Almondina – The Original Almond Biscuits

So, Almondina. 

A gentleman named Frank contacted me via Facebook message way back in May.  He had seen my blog, and asked if I had ever reviewed Almondina Biscuits.  I replied that I had not, and he replied with information on the product, links, and also offered to SEND ME SOME to review.  This flattered me!  I mean, FREE BISCUITS, right??!!  But I said no, thinking that if I accepted his offer of free biscuits I would not be able to review them neutrally.  I didn’t want to be swayed (or appear to be swayed) by a gift.  But I did tell him I would be sure to check them out.

Then life got super busy.  We travelled to India.  We hung out in Florida.  We went into intense rehearsals for a show.  I was swamped with work.  We travelled to Canada (twice) for the shows…  So, ummm, yeah…  Trader Joe’s reviews got even more backed up than usual.

Almondina Package

Frank contacted me a couple more times, nudging me and asking if I had a chance to review his product yet.  I felt so guilty!!  So finally I remembered to pick some up while we were at TJ’s in July, only then we never took time to EAT THEM.  Cuz, see, these reviews take quite a lot of time to do!  First, we need to buy the product.  Then photograph it.  Then taste it.  Then review it.  Then write and edit the review…  Then find and add the photos taken earlier…  Then POST the review…  It is not like a 10 minute job, people! 

Anyway, life is a tiny bit calmer today.  It is a Saturday.  We both have the day OFF.  We slept til noon.  We were tempted to pop down to the local donut shop and grab a maple and bacon donut for breakfast (healthy choice, I know!), but then I remembered – ALMONDINA!!!!!  So we finally ate them (not to worry, the “best before” date is March 2, 2017).  I served them with cappuccino and TJ’s yogurt topped with honey, fresh strawberries and toasted almonds (to match the Almondinas!).  Here is what we thought:

Look!  An Almondia!

David: “This is a biscotti, so it is a little bit hard and crunchy.  But since that is the ESSENCE of a biscotti I can’t really fault it for that.  It is THIN SLICED, which I like, ‘cuz that makes it easier to bite through.  It is tasty.  It has a nice balance of the almonds and raisins.  I must say; I am impressed the almonds stay in the cookie, they don’t pop out, even though they have so little biscuit to purchase on.  It is a well-made cookie.  Biscotti is not really my favorite…  I like a slightly softer cookie with maybe a little more buttery-ness to it, but this is doing the “biscotti thing” very well, so I think it is a good one.  It has a little bit of aftertaste of “honey-ness” rather than aftertaste of pure sweetness (editor’s note: there is no honey listed in the ingredients, it is pure cane sugar, and when I mentioned that to David he said, “Maybe the honey taste is my imagination, I am an unreliable source.”). 

The taste is good.  It is nice to dip it in coffee.  It is a great old family recipe from a time before mega food companies found ways to soften everything and make everything taste sweeter.  For that, it is a lovely historical and still delightful biscotti.  In terms of what the cookie is trying to do, I would give it a 4.5.  in terms of whether I would recommend to someone in the store that they are gonna LOVE this, I would give it a 3.5, because it is not very soft and it is not very buttery, and that is what I like in a cookie.”

Susan: “This cookie is filling a niche that I do not personally need filled.  I am not a huge biscotti person.  So I want to be honest about that from the get go.

2 Almondinas on a petite plate 

The tag line on the packaging for this product is “The Delicious Cookie Without the Guilt”.  I find this super funny because this is the one product I have ever reviewed that I feel SUPER GUILTY about!  I feel like I should have reviewed it months ago when contacted, and have had pangs of guilt every time Almondinas crossed my mind.  But I must say that normally, had I not been feeling bad for not doing something I said I would do in a timely manner, this tag line would be offensive to me.  It is my belief that one should never feel GUILTY about eating anything!!!  Food is something our bodies need, and what we choose to eat is a personal decision that should not be guilt inducing.  We can eat complete crap one afternoon, and a super healthy choice the same evening.  DO NOT FEEL GUILTY ABOUT EATING, PEOPLE!!!  (See another review with this rant here:  Reduced Guilt Pita Chips ).  For that reason, I recommend that Almondina re-think the tag line.

