites.  Most people would snarf these down in one 

chomp.)

See - it says ONE BITE right on the sign.  David takes super small bites.  He is weird that way.

In the end these are just sorta little blobs of warm green.  Not very inspired.

Price – $3.99

Rating – 2.75

Day 112 - Free Range Chicken Broth

Look, we didn’t buy this Free Range Chicken Broth because we are fans of chicken broth and use it all the time in our cooking.  We almost NEVER use chicken broth.  Full disclosure, we bought it because my partner David was going to have a colonoscopy and needed a day of prep where he only consumed clear liquids.  That being said, we (especially HE, who adores eating) were not thrilled about this purchase from the get go.

As you can see, David was not thrilled with this purchase.

 But it was good.  He used it for his prep day - I just heated it up in the microwave in a mug and he drank it.  It was filling enough that he felt like he was “eating” and didn’t complain too much.  The good news (and the best part of this review) is that all went well with the colonoscopy and he doesn’t have to get another one for a decade.

Happy Day - good colonoscopy!

But there was some of the broth left in the fridge after the prep day, so we have used it in cooking.  Tonight I used it instead of water when I made Israeli couscous and it worked very well.  Another night he used it to make a sauce to put over orecchetti and that was good, too. 

So I guess the moral of this story is twofold:

1.        GET A COLONOSCOPY (seriously, they are important)

2.       We should cook with chicken broth more often at our house

See  - it is free range

P.S. – something about “free range” chicken broth sounds funny to me.  It sounds SO hippy-granola-hybrid-car-driving-PETA-animal-lover, doesn’t it??  I have heard of free range chicken and free range eggs, but this was my first FREE RANGE BROTH. 

Price – $1.99

Rating – 3.75

Day 111 - Chocolate Covered Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels

This little candy is very, very nice!  Each morsel is a good size – not like some other candies where you eat ONE and feel like you have already had enough (or too much) sweet.  Nope – these are well proportioned little candies!  The nutritional label says a serving size is 11 pieces!!  (For me that is stretching it a bit – I would say serving size is about 8 per sitting, but maybe I am kidding myself).

Yum - this is a good treat!

Each piece of candy in this bag has a really good BALANCE – the creamy caramel in the center has a butterscotch taste that melts in your mouth, there is a touch of sea salt (but no hard chunks of sea salt, this is DELICIATE my friends) and the chocolate is dark and it holds everything together perfectly.

Each piece is about the size of a penny

I think this may be an ADULT CANDY.  We snuck it into the circus the other night (shhhh!) so we could have a nice (and cheap) snack during an outing with our teenage nephew.  I think he stopped at ONE PIECE (unheard of for a teenage boy, right??) so it seems like the taste might be for a “grown up” palate.  (Hey, that was fine with us, leaves more for Uncle David and Aunt Susan!)

Find these at your Trader Joe's and give them a try

We will get these again.  And who knows, perhaps we will follow the “serving suggestion” noted on the front of the package and actually display them in a BOWL instead of snarfing them right out of the bag!

Price – $3.49

Rating – 4.5

Day 110 - Opal Apples

You might think, an apple is an apple.  But not so fast, my friend, not so fast.  Haven’t you ever heard of a “bad apple”??  I was a wee bit nervous when I saw the Opal Apple at Trader Joe’s.  It looked like a cousin to the Golden Delicious Apple, which (in my opinion) is anything but delicious (talk about a misnamed fruit!).  Golden Delicious apples (again, my opinion only…) tend to be dry, pasty, and bland.  So when this “new” (to me) apple caught my eye but looked slightly like a Golden Delicious, I was leery.  But I needn’t have been!

Opal Apples - only $.89 and taste so good

Opal Apples are lovely!  They are not at all mushy.  They are not DRY, but they are not so drippy wet that you get juice down your chin.  They are sweet.  They crunch.  They are GOOD!  I ate one just alone as an apple and dipped another one in a luscious caramel sauce from Trader Joe’s (to be reviewed soon).  Both ways they tasted grand!  I wonder how they would fare in a pie…

In general, Trader Joe’s produce is sold by the PIECE.  This is cool, because you know before you get to the register what you are in for.  And for the couple of products I have price compared with other stores, the “by the piece” method as opposed to “by weight” saves you money at Trader Joe’s.

Try an Opal Apple! 

Price – $.89

Rating - 4

Day 109 - Roasted Garlic Hummus

Now THIS is a hummus!!!  After a bit of disappointment with Trader Joe’s Hummus with Freshly Ground Horseradish (reviewed on day 59), it is nice to “get back on the hummus horse” and have a delicious experience!  This Roasted Garlic Hummus is really tasty!  As the label says, it has a “mild garlic” flavor – not overpowering at all.  So even if you are not a huge garlic fan, I think you will like it.

This is the one!  Try it!

It is super creamy and sticks to my chips (Organic Blue Corn Tortilla Chips, reviewed on day 72) perfectly!  I can also imagine eating it with falafel.  Or rolled up in a pita surrounded by some tasty veggies.

Check out how well it sticks to the chip!

Trader Joe’s has quite a few choices in the hummus department.  This one is a serious contender.

Price - $1.99

Rating – 4.5

Day 108 - Rabbit Ridge Paso Robles Allure de Robles (wine)

So, the sign at Trader Joe’s (U Street Washington DC location) had this to say:

Nice artwork on this sign - sweet rabbit!

Strawberry and Cherry with subtle Vanilla and Spice Notes

Hmmm – if I were to write the sign, it would say, “Heavy on the RAISIN, light on the Strawberry”.

