Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Happy May Day!

I remember people getting really excited when we found out we were getting a Trader Joe’s.  Facebook posts abounded of stories of other TJ stores in other cities, products that were cherished, items that were only obtained upon visits to other cities  lucky enough to have a store.

It just so happened that I scheduled a doctor’s appointment for the day ours opened – A-choo!  I went into the food area and felt overwhelmed.  There were so many people as excited as I was.  (People, this is middle age… getting excited about a grocery store.  It’s quite sad.)

Next, I went into the wine area because, of course, I had heard of “Two Buck Chuck” wine.  It was really called Charles Shaw and I think the price had already gone up to three bucks.  It was a crisp fall day and I had just gotten beautiful cognac leather riding boots.  I was as happy as only a day off on a weekday and new boots can make a girl.  Next to me a lady was holding a bottle of red wine one moment and the next she was dropping the bottle on the floor next to my boots!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!  I fled the store and ran to my car to begin googling how to get red wine out of leather boots.  I took off my cream Target scarf and sacrificed it in the name of the boots to wipe the wine away.  Google was not really my friend that day as I found very few answers to my query.  I can’t remember where I drove but I did call a friend who I knew would listen to my plight.  (Hi Mindy!)  As I talked on the phone I looked down and those magic boots were absorbing (I like to think they were drinking) the wine.  After a little while longer they were back to normal.  ISN’T THIS THE HAPPIEST ENDING YOU’VE HEARD IN A LONG WHILE?  Those boots served me well for about 7 years.  They have now been sent on to someone else at Goodwill.

Since that first fateful day, I have learned a few things about what to buy and when and how often to go.

If you made it through that story, you deserve some photos.

Seasonings:

Everyone talks about the Everything But the Bagel seasoning and with good reason.  This is great on eggs, avocado toast, on top of your cream cheese on your Everything Bagel… 

Don’t overlook the other spices, though. Spices are expensive at the regular grocery stores.  I have started using the Chili Lime on corn on taco night.  I love the pink himalayan salt.  I think all three of these were under $2 each.

Frozen Foods:

It’s nice to have some frozen foods on hand and these are some that I always try to have.  This Jasmine rice is amazing.  I can’t make homemade rice that tastes this good.  Inside, there are 3 packets and you just microwave them for 3 minutes.  

The fried rice is also good.  Sometimes I will serve this along with our favorite orange chicken from Costco.

Snack Foods:

I found these crepes in the freezer section and thought I would try them.  The box comes with 7 crepes and a serving size is 3 crepes.  I just had one as a sweet treat and I was pretty impressed!

These chips and corn puffs are yummy snacks.

Everyone talks about this reduced guilt guacamole made with greek yogurt.  It is seriously so good. I like it with these plantain chips.  Yum! 

Easy Meals:

Easy dinner above – pasta, jarred sauce, ground beef from my freezer, caesar salad.  Done.

I really like TJ’s baking mixes.  This is a lemon cake mix and I think it will taste like Starbuck’s lemon pound cake.  I like to keep one of these on hand if I need to bake a treat for someone or just feel like making something sweet.  My pink pen got in the way of my photo in the bottom right hand corner.  

I’m so not used to taking photos of everything.  I need major improvement in the photography department.

I hope you liked my review and please let me know what you think I should try!

Amy