Trader Joe's Pear & Persimmon Tarte

This makes a pretty nice dessert pastry. It's pretty to look at. The crust has good texture. Not too sweet.

Minor flaw: I'm not sure exactly what persimmons taste like, but I didn't detect anything other than pear.

Major flaw: The filling:crust ratio is way too low. In the picture above, imagine that the little puddle of fruit you see in the middle is all there is, and that those wide margins of crust are, in fact, nothing but crust. Because that's about how it is.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Spizzico Di Pizza

This is a box of 12 tiny pizzas. Well, that's the claim, anyway. Mine had only 11. Maybe Trader Joe's hates me.

They're what I suppose you would call appetizer size--about three inches across.

Frankly, they're not very good. Dry crust. Too much oregano, but otherwise mostly flavorless. Compared to the lovely photo on the box, they were far more misshapen and thinly layered in sauce and cheese.


Will I buy it again? 

No. Other than the possible situational convenience of having individual pizza-ish things this size, I see no reason to pick this over any of the really good pizzas that TJ's sells.

Trader Joe's Tarte Aux Fruits--Mixed Berry Tarte

It was with a heavy heart that I learned that Trader Joe's was discontinuing its Raspberry Tarte, which both Nina and I thought might well be the single best product in the whole store.

Not too much later, though, this quasi-replacement showed up. It's not quite as good as the original, but it's still great. You get a medley of raspberries, blueberries, and red currants, instead of all raspberries. The crust is more prone to getting soggy if not eaten in its entirety soon after thawing. But those flaws aside, the berries are superb, and the glaze that holds them together seems unchanged from the old version.

My conclusion is that this is about 90% as good as the original. That makes it still of sufficient quality to join the Top Ten list.


Will I buy it again? 

Shhhhh. Don't tell anyone, but I've already had four of them.

Trader Joe's Organic Garden Lasagne With Grilled Vegetables

This is atypical lasagna. First, there's no meat, nor even any meat substitute protein source. Second, it's thin, as you can tell from the photo on the package. Third, there's much less cheese than I'm used to seeing. Fourth, the vegetables are not minced, but are presented in fairly large chunks--most prominently, zucchini and broccoli.

I did not particularly care for the result. It wasn't awful, and I ate my half willingly, but it did not excite me in any way, nor make me want to buy another box in the future.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Mahi Mahi Burgers

Nina bought these and served them for a dinner at her house. They're pretty good--speaking as one who doesn't generally like fish. Good texture: neither tough nor crumbly. Not too fishy.


Will I buy it again? 

It's not something I would ever buy for myself, because I wouldn't ever choose it over several fake-meat burgers that we've found are excellent. But I wouldn't object to having it again when served to me.

Nina's View

I just had another one of these on a kaiser bun for dinner and enjoyed it thoroughly, again. The texture of these is much better than either the tuna or salmon versions of the same thing. Don't ask me why, but they're less sort of 'spongy.'

Quick to prepare and tasty to eat. What's not to like?

Trader Joe's Handsome Cut Potato Fries

These are pretty good fries--good potato flavor, good texture. Also a good bargain, at just $1.99.

As with most Trader Joe's frozen-to-oven products, the cook time is meaningfully underestimated. It says 17 minutes at 425 degrees. That wasn't enough the first time I tried them, so the second time I pushed it to 24, and that was about right (though a couple of the tiniest fries were burned past the point of edibility).


Will I buy it again? 

Yep.

Nina's View

I liked these well enough. The flavor was good, but the texture was a bit leathery and chewy, rather than crunchy and toothsome. I wonder whether they had thawed and been refrozen. They are certainly worth revisiting.

Trader Joe's Soy Creamy Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert Mini Vanilla Sandwiches

Nina bought these and I tried them at her house. Me likey. Me likey mucho. They are very much like the ice cream sandwiches I used to eat as a kid, but with a vegan fake ice cream that performs the rare feat of actually being a convincing alternative to the real thing.


Will I buy it again? 

Definitely. This is a solid winner.

Trader Joe's Bambino Pizza Formaggio

As far as I can tell, this is identical to the Bambino Pepperoni pizzas, except with no pepperoni. I like it a little bit less than that product, but it's pretty good.


Will I buy it again? 

Probably not, simply because I would always choose the pepperoni version instead. Pepperoni on pizza will probably be the last vestige of beef/pork products to be eliminated from my diet, because of yumminess.

