Day 320 - Chicken Pot Pie (fresh)

Let's start with something FUN - Clarendon Trader Joe's (Virginia, right outside Washington DC) is where the awesome Rebekah works.  She is the only store rep who has written me back (out of the 21 stores we have visited and I have written to about this blog project).  Her store is now having THIS super fun contest:

Well, we do not have a dog or cat...  So we do not consume TJ's pet food products (this sign was hanging in the pet food aisle).  HOWEVER, we do have a couple of furry friends who like TJ's stuff, so went sent in these entries:

Ted loves TJ's honey

Ty is a fan of TJ's bananas

Aren't they adorable?  :)  Seriously though, I think it is great that some Trader Joe's store really get into the "fun spirit" and host stuff like this.  Ok, now onto today's review.

This was not a frozen chicken pot pie, but one of the “fancier” fresh ones that are in the refrigerated section (by the hummus and cheeses).  I think it is a seasonal item. 

I wish I would have grabbed the TURKEY Pot Pie right next to this...  Maybe we just got a bad one??

David loved this.  He even uttered , “Deee-licious.”

I cooked this (and by “cooked” I mean “put it in the oven which was preheated to 375 and followed the instructions for how long to cook it”.  It isn’t rocket science).  And STILL…  sigh.  It was super watery and not even HOT all the way through even though I left it in the oven longer than the instructions said.  I think the instructions need to be modified. 

David agreed that it was too watery and seemed to try to veil his suspicion that I somehow cooked it wrong (I HEATED IT UP, WHAT COULD GO WRONG??) by saying that, “Even despite the consistency it was great.  it may be possible to cook this in such a way that it was not quite this watery”. 

He looks over the moon about it and he hasn't even TASTED it yet

I was disappointed in this puppy.  When I took it out of the oven it looked like it was cooked.  It wasn’t until I had cut it in half and put it on plates that I realized it was still very chilly inside.  I had to bung it in the microwave. I thought the chicken chunks in this were too big and some had hard BITS.  There wasn’t a lot of creaminess – it could use a creamier sauce.

Here it is before I cut it.  See, how was I to know it was still COLD on the inside?  Deceptive...

Here is the watery mess of the inside.  Note:  no steam coming off of this...
Also, does it look like the picture on the front of the box?  Not so much...

I think we had this last year in the autumn and we remembered it as being good.  But maybe we had the TURKEY pot pie and not the chicken one, perhaps this is different.  This brought nothing special to the table and needed salt and pepper just to add some jazz.

The container says this dish is 3 servings.  We would beg to differ and say it is 2, maybe 2.5 if you have half a person at your dinner table.  We cut it down the middle and each ate half.  Then again, we didn’t make a vegetable to go with it.

I say skip this chicken pot pie and buy a cheaper frozen one.  it might not be “fancy” but it will be less watery.  Or better still, buy TJ’s Chicken Pot Pie Ravioli!  Now THOSE are yummy and well priced!  Chicken Pot Pie Ravioli review here

David gives this a 4.25.  I give it a 3.25 (that is being a bit generous).

Price – $6.99

Rating – 3.75

Day 169 - Chicken Balti Pies

Chicken WHAT?

That was our first response, and maybe yours too, to see the name of this frozen product.  Being a resident of the Washington DC area, what I thought of was BALTI-MORE, however, it turns that is not what these are named after J.  The box tells us that BALTI is a traditional curry.  Because it is a CURRY, I mistakenly thought INDIAN.  But if you read the fine (pretty font) print on the side of the box you will learn that this was actually inspired by the “savory pies of the United Kingdom”.

Frozen food section - don't they look yummy?  Looks are not deceiving in this case!

Whew, glad I didn’t read that BEFORE we bought these!  Not sure I would have put them in our cart!  David lived in London for a long time and when we go back and visit I am amazed that a region can have such blaaaaaaaaand food. 

Not these Chicken Balti Pies, ain’t nuttin’ bland about ‘em!  They are really good! 

