Cinnamon Sugar Muffin and Baking Mix

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I am writing and posting this review on February 14^th, but the product being reviewed has nothing to do with the holiday.  Even so, may your day be full of love, hugs, and chocolate (if you are into those kinds of things).

Now for the review.  I found this box of Cinnamon Sugar Muffin and Baking Mix on a Trader Joe’s “end cap” (that’s the big display at the end of an aisle for those of you who have never worked retail 😊 ).  The picture on the package looked like a tasty muffin, so I grabbed a box and made them on a recent Sunday morning.  (I say “morning”, but on days that my partner and I both have off of work, “morning” can be any time we are still in our robes and sitting down to coffee and breakfast.  On lazy days it is usually past noon.  😊 ). 

THIS is an end cap.  Lovely!

Good signage, too

The box has two versions – muffins or coffee cake.  I made them as muffins.  Here is what we thought of them:

David:  “I am gonna give these a 5.  The taste is great!  I would recommend slicing them in half and then re-dipping them in the melted butter and cinnamon sugar (editor’s note: that muffin eating style may not be the healthiest of choices but it is a delicious and creative option).  The taste is good.  The texture is good.  The amount of butter, cinnamon, and sugar is delightful!  Plus, they are very easy to make – you just get up in the morning and your girlfriend has already made them for you!!”

Muffins, espresso, grapefruit, fresh squeezed OJ, and the Sunday morning Washington Post. 
David in his "happy place". 

My take:  Even though I was the one who actually made them, I agree with David that they were easy to prepare.  All you need is water, one egg, and butter.  They are easy to mix, too.  You know how some muffin mixes are all lumpy when you mix them up?  This one was not like that.  One baking note though:  the box says to melt 6 tablespoons of butter (which is used to dip the baked muffin tops in before rolling them in the cinnamon sugar).  I had 5 tablespoons of butter handy, so used that, and it was more than enough.  I would say start with 4 or 5 tablespoons then melt a bit more if you need it.

These muffins and PRETTY and TASTY, a good combination

I will buy these again.  They would be good to make if you are having people over for breakfast or brunch.  I like that they are not toooooo sweet as some box muffin mixes are. That might be because these, being from Trader Joe’s, have more natural, “hippy” ingredients.  The box says these, “…make a light and fluffy muffin with the flavor of a donut,” which we agree with.  The texture of the muffins is terrific – they have a fluffy quality and are not as dense as some muffins are.  TJs also says these are, “A perfect combination to a cup of joe or alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream”.  We paired ours with cups of joe (and I drank mine our of my new espresso cup!).

My new espresso cup was the perfect compliment to these muffins

The box says it makes 12 muffins, I got 10 (which I guess only proves that I put more batter in the muffin cups than they expected me to).  I am going to agree with my Valentine and give these muffins a 5 star rating, too.  I am not sure if they are a seasonal item or if TJs will continue to carry them, but I recommend picking up a box soon.  They are tasty!

Bonus cheesy kissing photo for Valentine's (which was actually TAKEN on Christmas,
making the whole thing a bit confusing really...)

Price:  $2.99

Rating:  5 stars

Pain Au Lait

The package says, “ ‘Pain Au Lait’ translates to MILK BREAD, a humble name for these slight sweet and elegant rolls.  Moist and straight forward, they pair well with butter and jam and are perfect for dunking in coffee, tea, or hot chocolate for a classic French breakfast or a pick me up.”

This is the bag you are looking for

These are produced in France and I bought them at the Trader Joe’s near Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.  They looked great in the bag and I was excited to try them.  The shape is fun – they are a tiny bit smaller than a hotdog bun and sort of similar in shape (from what I remember) to TJ’s pretzel bread. 

First let’s hear what David, a person who has consumed more than his share of French bakery products, thinks of them:

See?  It may have been past noon, but we were still in our robes and
messy morning hair, so this is BREAKFAST!

“I think these are delicious.  I used to see these things in Parisian bakeries and wonder why a person would get THAT when sweet cakes were available (i.e. pain au chocolate).  But now that I taste this it is delightful!  It is soft and sweet in a gentle way, and is a good carrier of this lovely jam and butter.  Without the jam and butter, it might be a little bit bland, but still pleasant.  As a carrier for butter and jam this can’t be beat.  It might even be better than challah.  (The editor stepped in here to ask if the ones in France were the same shape as the ones Trader Joe’s is selling.)  Yes – little hot dog buns.  I give these a 4.5.”

