Day 46 - Cauliflower

Cauliflower has never been on the top of my “favorite vegetables” list.  I just prefer my veggies to be GREEN, thank you very much!  But ever since we discovered ROASTED CAULIFLOWER, I have had to re-prioritize my vegetable preferences and cauliflower is sneaking its way up near the top!!

My first experiment with roasted cauliflower was from a recipe that claimed the little florets would “taste like popcorn and even kids would love it!”.  It was true, I loved it (though technically not a kid).  The second recipe was one that had loads of zingy flavors in a Greek yogurt sauce covering the head of cauliflower – oh man it was good!  Then last night I did a much simpler, and equally (perhaps more?) delicious version of a whole roasted cauliflower (ingredients were olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and capers (also fresh parsley, which we didn’t have so I skipped, cuz that’s how I roll).

Leftovers!  Day 2 of roasted cauliflower - it was just as tasty the 2nd day

 The point is:  give cauliflower a try.  Even if you have previously found it to be bland, dull, and yucky.  Try to roast it!  Google – there are loads of roasted cauliflower recipes.  In fact, if you have one you love please put a link in the comments section here so I can try it. 

Note:  I was not sure if the price for a head of cauliflower at Trader Joe’s, $2.49, was good or not.  So I drove RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET, a one minute drive, to Safeway to compare.  Guess what?  The Safeway price was $3.99!!!!  $1.50 more than Trader Joe’s! 

Oh Safeway...  Don't say, "Every Day!" with an exclamation point, unless you mean,
"Charging too much for cauliflower EVERY DAY!"

 Pick up a cauliflower when you are at Trader Joe’s and ENJOY IT.  I sure have!

Price – $2.49

Rating – 4.25

Day 45 - Sriracha

Here’s the deal – if you like sriracha, you LIKE sriracha!  There was a huge stink (literally) about it last year in the media, apparently neighbors were complaining that the manufacturing of it at a nearby plant was making their eyes water (understandable really – I have made my eyes water and made myself cough often by cooking with a wee bit too much of the stuff!).  Here is a HuffPo article on the situation:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/sriracha-odor-lawsuit-stinging-stench_n_4172997.html

Sriracha, though very difficult to spell, is addictive.  It is a traditional Thai hot sauce/chili sauce and it is delicious.  Sriracha has a huge following – why, a large number of websites will even sell you TSHIRTS proclaiming your love for the stuff (one example here:  http://www.cafepress.com/mf/85672169/got-sriracha_long-sleeve-tshirt?utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=1212705353&utm_source=msn&utm_campaign=sem-cpc-product-ads&utm_content=search-pla&productId=1212705353 )! 

If you have not tried sriracha, you should!  It is a great on a variety of food.

18.25 oz of flaming goodness

But here is the deal – the “real” sriracha, the one most people know and love, is made by Huy Fong Foods.  It has an iconic rooster on the label and a loooovely little green squeeze tip. 

Huy Fong Goods Sriracha - 17 oz

HOWEVER, Trader Joe’s also sells their own brand of sriracha…  Now, you purists may be wiggling in your chairs at the thought of eating a “knock off” sriracha, but TRY IT!!  It (to me) tastes just as good.  In a price comparison with a local (cheap) grocery store (Shopper’s Food Warehouse) the famous brand sold for the same price ($2.99) as the Trader Joe’s variety, but was a smaller container (17 oz as compared to 18.25 oz).  Sure, the Trader Joe’s bottle doesn’t have a ROOSTER on it, but it does have a really awesome fire breathing dragon!!!  The thing I miss is the little green pointy tip.  I know this might be totally uncool to do, but I think I will try to see if a Huy Fong bottle cap will fit on a Trader Joe’s bottle of sriracha!!  (If you have already tried this and have the answer, please tell me in the comments section.) 

Rooster Sriracha - same price but smaller bottle

So, that’s sriracha.  If you are already a fan, please try the Trader Joe’s version and let me know what you think.  If you have never tried it (and like hot stuff), GET A BOTTLE!

P.S. – Posting this on Valentine’s Day, cuz love is 

H-O-T. 

Price - $2.99

Rating – 4.75

Day 44 - Roasted Gorgonzola Flavored Oven Crisp Crackers

Keep reading, even if you hate gorgonzola. 

I am not a cracker person.  When I think of a snack or a nibble, crackers don’t come to mind.  But I am glad these ended up at our house, because they are yummy!