First off, they are not like Chicken POT Pies.  They are much thicker and sturdier than a chicken pot pie.  They do not need a little tin to hold them – they are hefty enough to stand on their own.  The crust is really nice!  Inside is curry, carrots, gold potatoes, and chicken.  We were afraid they might be very dry inside but they are not, the curry was just right.  Yum! 

We heated both up (mostly via the microwave because we didn’t even start prepping dinner until after 11 pm and we were not patient enough to wait an hour for the oven method).  The nutrition facts on the box say 1 pie per person, but I only ate half of mine (and the baby bok choy we served with it (reviewed on day 38 of this blog). 

All descriptions on this sign are correct.  These are, as the sign says, a delight!

These are a new product at Trader Joe’s and I hope they continue to carry them.  Get some and try them!  And if you want to learn more about BALTI, here is a link (though Wikipedia is hesitant about the validity of some of the info):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balti_(food)

Price - $5.99 (so 3 bucks per pie)

Rating – 4.25

Day 160 - Chicken Pot Pie Ravioli

What the WHAAAT???  Chicken Pot Pie RAVIOLI???  How in the world is that combination even POSSIBLE??

Check it out - two great things - CHICKEN POT PIE ANNNND RAVIOLI - all in one!

I am happy that my Facebook friend Gwynn posted the other day about finding this culinary peculiarity at her Trader Joe’s.  We had not seen this in the stores yet but as soon as I read her post I was READY to go find it!  We picked some up at the Pembroke Pines, FL store (that has nice artwork shown on day 156 of this blog – check it out!).

We had the ravioli for dinner tonight.  And it was a pretty QUIET dinner, because we were so busy enjoying the taste of what we were eating that we barely talked.  Well, except to say stuff like, “Oh man…” and “This is GOOD, eh??”, etc. 

Totally reasonable price for something so yummy

Seriously, this is a good thing to eat.  It DOES taste like chicken pot pie AND ravioli, and who doesn’t like those 2 things????  You just put the raviolis in water for 5 or 6 minutes and they are good to go!  The package says to serve them with just olive oil or a sauce.  We tried one with olive oil and decided we liked them better with sauce (we had Trader Joe’s Alfredo Sauce, to be reviewed soon).  The Alfredo sauce was a great compliment to the ravioli – I recommend the combination.

The ravioli with Alfredo sauce (and green beans) - see the rogue carrot on the plate?  That is from a ravioli that burst

The ONLY slight problem with this item is the propensity for ravioli to burst a bit when cooking, thus leaking out a bit of the chicken pot pie goodness.  I think if it were not for the bursting, these would have gotten a 5 star rating…  We will have these again, that’s for sure!  The package says 2 servings and that was perfect for the 2 of us.  It is very well priced, too, at basically $2 per serving (plus sauce).  This is a new product for Trader Joe’s and I sure hope they keep carrying it!

Price - $3.99

Rating – 4.75

Day 30 - Chicken Pot Pie Bites

These seemed like such a swell idea!  Little Barbie sized versions of real chicken pot pies!  What could be cuter??

The problem is, once they are cooked (which takes an hour if you do it like we did in the oven), they are not so CUTE anymore.  They bubble up over the edges and are difficult to get out of the little Barbie sized muffin pan they come in.

They are so CUTE in this photo.  As they say on weight loss commercials, results may vary.

They TASTE good, mind you.  It is nice having guaranteed pot pie crust in every bite (as opposed to regular sized chicken pot pies, where sometimes you just get inside goo and not crust).  The filling is a nice blend of sauce, chicken, and veggies and the crust is yummy. 

They are meant to be served as little appetizers, but we just plopped 6 each on a plate, dunked them in Dijon mustard, and called it a meal (with asparagus on the side).  For a MEAL, they worked ok, but I wouldn’t bother with them for appetizers. 

Price - $4.99 (which equals  .42 cents per tiny pot pie)

Rating – 3