Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Wickless Wednesday: Trader Joe's Haul (For Sunnee)!

So, Sunnee over at Fragrance Obsessed! wanted to see my Trader Joe's haul, so I figured, why not?! This is our first trip to TJ's while having our new fridge (this haul was from 2 weeks ago)! YAY!

We love the store, it's absolutely fabulous. There are so many things to try from around the world that we often over-buy, and since we didn't really have anything in our fridge, we sort of went crazy this time, too. I didn't take pictures of a lot of stuff (like a majority of the fruits and veggies and spices and such), but here's the majority of what we bought!
Let's start with the miscellaneous stuff first. Freddo LOOOOOOOVES these treats! The top jerky treats are easy to break apart for tons of uses and he likes them quite a bit, but the PB biscuits are his weakness.
Two Buck Chuck is now $2.50 Chuck. BLASPHEM! This is for cooking.......no, seriously....
Let's start with the veggies I did photograph. This is the perfect size bag for a weekish's worth of mashed taters.
Our favorite type of salad is the "herb salad mix," which is really nothing more than baby greens. Love the stuff, it definitely has a leg up on plain ol' lettuce (which I personally hate)! We also picked up some Brussels sprouts, which we're going to cook up with bacon and try as a new recipe for Christmas...might as well try a trial run! Broccoli is delicious, so that's pretty self explanatory.
We have a billion uses for the frozen Melange A Trois of red, yellow, and green bell pepper strips. These are very versatile, and we love to throw them in stir fry, potatoes, anything. They have very good flavor and it helps that they are frozen because that makes them cheaper!
Fresh basil also has a million uses. Love the stuff! I use the Dorot chopped frozen basil and crushed frozen garlic in my spaghetti sauce. These little red squares are perfect and pack a delicious punch in my sauce.


Anyways, I reached in the bag to grab the next item, but not before noticing this...
...and with a closer inspection, I saw this...
...and ultimately this...
The thing I've always loved about Trader Joe's is that they use paper bags instead of plastic ones. The problem is, they fill them so full that things have a tendency to explode. So, our yogurt had popped because there was too much stuff on top of it. Oh well, we just have to buy another one. Let me just say, though: this shiz got all over everything and even bled through the paper bag. Luckily, it didn't get all over the car, or I would have been way more mad, lol.
This Tapas Sampler of Spanish cheeses is get to throw on a plate with some crackers or a baguette and wine for dinner when you're not feeling especially hungry. In fact, that's what we did the other day. The Iberico is my favorite, I think...cheese is probably one of my favorite foods, LOL.
Initially, we bought this as a pizza topper, but we have used the crust already. It wasn't that expensive, which is why we picked it up in the first place. Mmmmmm...any ideas for this?
Trader Joe's makes an awesome pizza dough. It's so simple to use and make, PLUS it's delicious. On the right, we have our favorite "fancy" shredded Mexican blend of cheese. Again, a staple for us. Great blend!
...like I said, we like cheese between the two of us, lol. The parmesean romano & asiago cheese goes perfect with my homemade spaghetti sauce. The spicy hummus dip, well, is a favorite snack of mine. It really is quite spicy, but it's wonderful on anything: crackers, pita bread/chips, veggies, or even by itself.
Onto the frozen items! Trader Joe's potato tots are another great find. Perfect to have on hand!
Lunch! These Bambino Pepperoni Pizzas are perfect for lunch. Make one, or two, and are taste great every time. We don't advise microwaving these, though, we tried once, and they are (obviously) much better oven baked. Just enough pepperoni and cheese that you're not drowning in toppings.
Another favorite item: Tandoori Naan! You cook these in the oven for just a few minutes, slap a little butter on, and you're ready to eat. Crispy, yet fluffy, and delicious.
The best French Vanilla ice cream in existence. And I mean it.
We have yet to make these, but how can you pass up PUMPKIN PIE??!!! ESPECIALLY IN MINI FORM!!!??!!?!? Mmmmm. I've heard good things about these!
Great for a midweek meal when you don't feel like cooking, the Kung Pao Chicken from the frozen section is a surefire winner! It *is* very spicy, but has enough veggies and peanuts to off-set it a bit. Simply scrumptious.
The greatest soup in existence. How many times have I said that this post? Well, they are all true.
A random selection of goodies. The peppermint extract was ONLY $1.99. WHAT! And the Speculoos Cookie & Cocoa Swirl is addicting/
Jaipur Vegetables from Indian Fare is another great lunch option. Spicy, chock full of vegetables, and goes great with the naan.
The dijon mustard is great and a huge amount less than those at the grocery store. The strawberry fruit spread is really nice. And the Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce....well, that's magical. Oh boy, is it amazing.
"This Pumpkin Walks Into A Bar" is our favorite rendition of the TJ's cereal bars. They are, again, a perfect snack. These got put in the cupboard and I forgot about them until just now. HAVING ONE!!!
My absolute favorite fall item from TJ's: spiced cider! This stuff is the bomb dot com. With a cinnamon stick and a little spiced rum (or by itself, it's good either way), this stuff transforms into a fall classic toddy-ish-type beverage. YUM!

