Day 352 - Soycutash AND Artistan Everything Bagels (TWO REVIEWS ON ONE DAY!)

Soycatash is another of Ttrockwood’s recommendations.  You see, when I go shopping with someone, I listen up to what they suggest!!!

Only, this suggestion didn’t go over quite as well as some of her others…  Not that it BOMBED, but it didn’t “wow” either.

Here we have exhibit A:  Soycutash 

Soycatash is a bagged vegetable blend that you find in the TJ’s frozen food section.  It is a mix of soy beans (edamame), red pepper, and corn.  I microwaved it. 

To me, the edamame was the strongest taste in the blend, which was a plus since I really like edamame.  What was also cool is that this edamame, unlike the other kind we eat, was already out of the shell so there was no work involved to consume it.  J 

I like that this is an alternative veggie to our “normal choices” for dinner.  It is simple to prepare.  I think it would be better to use to make a SOUP instead of just to heat and eat like we did.  I prefer the taste of just plain edamame to this blend, truth be told.

The soycutash adds pretty colors to your plate, that's for sure

David says he thinks it would be nicer with a sauce of some kind.  He says that the problem is, when you microwave it as long as the package says to, or even less (like we did), the corn gets “deflated”.  And can’t we all agree – deflated corn is sorta sad.  We served it with several other items on the plate and David said he couldn’t get a real “isolated taste” of this dish.  He gives it a 3.

Blurry photo of pricing sign, sorry.

 We only cooked a bit of the bag.  We will try again and use it to put in a recipe instead of just as a side dish.  I think it would be less boring that way. I really thought if we didn't like this product I would get to do the juvenille thing and call it SUCKatash in this review, but it doesn't suck so I can't.

Price – $2.29

Rating – 3

But  look, since there are only a few more days left in the “365” that are the scope of this project, I am going to give you a GIFT WITH PURCHASE today!!!  Yes, it is TWO FOR ONE today, folks!  Buy one, get one freeeee!  (I refuse to use the currently popular retail acronym “BOGO” cuz I hate it, so you will not be betting a “BOGO” here…)

Here’s the deal:  with so few reviews left to write, I feel guilty writing about products that the majority of readers won’t be able to get because they are LOCAL things.  But I really wanna tell you about the BAGELS we got in New York City, cuz I loved ‘em.  Plus, I want you to see the funny photo of David with them.  So I will do a bonus review today (first time ever I think) and tell you about them!

Artisan Bagels (with Everything)

THESE

The package states that these bagels are baked fresh daily, hand shaped, and kettle boiled.  Ttrockwood told us about how the regular TJ’s bagels, the ones we all find in our stores, don’t sell much in New York City.  That’s because there are these amazzzzing “Artisan” local bagels on the shelves.  So I grabbed a bag (they contain 3 large bagels).  I chose “everything” bagels because those are normally David’s favorites. 

I LOVED THEM!  I recorded my comments about them and when I listen to the recording now, my voice sounds different – huskier, sexier, it is as if I not only LOVED those bagels, but I was also IN LOVE with them. 

Ready to be devoured

Before cutting

Oh man – thank you for pointing those out to us Ttrockwood!  Thank you for steering us to the outside lane of the Chelsea store so we could pick up bread products!  They are the best store bought bagels I have eaten in my entire life.   They do not taste ‘store bought” at all.  Rather, they taste like you are in a noisy deli or café on a Sunday morning and people are talking and laughing around you.  Then the waitress brings you a fresh squeezed OJ and a bagel just like this on a plate.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh….

Atttractive, eh??  Morning bagel.  Ahhh.  Notes about this photo:  see MY new glasses?  The wine glasses on the table were NOT from breakfast - they were from dinner the night before and had been washed and cleaned but not put away yet. 

I do not typically choose “everything” bagels for myself.  They are too outta control for me.  I like my bagels ORGANIZED, thank you very much.  But the thing is: these bagels ARE organized!  They are not “over the top” everyhing like other store bought bagels are.  They are just the right amount of “bits” on them.

Now here is the weird part:  David, who I specifically bought these for, didn’t like them as much as I did!  What a loser!!!!  Here is what he said:  “These bagels have a great texture.  A nice taste.  But they are a little bit dense for my taste.  They have a LOT of bread, so you need to put something sharp on the topping rather than just bland cream cheese.  I went with olives and onion, yet I still wished I had some smoked salmon to throw on top as well.  These are probably better than other bagels at TJ’s but I do not remember the other ones.  I give these a 4.25.”

David and the infamous NYC bagels - this is one of my favorite photos of him for this project.  

So David calls these bagels DENSE??  Well, my friend, I call you dense (I call you that with love in my voice) for not giving these a 5.

If you live in NYC and you are buying the regular bagels at TJ and not THESE BAGELS, please re-examine your shopping list. 

Cheaper than a deli but just as delicious

David’s score is rejected in this review and these bagels get a 5.  J

Price – $1.99

Rating – 5 (so there!)

Day 350 - Wine Country Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Pecans

A few days ago a review reader commented and said that this WINE COUNTRY CHICKEN SALAD was one of her very favorite products at Trader Joe’s and said that I needed to review it.  So off we went to the Alexandria, Virginia Trader Joe's to pick some up!  (Note:  I am not always that fast at picking up on product suggestions, but chicken salad sounded so good when it was mentioned…)

You suggest it, I go buy it, eat it, and review it!  Yes m'aam/sir!  