I also have been nervous about writing this review because, honestly, I feared I wouldn’t like the cookie.  Normally my personal like or dislike of a product doesn’t make me nervous, it is indeed the name of the game with these reviews. But since I was ASKED to review this one, I felt somehow like I didn’t want to disappoint Frank.  That is ironic, because I have been doing media work for David’s show lately, and a big part of that is contacting outlets and “pitching” the show to them.  Basically, I am asking them to review David’s show.  This situation of ME being the asked of (instead of the ask-er) has made me wonder if theatre reviewers ever feel nervous or guilty about disliking a show. 

One of the promo images I have been sending out to media for "A Little Business at the Big Top"
(photo credit R. Rado)

Stepping off soap box now to get back to the cookie review.

This is not the kind of cookie that I would normally go for.  Here is what I see as positives about it: 

-          It is thin – I love that it is thinner than most biscotti.  I like the petite-ness

-          I like the almonds

-          The raisins are good

-          The biscuits are CRUNCHY, but not MESSY.  I was surprised that no bits fell out when I bit these

-          It is cool that is a family recipe

-          It is awesome that they have been making them since 1929

-          I give them MAD PROPS for getting a non-Trader Joe’s branded product into TJ’s stores. That is a wicked hard thing to do, and THEY DID IT.  That, to me, means loads of people love this product

Here are things I am not really a fan of:

-          The biscuits have a bit of a rubbery, bendy quality before it snaps.  That is odd to me (David did not notice any bendiness)

-          They are not sweet enough for me – if I am going to eat a cookie, I want SWEET

-          They are really dry

Packaging:  I love the 3 little sections that so carefully hold the cookies.  They do a great job of keeping the crispy cookies whole – only one was broken when we took it out of the package.  The thing I do not like about the packaging is that once you open it, there is no way to seal it back up.  There are 4 servings in a package, so unless you have 4 people sitting around each wanting 4 biscuits, you are going to have to find a way to store these to try and keep them fresh (a Ziploc or a plastic container perhaps?). 

These are a biscuit that you want to eat paired with a nice coffee or tea (the website says you do not need coffee or tea with them, but I would beg to differ on that point).  I can sort of imagine a healthy parent giving one of these to a child, too (though NOT with a sippy cup full of coffee…). 

Overall, I would say that this product must fit a lot of people’s palates.  Non Trader Joe’s branded products rarely make it to TJ’s shelves, and this one did.  Color me impressed!!!  I think that this is just not “my cup of tea” when it comes to cookies.

Mad props to you for getting a product into TJ's under your own brand name
(Photo at TJ's Cincinnati) 

This is a tough one for me to rate.  I, like David, am going to give it 2 scores…  For the packaging, for having the gumption to do all the legwork to get it into TJ’s stores, for reaching out to me, for keeping a family recipe going, and for execution of idea – I will give this a 4.25.

For MY opinion of this cookie (which is how I have reviewed every other product on this blog, so I feel I need to be fair and review this one the same way) – for my enjoyment of it – I give it a 3.

Price: $2.79

Rating (average of 4 scores):  3.75

Find Almondina on Facebook at:  Almondina

Day 248 - Field Fresh Chopped Salad with Chicken

This was a HEALTHY PURCHASE during our Indy Fringe craziness.  We grabbed on one of our trips to the lovely Indy Trader Joe’s, then ended up tossing it in a bag one afternoon as we ran out to see shows.  We ate it while sitting outside between shows – actually, I ate it then…  David was handing out postcards of his show (an act which we call “carding”) to people in line for other shows, trying to convince them that HIS was the show they should not miss.  Not to worry, I saved him some salad to eat after his carding!

David in a shot from the delicate and dangerous TIGHT ROPE scene!  :)

On first bite I was afraid that the dressing was too sweet, but it wasn’t.  The couscous also looked, how shall I say, too plentiful, but I was wrong on that count, too!  The couscous (of the Israeli variety) was lovely!  It was plump and cold and a very nice contrast to the other ingredients.  The lettuce was nice and crunchy and it was good to eat on a hot summer day.  The toasted pecans were also a nice addition.

Here is the salad in our cart - see the Israeli Cousous?  Yum.

David said, “It is lovely.  The crisp, crunchy lettuce is offset by the smooth but meaty body of the chicken and couscous.  And it is all united by the smooth but flavorful salad dressing, which is sweet but not too sweet.”

This is a very fair price for a crisp, fresh, healthy salad that you don't have to make yourself

We both recommend this as one of the grab and go lunch choices at Trader Joe’s.

