Southwestern Chopped Salad

I was a new Trader Joe's product for us.  We do not normally buy “salad kits”, because, not to brag here, but salads are one of my specialties.  I can whip up a lovely salad (if I do say so myself)!  So, if we buy premade salad at TJ’s, it is usually an already made salad in a plastic container that I eat for lunch (like my favorite, Mega Crunchy Salad with a Bite, reviewed here: Mega Crunch Salad with a Bite review ), and not a kit in a bag like this one is.  But hey, I am all about trying new stuff, so I threw this in our cart.

A complete salad kit - ok, we will try it

Here are the ingredients listed on the FRONT of the bag, not in the teeny tiny mouse print on the back:  green cabbage, romaine, cotija cheese, roasted pepitas, tortilla strips, green onion, cilantro, and a spicy southwest avocado dressing.  There are more ingredients on the back, but these are the “big guns” listed on the front to get your attention.  The bag tells us, “Trader Joe’s Southwestern Chopped Salad is an homage to the bright, spicy, flavorful dishes of its namesake region.  Green cabbage, carrots, and radish have been chopped into small pieces and mixed with pepitas, tortilla stripped, green onions and cilantro.  Toss with the included cotija cheese and spicy avocado dressing for a fresh, complete salad.”

$3.29 for a bag

David put this salad together while I worked on other parts of dinner.  He reported there was the loose cabbage part in the bag, then a package that contained 3 smaller packets:  the dressing, the cheese cubes, and tortilla strips.  Here is what we thought of it:

And here is David’s take: “I think it is excellent!  I was a little concerned when I first dumped out the majority of the package - it looked like a lot of cabbage. But flavor-wise, with the added pepitas and the cheese and the dressing, it really is a very nicely balanced mix.  Also, little tiny bits of tortilla – all in very nice balance.  I gotta say – it is very nice.  It doesn’t have any of the nice tomato things that you might think of as more lush in a salad, but, that’s not what it’s trying to do.  So, I’m gonna give this a 4.5.”

Please wait until we sit down to dinner, David...

And here is what I thought:  I am surprised that one of the adjectives used on the bag is “spicy”.  To me this salad is not spicy at all.  I am also surprised that the bag said it contained green onion, because I cannot even taste them.  For my first few bites, I was like, “I don’t know what cotija cheese is, but it sure is tasteless…”.  Then I got a better chunk of it and it had some taste…  Normally in salad we go for feta (Trader Joe's has an excellent feta that is a staple at our house, reviewed here:  Greek Feta in Brine  ) or blue cheese, both of which are extremely flavorful.  This cotija is a much more mild cheese than I am used to in my salads.  We also do not normally put tortilla strips in our salads.  I know that is a hip thing to do, so color us unhip.  The texture of that is, to me, a bit strange, but the taste of the tortillas is good.

For me, the whole salad is a little bit bland.  Everything is chopped super tiny.  It is not quite a COLESLAW, but in my book it is also not a SALAD.  It is all chopped a little bit too tiny for me.  I like to eat my salad with a FORK, and this is a SPOON SALAD.  My favorite part is the pepitas – they are really nice. 

David, the in-store TJ's salad model

Overall – I do not taste spicy, I do not taste avocado, I do not taste green onion, and I really do not taste the cilantro.  I like it – I am not saying it is BAD – but it would not be my “go to salad”.  I give this a 3.75.

Price:  $3.29

Rating (average of 2 raters):  4

Day 342 - Mega Crunchy Salad with a Bite

Here’s the thing:  “internet life” is sort of like “pretend life”, isn’t it?  I mean, online, the people “aren’t real”, which is why some folks can sometimes say such mean, hateful things that they would not say in a face to face conversation; or post insane photos of themselves that they would never take out and pass around at a family gathering.  The internet can seem like a make-believe world. 

Granted, my view of life online is decidedly different than that:  I try to live a genuine “online life” just as I do in “real life”.  I don’t make things up, I don’t only post flattering photos (oh heavens, I think this blog is proof that there are some unflattering photos of David and I out in cyberspace…), and I don’t post things online that I would not want to say to someone in a real life conversation.

Even so, “internet life” and “real life” ARE different. 