Raisin with a hint of strawberry...

And really, raisin?  For wine??  I mean, it isn’t horrible, but it isn’t really the first taste I would describe as being desirable in something I want to drink with dinner (then again, fancy wine shops use descriptors like “cigar” and “cedar” which I also find disgusting – who wants to drink a cigar??  But I digress…). 

I picked this because there is another wine from Trader Joe’s that we like a lot and I thought this might be similar (only, now that I compare the two labels, I was way off, this is not similar…).  Ok, I also picked it because it has a cute rabbit on the front.  And of course because we had never tried it and this year is about trying new stuff from Trader Joe’s and reviewing it! 

You must admit it is a nice label

It is not bad, and it is a good price.  But with so many wines at Trader Joe’s at super reasonable prices, “not bad” doesn’t cut it for repeat purchases. 

Price - $6.99

Rating - 3

Day 107 - Brandy Beans

Delicious little capsules of sweet liquor, wrapped in bean shaped chocolate.  A sort of M & M s for the sophisticated (drunkard) set.  In truth, there is hardly any alcohol in them, but plenty of the complex flavor of Brandy to off-set the sweetness of the treat.  Just right to pop one into your mouth, or even bite in two for two mouthfuls.  It is so neatly engineered that it does not shatter and spill goo all over as some harder shelled liquor chocolates might.  

Well behaved, high quality chocolate and a classic concept.  Well executed. 

Here's the box - don't they look fancy?

If you are looking for a Brandy Bean, this is about the best one you are gonna get.

Brandy Bean BEFORE

Brandy Bean DURING

Brandy Bean AFTER (well, after being bitten in half)

 (This review was written by a guest reviewer, my partner David.  I had to recuse myself from reviewing this item because I think liquor chocolates are yucky in general.  I did give this one a go and TRY one to see if perhaps this would be the one liquor chocolate in the world I enjoyed, but alas, it was not.  So to be fair I hired the guest reviewer.  I paid him in Brandy Beans.  J )

Price – Ok, this is sad…  I cannot find the price!  I have looked through all the old documentation of TJ’s purchases and it is nowhere to be found.  I went to TJ’s to check and was informed that these Brandy Beans are actually a HOLIDAY ITEM.  Oops.  Sorry!  You will not be able to get them until around October.  So if you want some, be sure to go between October – December or they will be g-o-n-e.

Rating – 4.25

Day 106 - Gorgonzola Chicken

From the description on the box, this meal sounds like a HOME RUN – white chicken meat, bowtie pasta, asparagus and peas in a Gorgonzola cheese sauce.  Each of those items is high on our list of “delicious foods” (no, we do not have an actual physical list titled” Delicious Foods”, but you know what I mean, our theoretical list…).  Anyway, it sounded delicious, so we were psyched to try it.

Doesn't the description sound good?

And a reasonable price for 2 whole servings, too

Sadly, we were a wee bit disappointed.  I cooked it using the microwave method, because it is packaged like a microwaveable meal (there was another cooking method listed, too, which I have not tried).  And it smelled really nice as it cooked!  The Gorgonzola scent filled our kitchen – yum!  But the TASTE was a bit dull.  Somehow the SMELL was stronger than the TASTE.  Sure, all the things listed on the package were IN there, but they tasted so dull.  I am not even sure how in the world GORGONZOLA can taste dull, but it did.  Even salt and pepper didn’t jazz the dinner up enough to make it worth purchasing again.

I am not sure why David looks so skeptical about it in the store, but turns out he was right!

Gorgonzola Chicken in action - I served it with baby broccoli (reviewed on day 55 of this blog)

So, while this particular meal won’t be on our shopping list again, the Trader Joe’s we bought it at WILL BE!  We went to the U Street Trader Joe’s in Washington DC (1914 14^th St NW) and were very happy with the experience!  It was a Friday night, and not just any Friday night, a Friday night when WASHINGTON DC CHERRY BLOSSOMS were in PEAK bloom!  So we knew the U St corridor would be crazy busy, and indeed it was.  We wondered how in the world we would find a parking spot, then were happy to see that Trader Joe’s has an underground parking garage with FREE PARKING!!  And boy did they have a FANTASTIC parking lot attendant!  He danced a bit and JOGGED around telling cars to “wait” or “go”.  He was super fun, friendly, and efficient.  I mean, if you can make parking in a crowded underground lot exciting, you have MAD SKILLZ.  Trader Joe’s in La Jolla, CA needs to come study this man and clone him for their insane, headache inducing parking lot.

Parking lot guy - he ROCKS!  Here David takes a little jog with him

And the U St store is great!  Right off the bat I noticed how friendly the shoppers were.  I got into a conversation about kale with people in the produce section and ended up telling them how amazing kale sprouts are (reviewed on day 36 of this blog).  They put a bag of regular kale and kale sprouts in their cart and off they went! 

This store has the best artwork of any Trader Joe’s that I have seen – check it out:

Isn't this GREAT???  So fun and inviting

Isn’t it amazing?  I am guessing it is by a local artist, but I do not know for sure.  If someone from the U St location reads this can you tell me in the comments section?  I love that piece!!

I was also very impressed by this sign near the check-outs:

This kind of community action makes me happy to give Trader Joe's my business

It is concrete actions like THIS that make me even happier to shop at Trader Joe’s.  I bet lots of TJ’s stores donate food – I wish they all had clear signs like this telling everyone about it. 

More reviews coming from items purchased during our visit to the U St Trader Joe’s coming!

Price – $5.99

Rating – 3.25