Anyone that has known me for longer than an hour, understands that I'm a Trader Joe's ADDICT. It is a rare week indeed, that I'm not there at least twice, usually loitering around the free sample bar or rifling through the "New Products" bin, just to make sure I didn't miss anything. Oh yea, I shop too.
Like any good brand - TJ's is a very positive experience. Everyone that works there is super helpful and dresses in Hawaiian shirts, which instantly puts me into good mood. They always have new items and the cashiers always know how to pack a shopping bag without having it break before you make it home. I feel about TJs, the same way that Holly Golightly felt about Tiffany, 'It's like nothing could ever go wrong there."
Besides having healthy items, everything tastes good as well and their prices are much more reasonable than Whole Foods.
There are new things and old reliable items that I incorporate into my shopping list, some you will know and others might be new to you, but all are great - period.
I thought I'd just give you my shopping list from yesterday & a few extra things - check these items out yourself:
Frozen Steel Cut Oatmeal - 2 servings (heat & serve) $1.59
Frozen organic blueberries (great to put in your oatmeal) $2.29
Meyer Lemon Very Thin Cookies (great with tea or ice cream) $3.99
Organic Red Pepper & Tomato Soup (put Gorgonzola crumbles on top) $2.79
TJ's Crumbled Gorgonzola $2.99
Gorgonzola Crackers $1.99 (great with soup or cheeses)
Seasoned Ahi Tuna Steaks (tasty marinade and healthy) $5-7
Seafood Mix with shrimp, scallops & calamari (great sauteed in butter & garlic over rice) $5.29
Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage (yummy for breakfast or on the grill) $3.99
Santa Maria Tri-Tip & Beef Kabool (both flavorful & great on the grill) Price ranges
Broccoli slaw (mix with ranch dressing , cashew pieces & dried cranberries as a side dish) $1.49
Bell pepper Melange a Trois (Frozen multi-color bell pepper strips for stir fry or side dishes) $1.99
Frozen pomegranate seeds (already plucked for you!) $2.99
Chocolate Lava Cakes (just like the restaurant) 2 for $3.99
Mochi Ball ice cream (small scoops of ice cream with a jelly-like shell -yummy!) $2.99
Frozen Chocolate Croissants (store and bake when needed) $3.99
Trader Joe's Baklava cookies (great middle eastern treat) $4.99
Olive tapanade (spread on crackers, bread or put in sauces) $2.99
Fresh whole grain pizza dough (make pizza, bread knots or appetizers) $1.29
Dark Morello Cherries in a jar (great for cherry crumble, pies or on top of ice cream) $ 2.29
Tito's Handmade Vodka (very smoooooth) $17.99
Almond Sparkling Wine (nice for brunch & dessert) $5.99
And finally, if you have a cat or two, the must-have Double Wide Cat Scratcher $6.99
The other nice thing about Trader Joe's is that you can put in requests with the shift Captain for anything that has been discontinued or that is out of stock. They will hold the item you want when it comes back into stock and will call you to let you know that you can pick it up. They really DO call you!
Over the course of about 4 years, I regularly requested the apricot Stilton cheese after it had been discontinued. I'm tempted to believe, my single-handed campaign to get that cheese back into the store, made some kind of impact. Not only do they have apricot Stilton cheese again, but I've seen cranberry and other flavors too, around the holidays. Now if I can just bring back the recently discontinued oatmeal flax cranberry cookies...
If you are as big a fan as I am, you can follow Trader Joe's on Facebook, they have a few different fan groups that offer recipes, new item info and other fun stuff. The TJ's website at www.traderjoes.com isn't the most dynamic site in the world, but you can find your nearest TJ's and some other info.
By the way, let me know what you've found at TJ's - anything cool or interesting that I should know about? Leave your comments below for me...
Enjoy the summer and see you at Trader Joe's!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
April - Get into the Garden!
Thanks to El Nino and all of the rain this winter, it's not surprising that we're starting to see green hillsides and beautiful flowers popping up in people's gardens. Because I have a new garden of my own, I thought I'd focus on great things to get for your garden or patio for April.
If you are a new gardener or just want to know when to plant what, I recently bought a great book called, Pat Welsh's Southern California Organic Gardening . The great thing about this book, is that it gives you a month by month list of what to do in your garden and how to do it. There is a focus on using organic methods of killing bugs and fertilizing plants, which is great if you don't want harmful pesticides around the house or plan to eat the things you grow. A fantastic book for So Cal gardeners.