I thought the shape of these were funny and I presumed maybe Trader Joe’s had “Americanized” the shape to the familiar hot dog bun, but the expert says this is normal, so there ya go!  I think these are really good!

New!  Pain Au Lait

When I bought these pain au lait they were a bit cold and there was some condensation in the package.  This leads me to believe that, like many TJ’s bread products, each store probably gets them frozen and keeps them that way until they put them out on the shelves.  We ate them the morning after I bought them because I wanted to make sure they were fresh.  I topped mine with Kerrygold butter (our go to butter, reviewed here:  Kerrygold Butter link) and an amazing thing we got on a road trip that took us through Georgia.  We stopped at PEACH WORLD (for the love of peaches!) and bought a little jar of Praline Pecan Honey Butter.  The stuff is to die for!  You can bet on our next drive through Georgia we will be picking up some more.  If you do not plan on making a road trip in that direction soon, you can find it online here: Georgia Peach World .

Hey!  Georgia Peach World also has these fun face-cut-out things you can snap your photo in!  Only,
I didn't know I was going to use the photo in a review, so we didn't take any pictures of US, only of our
travel companion (never before seen in this blog...) SPICEY ON A STICK!  Anyway, he thought Peach World
was the bomb, too!

I served the pain au lait with Trader Joe’s coffee, TJ’s half and half, TJ’s clementine, and TJ’s blueberries 😊 .   We warmed the pain au lait in the oven (I had seen a comment online that someone did that and loved it, they were right). 

A delightful way to start the day

These are easy to split down the middle (like a hot dog bun) to put your butter or honey or whatever inside.  I think these make a great breakfast!!  We ate ours on a weekend, meaning we slept in so this “breakfast” was served at 12:15 pm (does that make it lunch?  Philosophical question…).  We call the first meal of the day breakfast, regardless of the time we eat it.

These would be great for kids to eat for breakfast, and would be fun to pack in a kid’s lunch, too.  They are a little bit sweet but not “dessert sweet”.  When we ate one with just butter, David identified that they taste very similar to Parker House rolls.  We prefer this pain au lait with both butter AND jam. 

This is the Praline Pecan Honey Butter.  Trust me, you need it...
I wish Trader Joe's sold it!  Alas, you can order at the link above.

TJ’s bread does not have preservatives so it goes bad (moldy) faster than breads you would buy at other grocery stores.  If you are prepared to eat them quickly after you purchase them you will avoid that issue.  I give these puppies a 4.5. 

Price:  $2.99

Rating:  4.5

Day 347 - Blueberry Vanilla Chevre (and ALDI)

Aldi.

There, I said it.  Aldi!

There is much confusion over Aldi, a German grocery store chain that has some stores in the United States.  Some people have told me it IS related to Trader Joe’s, others have said it is NOT.  I cannot find any info on the relationship on the official Trader Joe’s website, but there are loads of articles online is you search.  The majority point to this:  Aldi and Trader Joe’s are separate companies owned by German BROTHERS.  Apparently they used to run a company together in Germany (called Aldi), but, like their country, Aldi SPLIT into Aldi North (Aldi Nord) and Aldi South (Aldi Sud) after the siblings got into what I can only presume was a huge fight (the article here says the fight was over selling cigarettes:  Aldi article.

So now Aldi SOUTH operates Aldi, and Aldi NORTH operates Trader Joe’s. 

At least that is the version of the story I am going with until someone from corporate offices of Aldi and/or Trader Joe’s tells me differently.

So, while they stores are not directly related, their OWNERS are siblings.  I wonder if they get along?  Imagine that holiday meal – Aldi South brother brings Aldi food to the party, while Aldi North brother insists on bringing only Trader Joe’s stuff…  Ahhh, families. 

I have long heard about Aldi but didn’t get to visit one until I was in Omaha recently.  My sister Sherry took me to Aldi, and as you can see from this photo I was excited to go!!

I get to check out an ALDI!!  Omaha (actually Bellevue), NE

First off, the grocery carts are EUROPEAN style.  You deposit a quarter, release your cart, and use it.  Then, at the end of your shopping trip, you return the cart and get your quarter back.  I love it!  (People who leave their carts in parking lots are one of my pet peeves, and this system offers an incentive to return your cart.)

