Day 287 - Artichoke Ravioli

David balks at the idea of artichokes.  Too much work to eat a whole one, and something turns him off about artichoke hearts (not sure what).  So we do not normally have them.  But last night he went to a play and I opted out.  Instead I went to, wait for it…  TRADER JOE’S!  Hahaha.  (I went other places, too, mind you, I do not live my whole life at Trader Joe’s).  while there I got some ARTICHOKE RAVIOLI and decided to have it ready for dinner when he came home and not tell him what was in it.  Here is his reaction:

Shhh, don't tell David what is in the ravioli...

David:  “These are great!  They were cooked apparently just the right amount of time.  The pasta is delicious and al dente.  They have a FILLING inside them that is sort of, cream cheese-y, ummm, full taste.  Maybe it is RICOTTA and something…  There is no SAUCE on them.  Normally I would think, “Oh, no sauce, I won’t like this”.  I mean, there is a little bit of parmesan and some mushrooms that we cooked but on its own it’s really VERY NICE.  I mean this really would be quite delightful with just some olive oil poured on it.”

AHAHA – GOT HIM!!!  He had no idea it was artichoke!!!  And he LIKED it a lot!

Tasty!!

I cooked little portabella mushrooms in olive oil and pumpkin seed oil and put those on top, along with more olive oil and pumpkin seed oil (which, if you have not tried it, is amazing).  Then I topped it all with freshly shredded parmesan. 

These raviolis are really nice.  They are “meaty” (with no meat) without being overpowering.  They taste clean, and fresh.  They would be good to eat outdoors on a summer night paired with a nice white wine. 

Dinner is served!  Artichoke Ravioli topped with mushrooms, olive oil, pumpkin seed oil, and parmesan
 with sides of fresh green beans and TJ's mashed sweet potatoes  

Trader Joe’s has a big selection of “fancy ass” fresh ravioli near the meat and cheese section.  We don’t try a lot of them and one reason is because I am never sure what to put ON them.  I asked a TJ’s employee who seemed pretty new and unsure (had never tried these) and she thought maybe just olive oil.  I think she got it right! 

These are priced really low for what you get.  Brands in other stores (like Buitoni) are more expensive and these are better.  These taste fresher and just overall nicer.

Seriously good price for what you get

Price – $3.49

Rating – 4.5

Day 281 - Chicken Marsala with Mashed Potatoes

We recently had (and really liked, though I have not finished the review yet) Trader Joe’s Chicken Picatta.  Since that went over so well at our dinner table, we decided to grab this Chicken Marsala.  Both products are pre-cooked and ready to eat – they just need to be quickly heated.  They are found in the refrigerated (not frozen) food section.

The label on this chicken marsala says it contains 2 servings.  However, when you open it up, it is one big chicken breast/cutlet.  While that is 2 servings for US (we are rather small humans), I think for many people they would not consider it big enough for 2 people.  We just cut the chicken in half and plopped it on plates. 

Here is the package - it looks better on here than it did on our plates

I think the mashed potatoes in this dish are better than the chicken.  The breading on the chicken has a lot of what tasted to me like rosemary and the strength of that overpowered the other flavors.  The sauce was good but not what I expected as “marsala”.  To be honest, my favorite thing on my plate was the left-over spinach from going out for dim sum at a Chinese restaurant earlier in the day…

David liked this product better than me.  He thought the chicken was good, the breading nice and soft.  He liked the rosemary.  He said the sauce was, “Lovely with a lot of mushroom taste in it, and the mashed potatoes that go with it are a perfect compliment, particularly with the sauce poured over the top.”

We had a discussion about the marsala sauce.  We both expected it to be more “wine-ish” and less “chicken gravy-ish”.  When I look at photos online of chicken marsala it all looks darker than the sauce that comes with this dish.  Something just didn’t taste right…

See how the sauce is sort of tan/gray and dull looking?  No marsala excitement.
And this is "one serving" - so half a chicken breast (this was before I ate any)

All of that being said, this is a very easy, convenient meal in that you just bung it in the microwave.  But Trader Joe’s sells many other quick to prepare meals that are much tastier than this one.  I would go with a different one if I were you.  