Trader Joe's Pizza Al Pollo Asado

It seems strange to use both the "Mexican food" and "pizza" tags simultaneously. But I think I must, because this thing is labeled as a "pizza," but is about as un-Italian as possible. It's a masa corn-flour base with refried beans, salsa, and chunks of chicken breast on top. When baking, it smells just like tortillas frying.

As is so often the case with TJ's frozen foods, it took significantly longer to heat properly than the 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees that the box advised. It was barely warm after 15 minutes, so I gave it another 5, and then it was OK, but still needed a bit more.

It was OK overall, but nothing special. If I'm going to be eating something that is basically a tostada, well, I would rather make my own, as described here. They're not only a mainstay of my diet, but one of my favorite things to eat. Trader Joe's should freeze and sell those instead of this boring little thing.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Apple Blossoms

In all my trips down the Trader Joe's frozen-food aisle, I had never noticed these. Nina found them and baked them up for dessert one day recently. I thought maybe they were new, but a look around the web tells me they've been sold since at least 2008. I don't know how I missed them.

Anyway, they're excellent. Strong apple flavor, nice sauce, and one of the best textures of frozen pastry I can remember ever having. They're just right on every count, if you ask me. (And I guess that by reading this blog, you sorta did.)


Will I buy it again? 

Definitely. It's a solid winner.

Nina's View

Little mini apple pielets. Good choice of apples, lovely pastry. What's not to like? Go get you some.

Trader Joe's Simply Seasoned Tuna Burgers

I liked these much better than the Premium Salmon Burgers, and even a little better than the Salmon & Vegetable Croquettes. But that's probably just because I have a general preference for tuna over salmon.

When Nina wasn't around to express what would likely have been her severe disapproval, I went full-burger on one of these--pickles, ketchup, and cheese on top. It was kind of weird. They were better the first way I did them, when Nina was here: Just pickles on a bun. (She also added mayo to hers.)


Will I buy it again? 

No--not because they're bad, but because, to use an expression in its least-literal sense, they're neither fish nor fowl. If I'm feeling like having a hamburger kind of thing, I would prefer any of the fine, reasonably convincing meat-substitute patties available from just about any grocery store other than Trader Joe's. If I'm feeling like having tuna, I would rather have either a tuna salad sandwich or a favorite from my mother's old recipes, creamed tuna on toast. TJ's tuna burgers just don't have a place in my life.

Nina's View

Oh no, another weirdly spongy fish burger. I don't know how these things are constituted, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. Just don't expect an actual hunk of un-messed-with tuna.

In brief: do not like (although I will concur that they are better than the salmon burgers). But they are not even close to the fabulosity that is the Salmon & Vegetable Croquettes.

Trader Joe's Beef Steak Burritos With Seasoned Beans

Terribly bland. Pieces of beef were tough. Even following the heating instructions carefully, the burrito shell comes out soggy in some places, dried out and hard in others.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Pitted Dark Sweet Cherries

What you've got here is the cherries from Trader Joe's Very Cherry Berry Blend, but without the blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

Another way to think of it is that it's the same kind of pitted dark sweet cherries that you usually find in a can with heavy syrup, but without the syrup. In fact, I think that's what I like most about it: the list of ingredients starts and ends with "dark sweet cherries." I always liked the canned cherries, but wasn't thrilled about the sugary syrup with which they were packed. Now I can do without it.

As with the various TJ's berry blends, these are frozen in such a way that they're not in one solid icy chunk. You can pour out what you want, let them thaw for 45 minutes or so, and eat. They're delicious. I encountered just one sour, off-tasting cherry in the whole bag. I found no pits and no stems.

Speaking of the stems, can we talk about that "serving suggestion" photograph on the package? It shows cherries with stems in them. How is that supposed to happen, when the package contains cherries from which the stems have been carefully removed? They're suggesting, apparently, that we buy cherry stems somewhere and insert them into the cherries before serving. Seriously weird.

But I'll forgive that weirdness on the bag because I like what's in it mucho mucho.


Will I buy it again? 

Many, many times, I expect.

Trader Joe's Raspberries (frozen)

As much as I like berry medleys, sometimes I just want the best part of those medleys, which is the raspberries. Fortunately, Trader Joe's accommodates my desire with this product--plain, unadorned, frozen raspberries. No sugar, no sauce. The official list of ingredients on the back of the package says, "Raspberries." Full stop. This is as it should be. You just pour some out into a bowl, let them thaw for 45 to 60 minutes, then nom on them.