But sometimes “internet life” and “real life” somehow magically intersect, and when that happens, you find yourself in a Trader Joe’s on a Sunday morning in Chelsea (NYC) saying, “Are you Ttrockwood???”.

YES!!!  I GO TO MEET TTROCKWOOD, A READER OF THIS BLOG!!!!!  (If the ALL CAPS didn’t indicate it clearly enough, I will spell it out for you:  I was very excited!)

LOOK!!!  I met Ttrockwood in REAL LIFE!  In the Trader Joe's Chelsea store.

Ttrockwood is a reader and frequent commenter here.  I always like when Ttrockwood comments.  And I already had a super cool and fun experience with Ttrockwood earlier this fall when we did a HONEY EXCHANGE – they didn’t have Tuscan honey at their Trader Joe’s, so I offered to send some (review here), and in return, Ttrockwood sent ME Mike’s Hot Honey that is only available in THEIR TJ’s (review here).  I mean, that honey exchange already sort of blew my mind – that a person I had never met in real life was interacting with me not only ONLINE but via the US POSTAL SERVICE was bizarre!!!

So when we planned a quick trip to NYC recently, I contacted Ttrockwood to ask if we could meet up.  I was a little nervous.  It was not because I was AFRAID to meet, but because I was afraid Ttrockwood might think I was a weirdo or a stalker or something!  I mean, I just emailed out of the blue and was like, “Hey, do you want to meet us at a Trader Joe’s??”.  Sorta strange…

So when a positive reply came back and a date/time were set, I was so excited!!! 

Ttrockwood teaching David some of the finer points of inner city TJ's shopping

I have to let you in on a secret – for all the months that Ttrockwood has been commenting here and I have been smiling and reading the comments out loud to David, I have been unable to identify Ttrockwood with a pronoun.  That is because I have never known if Ttrockwood was a male or female.  And that mystery was lovely!!!  I so enjoyed the verbal challenge of not applying a pronoun!  (Oh sure, I could have tried the gender neutral “Ze”* but that is quite cumbersome for some reason…)   So I would say things like, “David!!  Ttrockwood is down to meet us at the Trader Joe’s in Chelsea!  They will be there at 10:30 am!”.  J  I LIKED not knowing a gender, but I was also curious to see him/her face to face and figure out which pronoun was more appropriate!   (Side note:  in my work as a sign language interpreter I often face the challenge of unknown gender, as ASL is not as definite as English in pronouns.  So maybe it is because of this experience in my professional life that I found this challenge to be so fun in my personal life.)

Of course, Ttrockwood has seen a bazillion photos of us here, so knew who to look for when we met up.  But all I knew was that the person would be blonde and have a camo backpack.

But it turns out that info was more than enough to quickly see Ttrockwood at the TJ’s entrance and blurt out, “Hey, are you TTROCKWOOD???” and give her a big hug!! 

Introductions (and pronouns) done, we set about shopping at one of her local Trader Joe’s.  It was so fun to have a personal concierge showing us around!  She knew all of the ins and outs of the Chelsea store and was happy to teach us.  And let’s just say, there is sort of a lot to learn about shopping that urban TJ’s! 

Two long ass lines - very organized and cool

First off, the line basically goes through the whole store.  It is really well managed and moves quickly.  There is an employee at the end of the line with a cute “End of Line” banner, and an employee at the middle of the line with a “Middle of Line” banner.  The middle is important because, pay close attention here, the middle is where the line SPLITS INTO TWO lines.  “HUH???” you think.  I KNOW, crazy, eh??  And that is where having a tour guide like Ttrockwood with you makes all the difference!  She explained that if you want to grab BAKED GOODS or REFRIGREATED MEATS while waiting in line, you take the OUTSIDE/RIGHTHAND of the 2 lines, but if you want to continue shopping for FROZEN GOODS or TREATS while in line, you migrate to the INSIDE/LEFTHAND line.  Man, shopping in Chelsea is COMPLEX!!  (But cool.)

Here's the MIDDLE OF THE LINE guy, see his banner??

