Brussels Sprouts (Frozen)

I .  Finally.  Get.  It.

As a true Brussels Sprouts lover, I never really understood why that veggie has such a bad reputation!  It seems that way more people HATE Brussels Sprouts than any other veggie (well, maybe except okra, but okra should really be in a class by itself…).  Brussels Sprouts are delicious!  Brussels Sprouts are healthy!  Brussels Sprouts are easy to prepare!!  Brussels Sprouts look like adorable little teeny tiny cabbage heads!  I could not understand why so many people turned up their noses at them!!!

But now that I have tasted Trader Joe’s frozen Brussels Sprouts (which I shall refer to as B.S. for the rest of this review so I don’t have to keep writing out the name), I understand why so many people think B.S. are complete BS.

  

Here they are - in the freezer section...

 These are gross.

The texture of them is disgusting.  They are mushy and just do not feel “right” in your mouth.  They do not have the rich, roasted, delicious taste of fresh B.S. .  Honestly, when I ate them they made me gag a bit.  If I could offer up a bit of a comparison; I grew up only knowing CANNED ASPARAGUS (don’t judge!!).  I liked it.  My memory is that my mom didn’t serve (canned) asparagus often, probably because it is so expensive.  But when she did serve it, I really liked it!!  Then, when I grew up and got a kitchen of my own and my sweetheart introduced me to REAL, FRESH ASPARAGUS – oh my…  My heart skipped a beat!  I realized all that I had been missing all of those years!!  Canned asparagus, when put in a head to head competition with fresh asparagus, would LOSE HORRIBLY. 

And frozen TJ’s B.S. would get beaten to a pulp in a side to side comparison with fresh B.S. .

It looks like David was thinking these would be "meh" before we even reached the check out lane!
WHY didn't I go with his instinct and leave these at the store???

These frozen TJ's B.S. are not 100% horrible, they do have a couple of positives going for them:

1.       They are simple to cook – open the bag, plop in a baking dish with olive oil, and roast

2.       They are (presumably) healthy (though probably not AS HEALTHY as fresh B.S.)

3.       They are easier to prepare then fresh B.S. – no rinsing or cutting needed

4.    They are cheap

But all of those PLUSSES get drowned out by the yucky TASTE.  If something doesn’t taste good, no amount of easy preparation makes it worthwhile in my book.

These are so yucky tasting that there are still LEFTOVER B.S. IN OUR FRIDGE.  Folks, there are NEVER leftover B.S. in our fridge!  When I roast fresh B.S. I will gobble down every last morsel, and if I can’t fit one more in my belly, I will eat the leftovers the next morning, cold, for breakfast.  (OK, maybe I am a B.S. freak, but they are goooood!). 

Leftover smelly, mushy, yucky (previously frozen but now roasted) Trader Joe's Brussels Sprouts.

So, that is my take on this sad excuse for a frozen vegetable.  I give them a 1.75.

Here they are as I prepared to roast the little suckers

Here is what David thinks, “I LOVE THESE AND I WANT TO HAVE THEM ALLLL THE TIME!!  Just kidding…  I don’t think they are as bad as Sue does.  They are soft, particularly on the inside, I like that.  I think they are a little bit mushy but that is alright in a B.S.  They don’t have much of a B.S. taste, but that’s alright, they have some.  They’ll do.  They are kinda like potatoes, they will do for a filler-upper and they are quick and easy.  I would give these a 3.”

And here they are "in the wild" - i.e. on our plate.  Yuck.  Waste of plate space.
Notice the other TJ's stuff!  TJ's couscous mixed with TJ's (frozen) edamame, TJ's (frozen) asparagus,
TJ's chicken enchilada (I think that is what it is) topped with TJ's Hatch Valley Salsa, some TJ's black bean sauce thing...
The only super gross thing on the plate was the TJ's B.S. :(

Susan back again:  please don’t buy these.  Other TJ’s frozen veggies are good – the Roasted Corn, for example!!   And their frozen Edamame is my current addiction!  But these frozen B.S. are crappy.  

Price: .99

Rating (average of 2 raters):  2.5

Here are other Brussels Sprouts review links from this blog:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts Parmyere (this was yucky)

Shaved Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts (a coveted 5 star review!!)

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 339 - Roasted Corn (frozen)

I have mentioned this before, but we tend to buy fresh vegetables as opposed to frozen.  And for CORN, we sometimes buy CANS.  But when I saw this bag of frozen ROASTED corn at Trader Joe’s, I was intrigued… 

Hmmm, doesn't it look interesting??