Have you been to Trader Joe's? What are your favorite products from there? I am always looking for new stuff to try!

11 comments:

  1. I don't have a Trader Joe's near me, but I do love grocery hauls. Sorry I had to spy over Sunnee's shoulder and look at everything you got. =)

    ~Deb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's cool that you like grocery hauls, I wondered if people would be like, "what?" LOL! :)

      Delete
    2. One of the few people I still watch on YouTube (not a wax person) does grocery hauls and I just watched one last night. Are we all dorks? LOL

      ~Deb

      Delete
  2. I am hungry just reading this. What us that jar of cookie and chocolate ness?? Is it a thing like Nutella where you say screw it and just eat with a spoon? Looks deadly good!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's the cookie jar swirled with chocolate spread. It's good, but cookie butter by itself is probably more yummy!

      Delete
  3. Love love love Trader Joe's! Always make sure to get there once a week to stock up. Have you tried their Sweet Potato Tater Tots? I'm obsessed w/ those now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have never seen the sweet potato tots, but not I am intrigued!! Those sound amazing!! I'll have to look next time we go!

      Delete
  4. I just did a cartwheel …okay, I felt like doing a cartwheel, almost the same thing.
    This post is like my ultimate favorite post ever. It should be a tag. seriously, somebody start a tag. Because I want to know what Deb and Ashley and Dana and everybody else is buying at the grocery store --immediately.
    So much fun. LOVE love love it. The funniest thing, I buy almost every single thing you listed. (except I get the cookie butter instead of the swirl, haven't tried the cheese trio yet and not sure about the Indian Fare, but I love Indian so I'm willing to try it. Oh and the mini pumpkin pies--haven't seen those anywhere). If you weren't my bloggy twin, I'd think it was weird. (my dogs LOVE the peanut flavored dog biscuits!)
    Such a great blog post. Now I'm dying to go to Trader Joe's!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL - mine would not be interesting, mostly microwave and quickie meals because we all have different schedules. And certainly no Trader Joe's.....just Walmart. I might do one though, after my next grocery trip and a chance to look at it through others' eyes.

      ~Deb

      Delete
    2. We should either start or find all sorts of cool tags and do one a week! I love learning more about you all through fun ways like tags! :D

      The Indian Fare has many spicy dishes, namely this one and the lentils one, but the rest are pretty mild. The mini pumpkin pies were alright, but very unnecessarily greasy.

      <3

      Delete
  5. I looooove Trader Joes!!! It's been my favorite grocery store since the late 80's. Omg... the spiced cider is so good! I'm out and need to make a run for more tomorrow :)

    Let's see.. my favorite products from TJ's..
    I also a big fan of the spicy hummus, love their vanilla yogurt with a bunch of their praline granola tossed it in; the chicken sausage with jalapeno's is great, Hold the Cone in vanilla (you gotta try'em, if you haven't!), also love the Tandoori Naan and their fresh par-baked ciabatta bread, organic lentil with vegetables soup, organic low sugar blueberry preserves, their lemonade is the bomb, frozen white fish vera cruz, and they carry the best pistachios around :) Oh and we can't forget the white cheddar popcorn! nums!

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to leave a comment! If you do not have a Google ID, just use the "Name/URL" or "Anonymous" option, and comment away! :)