Sherry investing in our shopping cart

Aldi stores are not nearly as well appointed, well lit, or well stocked as Trader Joe’s.  Each Aldi only has a very few number of people working at any given time (I think 3 or 4 employees run the entire store – stock, cashier, do everything).  The displays are not the least bit fancy.  You pay for your shopping bag.  You bag your own groceries.  You are not greeted with a smile or helped to find a product if you need it.  There is not a lush, vibrant produce department.  The aisles are not wide and welcoming.

But ALDI IS CHEAP.  Like, super cheap!!  And that can make it fun!!

Aldi, like Trader Joe’s, mostly carries plain label products, not nationally known brands.  But there were some big brands there.  There are not CHOICES in brands like you would find at other supermarkets though.

(My sister and I had another thing happen at Aldi that made our shopping fun:  there was a super cranky and a bit “off” old man shopping when we were there.  We made the mistake of engaging him in conversation, and h e basically stalked us after that.  He kept FINDING us in aisles and criticizing every single item we put in our cart.  It was hilarious.  He thought everything we were buying was terrible, and even said the PAPER TOWELS we had chosen would kill us.  It became apparent through our “conversation” (which was mostly HIM talking and us being berated…) that he was a veteran.  Well, I politely thanked him for his service, and his reply was, “They all say that.  Then they say F*&%  YOU!!!”.  Bwahahahaha.  That was the first time a service member replied THAT way when I thanked them!!)

Anyway, I wanted to make sure to compare prices while at Aldi, so I looked for things that I knew Trader Joe’s also carried.  One thing I found to compare was Kerrygold Butter.  It is our very favorite butter and I reviewed it for this blog here:  butter review   In the review, I bragged that it is much cheaper at Trader Joe’s than it is at other stores, but guess what?  It is even CHEAPER at Aldi!!!  You can save an extra .30 cents by picking it up at Aldi!  Awesome!

Same butter, even CHEAPER!

Another thing I saw at Aldi that I knew Trader Joe’s carried was Blueberry Vanilla Chevre.  Now that we have picked up a log at Trader Joe’s, I see that the packaging is different (though I suspect the quality is the same?) and the TJ’s version, though one dollar more, is two ounces more. 

Seasonal item at Aldi's.

OK, speaking of Blueberry Vanilla Chevre, let me finally get to today’s review and let you know what we thought of it!!!!

We first had it months ago at Trader Joe’s when they were sampling this cheese spread on top of Triple Ginger Snap Cookies (cookie review).  The taste was deeeelicious, which both surprised and delighted us!  So we decided to buy the cheese and cookies and serve them as appetizers recently at a birthday dinner we hosted.

Don't they look PRETTY??

Turns out that was a big mistake.  Though I am totally cool with “desserts as appetizers”, it turns out our guests view appetizers in a more traditional sense and didn’t like the “sweet for starters” concept.  I am afraid my “eat dessert first” mentality hurt the overall score of this product and for that I apologize, but here is what everyone thought:

Joan (the birthday girl) – “It’s not my favorite.  I love blueberries.  I like chevre on crackers.  I would like this better if the combination was not together.  I prefer plain chevre and plain blueberries rather than the combination.  I don’t think I would have liked it better on a cracker because of the sweetness.  I think I liked it on the ginger, but as an appetizer it was a little sweet for my palate.  It would be an excellent dessert.  As a dessert I would enjoy it with a glass of ice wine.  I give it a 2.”

Greg (Joan’s husband and David’s brother) – “I support my wife in everything, in this as well.  I agree with her – because of the blueberries and the ginger snaps it tasted more of a dessert instead of an appetizer.  If it was dessert I would toss the chevre and just have the blueberries and ginger snaps and that would be fine.  The chevre is frankly overpowered by the blueberries and ginger snaps.  I couldn’t really taste much in the way of chevre, which is a shame because I like chevre…    I would give it a 1.5.”

Isn't it a pretty color??

David –  “I liked it.  I am embarrassed that my family is so critical.  Although it is sweet and you don’t get to taste the chevre as much as you would like, it is its own thing.  Particularly the concept of the ginger snap – it is certainly a dessert.  When we had it in the store it had less blueberry in it.  I give it a 3.5.”