These are some fine crackers

At first glance, there are many things that could go wrong with these crackers.  First off, lots of people hate strong cheeses like gorgonzola.  I personally am a gorgonzola fan, so that was a plus for me.  What worried me was that they are “gorgonzola flavored”.  I feared that the quotation marks around “flavor” might mean some fakey sort of flavoring.  I also anticipated a powdery goo that would stick to my fingers when I munched on these.  And the last possible thing that could have gone wrong (in my humble opinion) was “oven crisp” – as in – kinda sorta healthy instead of just SNACKY.

Very reasonable price!

But nope, nope, and nope – these are good!  The flavor is NOT strong.  In fact, I would bet if you put some of these in a little dish on the coffee table and hid the box, even your friends who “hate gorgonzola” would like them!  There is not a powder that flakes off onto your fingers.  And they do not taste all bland and flavor-less like some “baked” snacks do. 

Roasted Gorgonzola crackers for the win!

Price – $2.29 (a good price for a lot of crackers)

Rating – 4

Day 43 - Charles Shaw Pinot Grigio

Trader Joe’s has long been known for its “2 buck Chuck” – very cheap Charles Shaw brand wines.  They used to be $1.99, hence the name.  Here is a Wikipedia article on the subject:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Shaw_wine

If you wanted to be accurate these days, you would have to call this bottle “3.29 Buck Chuck” – but hey, $3.29 for a BOTTLE OF WINE is nothing to sneeze at…

$3.29 for a bottle of Pinot Grigio - how can you not try it?

We do not get the Charles Shaw brand wines very often.  We do not skip them because they are BAD, but simply because there are SO MANY WINES to choose from at Trader Joe’s that it is fun to experiment!  This Pinot Grigio was better than we expected.  It was really good! It was easily comparable to other Pinot Grigios.  It would, of course, be a fun experiment to decant a couple bottles, one Charles Shaw and one more expensive brand, and do a blind taste test.

Am I saying it is hands down the best wine in the world?  Nope.  But does it stink?  Noooo!  It is fine!  And it is $3.29, folks.  For drinking with dinner, or for cooking with, the price cannot be beat. 

Price - $3.29

Rating - 4  

Day 42: Altoids Smalls

I do not like Altoids, big or small.  They are too “curiously strong” for me.  But when I needed several tiny gifts, this petite little tin fit the bill perfectly.  I grabbed them while at Trader Joe’s, and later wondered how the price would compare to other stores.  It is not often you can directly price compare with things you buy at Trader Joe’s, because 9 times out of 10 the products you get are Trader Joe’s brand, so you can’t compare “apples to apples”, so to speak.  But in THIS case I could, because Altoids are a national brand.

Cute teeny tiny little Altoid tin

So here’s the scoop:  at Trader Joe’s, I paid $1.19.  IF I had made the same impulse purchase at my local CVS, I would have paid $1.49 for the same exact tin of mints!

Altoid Smalls display at CVS - 30 cents more!

And if I preferred to not leave the house and buy them from the comfort of my living room, I could have gone to http://www.candyfavorites.com/candy/mints-and-breath-fresheners/altoids-mints?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mints and  bought a pack of 9 Altoid Smalls tins for $14.81, then paid for shipping on top of that, making each box cost me $2.75 (plus, I would have been stuck with 8 extra boxes of mints I do not like)!  (Note:  had I wanted $50 worth of candy, I could have qualified for free shipping…  Or if I was a power online shopper and had Amazon Prime I would have “free shipping”, but this is just for COMPARISON mind you…)

So my point here is this:  some people have told me that they think Trader Joe’s is expensive.  And yes, there are products that cost more at Trader Joe’s than at other stores.  But if you are careful and if you compare, you will find that OFTEN you can save money by shopping at Trader Joe’s! 

So, the rating of this product is not on my personal taste of it, since I didn’t even open the tin and instead gifted it to an Altoid lover.  The rating is based on the fact that Trader Joe’s carries a few nationally known branded products and manages to give customers a break on buying them.  I appreciate that (even if I don’t like Altoids J ).

Price – a cheap $1.19

Rating – 5 (cuz pricing stuff low rocks)

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

Day 39 - Wicked Sticky Pecan Buns

These caught our eye because of the cool name.  WICKED STICKY Pecan Buns!  Cool, eh?  Of course we walked around the store saying, “Wicked Sticky” in our fake Boston accents.  We thought the adverb “wicked” was modifying the adjective “sticky”.  It was not until the next morning when we ATE said buns that we realized WICKED was modifying PECAN BUNS, and STICKY was superfluous!

Let me explain…  We asked a Trader Joe’s guy if he had eaten these before and if they were good.  He was sort of cagey in his answer – hemming and hawing – and said he highly recommended heating them in the oven as opposed to microwave as that would make them a little “melty” and “less sugary sweet”.  Oh my.  I feared then that they were going to be Wicked Sugary Buns.

