Posts Tagged ‘review’
08/11/2017
August 11, 2017
On first opening the package you’ll notice two strange things, broken up sheets of frozen sauce and plain white rice. More about these later.
When prepared according to the package directions, this risotto obtains a nice light yellow/green color from the creamy sauce. The sauce has a wonderful flavor and texture. The rice has a nice bite to it. It’s not overcooked. A fair amount of thin green asparagus is distributed throughout in the form of inch long pieces. These pieces also lend a touch of green asparagus flavor to the sauce.
Obviously this was not prepared in the traditional manner. The rice is parcooked separately from the other ingredients. The sauce also appears to have been cooked separately, flash frozen in thin sheets and then broken up in pieces. The asparagus also is likely cooked or partially cooked separately. All three components, we could guess, are then combined in a frozen state in the bag and shipped off.
The package will make enough for two (maybe three) portions as a side dish. In this case, I ate the whole package as a main dish, thoroughly enjoying it all.
There may not be an army of nonnas standing over stoves, constantly stirring in broth to Arborio rice until the moment of perfection, making risotto in the traditional way. However what comes out of this package is almost as good. And by definition, it can never be as good as Nonna’s. Know what I mean?
Price $2.99
Calories 160 per serving (3 servings per package)
Tags:asparagus risotto, calories, food, frozen entree, italian, nutrition, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
08/06/2017
Aug 6, 2017
This is pretty good stuff, but you might not think so as it cooks.
Straight from the freezer this is a mixture of the frozen gnocchi (small flour dumplings) and frozen flying-saucer-shaped chunks of sauce. Heating in the microwave is a two stage process. After heating for 4 minutes, the mixture needs a good stir. At this point you’ll wonder, what have I done wrong, as the sauce and gnocchi appear very watery. After stirring, put it back in the microwave for another 3 minutes and the magic happens. The second heating totally changes the appearance, by thickening up everything into a coherent whole. Pan heating instructions are also provided.
Throughout the cooking process the gnocchi retain their consistency. After heating they have a nice chewy texture in the mouth. The sauce thickens nicely thanks to the cheese in the sauce (that’s the magic). This allows the sauce to coat and cling to the gnocchi. The combination of the complex, but not over the top, sauce and chewy gnocchi works extremely well. A sprinkle of parmesan is always useful, but really not needed.
For us, the package yielded two modest servings working out to around 300 calories each. The package claims three servings. Even though our portions were only 300 calories, the gnocchi were very filling – and tasty.
Price $2.99 Calories 200 per serving (3 servings per carton)
Click on images to enlarge
Tags:calories, food, frozen entree, gnocchi alla sorrentina, italian, nutrition, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 11 Comments »
08/06/2017
Aug 6, 2017
With cold, or at least cool, weather just around the corner, soup is in season. This is a surprisingly good soup for those kinds of days, or really any kind of day.
The broth for this soup is very nice. There’s a slight sweetness to the broth, but also a bit of rebellion from green onions. As you work your way to the bottom of the bowl, where the white and black pepper settle out, the broth becomes more adventuresome. The broth has a medium consistency.
The wontons (dumplings) in the soup contain a chicken-based filling. While not as flavorful as the broth, the wonton filling is still good with noticeable vegetables interspersed throughout. If you can manage to cut a wonton in half, letting some broth seep in, the filling is even better. The package contains a caution to, cook thoroughly. If I had to guess, the soup is not precooked. It took the full five minutes in the microwave to reach the required 165 degrees.
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Tags:calories, chicken vegetable wonton soup, chinese, food, frozen entree, nutrition, price, review, reviews, soup, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 4 Comments »
08/03/2017
Honestly, I picked these up just to see what they were. Popcorn chips, how could that be? That’s making a snack food out of a snack food. It ain’t right.
If you’ve ever had mini rice cakes, these are very close to that experience. The “chips” are airy in texture and dry in the mouth. There’s just a hint of salt and sweet for flavor. Aside from that, there’s not much to these – except some calories. And as much as these are unexceptional, the whole bag disappeared within a couple of hours. That’s what a snack food is.
Price $1.99 (4.5 ounce bag)
Calories 110 per ounce (28g, about 17 chips)
Tags:calories, food, nutrition, popcorn chips, price, review, snack, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
08/03/2017
August 3, 2017
This might have been the first Trader Joe coffee that made it to the trash bin before the can was empty. Right now I’m salvaging the coffee by grinding it 50/50 with my everyday Tarrazu coffee.
In the grinder there’s a beautiful aroma when the beans are freshly ground. If only that could transfer to the brewed coffee. Once brewed and in the cup, the beans turned into a very bitter cup of coffee. If bitter is what you’re looking for in a cup of coffee, this one’s for you. That experience isn’t for me. A shot of Irish cream or half-and-half subdued the bitterness to tolerable levels. But even then, there was still something about the coffee that wasn’t fully enjoyable.
As for the low acid claim on the label, without using a pH meter, we’ll just have to trust Trader Joe. I did not feel any burn at the back of the throat or have any acid reflux problems afterwards. Your reaction may be different.
