A brownie bite of heaven

Last week, I wanted to bring treats to work. Small was a big factor, something my coworkers could have a pick-me-up, avoiding the weigh-me-down tendency of larger treats.

There were a couple of options, including the aforeblogged and beloved lemon bars. Although we’re all on the healthy choice side,  I’ve felt a chocolate vibe lately in the office, so I went with the Sea Salt Brownie Petites. Small, potentially a low crumb factor and chocolate.

When I buy items at Trader Joe’s, I’m always eager to find out if they’ll make it to this blog. However, when I bought these brownies, I was more concerned with what would be most appreciated at work, and I kind of forgot about the posting potential.

Then a few things happened.

1) Co-worker delight. The rave reviews at work were unanimous.

2) Utter happiness. I tried one and in the words of the sages, OMG!!! They are SO good! Densely chocolate and just the right portion size to keep the guilt meter happy.

3) Lightbulb. I realized I had the subject of the coveted Friday post position.

Thank you, so much, Trader Joe’s!

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Related Links:

This delicious life

What’s good at Trader Joe’s

Nutrition facts

The letter “O” brought to you by Trader Joe’s

And, of course, the classic, drinkable “O”…

Thank yOu, Trader JOe’s!

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Related Links:

Fruity O’s nutrition info

Trader Joe’s Spaghetti O’s nutrition info

Orange Juice cake recipe

 

Travel snacks from Trader Joe’s

I don’t know about you, but when I travel, I don’t usually take snacks. Yes, I think I’m that tough. “Because I don’t have any snacks with me, I just won’t get hungry and I won’t eat anything,” I say to myself. Then I add, “Maybe I’ll get some gum.”

Despite the bravado and the gum, invariably I become ravenous before boarding, panic and buy some over-priced, unhealthy food item at the airport shop-ette, feeling the fatty junk-food goodness slide into my system, calorie by calorie.

This time, I’m vowing, it’s going to be different.

I’m traveling soon and while on my recent Trader Joe’s run, I selected an assortment of palette-pleasing treats verging on the healthy – or at least on the not SO unhealthy – side.

My health-conscious travel snacks

First and foremost, I had to appeal to my overriding love of salt. I thought the cheese would be a good alternative to crackers and steer me away from that evil standby – chips.

As for satisfying the sweet side, I tried to veer away from chocolate (melt prone and fat laden), keep it small (I usually need just a tiny bit), and even possibly include something healthy (that would be the roasted and processed plantains, and the sugary fruit leather).

Then there is the box of brown rice “Rice Crispy Treats.”  I’ve been wanting an excuse to try them and am grateful for my sudden brainstorm to accommodate that urge. If they’re all I’ve dreamed they would be, I’ll give them a post of their own soon.

TILATJ (i.e. this blog) will be on the road for a bit. I hope to collect reports about TJ’s in other towns to share with you along the way, or when I return, depending on what my down time will allow. I’ll definitely let you know how my travel snack companions fared.

Do you have any favorite travel snacks that err on the side of healthy, or fall under the category, “not-as-unhealthy-as-it-could-have-been?” Please share, and we can all put the ideas on our list for our next trip.

Thanks, all! And, thank you, TJ’s.

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Related Links:

Whole Living – Best Snacks for the Road

10 Favorite, Healthy Snacks

Packing snacks for air travel

Live Strong: Healthy snacks to take on long flights

 

Chicken Sausage: Like muscle-bound Little Smokies

Trader Joe’s has done it again. They took a product that I normally wouldn’t be interested in (sausage) and turned it into a meal I crave.

Made with apple and Chardonnay, flavored with smokey goodness and a mild taste, it’s almost criminally delicious. Although I don’t usually like sausage (too spicy, too red meaty, too sausage-y), this sweet chicken version is like a muscle-bound “Little Smokey”  or its huge, healthier cousin that was allowed to grow to sandwich size. That smokey. That mild. That good.

Trader Joe’s Smoked, Apple Chardonnay Chicken Sausage

Another factor of this meal has to do with the 100+ temps we’re dealing with in the Midwest. When I come home from work, I don’t want a complicated meal that takes a while to prepare. And I certainly don’t want to turn on the stove or, heaven help us, the oven. These sausages are precooked, so I put one in the microwave and the link is ready to devour in 1 minute.

Thank you, TJ’s.

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Related Links:

Recipes with Chicken Sausage from Chowhound

Recipe with Chicken Sausage and couscous from BakeSpace

Chicken and Andouille Étouffée from Saveur

Pink: Pretty. Salty. Sweet.

We’re in a pink mood today, and Trader Joe’s accommodates with ease!

A perfect color-coordinated, summer trio:

Multi-bloom hydrangea

Himalayan Pink Salt Crystals

Low Calorie Pink Lemonade

Thank you, Trader Joe’s!

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Related Links:

Hydrangea care

All about Himalayan salt – Wikipedia entry

Low calorie pink lemonade nutrition facts

You had me at roasted garlic salsa…

As longtime readers of TILATJ know, I love TJ’s Salsa Verde. But the roasted garlic salsa is the one men have died for. This salsa makes healthy, strong women weep at a barren shelf where that salsa used to be. It’s the garlicky goodness that makes the most veggie-phobic child eat her broccoli.

Roasted garlic salsa

And, for such a powerful item, the $1.99 price brings a tear to one’s eye as the tasty contents brings a smile to one’s lips.