And I was right to be intrigued!  We served it up and YUM, what a good idea. 

David: “This is nice!  It is grilled tasting.  It’s easy eatin’ – you don’t have to chew it off the cob.  And it tastes like GRILLED CORN.  Nice.  The taste is great but the texture is a little bit limp in the way that frozen or canned corn can be.  I give this a 4.”

Does it look tasty in this photo?  Because in real life it is.

Me:  I think this is a grand idea!  Usually when it is not summer time (i.e. not corn on the cob season) I buy canned corn.  I always feared the frozen corn would be mushy when it was cooked.  But this is not mushy at all (to me anyway).  I really like the GRILLED aspect of it.  Very nice! 

I just put some in a bowl, added a bit of water, and microwaved it.  It is really good!  It is very satisfying.  It tastes like you are eating corn on the cob from the guy who sells it at a fair but it is even better – you are not eating it off the cob so it doesn’t get stuck in your teeth!

FIRE ROASTED CORN.  Yum.  And look - the sign says it is a perfect ADDITION to stuff.
Geez, all we did it eat it straight!

File this one under, “Why didn’t we think of that??”.  This is a good invention and I plan to keep some in our freezer.  I give this a 4.25.  And since this is MY blog and not David’s, I am going to go with MY SCORE for the final one.  J

Price – $2.49

Rating – 4.25

Day 291 - Potato Tots

We are not “food snobs”.  Really, we aren’t!!   But I think I can safely say that, in our nearly 28 years of cooking dinners together, David and I had never once made TATER TOTS.  I know that I, for one, thought poorly of the things. 

Oh call them what you will, Trader Joe's, ain't nobody gonna say "Potato Tots"...

I thought of tater tots as a mushy side dish on my elementary school cafeteria tray.  And this may not sound kind, but I also connected tater tots with the infamous Duggar Family…  They are not high on my list of “role models” and they annoy me a ton, so I do not want to do anything “Duggar-ish” and I put “eating tots” into that category.  (In fairness, if you do not have a negative reaction to the word “Duggar” and if you are curious about “one of Jim Bob’s favorite dishes” (a grown man named JIM BOB???), then here is a link to a recipe for it on their blog:  click here to read the Damn Duggar recipe

Anyway, I think David and I both had some hidden prejudice against the teeny tiny tater tot.  That is, until we had them recently at a restaurant in Cincinnati.  Oh man – those tots were heavenly!  They served them with good dipping sauce (which was a new concept to me, I had heretofore only thought of dipping a tot in ketchup).  If you are in the area, go to Revolution Rotisserie and get yourself some TOTS!

So, since we had that lovely experience with tots at the restaurant, we decided to give it a go and try the Trader Joe’s version.  And now that we have had them twice I can safely say – WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

Having recently eaten such tasty tots in Cincinnati, David was happy to get them in the frozen food section of TJ's

I cooked them by frying them approximately ten minutes in olive oil.  I kept flipping them so they would cook evenly.  They were smaller tots than I expected, which scared me.  It gave me a quick flashback to Pawnee Elementary School and the mean lunch ladies (all except for that ONE kind lady, the one who would make you TASTE the thing you didn’t like, then actually help you hide the rest of it in your milk carton so you wouldn’t get it trouble for leaving food on your plate…). 

We served these with 3 dipping choices:  wasabi mayo ( reviewed here ), Dijon mustard (not yet reviewed) and BBQ sauce (not yet reviewed).  The tots tasted good in all 3 dips!

Our dip choices

David says, “These tots are a revelation!  Just like watching a David Gaines physical theatre performance* changes your nasty impression that you got from all those bad street mimes, so these light fluffy cloud-like pillows of tater (with a  lightly crisp edge) wipes away that impression of hard, crusty, tasteless “nothing going on inside” tater tots that you remember from elementary school cafeterias and bad restaurants since.  These are LOVELY!  And so quick!  You get them out, fry them up, and you have a lovely starch!  (MAY I INTERJECT – OF COURSE THEY ARE QUICK, HE DIDN’T COOK THEM, I DID…)  Get yourself a girl like Susan and you’ll be made!!”

We agreed that the wasabi mayo was the best dipping sauce, but David took it a step further and re-dipped in bbq, too!  A double dip!

I am glad that we have overcome our prejudice against tater tots. 