The store was much, much bigger than anticipated.  The footprint would be big even for a suburban location where they paid much less rent.  Ttrockwood explained that we were there at a “slow time” and amateurs like us would get eaten alive if we showed up during peak hours.  J 

Of course, many things are the same as they are in other Trader Joe’s – friendly staff, double bagged groceries, tasting station.  Actually the tasting station was funny, because it was completely obstructed by the outside line.  Oh sure, I guess you could pick the outside line to wait in if you wanted to grab a sample, but what if you were still SHOPPING and wanted a sample?  I wormed my way between the people in line to nab a tiny plop of oatmeal.  I doubt my technique was “correct” but hey, I was a tourist!!

Ttrockwood taught us her patented “drop it and grab it technique” that she uses at her crowded Trader Joe’s!  It goes like this:

1.        Take your place in the long ass line.

2.       Drop your shopping basket (the little handheld one) in your spot to save your place. 

3.       Quickly grab the desired item from the nearest aisle.

4.       Return to your basket and drop in the item before the line moves!

See, it is lessons like that that you cannot learn from a YouTube video!

Our lunch!

We decided to grab a Mega Crunchy Salad with a Bite to eat later in the day, and Ttrockwood got the same salad.  That way we could review them “together” (though eating them apart).  Ttrockwood sent me her review:

Salad close up

 Ttrockwood - “I had my Mega Crunchy salad today and my deep thoughts are......

I loved the texture and fork sized bites of crunchy veggies.  The beans and quinoa were great additions, so it's a legit salad meal vs salad that leaves you starving an hour later. The cilantro dressing packet had waaaay too much for one salad.  I liked it, but didn't pay enough attention to the label so the spicy kick surprised me (be warned if you're sensitive to spicy stuff). 

I'll totally buy it again. Solid 4.5 here. “

David and I did the totalllllly tourist thing of sitting in Times Square and eating our salad.  It was a strangely warm December afternoon so a great day to dine al fresco!  We thought we sat on the “sunny side” of the steps, but shortly after we dug into the salad the skyscrapers soon blocked the sunshine L.

Panorama of our lunchtime view.  I am not sure you can see it in this photo, but on the left side there is
an ad for KINKY BOOTS very near an ad that says, "A Savior is Born".  Ahhh NYC.

I must point out:  this is the first review I have ever done where, in the middle of the review, a complete stranger walked by us with his hand DOWN HIS PANTS feeling himself.  I kid you not.  In the middle of Times Square.  He made no attempt to hide it.  He didn’t seem to be doing it to “impress” anyone.  He was simply walking up all of the steps to get to the top and take a group selfie with his friends, but along the way he decided he needed to unzip his pants and play with himself.  Only in New York…

Now, here is what we thought of Trader Joe’s Mega Crunchy Salad with a Bite (with quinoa, carrots, adzuki beans, jicama, sunflower seeds, and cranberries with a cilantro dressing) (ironically the list of ingredients on the front do not mention LETTUCE, but I can confirm there is, indeed, actual lettuce in there, too):

Tasty salad in a fun environment!

Me – I really, really liked this!  It is delicious.  Many pre-packaged salads suffer from the dreaded “not enough dressing” problem, making them dry.   THIS salad does not have that issue, in fact my lunch date put the whooooole packet of dressing on and for my taste there is a bit TOO much dressing.  I really like the dressing though!  It has something hot and spicy in it, giving it a real ZIP. 

The veggie bits in the salad are chopped very small and are, as the name promised, crunchy.  I like them a lot.  I did not notice the taste of sunflower seeds until my last bite of salad. 

When reading the list of ingredients one might fear that this salad would be “too crunchy-granola-tree-hugger-y” and that people who were not ardent vegetarians might think it was yucky, but that would be wrong.  It is good.

This is a healthy lunch and it is yummy.  It is easy to grab and go.  Don’t forget to pick up a fork at Trader Joe’s before you leave if you want to eat this on the go (we forgot and had to sneak into a Starbucks and get one).  I give this a 4.75.

We sorta look like giants here!  This was our lunch spot.

David – “THANK YOU FOR PICKING THIS SALAD OUT TTROCKWOOD!  This is a great salad, mostly because of the plethora of sauce (dressing) that you can put on it that kind of blends/melds everything together.  All of the elements are delicious and it has such great “taste-ness” because of that cilantro dressing.  I give this a 4.75.”