Me – I think it is super kinky to have this cheese on a ginger snap, that is why I like it.  I think the chevre is tangy, the ginger snap is sweet, and the blueberries are neutral.  That’s why I like it – it is like three different tastes in one.  it says there is vanilla, too, but I don’t really taste the vanilla.  I would give it a 4 when served in this combination with the cookies.

Here is what the package looks like

Whew – those reviews are all over the map, eh?

Want to see if there is an Aldi in your area?  Check out this site:  Aldi site

Price (at Trader Joe’s) – $4.99

Rating (4 reviewers averaged) – 2.75 (I really think it should be at least a 3, but I am honoring the math, sigh)

Day 301 - Honeynut Squash (miniature)

This is easily the most adorable vegetable you could ever have on your plate.  They are teeny tiny itty bitty butternut-looking squash!!!!  They are so cute!!  We had never seen them before and Trader Joe’s had a couple of pretty displays of them so we grabbed one.

Opportunity Buys - LIMITED QUANTITY - go get some!

I cut the squash in half and took all the seeds out.  I put the halves in a glass baking dish and prepared each half differently.  For  David’s I put olive oil over the whole thing, salt, pepper, Kerrygold butter (review here) and brown sugar.  In my half I put olive oil all over, salt, pepper, and a special little treat – Mike’s Hot Honey (review here).  I cooked them in the oven on 350 degrees for 50 – 55 minutes.  Both halves turned out really well.

The World's Most Petite Squash

We both thought this vegetable was GREAT!  David said, “It is sweet, luscious, creamy…  It’s soft inside.  I have no complaints!  With honey or butter inside it is fabulous! What can I say??”

The hot honey half was fun – the heat of the honey had a delayed reaction so you didn’t really notice it until you were almost finished with the bite.  I liked David’s brown sugar half, too (thanks for sharing, friend).

You can't see how adorable and tiny it is here...  I served it with a side of pasta and homemade pesto
and eggplant parmesan David made the night before.  Nice combination.

These honeynut squash would be really great to serve at a Thanksgiving meal or dinner party this autumn.  Each person gets half and it makes a perfect serving!  They are pretty and look very seasonal.  I liked it so much I kept the seeds and am drying them to plant in our garden next spring. 

David is trying to be a hipster right now because his final review of these squash is “adorbs” J.  I agree – they are ADORBS.

This is a trick photo.  Doesn't the squash look freakishly HUGE? In reality, it is standing by
the world's smallest jar of  Tabasco.

I am glad that we found this little squash!  We actually have a tradition in our house of buying a regular sized squash and then leaving it on the counter forever.  We never think to cook it.  We usually have a squash on display in some stage of the decay process.  But I think these tiny ones are so cute we would remember to cook ‘em!  A regular sized squash it is just too much for two people.  One HALF of a regular sized squash is enough for two people.  So with these Honeynut Mini Cutie Patooties, cut one in half, cook, and in a two person household everyone gets a perfect sized serving in its own little nature made serving dish!

These are seasonal so get them NOW at Trader Joe’s because they will not have them very long.   Two thumbs up!

Price – .99 (so only .50 cents per serving!!)

Rating - 5

Day 215- British Crumpets

Crumpets, for those Americans who have not had them, are AMAZING.  They are a breakfast bread, like an English muffin, but so much better (in my opinion).  They are less hard, and somehow tastier.  The HOLES in them are the very best part!  All bread products should have holes!  Holes are perfect for filling with good butter (try Kerrygold, reviewed on day 49 of this blog).  Holes are good for filling with Sunflower Seed Butter (look at day 96 of this blog)!  Holes are good for filling with jelly or jam (if you like those things, I do not).  And holes are good for filling with Dulche de Leche (check out day 182 of this blog).

Here is what they look like in the package, before you start loading them up with stuff.....

Crumpets are a nice base to build on if you have time to make a real breakfast.  Try this configuration:

a.        Crumpet

b.      Butter

c.       Cheddar cheese

d.      Thinly sliced avocado

e.      Fried egg (with salt and pepper)

See??  Doesn’t that sound great? 

This isn't the recipe above, but doesn't it look great?  Crumpet, butter, cheese, garden tomato, egg, and a side of mustard.

Or how about:

a.        Crumpet

b.      Butter

c.       Wasabi Mayo (reviewed on day 187 of this blog)

d.      Pieces of a nice lettuce

e.      Fresh slices of garden tomato

See???  Another good combo!  It’s easy!