*Here is a link to see a blurb of a David Gaines performance.  Hopefully this will change your impression of “mime” the way these changed ours of tots.  David Gaines "7 (x1) Samurai" 90 second trailer here

Price – $2.29

Rating – 4.5

Day 290 - Grilled Asparagus (frozen)

First off, let’s be honest.  This frozen grilled asparagus is NOT like fresh asparagus.  It does not taste as good as asparagus you buy in the produce section, wash, trim, and cook yourself.

But secondly, let’s be clear.  This asparagus is NOT as crappy as canned asparagus.  Growing up I actually liked canned asparagus.  I think it was sort of a treat in our house and I do not remember having it until I was older, but canned was the only asparagus I ever ate.  It came out of a tall, thin metal can and I thought it was expensive and exotic.  It was also, honest here, as mushy as all get out. 

When I became an “adult” (something I still don’t claim to be, though my birth certificate says otherwise) I thought canned asparagus was the way to go.  Then I met David, and he hated canned asparagus.  He introduced me to fresh asparagus and I loved it (though every once in a while I would still buy a can and snarf it down on my own…).  I have a dish that is one of my specialties – asparagus, brown butter, and capers.  It is amazing!

Reasonable price for a vegetable that is normally pretty expensive

 I saw this grilled asparagus in the TJ’s frozen section one night when I was shopping there alone and thought I would give it a try.  I had dinner ready when David came home from a late night of work and these spears were on the plate.  Here is what he thought:

“I like it.  It’s got crunch but it’s soft enough to cut with a fork.  It is flavorful, tasty.  In this case perhaps because we grilled it lightly (EDITOR’S NOTE:  “WE”????  We??  Ummm, YOU were at work when I made this meal…).   Ummm, and it is entirely NOT WOODY.  No part of the stalk have I encountered a kind of fibrousness to.  And I haven’t even gotten up to the tips yet - I presume those are gonna be even nicer!”

BAM – I PUNKED HIM!  He thought “we” grilled those!!!  Boy was he surprised when I told him they came in a bag, frozen, and I had just defrosted them in the microwave. 

The asparagus spears are quite pretty, eh?  I served them with grilled eggplant from our garden topped with TJ's feta
and a TJ's Chicken Balti Pie.

My opinion of these – they lost a bit of asparagus taste in the freezing process.  So they are not as delicious as fresh asparagus but they win hands down over canned asparagus.  If TJ’s carries these during the asparagus off-season they would definitely be something good to have in the freezer.  I agree that they were not woody.  They were a nice size and very “uniform”.  Fresh asparagus goes off really quickly in the fridge if you don’t cook it right away, so I think this frozen asparagus would be a good staple to keep in the freezer on nights when you haven’t gotten to the store to get a fresh veggie.  It would be the equivalent of the can of “emergency corn” I keep in the cupboard.  Overall, they are good but do not have the “vibrancy” of fresh.

David admitted I had totally fooled him and he would have never known they were not fresh if I hadn’t told him.  He did run into a bit of fiber (to be expected with this vegetable).

Price – $3.99

Rating - 3.75

Day 239 - Zucchini Fries

I cooked these in the oven as the package suggested.  It took 5 – 6 minutes longer than the package suggested.  They were MUSHY and somehow they tasted FISHY to me.  Not “fishy” like “something is strange here, this is FISHY…” but “fishy” like “do these have a slight hint of COD???”.  And fishy in this instance is not a plus. 

 Deceptive packaging - the ones we had did not seem to have this much breading on them.

Also, there is not enough breading to go around.  Overall these zucchini fries are quite disappointing.

Here are ours - I wish the photo could capture the mush factor

David thought they tasted “very zucchini-y”.  He felt the breading was the appropriate amount and slightly crunchy.  He thought the only disappointing part was that they were rather mushy.  He says he would rather fry his own zucchini, but if you are in a hurry and want to eat some mushy zucchini, you could try these (note – he didn’t know it had taken over 30 minutes to cook these, I wouldn’t call that “in a hurry”). 

Ahhhh - I am re-reading the caption  on the price tag and it says "lightly battered"...  Yes, that is the case.  Too lightly for me.  If you are gonna eat a FRY, let's make it a FRY.  :)

I recommend buying and cooking FRESH zucchini instead of these.  It will taste lots better. 

In the end, I must say, these Zucchini Fries are rather poopy.