Post Trader Joe's selfie :)

Now on to the rating.  Of course, I give the whole experience of actually meeting one of my blog readers and shopping with her a big ol’ shiny FIVE!!!!  It was most excellent.

For the salad, I will average our scores together.  Thanks for coming to Chelsea to shop with us, Ttrockwood.  It rocked.  And guess what guys?  Later this month I get to meet another reader, Marilyn, in Winter Park, Florida!  Wheeeeeee!!!

*Here is a link to an MIT page containing “Ze”, the gender neutral pronoun I referred to earlier:  Ze link here

Chelsea TJ's signage

Price – $3.99

Rating – 4.75

Day 334- Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

Confession:  I bought this product because I thought it was the most over the top, jumped the shark, ridiculous PUMPKIN PRODUCT that Trader Joe’s could possibly make.  If there is ONE THING in the world that DOES NOT NEED pumpkin spice, it is PUMPKIN SEEDS!  I thought, “Get real, Trader Joe’s!  You have taken it tooooo far this time with your pumpkin obsession!”.

Huh?  Why put PUMPKIN SPICE on PUMPKIN SEEDS?

Here is what the bag looks like

I packed up this ridiculous bag of Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds and brought it with me to Omaha, Nebraska, where we were heading for the Thanksgiving holiday and to celebrate my dad’s birthday.  Then I enlisted several family members to be guest reviewers!!  Here is what everyone thought:

Me:  I actually like these better than I expected.  I like regular pumpkin seeds but thought the concept of putting “pumpkin spice” on them would do nothing but ruin them.  Luckily, it turns out the “pumpkin spice” just sort of tastes like a sugar coating.  They are sort of nice!  I think one bag per pumpkin season might be enough, but they aren’t something that you should purposely avoid.  I would give them a 3.75. 

Annette (my sister) – “I wasn’t if I was going to like them when I heard the name “Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds”.  But I don’t taste pumpkin spice.  I do taste something sugary, I am not sure what.  Probably just SUGAR.  Sugary sugar!  They are very, very yummy!  I would top a salad with these or just eat them as a snack.  I wish they had a little bit more salt. They have a coating like you find on a sugar coated almond.  I would give these a 4.5.”

Mid bite - Annette taste testing Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds.

 Zach (partner of my nephew Jordan) – “I like ‘em.  I normally – with pumpkin seeds I prefer them to be more savory than sweet.  But these are obviously sweet - they have a distinctive kind of sugary crust on them.   As far as pumpkin spice is concerned, it is not particularly overwhelming.  I think it is kind of absent mostly.  They remind me of Bavarian spiced nuts.  Overall, I think these are pretty good.  I would personally give these a 2.75.” 

Zach, co-host of the gathering and a pretty hard scorer.

Trevor (my nephew, he wasn’t excited to try these because he doesn’t like pumpkin spice) – “They are alright.  Nothing to write home about.  I don’t really taste pumpkin spice.  I dunno…  I am trying to decide what I taste…  hmmm…  They are kind of addictive but I am not sure why!  They are alright.  But I am not a big SEED guy, so…  They are not BAD, but they are just not that GOOD.  I give them a 2.5.”

Dang - Trevor is a tough grader, too!

Elizabeth (partner of my nephew Trevor) and Hadley (their 5 month old daughter, who didn’t actually taste the pumpkin seeds cuz she doesn’t have any teeth yet…) – “They are good.  They taste like coated sunflower seeds.  I do not taste pumpkin spice.  But I can’t tell you what it tastes like though…  I would give them a 4.”

Not a great photo of Elizabeth and baby Hadley was sleeping, shhhhh

Nate (my nephew) – (note:  Nate tried these without knowing what in the world he was eating, we didn’t tell him what they were) “These taste like those sugared peanuts that Grandma Mary used to make.  But they are not peanuts.  I think they are PUMPKIN SEEDS.  (I asked if he tasted any pumpkin SPICE)  Nope.  No pumpkin spice.  But they are not bad.  They have too much flavor to put on top of chicken or something, but I would eat them by themselves.  I would give them a 3.75.”