Price - $4.49

Rating - 4

Day 230 - Mango 100% Juice Smoothie

We are still at the Indy Fringe Festival.  David is performing his solo show “A Little Business at the Big Top” (I directed it).  We travel to festivals all around and all of them have one thing in common – the people involved with productions do not eat healthy and are exhausted.

So on our trip to Trader Joe’s, I picked up this Mango 100% Juice Smoothie, thinking it would be a healthy addition to our diet.

Not cheap, but chock full of health

And it was!  As soon as I took the first sip I felt a jolt of HEALTH coursing through my veins!  (Even though, technically, the juice was in my MOUTH and my esophagus, not my veins, but you know what I mean…)  It felt like I was pouring a whole mango into my body!  And mangos are both TASTY and HEALTHY. 

Mango is definitely the strongest flavor in this juice, but the label tells me it also contains banana puree, apple juice, orange juice, and lemon juice.  And it is an excellent source of vitamin A and a good source of vitamin C. 

Ahhh - a chug of health

I sort of feel like I should invest in a case of these juices and hand them out to weary performers at the Fringe Beer Tent.  They would do everyone a world of good!  David doesn’t like this smoothie and so wouldn’t drink one, but that would just leave more for other performers. 

This is David in the Indianapolis Trader Joe's PRETENDING he is going to like this Mango Smoothie.  He had already decided he thought it looked yucky, but we liked the CLOUDS they have hanging up so he was being all angelic or something...

I wish the juice was a litttttle less thick, but it IS a smoothie and not a juice, so I guess I cannot rightfully complain.  It comes in a one pint plastic recyclable bottle. 

If I had a Trader Joe’s smoothie competition, I would say this one beats the Very Green Smoothie (reviewed on day 156 of this blog) and the Strawberry Chia Smoothie (reviewed on day 145 of this blog).  This one does the best to balance YUMMY TASTE with GOOD FOR YOU.

Price - $2.99

Rating - 4

Day 205 - Kale and Cauliflower Curry Salad

I picked this one up because sometimes, when I know I am going to have a challenging work day, I squirrel away a tasty Trader Joe’s salad to have as a mid-day treat.  I was happy when I sat down for lunch today with my CNN on, an ice cold San Pellegrino Limonata in front of me (reviewed on day 141 of this blog – one of the most frequently read reviews, probably because of the shopping comparison “event” that happened at WalMart…), a fresh sliced tomato from our garden, and THIS KALE AND CAULIFLOWER CURRY SALAD.

Healthy lunch!

 The first thing I thought when I opened the container was, “Would it have killed them to cut the cauliflower florets up a little bit more??”.  They were some very large cauliflower hunks, I’m tellin’ ya.  Because of that, I recommend having a knife with you when you eat this salad.

Maybe the cauliflower hunks don't look huge here, but in real life they did.

The kale in it was quite good.  And there was a big surprise!  At least to me, who had not read the ingredient list but only the name of the product, it was a surprise.  Not only does this salad contain kale, curry, and cauliflower, it has WHEATBERRIES hidden on the bottom.  SURPRISE!  And then there was a single plump golden raisin, too.  (I could have done without that, but I can hardly complain when there was only one of them…)

The package says the recommended serving size is half a package – oops, didn’t read that until after I had devoured the whole thing.  It didn’t seem extravagant or piggish to eat it all, so if you are having it for a meal and not an appetizer then I think the recommended serving size is a bit off. 

See?  The wheatberries are not mentioned.  Shhh - they are a secret!

Taste wise it was good.  The kale was the best part, followed by the wheatberries.  I added a bit of freshly ground pepper and that was it.  It is not a strong curry flavor but the curry does add a nice touch.

Overall, it is a fine salad.  Not my very favorite from TJ’s but certainly not the worst.  J

Price – $3.99

Rating - 4

Day 146 - Carrot and Cilantro Bulgur Grain Salad

Ok Orlando Trader Joe’s, you have some false advertising going on…  When we popped in the other day for a healthy bite to eat during a festival where we were subsisting on fried foods (including FRIED CHEESE CURDS and FRIED PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICHES) for 12 days, I thought I had hit the tasty jackpot with this Carrot and Cilantro Bulgur Grain Salad (with garbanzo beans).  I mean, I love cilantro!  And I really like garbanzo beans.  Carrots are nice.  And bulgur grain, well, sure, I can eat it.  And your sign, your sweet little handwritten sign, specifically said, “So good!”.

"So Good!" - got me!!

 You so lie.

