Trader Joe's Raspberry Sorbet

Nina bought this. I ate some at her house, but forgot to take a picture of it, so took this one in the store.

I thought it was quite good, but not spectacular. Put another way, it's what I would expect from store-bought sorbet, but not as good as I expected Trader Joe's to make it, after falling in love with some of their other frozen desserts.


Will I buy it again? 

Yes.

Nina's View

I keep going to Trader Joe's and looking for the pomegranate sorbet [Bob notes: sherbet] and not finding it. I bought this because what could go wrong? And nothing did, it was fine. But it was not POMEGRANATE SORBET.

Last time I went to TJ's not only did they not have the aforemention Po. Me. Gran. Ate. sorbet, they didn't have ANY sorbet.

End times, people. End times.

Trader Joe's Organic Vegetarian Chili With Red Beans & Onion

Trader Joe's carried a vegetarian chili for a long time, but then it disappeared before I got around to trying it. Now it's back, reformulated with all organic ingredients. (It's not explicitly labeled as vegan, but that's not because of any dairy ingredients. No explanation is given for why it doesn't get the "V" symbol. I'm guessing it has something to do with being made in a facility that also makes stuff with milk products, so they can't guarantee that there isn't some trace of such things making its way into this stuff.)

I was worried about buying something with "onion" in the product name, but I was relieved to find that the onion is not prominent in either taste or appearance. In fact, the only thing that's prominent in taste is pepper. There's a moderate level of hotness, but not a lot else going on. That is, there's not the happy party of flavors that characterize really good chili.

I didn't mind eating it for dinner last night. And today I'll polish off the leftovers for my lunch, and be content. But it basically leaves me bored.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Tarte Au Brie Et Aux Tomates (A Very French Thin Crust With Brie And Tomatoes)

I was alerted to the existence of this product by an article in a recent Fearless Flyer. It's sorta pizza, but also sorta not: I can pretty much guarantee that it's the thinnest pizza crust you've ever had, and the brie cheese is obviously not exactly your standard pizza topping.

Still, it's quite good. Sadly, ours was undercooked, despite getting the full recommended 10 minutes at a true 450 degrees (verified, as always, with an oven thermometer); the center of the crust was limp and soggy. I liked it anyway. The braided edge of the crust is a nice touch.


Will I buy it again? 

Probably not. It's tasty, but loaded with fat: One serving (half of the pizza) has 50% of the recommended daily allowance of saturated fat. That's a bit much for me to make a habit of.

Trader Joe's Chile Lime Chicken Burgers

This is a perennial best-seller at Trader Joe's, one of those products that people rave about and hope they never stop making. Because of that buzz, I was excited to finally try it.

I was severely disappointed. They're not bad chicken burgers, but they're nothing special. I have been able to taste nothing specifically "chile" about them, and definitely no lime. They do smell of onion while cooking, which for me is always an ominous sign, but fortunately no distinct onion flavor came through. Frankly, they were just completely boring--the work of the TJ's Blandification Committee, no doubt.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Recall

I usually just stick recall notices in my weekly Roundup posts. But that's because they're usually not for truly dangerous things. This one is different. Listeria is a really nasty bug that can cause serious harm. Don't shrug it off. If you buy any of these products, you really should check the lot numbers, and toss or return them if they're covered by the recall. I have two bags of the "Petite Peas" in my freezer that will go back to the store for a refund.

http://www.traderjoes.com/announcement/recall-potential-listeria-in-certain-frozen-vegetables

Trader Joe's Mini Pie Medley

These look so good, don't they? And it's not just a photographer's trick--they pretty much look like the package photo, except that the fruity stuff poking out looks less like actual pieces of fruit and more like colored filling.

And therein lies the problem. The fruit filling is nearly all filling, very little fruit--and there's not much of it. The crust:filling ratio is way too high, and what there is of the filling looks and tastes like chemical, gelatinous, fake fruit. It's a major disappointment.

Great idea, lousy execution.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Vegetable Melange In Seasoned Butter Sauce

There's nothing Trader-Joe's-y about this. That is, there's nothing that makes you go, "Wow, who ever would have thought of that?!" It's just peas, carrots, corn, and cauliflower in a tiny bit of butter and seasoning. You could probably find an equivalent product in any grocery store freezer aisle. It serves its purpose, but then is immediately forgotten.


Will I buy it again? 

Sure. Everybody needs some boring vegetables once in a while.

Nina's View

Snooze. When it's all just too too much to be bothered to cook some fresh vegetables, these will do.