Need to snip some stray hedge branches or cut your roses? I found a great hand-held bypass pruner by Fiskars (the same people that do scissors for scrap booking) for a reasonable $9.99 at Target. They cut really well, are comfortable to grip, have a safety lock and a rose stem stripper built in to make non-thorny-leafy arrangements. They have a similar pair for $7.99 without the rose stem stripper too.
Good Earth - Miracle grow Moisture Control Potting Mix is the best soil to keep plants alive if you over water or forget to water from time to time. There is also a formula for gardens too. It's about $6-7 a bag at your local garden store, but worth it if you have potted plants that require a lot of watering, but you aren't a regular watering type of person. I have potted gardenia's and primroses that like moist soil, but if I forget 2 or 3 days of watering or if we have a heat wave- they stay alive anyway!
If your roses or garden are in need of mulch, the best product I have found is cocoa shell mulch. Not only is it great for your plants, it won't grow mildew and has the wonderful side effect of smelling like CHOCOLATE after you put it down. You can find it at OSH or any other garden center for around $9 a bag.
Have you gone to IKEA this month? If you haven't visited their outdoor gardening tent, you should! They have new solar powered Chinese Lanterns in white, red or turquoise for $9.99 each - the cool thing about them is that they are made from an outdoor fabric, not paper, so they will hold up to the elements. They have a variety of solar powered lights such as mini-lanterns strung on a chord and long and tube lanterns that can hang from high tree branches and pergolas - $19.99 each.
I also bought battery powered, round, blue LED tea lights called, Solig Lights that are sold in a 3 pack for $2.99 - they are great to put in votive holders to add ambiance on windy nights outside. They are LED, so they last longer than normal lights, but you can purchase extra batteries for them at IKEA.
If you need a little garden inspiration, you might want to go on a field trip to The South Coast Botanical Garden in Palos Verdes , The Huntington Gardens in Pasadena or take a stroll through the neighborhoods on Coronado Island in San Diego - Coronado Historic Home Tour
Check out other April field trip links on the side bar. Enjoy your Spring!
If you are a new gardener or just want to know when to plant what, I recently bought a great book called, Pat Welsh's Southern California Organic Gardening . The great thing about this book, is that it gives you a month by month list of what to do in your garden and how to do it. There is a focus on using organic methods of killing bugs and fertilizing plants, which is great if you don't want harmful pesticides around the house or plan to eat the things you grow. A fantastic book for So Cal gardeners.
Need to snip some stray hedge branches or cut your roses? I found a great hand-held bypass pruner by Fiskars (the same people that do scissors for scrap booking) for a reasonable $9.99 at Target. They cut really well, are comfortable to grip, have a safety lock and a rose stem stripper built in to make non-thorny-leafy arrangements. They have a similar pair for $7.99 without the rose stem stripper too.
Good Earth - Miracle grow Moisture Control Potting Mix is the best soil to keep plants alive if you over water or forget to water from time to time. There is also a formula for gardens too. It's about $6-7 a bag at your local garden store, but worth it if you have potted plants that require a lot of watering, but you aren't a regular watering type of person. I have potted gardenia's and primroses that like moist soil, but if I forget 2 or 3 days of watering or if we have a heat wave- they stay alive anyway!
If your roses or garden are in need of mulch, the best product I have found is cocoa shell mulch. Not only is it great for your plants, it won't grow mildew and has the wonderful side effect of smelling like CHOCOLATE after you put it down. You can find it at OSH or any other garden center for around $9 a bag.
Have you gone to IKEA this month? If you haven't visited their outdoor gardening tent, you should! They have new solar powered Chinese Lanterns in white, red or turquoise for $9.99 each - the cool thing about them is that they are made from an outdoor fabric, not paper, so they will hold up to the elements. They have a variety of solar powered lights such as mini-lanterns strung on a chord and long and tube lanterns that can hang from high tree branches and pergolas - $19.99 each.
I also bought battery powered, round, blue LED tea lights called, Solig Lights that are sold in a 3 pack for $2.99 - they are great to put in votive holders to add ambiance on windy nights outside. They are LED, so they last longer than normal lights, but you can purchase extra batteries for them at IKEA.
If you need a little garden inspiration, you might want to go on a field trip to The South Coast Botanical Garden in Palos Verdes , The Huntington Gardens in Pasadena or take a stroll through the neighborhoods on Coronado Island in San Diego - Coronado Historic Home Tour
Check out other April field trip links on the side bar. Enjoy your Spring!
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