Here is one more:

a.        Crumpet

b.      Butter

c.       Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce (5 star review on day 132 of this blog)

d.      Thin slices of banana

e.      Pieces of sliced almonds

DELICIOUS!

May I present - crumpet, butter, and Dulce de Leche!

 The package of Trader Joe’s crumpets holds 6 pieces and it is basically split into two groups of 3.  So you can open the package and only have 3 exposed to air and starting to go bad, the other 3 can stay sealed.  I like that packaging. 

TADA - just crumpet and butter.  See the big HOLES I was talking about???  They rock.

The worst part about Trader Joe’s Crumpets is that sometimes they are out of the original ones and all they have left are cinnamon flavored.  Maybe it is just me, but if I am going to have a bread for breakfast, I want it to be plain, then I will add whatever flavor I am in the mood for ON TOP of said bread, thank you very much!

Price – $2.99

Rating – 4.5

Day 206 - Butter Croissants

As mentioned in an earlier review on this blog, we have never found the “perfect bread” for us at TJ’s.  By that I mean bread as in LOAF of bread.  We do have a couple of bread products that we like – mostly the plain crumpets (which I THOUGHT I had reviewed earlier in the year but I just checked and they have not been reviewed – shame on me!).

Recently we made our RETURN TO TRADER JOE’S after being away a long time in a non-TJ’s city.   One of the new (to us) items we picked up was this package of butter croissants.   

Look at the letter "C" in "croissants" - "c" what they did there?

I cut one in half this morning and had it for breakfast.  One half number one I slathered Dulce de Leche (which got a glowing review on day 182, the half way point of the year for this blog).  On half number two I put butter, which sadly was hard from being in the fridge as opposed to soft and spread-y because I forgot to take it out of the fridge when we got back to town.  My bad. 

Dang it, I forgot to let the butter warm up overnight...  But I DO get to each a fresh peach from our tree!  HAPPY SUMMER!

Half number one was decidedly tastier than half number two.  I attribute this to the yum factor of the Dulce de Leche.  The main issue I had with the croissant was the lack of flakiness.  It tasted more BREAD and less CROISSANT.  Does that make sense?  It didn’t taste bad, per se, but the texture was not croissant-y enough for me.

David also had a croissant for breakfast (there are three in a package).  He cut his in half and toasted it in the oven and reported that his, though not FLAKY, was apparently MORE flaky than mine.  He used butter and jam on his and said it was a tasty breakfast.

Overall, I prefer a more flaky croissant.  I guess I like my croissants like I like my men, nice and flaky J.  I think because these are not freshly baked it is difficult for TJ’s to get the flake factor just right.  At .90 cents per croissant they are a fine price, but I would prefer to pay a little bit more and get a fresher one somewhere else.

Look - the sign specifically says "Rich and FLAKY!" - hmmmm...  

Price – $2.69

Rating – 3.25

Day 177 - French Baguette (bread)

I like baguettes.  We lived in Paris for a while, and there is NOTHING like a Parisian baguette.  I used to pick one up at the bakery and I NEVER got a whole baguette home – always had to break off some bits and chomp them on the walk back.

But GOOD baguettes are hard to find in America.  And reasonably priced ones are difficult to come by, too.  Baguettes are not BIG but they are expensive. 

French Baquette in a bag!

David and I have some Guests staying with us (I capitalize the word Guest because it is a proper noun, their last name is GUEST!  So technically we have some Guest guests!).  Last night we made dinner for them and all ate out on our front porch.  One thing we served was baguette with butter (of course the tastiest butter, which got a glorious review on day 49 of this blog) and cheese (cheddar (not from TJ’s), brie (reviewed previously I think), and Creamy Toscano) (to be reviewed soon). 

This review will focus on the BAGUETTE.  Unlike Parisian baguettes, which normally come in paper sleeves with the tops sticking out, making them so tempting to pick at, this one came in a plastic bag.  I have had baguettes from other American stores in plastic bags that taste like they have been in said bags for weeks. 

But this one was pretty good!  It was not the world’s BEST baguette, but it was not the world’s worst, either.  It was easy to cut into pretty little slices.  It was not too hard, and not too soft.  The crust did not threaten to chip your teeth when you bit into it.  Overall, I will say PRETTY GOOD BAGUETTE.  And at a very good (for a baguette anyway) price - $1.59.  Some American stores charge an arm and a leg for them!

