Chicken and Vegetable Wonton Soup

First off, if you lived off ramen noodles cooked in a hot pot in your college dorm for 4 years, this soup is the adult version of that meal.  It is just as fast, cheap (but not as cheap as ramen), and hearty, but a little less “college-y”.

Now for the review.

Autumn is here - SOUP SEASON!

The package says this soup is one serving, but I would call it 1.5.  There were 7 or 8 hearty wontons, so that is quite a few to eat in one sitting.  I really like this soup!  The broth is tasty, the wontons are good and meaty.  This warm soup would be good on a cold fall or winter day. 

I wish it had more veggies – there were only 2.5 snow peas and kind of a lot of carrots.  Would it kill them to throw in a couple more snow peas??  The photo on the package seems to show more veggies than our bowl had.  The photo also makes it look like the veggies and won tons float – I think that was artful use of chopsticks to push things to the top and make them look jazzy in the picture!

Here is our bowl.  Served with San Pellegrino, which Trader Joe's was OUT of last night.
Oh I hope they have not stopped carrying it...

My favorite part of this soup is the CILANTRO – if you get a bit of cilantro in your bite it really jazzes things up.  That being said, I realize that cilantro is one weird a** herb!!!  Have you read the articles that explain that, to some people’s taste buds, cilantro tastes just like SOAP???  Isn’t that freaky??  I love cilantro, so I feel sorry for the people who think it tastes like getting your mouth washed out with soap.  Here is a link to a good article about cilantro:  Cilantro Haters

This is easy to prepare – I microwaved it for 4.5 minutes, let it rest for one minute, then dove in.  this would be a good “bring to work” lunch.  It wouldn’t stink up the break room when you microwaved it like some other frozen lunches do. 

Find this one in the frozen food section

Here is what David thought of it, “This is a nice idea.  It is lovely and warm for the winter time.  For me the soup was a bit “Campbell’s Soup-y” and a bit sweet rather than them more vinegar-y and flavorful hing that I would expect from a Chinese wonton soup.  And the dumplings – though I love dumplings, these are a little bit, ummm, I could do with them being more, ummm, GRANULAR I guess.  That is, BITS of meat and BIT of vegetables in there, rather than just like a chunk of a chicken hotdog in there.  I do agree with Susan that the cilantro is a great idea.  I would give this a 3.25.”

And I would give this soup a 4.  So those 2 scores will be averaged together for the final rating. 

Price:  $2.29

Rating:  3.75

Day 345 - Farfalle with 4 Cheeses and Spinach

Here’s the thing: I am stressed.

This time of year is STRESSFUL.  There are so many gifts to buy and wrap.  And we always make our own Christmas cards and that takes a ton of time and creativity (we haven’t even STARTED yet…).  We are heading out of town soon and I need pack for that…

Last week, which somehow wasn't as stressful of a time....  This is a big ass Christmas ornament, isn't it pretty?

But on top of all of that “normal” stuff, a good friend who we help care for has been injured and so we have jumped into “care taking” mode.  We are her only friends really, and have the responsibility to make sure she is okay.    So the past couple of days that has meant bringing her home from the hospital, advocating for her to get in-home health care people who speak Spanish and can communicate with her, and trying to help clear out her apartment to make it safe for her to navigate with a walker.  (She is a hoarder…  Two and a half years ago she was on the verge of being evicted and we had to do a major clean-out of her apartment – it was very hard.  Now, with health care workers going into the space, we are worried they might report it as being “unsafe” for her since she has begun to re-accumulate stuff.  Sigh.  It’s an ongoing battle.)

Again, from a less stressful time just a few days ago, David "plugging in" a huge ass string of Christmas lights in NYC.

SO, with all of THAT going on, I am stressed and haven’t written a review yet today!  It is 4:30 PM my time and I try to have my reviews posted much earlier than this every day, but I am sure that you are super busy, too, so I hope you will forgive my tardiness.

Onto today’s REVIEW. 

This Farfalle with 4 Cheeses and Spinach is a typical frozen meal.  I used to eat this type of thing allllll the time for lunch.  You know the drill:  small box of frozen something-or-other than you grab out of the freezer and bung in the microwave.  I used to buy whatever varieties were on sale at the grocery store and just keep a freezer full of them.