Thank you, Trader Joe’s.

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Related Links:

Roasted garlic salsa nutrition facts

Recipe behind the salsa

Chicken tortilla soup recipe w/salsa

In snacks we trust – the healthy choice

I keep trying to declare my independence from the Siren call of chips. Today’s post is a note-to-self. Although it’s personal from me to myself, please feel free to use the contents as you like.

Hey, Self,

Remember about grape tomatoes and edamame in the shell! They’re both available at TJ’s, they both can be salted, and they’re good for you! Stock your frig and plant this tasty image in your brain…

Snack mantra: tomatoes and edamame. (Y)om.

So, no more chip binging, right?! With  healthy, yummy substitutes like these, chips are SO a thing of the past! Right?!

Well, at least it’s an opportunity to eat fewer chips…right? Just make an effort to remember this option during your next chip craving.

You’ll like me, your self, better for it.

Love,

Me

Thanks for the healthy treats, Trader Joe’s, and Happy Independence Day, to everyone!

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Related links:

Tomato Town

Green bean and tomato salad (looks super yummy and healthy!)

Roasted grape tomatoes

Easy edamame recipes

I may be a turkey, but my burger’s tasty!

There’s a phenomenon that happens when you listen to National Public Radio – it’s called the driveway moment. It happens when you’re driving and listening to NPR. You arrive at your destination, but the story you’re listening to hasn’t finished.

How will the story end? Yes, you could look it up online. Yes, you could listen to the podcast when you get home. But that’s not what happens. Instead, you find that you are physically unable to get out of the car until you learn what happens when the 80-year-old, former high school sweethearts reunite; what the economic state in Europe means to your child’s college career; or what is the secret ingredient in McDonald’s “special sauce.”

There’s a similar phenomenon at Trader Joe’s. It’s the tasting bar effect or TBE.

Many times I’ve sampled and bought something at the tasting bar that has been in line with my shopping list. It’s logical. It’s in the budget. It makes sense.

But, many, many times, I sample something that I usually wouldn’t think of buying – like turkey burgers. I am perfectly capable of buying ground turkey and shaping my own patties. It’s just something, in my world, that doesn’t need to come preformed.

Tonight, I fell victim to the tasting bar effect and bought a four pack of beautiful, juicy turkey patties.

The price was great, they were so tasty in the little paper sample cup (and paired with honey gouda – yum!).

But, the really great thing about both the driveway moment and the tasting bar effect is that I am always glad I went with my instinct. I never feel like I wasted my time in the car or that I wasted my money at Trader Joe’s.

And the result of tonight’s TBE was another case in point, as I am SO eagerly and happily eating the best. burger. ever.

My turkey burger: w/shredded cheddar, basil leaves, Persian cucumber slices and spicy mustard on flat bread.

Really…thank you, Trader Joe’s!

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Related links:

Turkey burger nutrition facts

Beer here: Drink local

I’ve always loved the beer selection at Trader Joe’s. When I lived in L.A., I could count on getting a 6-pack of tasty Dutch, Czech or German beer at a shockingly low price – the brew-side equivalent of the classic Two-Buck-Chuck.

In Kansas City, a couple of things changed: First, the beer is a little pricey, running about $1 more than the same beer at other stores (at least for the Pilsner Urquell and the Boulevard Brewery flavors). However, I admit, after saving money on the other products, I will save a trip to a second store and buy the beer there for one-stop shopping.

The other difference is in the selection of singles. Maybe they offer singles in other TJ’s around the country – I don’t remember seeing that before. What struck me about the choices, was the array of Missouri beers. How cool is that?!

Missouri beer selection

I love our hometown Boulevard beers. This gives me a chance to taste types that I haven’t tried before, plus the opportunity to taste test beers from around the state!

One note for Missouri beer buyers: There’s a law that mandates beer must be purchased in quantities of three or more. I believe it might come from Missouri’s Liquor Control Law, Section 311.200, which states:

2. For a permit authorizing the sale of malt liquor not in excess of five percent by weight by grocers and other merchants and dealers in the original package direct to consumers but not for resale, a fee of fifty dollars per year payable to the director of the department of revenue shall be required. The phrase “original package” shall be construed and held to refer to any package containing three or more standard bottles of beer. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 311.290, any person licensed pursuant to this subsection may also sell malt liquor at retail between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and midnight on Sunday.

It’s a curious law, huh?! This kind of encourages drinking more than one might have! Chalk it up to another government oddity. Does anyone know the origin of this law? Another note, I think it only pertains to smaller beers (i.e. 12 ounce) – larger beers are still available as singles.

In the meantime, since you need to buy at least three to taste one, check out the selection on TJ’s posted beer menu:

TJ’s beer menu

Happy beer drinking!

Thanks, TJ’s!

Follow Things I Love at Trader Joe’s on Twitter: @TraderJoesKC

Related links:

KC Beer Blog

Beer Advocate

Missouri liquor control law – Revised statutes

Father’s Day at Trader Joe’s

If you’re in the Kansas City, Mo., area this weekend and celebrating Father’s Day, there’s another event to put on your activity list:

Father’s Day at Trader Joe’s, KCMO

I don’t know if all TJ’s are celebrating in this way, but if not, all stores should have beer and sausage to go – you can do your own tasting at home!

Thank you, TJ’s.

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Related links:

First two Texas Trader Joe’s open this month – w/Treasure hunt