So these are just a few of my Trader Joe favorites that you’ve probably heard me talk about already, but hopefully the pictures will make it easier to remember them or spot them when you’re in the store.
The coconut milk is great for smoothies, soups (love curry coconut shrimp soup, will share that one at another time), or even in baking like the Almond Joy Bars. They’re $1 can and only have coconut milk and water in them. ALWAYS read your ingredients no matter what you’re buying. You’ll be surprised how often they add sugar, corn starch, corn syrup or some other nasty and unnecessary ingredients.
The 73% cacao chocolate covered almonds taste wonderful and good for you. Need I say more?
The roasted and salted seaweed. Some may say it’s an acquired taste. My husband likes to joke that it’s the Japanese in me that likes these. But I really do think they taste great, and my kids agree! I’ll sometimes wrap the seaweed around a bite of cold turkey burger or with some no nitrate deli meat. And now we’ve now got our neighbors hooked on this stuff…so apparently you don’t have to be Japanese to enjoy it. 🙂
UDI’s gluten free bread. This is the best, most satisfying gluten free bread (especially if you toast it) I’ve found for the kids. To be honest, I’d rather they not eat bread ever but for the few times they do want it with some almond butter, I’ll reach for this.
The almond meal is great for the “fried” chicken or fish recipe. It sticks to the protein the best. I also use it for cooking muffins and cookies, but tend to prefer the Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour since it’s more of a real flour consistency.
The almond butter is delicious and inexpensive compared to the other nut butters out there. It also makes wonderful brownies.
And last in this group, the individual nut packs. My son and husband eat these all the time. They’re a healthy and yummy snack, and they’re convenient too. I love the fact that they’re prepackaged so I don’t sit there and eat 600 calories of almonds in one sitting. The individual packs include raw almonds (my favorite), a raw trail mix, and “Just a handful of almonds, cashews, & cranberries” which is my son’s favorite. Also, I think they’re nuts overall are the most reasonable, and with no added oils, when comparing to Publix or Whole Foods.
The meats. So I didn’t pictures of the ground turkey, or free range organic chicken or any of the other meats since you can probably guess what they look like. But, their chicken sausage (and they have many) is my favorite and I use it often. Maybe too often. In fact, I put it in my spinach salad almost every day. I take it out of the casing, cook it up, dump it on spinach and add lemon juice, a dash of apple cider vinegar, tbls flax oil, and 1 tbls of roasted flax seeds, just like the steamed brussel sprout recipe (from yesterday’s post). It is also great in fritattas or eggs with spinach and guacamole for a quick meal, or in soups. I especially love it in my butternut squash soup.
The nitrate free bacon is great too for breakfast or on a bacon tomato turkey lettuce wrap, or even with a spinach salads with goat feta, some crushed up almonds and apple.
I think that is it for now on the Trader Joe’s stuff but I’d love to hear comments from you if you have something you love at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. It’s all about what you discover at these wonderful little places so please feel free to share in the comments section!