<p>I took a lot of suggestions from this thread last time I went and purchased some new things I had not tried before:</p>
<p>That Cookie Butter is like crack!! Holy cow. Probably a bad idea but I have two jars on my list for when I go this weekend.</p>
<p>Loved the Orange Chicken. I have taken it for lunch to work a few times now and served just the Chicken to DS8. He ate it ravenously. </p>
<p>Salted Cashew Brittle - yum. I have a few boxes of that on my list this time too to give as gifts.</p>
<p>When I go this weekend I will definitely check out the Spiral Hams. I need to get Maple Syrup as well and some appetizer like items to have around the holidays.</p>
<p>abasket, is there anyone on CC who might get that for you? I would do it, but TJs is about 45 minutes from me and I may not be there in time to buy it and mail it, but someone else might?</p>
<p>Has anyone mentioned the Tofu Edamame nuggets in the frozen section? Yum…</p>
<p>This might be a SoCal only thing, but the Christmas season brings with it TJ’s fresh microwaveable tamales. Also a new seasonal item: the Pound Plus Extravaganza bar, which is dark chocolate with ginger, almonds, and cranberries, all in a gold wrapper. </p>
<p>The salt and pepper lentil chips are like something Walter White cooked up.</p>
<p>At my book club the other night, someone said with respect to the store that recently opened in our town, “I just don’t get Trader Joes!” Now I know there’s at least two of us. But I think she also doesn’t care for frozen prepared food and shuns sweets. I’m glad so many love the place, but it does nothing for me. (And the parking is a nightmare.)</p>
<p>I feel like there’s something wrong with me, because all of my friends just love TJs. There are some things I really like, but other things that are really bad! Last night I had a TJ’s salmon and orzo frozen meal and it was awful. I also disliked TJ’s frozen salmon burgers, so maybe I should just avoid salmon. However, TJ’s reduced guilt mac & cheese with TJ’s cowboy caviar mixed in is one of my all-time favorite quickie lunches! They had this combo as a sample last year and it is really good. (Cowboy caviar is a chunky, spicy corn and bean salsa.) I also like TJ’s rice cakes, spinach & kale bites, Paneer Tikka Masala, pumpkin pecan instant oatmeal and triple berry oatmeal.</p>
<p>I cook dinner from scratch 5 mights a week and mostly love TJs for their lower prices on staples. But that’s not very interesting to write about, especially when there are things like ChocoVine, “the taste of dutch chocolate and fine red wine”. $1.99. The checker said it tastes like Bailey’s. We shall see. </p>
<p>Vitrac, we really like the TJs frozen salmon, though I agree that there is nothing like fresh wild salmon from a good fishmonger or Whole Foods. There is also nothing like the price of the fresh wild salmon :eek: and we can’t get it year-round. TJs has some fresh salmon, but it’s farmed, which we won’t buy. The farmed fresh tilapia is fine. Missing the days of yore decades ago when you could get cheap frozen halibut.</p>
<p>I don’t know SlitheyTove, but to me, cooking dinner from scratch 5 days a week would be pretty interesting to write about. Do you really do that? And what does from "scratch"mean? Does it mean making your own pasta and sauce and baking rolls from flour? I would love to be able to do such a thing, but even thinking about it overwhelms me!</p>
<p>Making my own pasta? OK, I don’t go that far. Does that mean I can’t claim I’m cooking from scratch? ;)</p>
<p>Last night was just the two grownups. Roast chicken, roast green beans, a rice pilaf made with pasta that I didn’t make myself :), and a chocolate cake that comes together in six minutes using the baking pan as a mixing bowl. OK, another cheat, I use the challah from Trader Joe’s because it is really really good. Tonight D1 arrived home from study abroad and requested a soup (another cheat: using boxed vegetable stock rather than making my own) made with wild rice and mushrooms. Roast cauliflower to go with that. Aside from the chicken and the white rice, pretty much every ingredient was purchased at TJs.</p>
<p>MomOf3Stars, I’m not sure if someone mentioned this already, but they were sampling the scallop wrapped in bacon appetizer the other day and they were a big hit. Also, I have had the rice balls (I know there is a real name for them, but they are breaded rice and cheese balls) It doesn’t sound that great by my description, but they are really good, but obviously not figure friendly!</p>
<p>Two of my favorite TJ’s items are their frozen pie crusts and puff pastry. I know how to make a pie crust, but at this point in my life I realize that the big difference between actually making a pie or not making one is wholly the crust. Theirs is bigger and better than Pillsbury’s. I can whip up an apple strudel in 15 minutes with their puff pastry and my apple/peeler/corer/slicer.</p>
<p>We just had the “12 Macarons a la Parisienne”. Thawed for thirty minutes and they were perfect. 6 vanilla and 6 chocolate. Tres magnifique! (is that how you spell it?)</p>
<p>What a great thread! And in my family, really on topic, as TJ’s frozen chicken quesadillas and chocolate chip dunkers have gotten my son through his long days of application-writing.</p>