Price – $2.69

Rating – 2.25

Day 88 - Shredded Hash Browns

BONUS BEFORE TODAY’S REVIEW – A friend sent me this link to a fabulous faux Trader Joe’s commercial.  You need to see it!  When you watch, make sure to move the cursor to the beginning because for some reason it wants to start :17 seconds into the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=17&v=OdB7GDZY3Pk

Now onto the review:  these Shredded Hash browns are a good staple to have in the freezer! 

Shredded Hash Browns - taste good!

These frozen hash browns cook up quickly, easily, and yield a tasty result!   In our house this would normally be a BREAKFAST dish, but just last night I mixed things up a bit and served them for dinner.  When you are swappin’ meals around, ain’t no tellin’ what can happen next!  J

I just put a bit of olive oil in a pan, dump in some frozen hash browns, and fry them up!  Salt, pepper, and Tabasco if you like – voila, a tasty dish!  Last night we went all out and shredded some Parmesan to put on top of them – delish!

Other brands of frozen hash browns often freeze all in a big clump and it is super hard to bust it up to cook a smaller amount.  So far these have somehow avoided the clumping fate (knock on wood…) and are easy to get out of the bag in whatever size portion you want.

Price is FINE!

The price is fine and preparing them is sure a lot easier than making hash browns from scratch.   Two thumbs up.

Price - $1.69

Rating - 4

Day 70 - Greens, Beans and Grains

Less GRAINS, more GREENS AND BEANS needed!

I had high hopes for this single serving frozen meal.  I mean, how much further from TV dinners of my youth could this possibly be:  “A Savory Entrée of Kale, Garbanzos, Peanuts, and Couscous”!!  It looks fabulous in the photo on the box – it’s even served on a super fancy plate.

Alas, it is more couscous than beans ‘n’ greens.  There just was not enough of the veggie/saucy bit to mix with the dry couscous.  And the PEANUTS were non-existent IMHO – nary a nut to be had.  Granted, the serving suggestion says that to dress this puppy up a bit one could sprinkle with a “few more chopped peanuts”, but to add “more” there would have to be “some” to begin with, no? 

Such promise....  If ONLY there was a bit more sauce.

I added sriracha, which spiced and sauced it up a bit more.  I think one could also top it with roasted coconut and that wouldn’t go wrong.  But first Trader Joe’s needs to add more SAUCE. 

Overall it was a GOOD lunch that could be GREAT with just a tiny addition in the package.

Price - $2.99

Rating – 3.25

Day 24 - Brussels Sprouts Parmyere

This is yet another seasonal product – Trader Joe’s carried it during the Thanksgiving/Christmas season.  Why, I do not know…  After all, why keep Brussels sprouts just for the holidays??  I can eat a good Brussels sprout any day of the year!

Frozen dish - quick to cook and tasty (though see below, doesn't look quite like this on the plate)

 Anyway, being fans of this particular veggie, we thought we should check this out.  The package says it contains 3.5 servings, but our experience is that it contained just enough for two people.  We chose the microwave cooking method, and it took longer than the package recommended it would.  There is a small packet included filled with fried onions, designed to be sprinkled on top of the veggies after they are cooked.  Those fried onions added a nice zing!

If I were judging this product solely on APPEARANCE on the plate, it would get a 1.5.  That is because, ummm, it looks like vomit on your plate.  That is not an appealing appearance! 

Maybe it is just me, but the appearance leaves something to be desired....

But if I were to judge this product on TASTE alone it would probably get a 4.  It was nice, cheesy (with both Swiss and Parmesan), soupy, and yummy, especially bites that had fried onions on top.  So, I will average the two ratings together to come up with my final rating.  J

I will pick this one up again when Trader Joe’s brings it out for Holiday Season 2015. 

Price – $4.49

Rating – 2.75 stars

Day 16 - Edamame

Trader Joe’s sells frozen edamame in a couple of different formats and I have never quite figured out the difference.  I say, just grab a bag out of the freezer section while you are shopping and make sure you have it on hand at home.  Edamame is just SOYBEANS – so don’t be afraid to try it. 

This is one variety of edamame that Trader Joe's sells

Edamame is an EASY snack, healthy for you, and a good appetizer.  We just cook it a bit in boiling water, drain it, and grind some big salt chunks on it.  Then get a spare bowl for the used pods and sit down in front of your tv and EAT!  Edamame is an expensive little luxury when you go out to eat at fancy restaurants, but dang cheap when you buy it at Trader Joe's and just boil some up out of your freezer!

Tip – make a bit more than you expect to eat, cuz you are gonna eat it.

Price – $1.69

Rating – 4 stars