Day 2 of the bagquette - this time served with brie and olives. 

We gave everyone a piece of paper and the chance to review a few items, this bread being one of them.  I will include those reviews here:

-          4 – “It is very tasty and soft in the middle but the crust is too hard.”  (Andrew, I think age10)

-          4.1 – “Dry, but good with butter or cheese.” (Lucas, I think age 12)

-          5 – “Love it.”  (Bella, I think age 8)

-          3.75 “I didn’t notice it that much.  I didn’t have any at the evening dinner (he ate some the next day as a sandwich).  I would say it seems okay, not fabulous.  It doesn’t get as hard as a regular baguette.”  (David, age 62 J )

If I gave it a review number myself, it would be 3.5.  But since this was a team one, I will average all the numbers above to come up with the final score.

Price - $1.59

Rating - 4

Day 74 - Partially Popped Popcorn

We did NOT expect to like this.  We saw it on an end cap of “New Products” and we looked at one another and went, “Ewwww!”.  I mean, it bills itself as “…the little crunchies usually found in the bottom of the popcorn bowl…” – aka the WORST PART OF THE POPCORN EXPERIENCE.  I hate those bits at the bottom of the bowl, doesn’t EVERYONE?  They are hard, don’t taste good, hurt your teeth, and worst of all they break into little razor sharp bits that deposit themselves deep into the bed of your gums where they annoy the heck out of you until you get off your butt and find a toothpick or dental floss to force them out!!!  (Can you tell by my description that the bits at the bottom of the bowl are NOT my favorite part?)

Partially Popped Pop Corn??  David's teeth hurt jusst THINKING ABOUT EATING IT!

Anyway, the description on the back of this bag goes on to say that these bits have, “…a texture that makes them almost addictive and easier on the jaw”.  Hmmmm, color me a doubter on this one…

But we need to try loads of Trader Joe’s products this year – reviewing one per day requires COMMITMENT, folks.  And like they say, in for a penny, in for a pound!  So, we needed to try this.  We asked a Trader Joe’s associate if she had tried it yet, she hadn’t and she sort of wrinkled up her nose and agreed with us that the premise sounded bad…  However, as Trader Joe’s employees are wont to do, she offered to OPEN A BAG SO WE COULD TRY IT!  Yuppers – right there in the store. 

And try we did (as did she).  Turns out – THESE LITTLE SUCKERS ARE GOOD!  They are CRUNCY but not tooth-hurting crunchy.  They taste GOOD.  And they somehow managed to eliminate the little bits that love to get stuck between your teeth!   We put a bag in our cart – sold!! 

La Jolla, CA Trader Joe's sign - each store has an in-house artist to make signage so your sign will look different than this one

We soon found a terrific pairing for this snack – beer!  We snuck the bag into a craft brewery in La Jolla, CA and ate Partially Popped Popcorn with beer – yummmm!  They almost have a “corn nut” flavor (which got me to thinking, “I haven’t had corn nuts in years.  In fact, what IS a corn nut????” – this deep thought may have been because of the beer…).  One negative thing about these – they are made with butter and sea salt, and that really sticks to your fingers.  But heck – just lick ‘em off when you are done!

I highly recommend you pick a bag of these up and TRY THEM.  We are now on our second bag!    If you get them and do not like them, remember, you can always return the opened bag and Trader Joe’s will happily refund your money.  Seriously, they give you no grief about returning a product.  (But I don’t think you will return this one because they are delicious.)

Price – $2.49

Rating – 4.75

Day 49 - Kerrygold Butter

In our family, we eat BUTTER.  Not margarine.  Not “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”.  NO.  Pure, unadulterated, full of fat BUTTER.  Burp.

We buy TWO KINDS of butter.  One for cooking/baking – that would be the “butter in a stick” formulation (reviewed in this blog on day 27).  But then we buy BUTTER FOR EATING.  Oh yeah…  Butter for putting on bread, on rice, butter for when you want to TASTE THE BUTTER.

This is some GOOD BUTTER

And Kerrygold is what we buy.  If you have never tried real European butter – you need to.  Oh man, is it good!!!  They know what they are doing over there.  They are not trying to curb fats, or be calorie conscious, or make the eater more healthy.  No – they make delicious, genuine, honest to God BUTTER.  We leave our Kerrygold out on the counter in a butter dish and serve it room temperature.  There is nothing like real butter on your morning toast or oatmeal.