The packaging for this chicken marsala boasts that this dish “replicates a restaurant experience at a fraction of the price”.  I would concur with the “fraction of the price” part but not the “replicates a restaurant experience” part.  This doesn’t taste like something from a restaurant, not a restaurant I would return to anyway.  The box even says, “Who needs a restaurant when dining in tastes this good?”.   Well if all Trader Joe’s food tasted “this good” (which is middle of the road and sort of boring) then I WOULD need a restaurant.

David liked it better than me, so this won’t get a horrible rating.  But it won’t be in our fridge again if I do the shopping.

Price – $6.49

Rating – 3.25

Day 234 - Triple Cream Brie with Mushrooms

This cheese is DECADENT!   It is the sort of cheese you would expect to find in a little case in some super fancy schmancy wine shop – only it is AT TRADER JOE’S!  And instead of being a bazillion dollars, it is $9.99 a pound.  That means our chunk which was plenty big (almost half a pound) came in for under $5. 

$9.99 per pound

Brie with MUSHROOMS?  I'm in.

Remember how I recently explained that we are in the middle of the Indianapolis Fringe Festival, and that traditionally Fringe artists eat crap the entire time of the Fringe?  Well we are mixing that up a bit this Fringe, and so we showed up at the beer tent with this cheese, a Stilton (to be reviewed soon), some crackers (also deserving of a review forthcoming), and a bottle of wine.  Trust me, this cheese was a change of pace from your “normal Fringe Festival food”. 

We shared with a few artists and later asked them to tell us what they thought of it.  Two performers from the Fourth Wall, a hybrid music group, replied.  Hilary said, “I’m terrible at describing food!  Greg will be better”.  Gee, thanks Hilary!  

Greg is playing accordian.  Oh - and that is Hilary playing upside-down flute...  You can learn more about their group at 

https://www.facebook.com/TheFourthWallEnsemble?fref=ts

But she was right, Greg was good.  Here is a foodie and here is what he had to say about this cheese, “The mushroom Brie had a nice mushroom flavor.  Good earthiness without being over powering like some truffle cheeses (see – I told you he was a foodie!  He has other truffle cheese in his head  to compare this to!).  The cheese itself was somewhat lacking in character, but its’ luxurious creaminess was an excellent backdrop for the savory mushrooms.”

Damn.  Drop the mic.  He needs to be a food critic, no?

This is a damn fine cheese

I would disagree with him slightly in that I do not think the cheese lacked in character, but hey, everyone has their own opinion.

I left this out on the counter for the evening to warm up.  It was lovely and spreadable.  It would be ah-frickin’-mazing on a fresh baguette.  The mushrooms are sooooo good in this! 

I am glad we discovered this one at the Trader Joe’s in Indianapolis.  We will certainly get it again – both for us to chow down on and to serve to guests. 

This cheese is a winner.

Price - $9.99 per pound

Rating – 4.75

Day165 - Taco Seasoning

It is strange how many of these reviews start with, “We don’t normally eat…” or “We don’t often buy…” – I guess it just goes to show you how many DIFFERENT products we are buying and eating this year because of this review project!  But I fear I must start another one with, “We don’t make tacos very often…” because it is true, we don’t!

We were recently back at our “home” Trader Joe’s and saw a lady with some flour tortillas in her cart (which we do not buy very often and had never purchased at Trader Joe’s – oops – there is ANOTHER one of those disclaimers!).  Anyway, the sight of the tortillas, mixed with my hunger, made me think TACOS! 

So we set about finding the ingredients we would need to make tacos.  We don’t eat tacos often, and when we do, it is at a restaurant or my sister’s house I guess!  J  But this time, we were going to make them ourselves.  So we got:  flour tortillas (to be reviewed another day), hamburger (probably also to be reviewed at some point), and hot pico de gallo (which got a glowing review on day 25 of this blog).  We wanted some taco seasoning, but couldn’t find any where we expected it (by the jars of salsa, right?) so we assumed TJ’s didn’t carry it and planned to pop into another store on the way home. 

But before giving up, we asked an associate, who led us to the packets of taco seasoning in a very out of the way place on a very hard to find bottom shelf.  THEY HAD IT!  (Note to stores:  these don’t take up much shelf space at all, maybe you could display them in a couple different places?  By the canned refried and black beans, by the tortillas, and by the jars of salsa?  Just an idea to making shopping easier.)

