Chicken Burrito Bowl

First, let me say right off, I have the flu.  It’s not the “throw up” type of flu, it is the fever, exhausted, and every inch of your body ache type of flu (it even hurt to COMB MY HAIR this morning…  Huh?)

Oh, I feel muuuuuch better than I felt yesterday, where I lie in bed ALL DAY and night long, freezing cold (with a fever) even though I was snuggled under the electric blanket.  I now have a super expensive ($117 after insurance???) prescription of TamiFlu to take (geez Louise, that works out to almost $12 per pill – I could buy 2 bottles of wine at Trader Joe’s for every pill I am taking!  Priorities, people…)

Not gonna lie...  I sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office for 45 minutes to get in to see her.  And the whole entire time I was wearing the ridiculous mask UPSIDE DOWN and INSIDE OUT.  And they never told me!  Can't they TELL I feel awful by looking at me??  When I finally got called back the nurse said, "Oh, put the PURPLE side out!  You are gonna suffocate!"  Gee, thanks.

So anyway, I am not feeling dapper.  Also, I am home alone.  David is at rehearsal for “Gogol’s Nose and Other Strange Tales From the City”, a show he is co-directing at George Mason University.  It opens March 29^th and YOU should come see it if you are in the Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC area J.  Here is a link to the university performance calendar so you can check it out:  link to Gogol's Nose!

David has been at rehearsal in the evenings quite a lot lately, which has meant a change in diet for me.  No longer are we doing “team cooking” – me focusing on veggies and him doing starch or meat…  No, now it is things like, I kid you not, a dinner of Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints for me!  Oh yeah, steppin’ it up a notch in the cuisine department. 

So, tonight I pulled a little something out of the freezer that I purchased with the intention of eating for a LUNCH – a Trader Joe’s Chicken Burrito Bowl.  Since David wasn’t here, I ate that whole sucker myself.  And here is what I thought of it:

Here you have it: dinner in a box.  Just add wine!

This is the first time I have had this item.  I was imagining MOE’S (a chain restaurant) when I bought it.  it was super easy to prepare – I microwaved it for 4.5 minutes, stirred it, let it sit a minute, and it was ready to roll.  I topped it off with the last bit of Hatch Valley Salsa I had (which I am kinda sorta addicted to and reviewed here:  Hatch Valley Salsa link  ).  (It is garbage and recycling night, and using the salsa means I can get the jar out of the fridge and recycle it!  But don’t fret, I have my back-up jar in the cupboard!)

My first bite of chicken in this burrito bowl was way too big, it was like the size of 3 bites!  That put me off a bit, but subsequent bites were better sized.  Sadly though, the chicken was really bland.  The black beans, corn, and peppers were much tastier. 

Ahhh, fancy dinner!!

This burrito bowl is listed as one serving, and that seems right if you are hungry.  It would make a good lunch.  It is nothing that is going to knock your socks off – it is NOT like going to Moe’s.  For some reason this Trader Joe’s bowl is just not all that flavorful.  It needs much more spice. 

Reasonably priced and NEW
                                                                                                                                                           

So, while I would rather have a bowl or burrito from Moe’s (which ironically is right next to our usual Trader Joe’s!), this is not a bad substitute.  It’ll do if you wanna just sit on the sofa, eat, and watch CNN.  I might buy one of these again to keep in the freezer for a lunch or solo dinner – it was filling enough anyway. 

Price:  $3.49

Rating: 3.5

Black Beans - even CHEAPER than before!

I first reviewed Trader Joe's Black Beans (in a can) on July 21, 2015.  They got a good review, which you can see here:

Black Beans Review

At that time, one can of black beans was .89.  As you might suspect, most stores do not LOWER their prices.  I mean sure, they may run a special sale every now and then, but would you really expect a store to LOWER their price and keep it that way???

TRADER JOE'S DID!

They CUT the price!!!

The same can of black beans is now a dime cheaper!

Yup - black beans are now only .79!!!  Look, a dime might not be a ton of money to you, but every dime counts, man.  Dimes add UP!  If you eat one can of black beans per month, you would save (let me do the math here...) $1.20 a year!!!!

Good ol' Black Beans

Seriously, I think it rocks that Trader Joe's sees fit to lower their prices sometimes.  When the price of everything else in the world seems to be going UP, it is nice that the humble black bean gets a bit cheaper.

Keep it up, TJ's!!

P.S. - while we are on the subject of BLACK BEANS, do yourself a favor and do not buy the Black Bean Rotini at Trader Joe's, even if they lower the price...  0 star review here (and trust me, 0 stars is hard to get from me...):  Black Bean Rotini Review

Avoid this at all costs

Black Bean Rotini is barfable

Suzy Soup

Recently some friends invited us over for dinner.  It was great fun!!!  They made a delicious dinner (dessert to be reviewed at a later date) AND shared a recipe for a soup that they make using all Trader Joe’s ingredients!

Well, of course we had to try that out!!!  So we collected ingredients and set out to make what I have decided should be called SUZY SOUP.  Yes, I know that Suzy and Rob, the friends who had us over for dinner, like to call it Tortilla Soup, but they are wrong.  In our house it will henceforth be known as SUZY SOUP.