Avoid this salad.  Unless you enjoy eating dry, bland, yucky stuff.  If so, stock up on this salad.

This salad is BLECK.  The main problem is that it is dry.   Sure, if I had been at home instead of under a festival beer tent, I could have doctored it up with a bit of olive oil and lemon or something, but really, when one invests $3.69 into a tiny container of salad, should one be expected to “doctor it up”??  I think not.  And I would have had to add A LOT of stuff to give it any sort of taste.  And, if I could add one more complaint here, there was not nearly enough cilantro!  That was the ingredient that might have saved this wreck of a salad, but it was barely in there.

Thumbs down for this overpriced, under tasty salad.

David also thought this was crappy, as you can see.

Bleck.

Fool me once, Orlando Trader Joe’s signs, shame on you…  I am not going to be duped by you again!

Price - $3.69

Rating – 1.5

Day 145 - Strawberry Chia 100% Juice Smoothie

I thought it was just ME who was childish.  But no, lucky for me, it turns out my partner David is, too J. 

We rushed into the Orlando Trader Joe’s today with only a few minutes to shop between seeing plays.  We wanted a SALAD so that we could have a healthy meal (as opposed to the poutine, pizza, and other meal choices available from vendors at the festival (though we did have a good Greek salad from a vendor one night…).  Anyway, it was super hot out (as Orlando can be in the summer time…) and I decided a cold, healthy drink was in order, too (to balance out all the beer from the festival).  So I grabbed this Strawberry Chia 100% Juice Smoothie.

If you do not know from previous reviews on this blog, we are not health nuts.  We do not go out of our way to buy things with fancy organic ingredients, and CHIA, in my mind, is only for pets, as in the Willy Nelson Chia Pet I saw on the clearance table at Office Depot recently!  (Why a gem like that would be on a clearance table is beyond me!!)  Anyway, I thought it was just me who would think something so silly, then David quipped, “If I drink this will chia grass grow in my belly?”.  Haha – see why we get along so well?

A pint of health - strawberry chia smoothie 

So this “strawberry puree flavored blend with apple juice and chia seeds” is pretty good.  It mostly tastes like strawberry.  But there are strange little BUMPS all up in it…  At first I thought they were the little bits from the outside of strawberries, then I realized, duh, those are the CHIA SEEDS!  They are actually a bit more fine and delicate than a strawberry seed thing would be.  This drink is chock full of them.  After the first sip or two I got used to them, but still, if I am going to have “bits” in my drink, I would rather they be tapioca bubbles (yum – bubble tea!!).

I would say this snack drink would be better consumed not in the hot humid sun.  I can picture it going down better while a person is sitting at their desk and needs a bit of an afternoon pick-me-up. 

Price – $2.99

Rating – 3.25

Day 121 - Greens and Seeds Salad

Color me THRILLED.  Guys - TRADER JOE'S CORPORATE WROTE ME BACK!!  I have sent letters to most of the Trader Joe's stores we have visited this year and told them all about this blog (including BUSINESS CARDS I have had made for it!), but none of the stores has responded.  Then I wrote corporate and I got a great reply!  I was so excited!!!  I will include it here, but will redact the name of the person who wrote it (just in case she/he doesn't want their name publicized).

I know, I know, it is too big to fit on this page.  But I am EXCITED and I want you to read it!

Anyway, I wanted to share that excitement with you!  I will most certainly share my Top 10 Picks with them at the end of the year, and the Worst 10 Clunkers, too!

So, now, on to today's REVIEW:

Maybe I was just really hungry when I ate it, but this salad tasted GREAT!  It had an ingredient I would not ever put on a salad – butternut squash – but boy howdy I should put squash on my salads everyday if it makes them taste this good!  Also featured were GREENS and SEEDS (of the pumpkin and pomegranate varieties) – hence the name, see, GREENS and SEEDS Salad!  (Note:  in store artist at the Clarendon, VA store, there is a “write-o” on the signage, it is missing an “s” after “green”.)

Opps - missing a little s.

Really though, this salad has great ingredients!  There was loads of feta cheese and the balsamic dressing was spot on!  Oh, and there were tons of pumpkin seeds.  Half way through this salad I texted my friend to say, “Hey, if you are anywhere near a Trader Joe’s, swing in and pick yourself up a Greens and Seeds!”.   Yeah, I was THAT excited about it that I had to pause my eating and text.

This is before I mixed everything up!