These packets were HIDING!  

We are NOT taco seasoning experts.  I think I have only ever bought one brand and probably only invested in that a couple times in my life.  So I really cannot compare this TJ’s brand to any other, in taste, quality, or price.  But I CAN say it made good taco meat!  It was super easy, we followed the meat recipe on the package (onions, green peppers, can of  tomatoes (from TJ’s), beef, and the seasoning).  The package recommended using HALF of it for a milder taste, and ALL of it for a super spicy taste.  GO BIG OR GO HOME, right?  In almost all of it went! 

Tacos being made...  That is a pound of ground beef, which turned out to be a LOT for us (like 4 meals...)

I saved a bit to put on small Portobello mushrooms I sliced and was making to put on the tacos (wow, I just checked the blog and am surprised I have not reviewed these, we eat them a ton.  To be reviewed…).  It turned out that the taco seasoning on the mushrooms was super good and my favorite part of the whole meal! 

And the "Best Use of Taco Seasoning" award goes to - these mushrooms!

I think I will keep a packet of this seasoning in the cupboard to use on veggies.  I am going to experiment and see how it tastes on things other than hamburger meat! 

Price - .79 cents

Rating - 4

Day 91 - Saucy Scallops with Mushrooms

Ooh-la-laah – get a package of Saucy Scallops with Mushrooms!!!  This was our first time trying this and it was delicious!  The package says 3 servings but we gobbled it up in 2. 

Find this in a bag in the frozeen food section

There are a couple cooking methods listed on the package and I did the one in a non-stick pan on the stove.  Easy and only took around 8 minutes, in fact, I did it as the pasta that I was going to pour this over cooked. 

The dish includes lots of scallops, peas, and mushrooms in an Emmental cheese sauce.  All we added was salt and pepper (oh, and served it over pasta).  It would be nice if you put some fresh herbs on top, too.  My partner wished the cheese sauce tasted a bit cheesier, but really overall we were both very pleased with this dinner.

DELICIOUS!

The price is fabulous - $5.99 for what I see as a fancy dinner for two!  This really had the feel of a “restaurant meal” but it was at a Trader Joe’s price (plus, we ate it at 11:00 PM, which is after most restaurants stop serving dinner…).

Great price!

I recommend you try this one!

Price - $5.99

Rating – 4.75

Day 34 - Asian Vegetable Stir Fry

This is not the type of thing we normally buy – pre-cut veggies all set to stir fry.  For us, a big part of the “fun” and deliciousness of cooking is the prep – chopping, measuring, etc.  And paying extra for someone else to do the prep work just seems silly, especially when we actually ENJOY that stuff.  But, for the sake of the blog, we bought this to see how it was.

Find this in the produce section

First off, it was not expensive when you consider all the stuff packed into it:  green peppers, broccoli, red peppers, white onions, snap peas, snow pea pods, bamboo shoots, bok choy, baby corn, mushrooms, red onions, carrots, and water chestnuts.  That is a ton of veggies for a stir fry!  When you are a household of two (as we are) and make a stir fry from scratch, you buy all those veggies and use little bits of each, leaving lots of half eaten veggies in the fridge.  So the idea of all of this variety in one pack was actually pretty appealing.  The package recommended cooking the veggies with a meat or tofu, and we almost never cook tofu, so we thought, “What the heck!” and did it with tofu (which will be reviewed on another day).

Veggie stir fry in action - in the wok

Packaging close up

Impressions – for me, the stir fry had a surprising lack of flavor.  I am not sure how all of those delicious vegetables could be mixed up together and the end result have LESS flavor than any of the individual veggies on their own…  I thought the whole point was that the WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS…  Even the onions were mild.  I wish the mix would have included some GARLIC – that might have livened things up.  We made it in a wok using Extra Virgin Olive Oil and soy sauce, but perhaps we should have added our own garlic.  After eating a couple of bites, I added sriracha sauce to mine to give it some pep. 

The label says it is “about 6 servings” – for us (two tiny people) it was TWO SERVINGS.  I guess if you eat like a Cabbage Patch Doll, it would be 6 servings. 

Price – $3.99

Rating – 2.75