Nate is the king of funny faced photos

David – “I think it is great that these have the advantage of slight sugar but they do not give up the saltiness that you need for the nut-ness.  I like ‘em!  I am gonna give ‘em a 4.5.”

David likes 'em!  And isn't the Christmas tree behind him gorgeous???

Well, it is unanimous – Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds DO NOT taste of pumpkin spice.  And all reviewers agreed, they are better for that.  I guess I am not the only one who thinks that the flavor of “pumpkin spice” is over used and over rated! 

I am not sure if you can still find these at TJ’s this season, since the shelves have morphed into a chocolate filled holiday wonderland.  But if they are gone this year and you see them next October, do not be scared off by the name – “pumpkin spice” is nowhere to be tasted.

Price – $2.99

Rating (average of all raters listed above) – 3.75

Day 289 - Persimmon Salad

We were heading out to the thea-tuh (that is how fancy people say it) and stopped at Trader Joe’s in Fairfax, VA to get something for dinner on the way.  Sadly, we spent so much time wandering the aisles, tasting pumpkin soup and pumpkin beer and (non pumpkin) wine, that we pulled into the theatre parking lot with enough time to rush to our seats, not to EAT DINNER.  Therefore we did something the fancy people do NOT do – chowed down on a salad with a plastic fork during intermission.  But hey, that’s how we roll.  Deal. 

Oops - caught you eating dinner during intermission.  SO not fancy.

This salad was new to us.  Apparently Trader Joe’s had it last autumn and it was a big hit, so they juuuust brought it back!  I am glad they did, and you should be, too.  It is in the Fearless Flyer this month.

The Fearless Flyer is TJ's newsletter.  I don't really get into it much, which is why I am making this photo small.  :)

This salad is a very nice combination of stuff.  The front of the package boasts this contains butter lettuce, kale, roasted almonds, goat cheese, and a pomegranate dressing.  Of course, as the name suggests it also has PERSIMMONS, which, hello, who buys persimmons??  We do not, but maybe we should!!  They were good in this context for sure.

Even before OPENING this salad I thought it looked good.  I was right.

The nuts and pomegranate seeds come in little plastic sealed cups that you open and dump in.  This keeps them fresh and they do not get mushy, which is cool.  The majority of the salad is butter lettuce and kale.  We normally do not eat raw kale and this salad really made me want to do that more often.  The kale was great!  It tasted “healthy”, if healthy is a taste.    

I think there could be a bit more dressing.  It is a super tasty pomegranate sherry dressing and by the bottom of the salad I was wishing for more.  David agreed about needing a bit more dressing.

See - FEARLESS FLYER item 

David says, “The dressing is great!  The mix of kale and butter lettuce is a nice balance.  The nuts are nice.  And I think it is Roquefort cheese??  It’s nice!  The kale is good because it is the TENDER LEAVES and not so much stalk.  I give this salad a 4.”

I at first thought the cheese in question was FETA, then realized it was chevre (goat cheese).  Well done, Trader Joe’s, well done. 

This salad would be great for lunch.  I give it a 4.5, so will average the two ratings together for the final number. 

Wade through the aisles of pumpkin products and get to the refrigerated section to pick one of these salads up.  It is nice to have an autumn taste other than pumpkin.  (Not that there is anything wrong with pumpkin…)

Price – $3.99

Rating – 4.25

Day 276 - Balsamic Vinegar of Modena

We call this “fancy ass balsamic vinegar”.  Basically cuz the jar looks fancy.

Arty farty shot of fancy ass vinegar.

David says, “It is soooo nice….  “  But when prompted for more details, such as WHAT MAKES IT NICE, he says, “It is balsaaamic.  And it is VINEGAR.”

Yeah – it is that sort of discerning palate and descriptive wording that makes a solid review…

In discussing what exactly MAKES vinegar balsamic vinegar, David supposed that it is fermented and that makes it taste richer and a little bit sweet.  Not one to take his word for it, I Googled it.  

click here to learn what in the world balsamic vinegar really is

And after reading that article I think HOLY SMOKES – I now understand why balsamic vinegar is so expensive!  It takes 12 years to make it, people!  And the barrels it is aged in disintegrate and have to be repeatedly reinforced!!  That’s it – I need to go to Italy and see balsamic vinegar being made.