I would say the only things that could be improved are:  fresher (read – more PLUMP) pomegranate seeds and a dressing container that didn’t get your fingers all oily trying to wrestle it open.  It they could make those two little tiny tweaks, they would be in the running for “best salad of the year” (grocery store category). 

And this is after I ATE evrerything up!!

Price - $3.99

Rating – 4.75

Day 93 -Baby Spinach and Greens (salad)

The other night an elderly woman and I stood at the pre-made salad section of Trader Joe’s, staring.  Neither of us could choose which salad to put in our cart.  “Tough decision, huh?” I asked.  “It sure is…” was her reply.

I went for this one – Baby Spinach and Greens.  And I will confess, I chose it more for the bleu cheese I could see sitting on top than for the spinach.  I LIKE spinach, but sometimes I prefer it cooked. 

Here's the salad - see the bleu cheese and candied pecans?  Those are the BEST parts!

But this salad was quite good!  The spinach was fresh and crunchy, the candied pecans were divine, and the bleu cheese topped everything off well.  (Note – I do not know why this is called baby spinach AND greens – I think the spinach was the only GREEN in there…  Maybe I missed something.)

Pluses – quick, easy lunch.  Just throw it in a bag, add a napkin, fork, and drink and you are out the door!  Healthy, tasty, not crazy expensive.  Candied pecans rocked and cranberries were a nice touch.

Cons – the bleu cheese was one huge HUNK and it was all globbed together.  Would it kill them to bust it up a bit and crumble it on?  Also, the raspberry vinaigrette dressing was a wee bit too sweet. 

Overall – a good salad from the many to choose from at Trader Joe’s.  I wonder what the other lady ended up picking.

Price - $3.99

Rating – 4

Day 75 - Persian Cucumbers

I like a good cucumber in the summer time – slice it up, add some sliced onion, soak it in vinegar and water…  Tasty!   Or how about this – slice up a cucumber and toss it in a big green salad – delicious!  I had seen these smaller Persian cucumbers before but had never bought them.  Then recently I was visiting a friend in St. Joseph, MO and her husband brought some home from a local (non Trader Joe’s) grocery store.  He served them like a snack – a healthy appetizer as it were.  Just rinse and EAT.  No need for slicing.  No need for pickling.  No need for dipping or topping with something – just eat! 

Tasty, compact little crunch snacks!

The next time we were at Trader Joe’s I picked some up.  They come in a pack of 6 for $2.49, which equals 42 cents each.  So for less than you would plop down on a Snickers bar, you get a crunchy, tasty, HEALTHY snack!  We liked them so much we threw a few in a Ziploc bag in our carry-on for eating during a recent long flight!  A cool thing about them is that, unlike salty snacks, they don’t make you THIRSTY.  In fact they are quite juicy so help quench your thirst a bit!  Also, unlike snacking on carrot sticks, they are not boring!

Cheaper than a Snickers bar...  Easy to transport, too!  

I will keep some of these in our fridge for munching on. 

Price - $2.49

Rating – 4

Day 63 - Pacific Salad with Chicken

Trader Joe’s pre-made salads are something I treat myself to once in a while.  They are not cheap (this one was $4.49) but they are usually pretty good.  I was recently on a trip and needed a light, late night dinner to take back to my hotel room and eat.  Enter this PACIFIC SALAD WITH CHICKEN.

Trader Joe’s has quite a few different types of pre-made salads to choose from, so I picked one I did not remember trying before.  The Pacific Salad with Chicken has romaine lettuce, grilled chicken breast, toasted almonds, crispy rice noodles, sesame seeds, and, as the package describes it, “dressing that is divine”. 

The "ready made salad" section at Trader Joe's - Pacific Salad with Chicken

The lettuce was nice and crisp (though I would prefer a bit of a MIX of lettuce instead of all romaine).  There was just the right amount of grilled chicken breast (some places make it so it is more CHICKEN than salad, or so you have to hunt through lettuce to find the teeny tiny chicken bits, but this was a good balance).  The dressing was good but really made the salad were the crispy rice noodles!  I would not normally put those on a salad but man they were good – they brought the CRUNCH and also just a touch of taste to the whole affair. 

This salad is a fine choice for a lunch or dinner.   I personally think there are other salads at Trader Joe’s that are TASTIER, but this one is a healthy choice and is good.

P.S. – if you are taking one of these salads back to your hotel room or office, don’t forget to grab a plastic fork at TJ’s if you need one.

Price - $4.49

Rating – 3.75