The coffee beans are smaller than most. From the color and the small amount of oil on the beans, these are on the light side of a dark roast. There is no country or region of origin stated for the beans. The beans are labeled 100% Arabica, as are around 80% of coffee beans overall. Price $7.99 (13 ounce can)
Tags:coffee, food, low acid french roast, price, review, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in coffee, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
07/26/2017
July 26, 2017
Trade wars be damned, this is some really good cheese. So before the great northern wall is built, get some of this. If not, you’ll be making trips up to the wall under cover of darkness to catch packages of cheese wrapped in duct tape being thrown over. Or Monty Python might be channeled catapulting whole cows north to south, the cheese curdling and aging in flight. Don’t worry Canada, the cows will be quickly deported! Street graffiti artists, please hold your enthusiasm.
Wisconsin cheeseheads stand on guard (oops!). There’s some real competition coming south. Have the secret cheese recipes been hacked? Stop any bulls going north. That lovely smiling red-headed heifer waving her tail over the border is a trap. Keep the DNA in the USA!
And how is the cheese itself? It’s perhaps the best pure cheddar in the TJ refrigerator case. It has a great taste and mouthfeel. It’s sharp, but not pointy. It’s just on the verge of being crumbly. A few Gouda-like cheese crystals are spread throughout. Or maybe that was one of my fillings starting to break up? According to the label it’s aged two years. That two-year aging accounts for all the good stuff in the cheese. It’s also how often my dentist keeps refilling that tooth. Hmmm?
Calories 120 per ounce, price $8.99 per pound
Heifer photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, here. Author: Black Angus Girl
Tags:calories, Canadian cheese, cheese, extra-sharp-cheddar, food, nutrition, parody, price, review, reviews, satire, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 3 Comments »
07/26/2017
July 26, 2017
The wine has a mild earthy and mildly strong aroma in the glass. The wine feels slightly dry in the mouth and is not fruity to the taste. It’s a little different flavor profile than experienced in the past from a California Cab, but still of the same genre. The second glass and thereafter has more of a California Cab experience. There’s nothing odd or off tasting. While mildly strong as a wine, the wine is also smooth to drink. This is a fairly good California Cab for people who might want to expand their tastes in that direction or for people who just want to chill after a hard day’s work without challenging themselves too much. The wine works well as a sipper. It didn’t pair well with some cheddar cheese. It paired much better with some mildly spicy Indian food, and some not so spicy Chinese garlic chicken. It was a matter of having enough food in the mouth to stand up to the wine.
The wine seems to be generally available at other outlets for a similar price, sometimes even a little less and sometimes a little more. The wine receives average to slightly above average reviews by others. Price $8.99.
Tags:2014, Bogle Cabernet Sauvignon, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's, wine
Posted in Trader Joe's, Wine | Leave a Comment »
07/14/2017
July 14, 2017
Musical beans? That’s what they are. Whether scooping these out from the bag, or dropping them into the measuring glass, or even in the grinder, these beans had a clear almost bell-like ring to them. That’s very interesting and something either not noticed or not experienced in the past with any coffee beans. And in the cup, that smooth mellow music continues.
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Tags:coffee, ecuador, food, price, review, tj, tj's, trader joe's, vilcabamba
Posted in coffee, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
07/14/2017
July 14, 2017
Tomato sauce and ketchup, that’s basically what sloppy Joe sauce is. Well, a few other spices are also thrown in the mix. It’s pretty simple stuff for some pretty simple cooking. And that’s exactly what we need every once in a while. It doesn’t hurt much that when combined with some cooked ground beef and put on a fresh hamburger bun it’s some pretty tasty and satisfying comfort food. This sloppy Joe sauce is no exception.
Naturally a store brand like this is often compared to a brand name market leader like Manwich. Personally, Manwich seems a little more flavorful, spicier, whatever you’d like to call it. But the ALDI Sloppy Joe Sauce also adds a nice tang and taste to the final mixture and works just as well for a quick and easy comfort food at roughly 20 cents less per can.
Price – 79 cents (15 oz can, 425g)
Calories – 35 per 1/4 cup serving (64g)
Click on images to enlarge.
ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
Tags:aldi, brookdale, calories, food, nutrition, price, review, sloppy joe sauce
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 3 Comments »
07/10/2017
July 10, 2017
Garlic literally wreaks from the package when first cut open. That theme continues until the last pasta shell has left the bowl. This is truth in advertising. And I’m all for the truth.
For the garlic lovers among us, this is a hit. Some water, milk, margarine/butter and the contents of the package are turned into a side dish which is just about as good as many restaurants serve, in about 15 minutes of cooking time. While the bag only contains two servings, these are two satisfying servings. In a pinch this might be stretched to three servings without people feeling the need for more. Click on images to enlarge. Price – 69 cents
Calories – 340 per serving prepared (250 in the package)
ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
Tags:aldi, calories, creamy garlic pasta, food, nutrition, price, reggano, review
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 1 Comment »
August 11, 2017
The package will make enough for two (maybe three) portions as a side dish. In this case, I ate the whole package as a main dish, thoroughly enjoying it all.
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