(Note – after reading this article I checked to see where this TJ’s Balsamic comes from, as the article said TRUE balsamic only comes from two places.  Guess what?  This ain’t some cheap NYC street corner knock-off, it comes from Modena, one of the REAL spots.  Bam.)

Says right on the label and the signage - OF MODENA folks.  Fancy.

As for this particular balsamic, I really like the bottle, it is a cool shape.  The lid tricks me every time – I think it is going to be a CORK when I pull it off, but it is a plastic insert.  It makes a good seal when you put it on.  The bottle is also the right size.  Have you ever had a bottle of balsamic that is too big and it is in your fridge forever??  Or too small and it tips over?  This one is a good size and well shaped.  Or, as David says, “It has a nice flat bottom.”  (You can sense it coming, can’t you??)  “I like my balsamic like I like my women, with a nice, flat bottom.” (Groan.)

This balsamic was a tiny bit more expensive than SOME balsamic you see, but not the cheapest.  It was, in the grand scheme of things, middle of the road priced balsamic (but a cheap road, like St. Charles Place, not like Park Place).  I mean, you can pay a LOT of money for some faaaancy balsamic (if you are into that).  But are the super duper expensive ones any better???  I am sure if you are a chi-chi fancy rich person you might be able to taste the difference.  For us, this one will do just fine thank you very much.

This is the St. Charles Place of balsamic

We mostly use balsamic vinegar for salads.  I guess we should get more creative and cook with it, too.  We use very little of it.  If you want to read Trader Joe’s official description of this product, check out their archived article here .

Salad with balsamic - see it is tasty 

Different salad with balsamic

Price – $3.99 (which, if their article above is accurate, has been the same low price for over 8 years!)

Rating – 4.75

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 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 192 - Greek Kalamata Olives (Jumbo Pitted)

As clearly explained earlier in this blog, WE LOVE OLIVES.  Love them in an unnatural, unhealthy way perhaps.  Love them so much so that we have several special dishes to display olives at parties, even though we rarely have parties…  Olives.  Ahhhhh olives…  We eat them on their own – naked little olives devoured piece by piece.  We eat them over pasta – ahhhh pasta with olives.  We eat them in salads.

The point is – WE LIKE OLIVES, ok?

And, if you have read the previous Trader Joe’s olive reviews here (days 32 and 76), we have not found an olive we are happy with at TJ’s yet.  But did we give up??  No we did not.  We got BACK ON THE HORSE and invested in yet another jar of TJ’s olives – this time Greek Jumbo Pitted Kalamatas.

This is the jar - attempt number 3 to find a palatable Trader Joe's olive....

We had them in a salad.  Four olives for me, four for David.  It was a delicate little salad – mixed greens, tiny baby carrots, the kalamatas, balsamic vinegar, EVOO, and freshly ground salt.  Seems like a fair way to judge this olive, no?

Here are the olives presented in a salad.

And the verdict is in.

This is the best Trader Joe’s olive we have had.  Not the best OLIVE we have had, mind you, but the best one from TJ’s.  Although we both said something like, “It is a KALAMATA, how badly can it be screwed up???”, we had to give it a thumbs up.

First impressions – too mushy.  But then again, it is PITTED.  We normally eat olives with PITS.  I feel like if TJ’s just left these pits in, this would be a better olive.  I know, I know, it is probably some liability thing and a lawyer in California told them it is too dangerous to have pits – someone might break a tooth or choke.  I say ADD A DISCLAIMER TO THE PACKAGE, leaves those pits in, and serve up better olives!

But despite the mush factor, the taste is pretty good.  It is meaty, it is salty, it is kalamata.

So overall – will this be our olive of choice???  No. But is it worth keeping a jar in the fridge in case we run out of olives from the olive bar (of another grocery store)??  YES.

Price- I believe these were $2.99

Rating - 4

Day 181 - Cruciferous Crunch Collection

When I first saw this bag of veggies at Trader Joe’s, I thought, “Hmm, I am surprised they did not go the cutesy route and spell that name with letter “K”s,”.  Then I thought about it again…  3 words.  Ohhh no – best to stick with the correct spelling for the alliteration in this one…  

  

This is quite a CRUNCHY COLLECTION man.