Before I write the review, I must share a quote my dad likes to say.  None of us really understand why he says it or even what it really means, but for some reason it is a traditional quote of his.  Here goes (cover your ears/eyes if you are easily offended):  “You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit.”

Yup.  That’s my dad.

My dad and I when I recently visited him in Omaha.

As for as this chicken salad from TJ’s goes, it turns out it was a great reader recommendation!  We both liked it.  Ingredients listed include:  chicken, mayonnaise, dried cranberries, pecans, yogurt, pineapple juice, honey, celery, and more.  When I looked at the salad I thought the cranberries were RAISINS (before reading the ingredients). 

Nice little plastic tub of yummy.

David says, “This is good.  This is a nice salad.  It has large chunks of white meat chicken which are nicely balanced with the cranberries and pecans.  There is enough celery to give it crunch.  There are little black bits in it, too, maybe poppy seeds?  And it is all tied together with a nice, loose liquid-y dressing of some kind.  If it were me I would have gone with a more mayonnaise-y type thing.  But this is definitely nice.  It is somewhat sweet.  I would give it a 4.25.”

As for me, I typically like my chicken salad “bland” – i.e. without raisins, grapes, and other “fancy crap” in it.  Normally I say just give me chicken, mayo (with no foo foo stuff in it) and let me have at it.  Someone in my childhood used to make “foo foo” chicken salad and I never really liked it and the look of this one brought back memories of that yucky chicken salad from my childhood (chicken salad flashbacks!!).  So this product could have been a big fail for me, but…  It was not!

Deeeelicious!

I first had it on a toasted mini TJ’s bagel topped with this chicken salad and avocado.  It was DELICIOUS!  Very good!  It totally hit the spot.  It was not TOO anything – not too sweet, not too mayonnaise-y, not too runny…  It is really a great chicken salad!

It was messy, but I can’t fault it for that.  The chicken chunks are big but not overpoweringly so – they are manageable.  The only thing I would say could be improved about this product is the LID:  it was difficult to get off. 

Not cheap, but really good.

We later had the remaining chicken salad in a lettuce salad (and ate some by the forkful right out of the plastic tub).  Anyway we served it, it tasted really yummy. 

I would give this a 4.75.   

Price - $4.99

Rating (average of 2 raters) - 4.5

Day 96 - Sunflower Seed Butter

Wait a gosh darn minute – I haven’t reviewed Trader Joe’s SUNFLOWER SEED BUTTER yet??  I could have sworn I did that much closer to the beginning of this project!  How can I be on day 90 and JUST NOW reviewing this lovely product?  Shame on me.

Ok.  Here we go.

This is what you are looking for - isn't it pretty?

We are not “crunchy granola” type people.  Oh sure, we eat some weird stuff, and we drive Prii (the plural of Prius, I think…).  But we are not extreme-health-nuts-never-eat-ice-cream-only-buy-organic-meat-is-evil types.  So we were not looking for an alternative to peanut butter.  In fact, we don’t even buy the organic peanut butter that gets all oily on top and you have to stir it every time you use it (ewwww).  But a couple of years ago when we saw this Sunflower Seed Butter at Trader Joe’s and we were out of peanut butter, I was like, “Why not try it?”.  So we did.  And we were happy.

Sunflower Seed Butter is lovely.  It has a smooth, creamy texture and a mighty delicious taste.  It doesn’t have to REPLACE your peanut butter, it is just an alternative to it!  Why not have BOTH – some mornings you will be all, “Hmmm, this bagel could use some peanut butter…” and other mornings you might think, “Hey, where is that SUNFLOWER SEED BUTTER – Ima spread that stuff on this toast…”.  Life is about BALANCE, eh?

So yeah - get this.  It is yummy.  And to be honest, I always thought it was sort of pricey, until tonight when I was at Giant and saw their "Sun Butter" (which is what got me to thinking about it…) – man – the Trader Joe’s version is CHEAP compared to the one at Giant!

Ouch - really Giant?  That is some PRICEY spread...

Ahhh - thanks Trader Joe's - that's more like it!

Get some.  Spread it on hot toast.  You will thank me.

Price - $4.99

Rating – 4.75

Day 14 - The Bagel Spinoza

This blog is all about honest, real customer reviews.  So in all honesty, we have not found a loaf of bread at Trader Joe’s that suits us.  None of them have ever been fluffy enough, or tasty enough, or lasted long enough without going stale.  So for that reason, we hesitated buying the bagels.

We should not have been scared.  They are great!!  They are a terrific texture and taste fabulous.  Top them with butter, hummus, cream cheese, peanut butter – the sky is the limit!  J  They did not go stale quickly which is a plus for us with only two people in the house to eat them.

It Bagels the Mind

The price is really good, too, it works out to only .38 cents a bagel!  That seems much cheaper than bagel packages at other stores and CERTAINLY cheaper than the “buy one at a time” bagels at other store’s bakeries.  Go for it.

Yum - bagels!

And really, with a tag line like, "It Bagels the Mind", how can you NOT try these??

Price - $2.29

Stars – 4.25