So now that you know how I feel about BUTTER, let me just say that Kerrygold is one of our favorites and one of the few non-store brand products that Trader Joe’s sells, and I am thankful they do!!!  At Trader Joe’s we pay $3.19.  At Whole Foods (aka “Whole Paycheck”) the same exact package of butter would cost us $3.69.  If I popped into Safeway I would have to fork over $3.99 for it.  And heaven forbid we pick it up at the Giant Grocery Store, where we would have to invest $4.99 in the same butter!!!! 

If you want to pay way too much, go to Giant

Rip off alert at Safeway

I will keep slathering on Kerrygold until my doctor tells me to quit.  J 

Price - $3.19 (crazy cheap for this much goodness in a foil package)
Rating – 4.75

Day 39 - Wicked Sticky Pecan Buns

These caught our eye because of the cool name.  WICKED STICKY Pecan Buns!  Cool, eh?  Of course we walked around the store saying, “Wicked Sticky” in our fake Boston accents.  We thought the adverb “wicked” was modifying the adjective “sticky”.  It was not until the next morning when we ATE said buns that we realized WICKED was modifying PECAN BUNS, and STICKY was superfluous!

Let me explain…  We asked a Trader Joe’s guy if he had eaten these before and if they were good.  He was sort of cagey in his answer – hemming and hawing – and said he highly recommended heating them in the oven as opposed to microwave as that would make them a little “melty” and “less sugary sweet”.  Oh my.  I feared then that they were going to be Wicked Sugary Buns.

Wicked Sticky Pecan Buns - 4 to a pack

We followed his advice – put each bun on a small plate, covered them with foil, and heated them in the oven.  When we went to eat them they were not “melty” at all, but they were YUMMY!!  Sweet, but not too sweet, and oh so butttttery!  The pecans were nice, too.  Really a tasty breakfast treat!

A buck a bun!

Wicked Sticky Pecan Buns (with espresso) for breakfast

The only thing missing was the STICKY!  There was no sticky whatsoever!  Just yummy!  Name change suggested – WICKED YUMMY PECAN ROLLS. 

Price - $3.99 (which equals a buck a bun)

Rating – 4.5

Day 27 - Salted Butter Quarters

OK, confession:  I do not normally buy “store brand” stuff at stores other than Trader Joe’s.  I mean, like, if I am in Shoppers Food Warehouse, I will plop down the extra dime (or quarter…) for the well-known label – the one I have seen on TV and in coupons.  I KNOW this is “conditioning” by the huge companies, and I KNOW I should save money and purchase the plain label, store brand product, but 9 times out of 10, Heinz canned tomatoes will jump in my cart instead of plain label.  (And yes, I know that sometimes the store label brand is the same exact product that is inside the fancy brand can, just with a different label…)   I am a bit embarrassed to admit all of that, but it is true! 

But here’s the thing – at Trader Joe’s, a vast majority of the products are THEIR STORE BRAND.  And they are fabulous.  Equal to or better than the famous brands we buy because we see them on TV and because our mothers bought them and fed them to us when we were growing up.  I buy them, I like them, and I am happy.  J

BUTTER!

So that sets the stage for this butter (salted butter quarters).  If I were at Safeway or Shoppers Food Warehouse, I would not buy the plain label brand.  I would spend more and buy Land O’ Lakes butter.  But at Trader Joe’s I am perfectly happy to buy store brand butter!  And it is yummy.  And works well in all the same things I use butter for – on bread, for baking, to top veggies, etc (though, honestly, our “toast butter” is a different butter, which I will review soon!).  This butter is good.  It is on par with Land O’ Lakes.   Heck, this butter is even made from cows who were not treated with BST.  If you, too, avoid store brand things, just start by trying this butter.  You won’t notice a difference.  J 

  

Turns out, this price is insanely cheap!

Side note – this blog is not about recipes, coupons, or penny pinching techniques.  But I am a curious person.  So I just looked up what the same size package (16 oz) of salted butter quarters would be at my local Safeway if we bought Land O Lakes.  HOLY SMOKES - $6.09!!!  MORE THAN DOUBLE what we paid at Trader Joe’s!!!   So not only is it yummy, it is CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP. 

Price – $2.99

Rating – 3.75