Anyway, this mix has kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, green cabbage, and red cabbage.  The bag lists these as possible cooking methods:  “This blend is delicious steamed, sautéed, roasted, creamed with some cheesy sauce, raw, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera,”.  I chose the sautéed route and cooked them with olive oil in our wok.

I was tempted to add some lemon juice, garlic, or soy sauce, but I decided that since this was our first time trying this mix, I should cook it “au naturel” so we would see exactly what it tastes like.

I liked it.  It was, as the name suggests, crunchy.  The Brussels sprouts were cut very thin to allow them to cook in the same amount of time as the other things in the blend.  I didn’t taste much broccoli.  The main taste (to me) was green cabbage.  It did taste “healthy” – in a good way. 

Here is what it looks like on a plate

I liked this better than David did.  We served it with steak (to be reviewed soon) and a baked potato (also to be reviewed) but I noticed that at the end of our (admittedly rushed) dinner the thing left on his plate was Cruciferous Crunch Collection.  He normally eats every bite of everything on his plate, so that is not a good sign.  Oh my, I just asked him what number HE would give that veggie mix and he said, “A 2.  In fact, a 1.5.  I didn’t eat it…”.  OH my!  He normally likes eveeeeerything.

Ok, so if I get this one again it’ll have to be for a meal that he is not sharing. 

P.S. – I just used the power of Google to see if any other folks were having this stuff for dinner.  It turns out that eating it raw as a salad is something loads of people dig…  Ok.  Now I think I will try it THAT way next time and see how it goes.  I shall post a comment on this entry when I do. 

Speaking of comments – post yours here and let me know what you think of this stuff.

Price - $2.29

Rating (my rating, you saw David’s dismal one above…) - 3

Day 125 - Mozzarella Cheese

YUCK! 

We love cheese, and we like us some mozzarella.  In fact, I reviewed the Trader Joe’s Mozzarella Chub on day 17 of this blog, and it got a very solid 4 stars.  So when we were hosting our Trader Joe’s dinner party last night and wanted to put together a nice salad, we immediately thought of using some fresh mozzarella.  But since we had 6 people at the table instead of our usual 2, we picked up a larger package of the cheese, thinking it would taste just as delicious as the little chub we normally buy. 

YUCK

Wrong, wrong, wrong.  This was plain yucky.  It was hard, rubbery, sort of off-white-ish, and tasteless.  It didn’t taste “fresh” at all – it was as “fresh” as the processed orange American cheese slices in plastic wrappers.  My first clue was that when I opened the package, there was noooo liquid, where as with the normal small one we buy it gushes out.  The receipt says it was “Whole Milk”, which is what I think the little one is, too, so I do not know why this bigger one was so lousy.

I later went back to Trader Joe’s to see what the heck was different about this bigger package.  It turns out it is “low moisture”.  Apparently that makes a huge difference in the world of mozzarella!  We MUCH prefer the cutie patootie little 8 oz squishy chub you see pictured on day 17 (for $3.29).  If that is not big enough to serve everyone you are having over for dinner, but 2 of those!!  

This is the one you DO NOT want

And this is the GOOD ONE 

Do not be duped into buying this bigger, low moisture one.  We later used the rest of this hard chunk of mozzarella to make a pizza, and it was better suited for THAT use than to serve fresh.  But still, not a great product.

Trust me, it did NOT taste nearly as good as it looks in this photo

If I were going to rate this myself, I would give it a 1.75.   But since it was at the Trader Joe’s dinner party, I will now peek at what the guests wrote and average the ratings together for the final rating.  Here are the comments:

-          “Excellent character”

-          “Pleasant  texture, good saltiness”

-          “Slightly aged, tasty, nice combination with tomatoes”

-          “A bit tough”

-          “It is firm to the point of rubbery-ness, but does have some mozzarella-ish taste, and probably would due for melting on a pizza”

And once again, this product is lucky to have a TEAM reviewing it instead of just me, because instead of my rating of a 1.75, it is getting much higher.

Price - $4.99

Rating – 3