Of course, fresh would be better. But fresh raspberries are the very definition of "perishable." It's rare that I have them when I get hit with the jones for berries. So having a package like this in reserve in the freezer meets the need nicely.

It's possible that I've seen a similar product in other stores, but if so, I don't remember it. These are consistently good enough--and cheap enough--that I feel no need to search out competitors for comparison.


Will I buy it again? 

Of course.

Trader Joe's Chicken Tikka Masala

Day Two of Indian Food Week: 



I bought this on my next trip to Trader Joe's after discovering how good the Vegan Tikka Masala was.

This is very similar, and every bit as good. I think I like it a little bit better, just because the chunks of chicken breast have a better taste and texture than the vegan version. But the latter is close, and allows me to make one more reduction in my overall meat consumption, so that's going to be my default choice.


Will I buy it again? 

No--but not because it's not good. See above.

Trader Joe's Paneer Tikka Masala

I've decided that it's time for another theme week--this time, Indian food. Here's Day One:  



I bought this after finding that I really liked Trader Joe's Vegan Tikka Masala. I confess that I didn't even know what "paneer" was when I bought it. (It's cheese!)

This was all right, but not nearly as good as the vegan. The main thing that bothered me about it was the strong taste of spinach in the spinach rice. It seemed out of place--clashing with the other flavors.


Will I buy it again? 

No. I would always choose the vegan one over this--not because it's vegan, but because it's better.

Trader Joe's Hashbrowns

These are frozen hashbrown patties, in size and shape very much like what McDonald's includes in many of their breakfasts.

I had hoped that they might taste as good as those, in addition to physically resembling them. They don't. They border on flavorless.

What's more, even after several tries, I could not get the texture to come out right--crispy on the outside, flaky on the inside. They always ended up on the soggy-greasy side.

All in all, a big disappointment.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Quinoa Duo With Vegetable Melange

The "duo" in the product name apparently refers to the fact that it contains two varieties of quinoa. The "vegetable melange" is an overstatement; it's just sweet potatoes and zucchini.

I thought this was OK, but nothing great. Zucchini dominated the flavor profile, along with the mild but hard-to-identify spice blend.

I just sat there for a whole minute trying to think of something else to say about this stuff, and failed.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Pineapple Tidbits

The only reason to prefer either canned or frozen fruit to fresh fruit is that you can keep it around for a long time, and indulge a whim for it whenever it may hit.

Canned fruit has the great advantage over frozen that you don't have to wait an hour for it to thaw before eating. Impulse snacking for the win!

Frozen fruit should have the advantage over canned of tasting fresher. Frankly, that's the only reason to go for frozen over canned as far as I'm concerned.

So when a frozen fruit fails to taste any better than its canned counterpart, I deem it an utter failure as a grocery product. It has no reason to exist and take up space in my little freezer.

And that's exactly the issue here. This is no better a simulacrum of fresh pineapple than canned. Both canned and frozen are OK, but they're a far cry from fresh. In fact, it's possible that the difference between fresh and either canned or frozen is greater for pineapple than for any other fruit. It's enough that I basically abandoned canned as soon as I discovered that grocery store deli sections sell fresh pineapple that has already been cored out; the work involved in preparing fresh pineapple was the only thing that had previously had me settling for canned.

To repeat: This pineapple is, to me, indistinguishable from canned, while being less convenient to use. I have no use for either.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Gnocchi With Butter & Sage

This sat in my freezer for several months, because every time I looked at it, I could easily think of something else I would rather eat instead. But I finally decided that I needed to plow through all the stuff that was accumulating in the freezer, so I pulled it out as part of a hodge-podge dinner for one of Nina's weekly visits.

I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I loved these little dudes. They're tasty and chewy, with next to no work of preparation. I would go so far as to say that they're my favorite way of eating sweet potatoes I've ever found.

Now, the caveat to that pronouncement is that they're less sweet-potato-y than you would probably think from the product's name and photo. That is because the sweet potato is mixed with wheat flour and regular potatoes, so it's far from a pure sweet potato product. For me, that's a feature, not a bug, because sweet potatoes are generally something I tolerate more than cherish. You might feel differently about it.


Will I buy it again? 

Yes.