Day 269 - Southern Greens Blend

I wanted to try these.

  

Yippee - GREENS!

David did not.

Ewww - greens...

David ALWAYS thinks stuff like kale, mustard greens, and the like are gonna be gross.  But you know what?  9 times out of 10 he likes them.  (I still can’t convince him that okra is edible, but maybe someday…)

This Southern Greens Blend is a mix of collards, mustard, turnip, and spinach.  Can you say HEALTHY??  (And can you say, “Something different in our normal vegetable routine”??).  The greens were all ready to be cooked.  The package said it is four servings but for us it was more like three.  I quasi followed the directions on the package.  Normally when I cook spinach I just sauté it in olive oil and it only takes like 10 minutes, so cooking following the instructions on the package took longer (around half an hour), but was worth it.  I cooked them with celery, garlic, onions, chicken broth, and 21 Seasoning Salute (which got a glowing 5 star review that you can read here:  21 Seasoning Salute

Find these in the produce section

These were good!  They ALMOST tasted like something my Grandma Lee might have made.  I loved her cooking (as did the rest of the relatives!).  She would have taken the time to fry bacon and use the fat and meat, but I skipped that part.  Maybe next time I will plan ahead better and add bacon, too!

I adore this photo.  It is my Grandma and Grandpa Lee and their kids. They all packed into a car and
moved from North Carolina to Nebraska.  My mom is standing next to Grandma.  They look like such ragamuffins,
all except for Grandma's nice suit and hat.  I love this.  Only two people from this photo are still living.  Memories...

I served these greens over rice with black beans and topped them with fresh tomatoes from the garden and feta (with a splash of Tabasco over it all), and a garnish of radish.  The plates looked beautiful!  The greens tasted really nice.  They were not too hard or too chewy.  They were a good contrast to beans and feta.

The plates looked pretty!  Rice, beans, greens, feta, seasoning, and radishes all from TJ's.

David says the greens were surprisingly pleasant!  He said the mix “smoothed out the collard-ness” (which I do not think is a word).  He thought the feta spiced it up.  He said, “It is good at what it does, it is a MIX of GREENS.”

We ate this while watching Paula Deen “dance” on “Dancing with the “Stars” “.  That seemed appropriate, given her Southern roots.  I think she would have cooked these in lard.  And I also think she better get booted off that show soon, cuz girlfriend cannot dance.  (But on the other hand, doesn’t poor Anna, the partner of Gary Busey, look so mortified every time she and Gary do NOT get cut??  Oh my.  People are gonna vote for Gary just to see the craziness every week…  Not that I pay attention to that stupid show…  Umm…  )

Gary and Anna - I suspect this photo was taken before they actually DANCED the first time...  (Happier times)

Price - $2.99

Rating - 4

Day 262 - Spelt Risotto with Vegetables and Chickpeas

It looks good enough in the bag, eh?

We served this with left-over pre-roasted Brussels sprouts (reviewed 2 days ago here http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-260-brussels-sprouts-roasted.html) and zucchini cooked with TJ’s 21 Seasoning Salute (a product we discovered this year and really like, reviewed on day 184 http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/07/day-184-21-seasoning-salute.html ).

Strangely, this dish has both the SCENT and the TASTE of BACON, yet bacon is not listed on the ingredients.  It is a bacon-less, bacon-tasting product.  I guess that that flavor comes from the smoked cheese.

Doesn't it look sorta gross cooking?  The cheese looks like individually wrapped slices of Kraft American!
(It was NOT American cheese, I am just sayin' it looooks like it when you take it out of the bag.)

I like chickpeas, but I admit that they do have a BLAND TASTE.  Let me say this – the CHICKPEAS ARE THE TASTIEST THING IN THIS SPELT.  And that’s not sayin’ much.  Again, this is from someone who likes chickpeas.

The COLORS are pretty – a bit of pumpkin and some greenery.  It is easy to make.  I ate it with a big spoon (David forked it). 

Here it is on our plates.  It looks better than it tastes.

David said, “If you like brown rice – this is your guy.  The flavors are quite nice.  The consistency is great.  Even the al dente-ness of the spelt is quite good.  It is just that it is SO FIRM and so, soooo – healthy…   It’s just not my cup of tea.  I cooked it longer than it says to cook it to make sure that the spelt would be soft but it’s still…  It’s not RICE – let’s not kid ourselves…”

We both agree that we will be fine if we do not eat this one again.

If you still want it after reading this review you can find it in the freezer section.

