A little Trader Joe's Review

I took a lovely trip to Boston a few days ago and stopped by a new Trader Joe's. On my way home a dear friend of mine who I knew in DC called me [she now lives in Chicago] and I promised her I would review some of my purchases at Trader Joe's.

Another recent purchase of mine was Organic Ramen from our local Hannaford. I don't happen to be a Vegetarian, but I am trying to incorporate more Vegan ingredients in my diet and the organic ramen noodles happen to be Vegan. They cost more than regular ramen and they taste a lot better. The noodles are of a better quality as well.

I tried 3 differnt kinds:

Miso Soup with Tofu: a little bland, just ok
Seaweed: also a little bland, lots of seaweed and just ok
Vegetable [I think it was Roast Vegetable] these were absolutely delicious and I would buy them again in a second!

At Trader Joe's I had even more luck. All of my perchases happen to be Vegan. It's my kick lately and I am noticing some positive effects on my health, I am not acutally a vegan but I think anything that you can do to improve your health is a good thing and I love to try new foods. I have also lost weight so I can't complain.

My Trader Joe's purchases [that I have tried thus far]:

Frozen Foods:
Vegetable Bird's Nest: delicious! A bit like an onion ring with tempura batter and other vegetables. The dipping sauce is good too.

Small Peas: wonderful! I ignored the package directions and defrosted them slowly in the microwave and ate them while they were still cold and they were heavenly. I added them in a vegan fettuchini alfredo and they were perfection.

Wild Blueberries [we call these Huckleberries in the South]: Really really excellent. My favourite breakfast is to warm them up in the microwave, add a little agave nectar and viola! Reminds me of blueberry pancakes. SO good!

Shelled Edamame: delicious!

Packaged Foods:
Brown Rice Pasta: Ziti and Spirals - both are wonderful. I am not a huge fan of reheating the pasta so I just make what I need for that meal [I do the same thing with Quinoa].

Organic Blue Corn Torilla Chips: good! A little salty and a little dry, but very tasty.

Roasted Plantain Chips: these surprised me a bit, I am used to plantains as a sweet dish so I found them to be a little salty and a bit of an odd choice for a savery snack.

Sesame Sticks: Yummy!

Organic Rice Milk: Cheap and tasty!

Fridge stuff:
Trader Joe's Orginal Hummas: A little bland - I love it with LOTS of garlic and LOTS of Lemon but it was good.

All the fresh fruits and veggies I got there were great. The organic carrots I got were perfect with the hummus. I added the sliced portabella mushrooms to my pasta and it was amazing.

I am also a big fan of the Blu sparkling waters: orginal, lime and lemon.

Hope you enjoyed my "foodie" review of Trader Joe goodness. I got a bunch of othet things I might write about later. Happy Shopping!

Happy Earth Day!

My apologizes blogworld, I have been a bad, bad blogger. I would like to blame the economy and my still ongoing search for a new permanent postion.

On a brighter note:

Hannaford's stores in my area are giving away free re-usable shopping bags for Earth Day!

(Hannaford's is a great grocery store, simliar to a Harris Teeter in the north eastern United States.)

In other news:
Trader Joe's is still planning on being in the Portland Maine area by the end of 2009!

Rachel Zoe is filming the Rachel Zoe Project II for Bravo and I can't wait to see it!

And Project Runway is moving to the Lifetime Network.

More news soon!