Wanna make it?  It is, as Suzy told me, “Easy peasy lemon squeezy!”.   Here is how to make it:

Ingredients

1 can black beans, drained (reviewed here)
1 can corn, drained (reviewed here)
1 box chicken broth (reviewed here)
1 jar Trader Joe’s Double Roasted Salsa (this was our first time having this product!)
Chicken (boneless, skinless) – sautéed

Combine all ingredients listed above in a pot to heat (after sautéing the chicken)

Can't you almost SMELL it cooking???

Now here is the fun part!

Fill little bowls with:

grated jack cheese
cilantro
sliced avocados
sour cream (or Suzy says you can use plain yogurt but we were too scared to try that)
tortilla chips (we used our favorite Blue Corn Chips (reviewed here)
chopped onion (we got crazy and added this!)
chopped tomato (again, Suzy didn’t tell us to have this, but it made the soup amazing!)

Then let everyone fill their bowl with Suzy Soup and top with whatever toppings from the little bowls they would like!!  (Of course, at our house, we each put in EVERYTHING!)

We were so excited to EAT Suzy Soup that I forgot to take a photo until my bowl was nearly empty... 

SERIOUSLY good soup.  Perfect for cold winter nights.  Super easy to make yet somehow looks fancy!

The only downside I can think of is that when you are done with dinner you not only have SOUP BOWLS to wash, you have lots of tiny bowls that were filled with toppings to clean, too.  But that is a small price to pay for such a delicious meal.  David reports that one other downside is that it is so tasty, that SOME PEOPLE (editor’s note – there was a bit of guilt in his voice when he reported this…) might eat TOO MUCH and then go to bed with a very full belly and have a hard time sleeping… 

I CAUGHT HIM eating a second (or third??) helping!!

The recipe made more than the 2 of us could eat but it was GREAT as leftovers.  I can’t really list a PRICE here, because it depends on what topping ingredients you buy.  But it is not expensive to make.

Rating - 5

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 202 - Black Beans

A can of black beans is a can of black beans, right?  I mean, how SUPERB or CRAPPY can a can be?  Maybe I just have never bought a super bad brand of black beans.

That being said, these are fine black beans. :)  They are black.  They are beany.  They are good.  As I have mentioned in previous reviews of canned vegetables on this blog, before buying Trader Joe’s brand, I always thought I “needed” to stick with name brand canned vegetables.  I clipped coupons and bought them on sale.  But now that I know TJ’s are just as good as the fancy name brand vegetables that pay for advertising (and coupons!), I will stick to TJ’s!

Not only are they tasty, they are an excellent source of fiber (insert fart joke here)

I served these over rice and topped with chopped green pepper, chopped onion, chopped tomato, and sliced avocado.  YUMMMMMM.  I added salt, pepper, and Tabasco to mine.  Sometimes I do the black beans over rice and kale (also with Tabasco) and that is also a really tasty meal.

See those black beans hiding under all of those tasty toppings???

If you have never tried a store brand canned vegetable, do it.  Cheaper and just as reliable. 

Price - .89

Rating - 4

Day 62 - Embrace Your Inner Bean

My friend Heidi got these "Embrace Your Inner Bean" snacks on a shopping trip we recently went on together to the Overland Park, KS Trader Joe’s.  We were hungry, so when we jumped in the car we opened them and dug in.

No bueno.

They LOOK cute, don't they?  

The TEXTURE is the biggest problem with this little snack stick.  It is too Styrofoam-y.  They feel like little sticks of Styrofoam dipped in some spices.  But not MANY spices, because they really don’t taste much.  They just feel weird on your tongue.

What we figured out they ARE good for is to serve as little (quasi) edible chopsticks to dip into tzatziki and lift it to your mouth!!  We just kept piling on the tzatziki and shoveling it in with these “Delightfully Crunchy Baked Black Bean Snacks” (the package’s words, not mine).  The package says a serving size is “about 22” little black bean snacks – I can’t imagine eating that much Styrofoam. 

22 pieces of these would be a LOT to ingest...  They are not big, but they are a weird texture...

Overall impression – skip the black bean snacks and just get the tzatziki.  J

Price - $1.49

Rating – 1

Day 52 - Cowboy Caviar

So Cowboy Caviar found its way into our home via a recipe.  Somewhere, at some point, I read a recipe for a Trader Joe’s dinner that required COWBOY CAVIAR.  So I picked up a jar.  And never ever saw the recipe again.  Months later, maybe over a year later, I found said jar of Cowboy Caviar in our cupboard.  Normally I am a strict “Consume before the “best by” date” kind of gal.  But something about this product made me think, “What the heck, give it a try, what’s it gonna do, kill ya??”.

Cute name for corn salsa

So basically, Cowboy Caviar is CORN SALSA.  It is corn, peppers, black beans, and spices in a jar.   It is fine.  I mean, I guess I am not a huge fan of corn salsa, and I am sure if this was fresher it would have been better.  I give cowboys the benefit of the doubt!  J  I think it would go well in a tortilla or even on scrambled eggs. 

Pretty good price

Perhaps this IS what cowboys call caviar!

I am going to try it again sometime.  And not leave it in the cupboard for so long. 

Price – $2.49

Rating - 3