On a happier note – after visiting 18 Trader Joe’s stores in 10 states (plus one more in a District) so far this year (in only 9 months folks!) we have FOUND THE BEST EMPLOYEE WORKING AT A TJ’S FOOD SAMPLING STATION!  Yes siree, I can safely say that CECILIA, who works at the Trader Joe’s store at Bailey’s Crossroads in Falls Church, VA is the friendliest, most knowledgeable, and honest TJ’s employee we have met.  She steered us away from one product (not to worry, manager, she just replaced it with a BETTER one in our cart!), gave us tips on other products, served us something we had never had (Kefir, to be reviewed soon!), and we ended up with at least 3 products in our cart that we would NOT have purchased had it not been for Cecilia!!!   And get this – when I told her I was doing a blog, she KNEW ABOUT IT!  Yup, she made me feel like a rock star for a second.  (But that is NOT why I am calling her out as the best tasting sample employee ever.  Nope.  She totally deserves that title on her own merit.)  Management of the Bailey’s Crossroads Store – please take time to pat Cecilia on the back, tell her she is appreciated, and give her a raise.  Heck, give the lady a PROMOTION.  She is a great ambassador for your store.  I wanted to include her photo here but she wasn’t keen on that idea.

Back to the spelt.  Sadly, it was not nearly as amazing as Cecilia was. 

Price – $2.99

Rating – 2.75

Day 226 - Smoked Paprika

This is the second spice to be reviewed in this blog (the first was the amazing 21 Seasoning Salute which you can read about on day 184).  We don’t buy spices very often – does anyone??  A jar lasts us forever it seems.  But we needed some Trader Joe’s products that were not perishable to come with us on a month long adventure where we would not have easy access to TJ’s, but would have a kitchen to cook, so spices seemed to fit right in!

This smoked paprika is really nice!  We have had it on yellow squash and it was delish (squash, olive oil, smoked paprika, freshly ground salt, and fresh Meyer lemon juice (reviewed on day 3 of this blog, and I think NOT in stock at the moment at TJ’s but we got this one at another store) (total side note:  we are now trying to grow our OWN Meyer lemons!  More news on that if it works…). 

Look at all the fruits we are hoping to get!

SEE!  Meyer Lemon is one of the fruits on our new FRUIT COCKTAIL TREE

We also had this paprika on top of a cottage cheese that David makes just like his mamma used to make (my mom, may she rest in peace, “made” cottage cheese by opening a container of Robert’s Brand Cottage Cheese and PLOPPING some on a plate.  Maybe she added salt and pepper, I can’t remember.  But I thought THAT was cottage cheese until I started hanging out with David!  His mamma’s version is muuuuch better – veggies chopped up into small pieces (celery, carrots, green pepper, tomato, whatever is on hand I think!) and all mixed in with the cottage cheese, topped with paprika. 

Here you have it - from the Spices of the World Collection at Trader Joe's

Anyway, my point here is not meant to be cottage cheese, it is meant to be this Smoked Paprika.  If you are going to buy paprika, this one is fine.  I am not a spice snob so I cannot tell you if it is better or worse than another paprika, but I CAN tell you that the jar is big (1.6 oz) and the price tag is not.*

Now that we have this jar I am sure we will not need to buy another one in over a year, that is, unless David decides to make his mother’s cottage cheese every other day for the rest of the year.  And I might be able to support that idea. 

*DAMN!  I just Googled this product and I see it being sold on EBay for $5.99 PLUS $1.50 shipping???!!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/111583897007   That is highway robbery!  Man, if you do not live near a Trader Joe’s and you NEED this spice, let me know and I will hook you up for much less than that.  J

Price - $1.99

Rating - 4

Day 184 - 21 Seasoning Salute

Not gonna lie, I bought this seasoning blend only because of its NAME.  21 Seasoning Salute – could there BE a cuter name for a spice??? 

SUPER CHEAP AND REALLY TASTY!  You should totally get some.

We do not usually buy herb/spice BLENDS.  The only blend we ever use is a Montreal Steak Blend that my parents gave us approximately a dozen years ago – a huge tub of it that has slowly been used and has taken up prime real estate in our cupboard since it was purchased at Costco or Sam’s or whatever big box store they got it at. 

Years ago David made me an amazing spice rack.  It is wooden and there are slots to hold glass test tubes, each one filled with a spice.  I would show you a photo here but we are not home right now to snap one, so you will have to imagine it.  Anyway, that spice rack has never had 21 Seasoning Salute in it, but when we get back home it will!!

So far we have tried this spice blend on zucchini (good!) and chicken (also very good!).  I think it would be a safe bet to shake onto most anything (well, not, like, coconut cupcakes, cuz that would just be gross, but most SAVORY items would be happy to be sprinkled with it!).  The label tells us “It’s hard to believe that this much flavor comes from a salt-free blend” and I would have to agree!  In fact, I didn’t know it was missing salt until I read that.

This is what it looked like on our cooking chicken bits.

Here is what is has:  onion, spices (black pepper, celery seed, cayenne pepper, parsley, basil, marjoram, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, savory, rosemary, cumin, mustard, coriander), garlic, carrot, orange peel, tomato granules, lemon juice powder, oil of lemon, citric acid.  Hey – now that I count that up that are 22!  But it is called 21 Seasoning Salute…  Are they perhaps not counting the citric acid?  Or maybe counting the two lemon bits as one entry?  

However they count it, this is a good product.  I am guessing we will go through it much faster than the steak seasoning J.  And this is CHEAP, cheap, cheap compared to any spice/seasoning at any other grocery store.  Get a bottle and try it.  

Price – $1.99

Rating – 5