I eat!
My daughter loves Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken, which she eats on rice, so I thought she might enjoy this Mandarin Style Orange Chicken Bowl as well, and save herself the trouble of having to heat up the chicken and the rice separately. Alas, she didn’t. She didn’t explain why she didn’t like it – but I’m noting it here so I know not to buy it for her again.
I first tried almond croissants at the Berkeley store of the now defunct La Petit Boulangerie chain when I was in college. As a starving student, these were a special treat which I’d allow myself once in a great while, but I absolutely loved them. Since then, almond croissants have had a special place in my heart, though I seldom get them.
I came across these Almond Croissants at Trader Joe’s during a recentish trip and picked them up without much thought. When I finally went to make them, I realized that it wasn’t a simple endeavor. I had to let them defrost overnight and only then I could bake them. I was frustrated, so I took them out from the freezer and put them in the fridge and waited a couple of days before touching them. As I looked at the instructions more carefully, I realized that I had to actually let them rise at room temperature, on a pan, separated from each other, for nine hours before this baking process – which I did swearing I’d never buy these again. Alas, after making them, I changed my mind.
These croissants tastes exactly like the real thing. Maybe not as good as my memories of the ones from La Petit Boulangerie, but similar to other almond croissants I’ve had since. The dough was very light with a bit of a bready taste, but one that grew on me. The almond filling was very tasty. I’ll definitely get them again next time I go to Trader Joe’s.
Trader Joe’s reviews
Every time I go to Trader Joe’s, I pick up one desert to try, and in one of my trips it was the frozen Chocolate Lava cakes. It must be one of Trader Joe’s worst desserts. The cakes were dry, with very little chocolate flavor. On the plus side, I did save calories by not eating more than couple of bites. I made one first according to the instructions, and then a second one with less time, but both were failures.
They sell for $3.80 for 2 individual cakes.
Trader Joe’s Reviews
Port Salut is a semi-soft cow’s milk cheese developed by monks from the Port-du-Salut Abbey in the 19th century. It is now produced commercially.
While the cheese is not as soft as brie and the like, it is spreadable enough. It has a stronger flavor than brie, a bit more “rotten,” but it was quite enjoyable. In all, I think I prefer the consistency of brie, however.
Trader Joe’s Rustic Apple Tarte is a smallish galette that tastes like apple pie. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The tarte crust was lighter, and more flavorful than your regular pie crust, and the apple filling was on point: the apples had some firmness, they weren’t overly sweet and the sliced nuts provided a good crunch. It also had sugar crystals which I love. In all, it was quite enjoyable though a little on the small side. I’d get it again.
I love yellow curry, and I particularly love getting yellow curry and roti at Thai restaurants. The appetizer is expensive, and not very filling, but oh, so delicious. A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that Trader Joe’s Taiwanese Green Onion Pancakes made a reasonable substitute for roti, but I needed some yellow curry to complete my at-home hack. Enter Trader Joe’s Thai Style Yellow Curry Sauce ($3.50).
Alas, this yellow curry is just not very good. Indeed, it only vaguely tastes like yellow curry – I’d say the taste is closer to American or Japanese curry powder. It lacks the vibrancy and perfume of Thai yellow curry, and substitutes it for an unpleasant bitter undertone. The curry is also very thick and heavy – not surprising given that its main ingredient, after water, is oil.
Now, it might be that this sauce is better with actual meats after being heated u, and perhaps somewhat diluted – but I don’t think I’ll try to find out.
I am afraid that I’ll just throw away the whole bottle.
I don’t think it was until I tried this Roasted Garlic & Pesto Pizza with Deep Fried Crust ($6) that I came to the realization that I don’t really like pesto. I always thought I did, though I could never quite get it right when I tried to make it, but I think it might be too bitter for my taste buds – at least at this stage in my life.
In all, I can’t say I enjoyed the pizza. In the areas without the pesto, it was pretty “blah”. It didn’t have much flavor – the lack of tomato sauce was really felt here. In the areas with the pesto, it was too bitter and salty. The one redeeming quality was the crust, which was pretty good – though not out of this world – particularly when dipped in honey mustard dressing .
Trader Joe’s has a lot of frozen pastas – makes sense, pastas are cheap – and this Garlicky Pasta ($4.30) is good, though not my favorite. It was very garlicky, but it has too much of a one-tone flavor. It did feel too oily/fatty, unfortunately. It did need something else, so I tried adding Parmesan cheese, but that made it too salty.
The spaghetti is cut in half, which makes it hard to roll onto a fork, but it’s still too long to scoop with either a fork or a spoon. It’s just a bad length.
In all, I’m glad I tried it but I wouldn’t buy it again.
I have had green onion pancakes at Chinese restaurants over the years, and I have never been overly impressed. Still, when I saw these Taiwanese Green Onion Pancakes ($2.50) at Trader Joe’s I still had to get them – don’t ask me why.
My first impression was that they were just OK. They didn’t much in the way of flavor – they were slightly salty. I did like the chewy consistency, which reminded me of Thai roti. While they are quite oily, they still felt pretty dry and screamed for something to dip them into. I tried chimichurri – but it didn’t work very well. They were delicious with honey mustard dressing, of all things. I thought they would be even better with Thai yellow curry, and they might be. But I got some Trader Joe’s yellow curry to try them with, and the curry was horrible.
You heat up these pancakes on a pan, but it only takes a couple of minutes per side and it leaves you with a clean pan that you can reuse without having to wash. I already bought more.
I’m a fond of Trader Joe’s frozen gnocchi dishes and this Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi is no exception. The gnocchi were large, pillowy but with some weight in them – they really just that the perfect density. They come in a mild creamy cheesy sauce that is brightened by what you would swear is freshly ground pepper. If you like the flavor of black pepper, you’ll enjoy these.
The package should serve two if you add a salad. I cooked them according to instructions in the microwave, and that worked very well. It sells for $3.50
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