Trader Joe's pumpkin

This is just a reminder that among all the pumpkin-flavored products you can buy at Trader Joe's, you can also get actual pumpkins. And not just ordinary ones (though they have those, too). You can get unusual ones. I bought this one this morning. It's BLUE! Who ever heard of blue pumpkins????

See the beautiful and unusual one we got last year here.

Trader Joe's Magic Beans

This is Day 2 of New and Seasonal Products Week. 


This is a brand-new product from Trader Joe's--so new that it's not even shown on the company's web site yet. [Edit: Now it's up, here.]

These are lovely little morsels of goodness. You've got three different colors, though they don't seem to be of different flavors. Perfectly simple: chocolate outside, and crunchy "nougat" inside. I didn't know that nougat could be crunchy, as my only life experience with it is in things like Three Musketeers bars.

They are delicious and satisfying. Go buy some.

Will I buy it again? 

Yes.


Nina's View

You know those fairy tales where the country bumpkin trades away his family's one and only cow for a bag of magic beans, and everyone is very cross with him, but then it all works out in the end, happily ever after, etc? Well, THESE ARE THOSE BEANS, except they aren't actually magical and they are for immediate consumption, not planting (which would be a waste).

I will confess that I am in the middle of a Carb Rage, what with the autumnal season and all, so my usual lack of excitement over chocolate is at a low ebb. This causes me to look with more than usual favor upon products of the (cacao) bean at this time. Still, I expect that had I encountered these at a different quadrant of the calendar, I would still have found them appealing.

Made in France. Need I say more?

The best thing about them is that they are not a compulsive munchable. They are rich and satisfying, so three or four make a perfect serving size. I elevate them to Nina's Top Ten.

Trader Joe's Broccoli & Kale Slaw

Stop the presses! Last week saw such a profusion of new and seasonal products that I had to relegate a whole week's worth of pre-written blog posts to a later date, in order to make room to tell you about the more urgent stuff. We have seven days of reviews of products that are brand new, only seasonally available, or both. For lack of a catchier moniker, let's call this NEW AND SEASONAL PRODUCTS WEEK. 


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

The chopped broccoli was fine. The kale was fine. The dried cherries and blueberries added a nice bit of fruity sweetness to the mix. I don't much like almonds, so that component was a negative for me. The dressing was OK.

So I didn't actively dislike much of anything about this. Yet the whole left me unimpressed. I'm not sure I even have a coherent reason. It's just that I kept looking at it on my plate and not wanting to eat more of it. I finished a normal serving size, but more through a sense of resignation to it than liking of it.

Will I buy it again? 

No.

Nina's View

The dressing was dire.

The mix was okay.

The rest of it is in my fridge and will be served mixed with some tender greens to Bob when he comes to dinner tonight. With better dressing.

Roundup

This is my weekly compilation of news and other links related to Trader Joe's.


We tried all of Trader Joe's pumpkin-spice products 

Best new Trader Joe's products 

16 Trader Joe's foods you need to discover and hoard

Episode 9 of the "Let's Talk TJ's" podcast 

40 pumpkin products from Trader Joe's 



Here's this week's YouTube video from "Trader Joe":





Best tweets of the week:

1.

2.

And finally, here's this week's cute cat in a Trader Joe's grocery bag with a Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer:

Trader Joe's Mildly Spiced Organic Vegetable Burritos

This is Day 7, the end of Mexican Week. 


I am once again confounded by the apparently inconsistent labeling of Trader Joe's products with the "V" vegan symbol. As you can see, the label explicitly claims this to be "dairy free," and it certainly has no meat in it. I have scoured the ingredients list and found nothing from animals or eggs. Yet it doesn't carry the "V," and TJ's does not include this item in their published list of vegan products. I'm stumped.

Anyway, I found this to be better than I had anticipated. A burrito with no cheese and no meat or meat substitute seemed, well, kind of an odd and dubious proposition. But a large part of the reason for this blog is to push myself to try things that I would otherwise shy away from, so into the basket the package went.

I'm glad for it. The burritos are quite tasty. They're as spicy as I would want them to be, despite the "mildly spiced" claim. You've got your green bell peppers, green chilies, cumin, jalapenos, cilantro, and oregano. The tomatoes and tomato sauce are by far the most prominent constituents here. The label claims that they have also included onions, potatoes, and broccoli, though I failed to detect any of them by sight or by taste.

Will I buy it again? 

Probably not, because there are other burritos I like better. But if I encountered these somewhere else, I'd be happy to have another.

Nina's View

All frozen burritos suffer from texture issues. The insides go to mush, the wrappers dry out or get gummy and tough. It's just not an ideal way to prepare this food.

In contrast to Bob, I did not care for these at all. The only thing distinguishable on the inside were corn kernels, everything else was a uniformly and spectacularly uninteresting paste. The sauce was entirely unremarkable.

We can do better, people.

Trader Joe's Really Expensive Authentic Handcrafted Chicken Burritos

Here we are at Day 6 of Mexican Week. 



I saw somebody on Twitter giggling about the funny name of this product. I wasn't sure whether to believe it at first. Even given Trader Joe's well-known penchant for quirky product names, would they actually put "really expensive" in the name of an item?

Yes. Yes, they would. I Googled the name, found this review, and knew that I had to try me some.

Let's first clear the air about that "really expensive" descriptor. They're not. This package of two (each one of which is plenty for a meal) costs $2.69.

Are they great? No. They're merely adequate. I heated them in the oven, which I'm sure gets better results than the microwave method. As a result, I got a nicely browned tortilla wrap with no sogginess, and even heating throughout. But they had had a working over by the Trader Joe's Blandification Committee. There's nothing to offend the taste buds, but nothing to excite them, either.

Will I buy it again? 

I won't rule it out altogether, but I'm not planning on it.

Trader Joe's Habanero Lime Flour Tortillas

We have arrived at Day 5 of Mexican Week. 



I didn't even know that peppered tortillas were a thing until I spotted these sitting next to my favorite tortillas, TJ's hand-made. They sure are pretty. Why not give 'em a try?

One of my favorite main courses to make for myself is tostadas, with refried beans and Soy Chorizo on a tortilla, usually topped with some combination of shredded cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and shredded lettuce, depending on what I have on hand. When I made some of those with these tortillas, I really didn't notice any difference from using plain flour tortillas. I concluded that the labeling of them as "medium hot" was an exaggeration.

But then I tried tearing off a piece of the tortilla and eating it alone, and I changed my mind. At first, there was no heat at all. After swallowing, however, there arose a distinct burning sensation--strangely without any specific flavor, though. It was strong enough that I decided that "medium hot" was pretty accurate after all. The heat had simply been disguised by the mighty power of the Soy Chorizo previously.

However, even tasting a piece of tortilla all by itself, I detected no lime flavor. I tried to imagine its presence, almost willing it to be there, but failed.

Will I buy it again? 

I don't think so. They're not as thick or tasty as the handmades, and I don't need any flavorless heat added to what I'm making.