Thursday, January 7, 2016

Trader Joe's Organic Spicy Spinach Blend



This is day five of New Products Week. 


This bagged salad is a brand-new thing at Trader Joe's. See the company's description of it here.

I like it. I mixed it with a bag of TJ's Organic Butter Lettuce and Raddichio, plus half a bag of TJ's shredded carrots. (Note: Review of the latter is pending. I tried to find my review of the former, and was surprised to discover that it doesn't exist, either published or in yet-to-be-published form. This is odd, because it's one of the products that I buy most regularly--almost a bag a week. How did I overlook it? But I'm not going to bother now, because it's identical to the regular Butter Lettuce and Raddichio, except organically sourced. I can't tell the difference, and for non-meat, non-dairy products, I really don't care about the difference between organic and non-organic. I grab whichever one I see first, or whichever looks fresher.) This is the same as my usual salad recipe, except with this new product taking the place of Organic Power to the Greens. Less often I combine the lettuce/raddichio and carrots with TJ's Organic Herb Salad Mix.

The result was a fine salad, with close to zero work. It's just as tasty as my usual blend, but even prettier, because this new product's ingredients have a wider variety of shades of green, so there's a lot more eye-pleasing color. The "spicy" part of the title is an overstatement. Sure, the mustard greens deliver a touch of zing, but not nearly as much as the herb salad blend. Really, you can't go wrong with any of the three, though I do think they all need to be combined 50/50 with a predominantly lettuce bag for maximum palatability. Maybe it's my mainstream Midwest upbringing, but to me it ain't a salad if lettuce isn't the main ingredient.


Will I buy it again? 

Yep. One trial has earned it a place in the regular line-up. I like the basic formula that I've evolved. I think I'm going to try to keep a regular rotation among this, the herb salad mix, and the Power to the Greens. I like them all about equally well, and I think that little bit of variety will be good for both my health and my interest in keeping a decent amount of greens in my diet.


Nina's View

This salad is Nina Approved. It is pretty and tasty.


1 comment:

  1. I just bought this over the weekend! I agree it is not spicy at all- the arugala has more of a kick to it. I liked the mix as is for a salad and then i added the rest to wilt in a bowl of hot soup which worked out nicely.
    I'll but it again but likely blend with the arugala when I actually do want more of a kick to the greens
    Ttrockwood
    Ps
    Unrelated i noticed lately there is no longer an option for non-organic fresh sugar snap peas. (Aka one of my favorite snacks) they now only sell organic in a smaller package for a bit more than the larger non-organic ones. Kinda wish they would let the customer decide instead of just discontinuing the non organic ones....
    Ttrockwood

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