Here's the box - it looks prettier on the front of the box than it does when you open it and cook it.

But after a while, they all sorta tasted the same and felt, well, kinda crappy.  So I stopped eating them.  But I picked this one up at Trader Joe’s to eat and review for the blog.  J

This one is pretty bland.  That surprised me, considering the fact that the title boasts of not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 cheeses (they are listed as:  hard cheese (what the hell is that?  “Hard cheese” sounds like a rubric of cheese…), emmental, mozzarella, and gorgonzola !  Somehow, even with all four cheeses, this dish doesn’t taste all that CHEESEY.  The spinach in it is nice and the bow tie pastas are cute. The meal definitely requires the addition of salt and pepper. 

This was my view as I ate this lunch - I was eating with my CNN friends.

This box is one serving.  It is quick and easy to make.  It fills you up if you eat it for lunch.  Basically this is not amazing, but it gets the job done.  If you just “need some lunch” this is fine.  I wouldn’t write home about it and I wouldn’t put it as a “must buy” on your shopping list.  But if one somehow jumps in your shopping cart you don’t need to throw it out. 

See, it doesn't look nearly as pretty as the box made it out to...  And it kind of tastes as bland as it looks here.

Ok, it’s time to continue with the holiday “do do do” s and go watch the little neighbor girl in “The Nutcracker”.  J

Price – $1.99 (I think)

Rating - 3

Day 311 - Broccoli and Cheddar Quiche

Honestly, I thought I reviewed this little quiche way back in the beginning of this project, under day 60 for sure.  We used to always keep one of these in our freezer for a quick meal.  Between you and me, our TJ’s shopping has had to change some this year because of these reviews.  We need to eat new and different products all the time now to have items to review, so some of our old standbys have gotten a wee bit ignored, like this quiche.  But when I looked back in the blog and realized I had MISSED reviewing this, I needed to rectify that stat!  I cannot let the whole year go by and the project finish without helping you find this little quiche if you do not already know about it.

Find this box in the frozen food department.  It is a tiny box, like the size of a personal pizza

These quiche are great to have on hand for nights that you are not in the mood to cook, or days when you work from home and want a nice, hearty lunch.  The packaging (or was it the receipt?) says this is a “breakfast quiche”, which makes no sense to me.  Who decided that quiche was a BREAKFAST FOOD?  It is a lunch quiche.  A dinner quiche.  A midnight snack quiche.  I say quiche is an all day food. 

We ate this one for LUPPER – a 4 PM late lunch/early dinner – while sitting out on our front porch on a sunny day.  I recommend this setting for a tasty meal J.  

If you eat lunch on our porch you can see stuff like THIS!  A mamma dove with two babies in their nest in our Dogwood tree!

I usually bake these quiche in the oven, but this time I tried the microwave method. The packaging says this is one serving, but we always cut one in half and share it.  On this particular day I served it with cous cous and peas which made for a delightful combination.  We always plop some TJ's Dijon mustard (which I also thought I had reviewed but maybe I haven't, am I losing it???) on our plate for dipping the quiche in (it’s a French thing…) and this time I also did some dipping in Hatch Valley Salsa.  David was starving and wanted a bit more sustenance, so he also added a piece of HAM to the plate. 

Yum!

I have an announcement that simply must be made here:  REAL MEN DO EAT QUICHE.

This is a good product.  It is super easy and quick to make.  It is cheesy but not too cheesy.  The crust is good.  The inside filling (broccoli, cheese, and egg) is tasty and filling.  The side of Dijon mustard really makes everything pop.

After tasting this quiche cooked by both methods – oven and microwave – we think the oven is the way to go.  The crust turns out better using the old fashioned oven method. 

This is a good staple to keep in the freezer.