Wicked Sticky Pecan Buns - 4 to a pack

We followed his advice – put each bun on a small plate, covered them with foil, and heated them in the oven.  When we went to eat them they were not “melty” at all, but they were YUMMY!!  Sweet, but not too sweet, and oh so butttttery!  The pecans were nice, too.  Really a tasty breakfast treat!

A buck a bun!

Wicked Sticky Pecan Buns (with espresso) for breakfast

The only thing missing was the STICKY!  There was no sticky whatsoever!  Just yummy!  Name change suggested – WICKED YUMMY PECAN ROLLS. 

Price - $3.99 (which equals a buck a bun)

Rating – 4.5

Day 38 - Baby Bok Choy

YES to baby bok choy!!!  This is a delicious vegetable and so easy to prepare.  For starters, it comes pre-washed and ready to use.  And not “pre-washed” in quotation marks – the sort of pre-washed some other stores have where if you do not actually wash it again yourself you will taste grit.  No siree, this is the sort of pre-washed you can trust!  No need to rinse before cooking.

Delicious veggie!

This is not a recipe blog, but since this veggie is not all that common in the US, I will explain here how I cook it in case you want to try it!  I heat a bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a skillet, put in some soy sauce, and lie the uncut baby bok choy in.  I top it with fresh squeezed lemon, salt, and pepper and cover with a lid for a bit.  Turn it over after a while to cook the other side.  Variations:  add garlic at the beginning – yum!  And the variation I most love: add sriracha sauce at the beginning!  It browns a bit and really makes the dish have a hot zing!  Note:  I sometimes add so much sriracha that as it cooks the pepper gets in the air and makes me cough!  This is a sign that I added too much for my partner’s liking but just enough for mine J .  I would love it if readers would comment with their own recipes for baby bok choy!  I would like to make it even more often.

Cooked baby boy choy on plate - it may look odd in the photo, but it makes my mouth water just looking at it!

This is a vegetable we make and serve often.  We can buy it cheaper at Grand Mart (a supermarket specializing in international food) but it is just as tasty from Trader Joe’s (and, like I mentioned, pre-washed).  The only downside to the TJ’s version is the over packaging.  It comes in a (recyclable) plastic container with lid that seems way overdone for what is needed. 

Price – $2.29

Rating – 4.25

Day 37 - Spring Mix Salad

I am a firm believer in making your OWN salad.  That is, buying a couple of different whole heads of nice lettuce and mixing up the perfect blend.  That being said, there are times when that just seems like a bit too much work, or too time consuming.  And it is at those times that I am thankful for bagged lettuce blends.

This blend, Spring Mix, has a nice variety:  baby lettuces (it seems like that should be “baby lettuce” but Google tells me lettuces has become accepted), greens, and radicchio.  The mix provides enough taste, crunch, and color for me. 

Spring Mix Salad

What is does NOT provide is enough VALUE.  Ouch – at $1.99 for a tiny 5 ounce bag I feel like I am getting royally ripped off. 

All in all, for taste this product would get a rating of 4.  But because it seems way overpriced and you can find a bigger mix of the same lettuce at a competing grocery store for less on sale, the rating has to go down.  I buy it in a pinch but try to avoid it.

Price - $1.99

Rating – 2.5

Day 36 - Kale Sprouts

I think internet acronyms are stupid, but OMG…  I mean SERIOUSLY, a new veggie is in town, and it frickin’ ROCKS!!!  Kale Sprouts, man!!!! 

I had never heard of them.  I stood and stared at them in the produce section, trying to figure out exactly WHAT they WERE…  A lady came up and assumed the same stance next to me, and I asked if she had tried them.  “Nope, but did you read the article in the Post about them???” she countered.  HUH??  The Washington Post did an article on a VEGETABLE??  Now that tipped the scale, not only did I need to find the article, I needed to taste the vegetable!!!

We invested in a bag (at $3.49 for a smallish 8 oz. bag it felt pricey), and went home for what I was sure was some over-hyped yuppy trend.

Oh no, no, no.  Kale sprouts are REAL, baby.  Real as in REAL GOOD J !!!  I cooked them following one recipe on the package – a couple tablespoons of EVOO in a large skillet, sauté until “golden” (though that term seemed dumb for a dark green/purple veggie, how does it get “golden” exactly??) around 3 minutes.  Add half cup of water, salt, and cover until however tender you want them (a few minutes for us). 

Run, don't walk, to Trader Joe's now and get some Kale Sprouts

They are heavenly!!!!  They will most certainly find their way to our house again (and again…).  The bag says 3 servings, which sounds exactly right.  We had them alongside a veggie/tofu stir fry, and just had the leftovers with lunch (just as good reheated the next day, folks).  They are not bitter, in fact there is a bit of sweet. 