Price - $2.29

Rating – 4.25

Day 225 - Aloo Chaat

At the risk of being sacrilegious, this aloo chaat is like the Indian version of an American “Hot Pocket”.  Only it is better than a Hot Pocket.  J 

These were a tasty dinner and very quick.   Trader Joe’s says these are filled with, “potatoes, chick peas, chaat masala (an Indian spice blend), and a sweet-tangy tamarind chutney”.  I say they are filled with warm yum.  J

I am sorry, I only have a photo of this on the plate (not the original box).  Check the link below to see the box!  Here is aloo chaat served with radish, rice, and baby bok choy (with capers).  Nice meal.

The only problem was that they were a wee bit dry.  We wished we would have had some chutney in the fridge to serve with them, but we were unprepared.  Next time!

They are very reasonably priced, as are many things at Trader Joe’s.  At $2.29 for a box of 2, that is only $1.15 per piece.  These would make an easy and yummy lunch.

Trader Joe’s does quite a few Indian dishes.  Their Indian Fare series is a staple at our house, especially Punjab Eggplant (reviewed on day 151 of this blog). 

Here is a Trader Joe’s article about the aloo chaat:  http://traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article/946

Price - $2.29

Rating – 3.75

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 188 - Shrimp Springrolls

First off, these would be best to eat on a PLATE and not right out of the container, because they are messy.  And note – the container is hard to open.  We picked them up at the Trader Joe’s at One Pacific Place in Omaha and proceeded to eat them VERY CAREFULLY in the car we had borrowed to tool around town, a brand new vehicle that we did NOT want to drip peanut sauce on.

Speaking of peanut sauce, it comes with the spring rolls and is very nice.  Peanuty!  The shrimp are also very good.  The package says the whole container is one serving, but we split it in two and it was just right.  The cabbage and carrots are gently crunchy, which was a good contrast to the rest of the ingredients.  The spearmint was the best part! 

As a sign language interpreter, I cannot have painted nails when I work.  This photo makes it obvious that we bought this product on a day when I was OFF WORK!  Blue nails!!!

One idea – they could have used a bit of basil.  That would have made the flavor a little more complex and interesting I think.

These things make a nice lunch.  They are not your normal sandwich or microwave meal, which is cool.  But, like I mentioned at the top of the review, they are MESSY.  Make sure you have napkins handy!

A little bit pricey, but tasty

At $4.49, they seem a wee bit overpriced for what you get.  But then again, it WAS fresh shrimp, and I did buy them in Omaha, where fresh shrimp are not easily available…  I say cut .50 cents off the price tag and it would be better.

Yeah - shrimp in the heart of the Midwest :) !

Price – $4.49

Rating – 3.75

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 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 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

Day 41 - Rotisserie Style Chicken Breast

We do not eat a lot of lunch meat, but every once in a while we get it.  This is the first time we got it at Trader Joe’s. 

As far as lunch meat goes, this was fine.  I mean, it’s LUNCH MEAT, eh?  This was tasty, moist, and fine for sandwiches.  It is one of few products at Trader Joe’s that is not their own store brand. 

Lunch meat - yeah, basically just lunch meat

At $4.99, it seems a bit pricey, but for some reason lunch meat always is, isn’t it?  I guess it is because manufacturers know that most Americans buy a ton of it, and they can charge a lot and it still flies off the shelves. 

Price - $4.99

Rating – 3.5

Day 40 - Peanut Satay Noodles and Sauce

Well, the name doesn’t lie…  It doesn’t say “Yummy Peanut Satay Noodles and Sauce” or “Tasty Peanut Satay Noodles and Sauce”…  So it is not technically false advertising.  But it certainly didn’t fit the ticket for what I was looking for.  I bought it to use as a quick lunch on work days – pop it in the microwave and have a hot lunch 2 minutes later. 

Lunch Fail

Let’s just say, it is not something to eat right out of the box.  It is gloopy.  It is blecky.  And it is plain not good.  I added some chopped green onion and Sriracha, and those additions were for sure the best parts of the meal.  Maaaaybe if you were going all out and wanted to cook some broccoli, tofu, chicken or something else to mix in it would help add flavor, but it still seems like the basic noodle/sauce combo would be subpar. 

For a quick meal this just doesn’t cut it.  Don’t bother with this one.  There are plenty of other cheap, more tasty lunch options out there.

Price – $1.99

Rating – 1.25