You need these veggies.  It is not very often that a brand spankin’ new vegetable comes to town, and when it does, you have to invite it over for dinner.  By the way, here is the mention from the Washington Post (January 13, 2015), “Speaking of kale…kale sprouts, lollipop kale and the newly marketed Kalettes are basically identical…”.

Price - $3.49

Rating - 5

Day 35 - Peach Raspberry Pie

We recently had an amaaazing store bought small pie from a grocery store in Florida named Publix.  We adored it.  And it is with that positive memory that we bought this Peach Raspberry pie tonight at Trader Joe’s.  It is a great size – 14 oz.  The flavor sounds like a delicious mix – the sweetness of peach entangled with the tanginess of raspberries.

Looks yummy!

And yet….

Oh you disappointing little pie, you.  Your crust is way too thick and floury.  Your fruit filling is bland and not at all zippy.  Your peach is peach COLOR but not peach TASTING.  And your RASPBERRIES??  Are you sure those are raspberries and not rhubarb?? Cuz they are dull, dull, dull…  And your topping – did someone just spill a box of granola on top of you??  You are nothing like a homemade pie and you make us wish for summer and fresh peaches to make our own dessert.

We won’t be buying you again.  In fact, we will be returning this one with 2 tiny slices cut out of it.  Thank goodness for Trader Joe’s awesome return policy!

Over priced and under flavored.... (and incorrect - package says 14 oz)

 Price – $4.99 (WAY TOO MUCH)

Rating – 1.5

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

Day 33 - Chateau Haut-Sorillon Bordeaux Superieur

Trader Joe’s does this marvelous little thing called WINE TASTINGS.  They used to do them much more frequently, and we used to purchase more wine.  Yes, the tastings are the very best way for a customer to try a new wine and often times decide to put it in their cart and take it home.  I can’t imagine how much MORE WINE each store sells on days they do tastings.

Ahhh - wine tasting at Trader Joe's!  

So recently, the Trader Joe’s in Clarendon (Arlington, VA) was having a wine tasting.  It was set up riiiight when you entered the store.  J  What better way to start your shopping trip, eh?  Of course we stopped and one of the wines being poured was Chateau Haut-Sorillon Bordeaux Superieur.  Let me just say this from the get-go – it could have tasted like red Kool-Aid and many of us would have still bought it, because the wine sample guy was so amazing!  He had a heavy French accent and here he was pouring a lovely French Bordeaux!  And he knew a ton about it, too – the area of origin, the alcohol content, the reason the grapes are so special….  But the thing is, he did not explain it in the hoity-toity way so many sommeliers or waiters do, he explained everything with loooove. 

Chateau Haut-Sorillon Bordeaux Superieur (say it with a French accent!)

So, even though we were drinking out of tiny plastic sample cups, that wine tasted lovely.  It is fruity, hearty, and with some nice tannins.  And we, along with other people doing the tasting, made sure to grab a bottle to bring home with us. 

At $8.99, it is not one of the cheapest wines on the Trader Joe’s shelves, but it is worth the money (and heck, it is still under $10!). Tip – the Frenchman told us to make sure to let this breathe before drinking. 

Price - $8.99

Rating – 4

Day 32 - Picholine Olives

We do not normally buy olives at Trader Joe’s because we REALLLLY like olives.  I mean, we seriously tried to “smuggle” olives over the border with us one time and Customs guys took them L.  So we like to buy them in bulk at grocery stores and get a variety – kalamata, oil cured Moroccan, tasty, tasty, tasty!!  And sadly, Trader Joe’s does not have an “olive bar” to let you scoop up your own gems.  (Note to management if any of you read this:  GET AN OLIVE BAR!)

But my partner noticed this new item, Picholine Olives, on an end cap of the store and put them in the cart.  He was intrigued by the jar which proclaimed that these particular olives were oh-so-rare and fancy.  It even says, and I quote, “These are special little olives”. 

Picholine Olive jar

My take:  they aren’t bad, but they aren’t fabulous.  They are smooth and buttery, but do not have a lot of TASTE.  And if you are gonna eat an olive, you want TASTE!  They would get lost in a salad (IMHO) because they are so bland.  So we have been eating them just alone – nibbling on them out of the jar.

Nibbling in the kitchen

If I decide, we won’t get these again.  But if David tosses them in the cart, I won’t complain (NOTE – I JUST ASKED DAVID FOR HIS RATING AS I WAS WRITING THIS AND HE SAYS “4”…).  To me, they are just “meh”.

NOTE - THEY DO HAVE PITS, which is how we like them, but will be weird to you if you normally buy olives without pits.  :)

Price - $1.99

Rating – 2.5