Treasures from Trader Joe's

Hello, friends - how's your week going? Are ya ready for the THREE DAY WEEKEND? I couldn't be more excited!


This week has been a busy one (what else in new?), but productive. Tonight, Zak and I are kicking back and watching Wayne's World. It's been ages since we've seen it and it's ridiculously funny!


Plus, we love all of the Milwaukee references. There's the Laverne & Shirley scene...

Hilarious.

And of course, the Alice Cooper backstage scene where he gives Wayne and Garth a history lesson, and says "Actually - it's pronounced Mil-ee-wauk-eh, which is Algonquin for the good land." When he invites the guys to hang out in the dressing room, they freak out and yell out "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!" Classic :-)

source

We've had Alice Cooper a couple times at my workplace, and he's an incredible showman. A solid dude all around, too.


Anyhow. Pardon my tangent! What's new? After work the other night, I made a detour to Trader Joe's and picked up some goodies:

Yesssssssssssss.

It was time for a TJ's trip because my usual grocery stores (aka the ones close to my house) just don't have some of the ingredients necessary for blog recipes. 

Raw cashews, for example. Big plans for these babies: Oh She Glow's vegan cookie dough 'blizzards'. Drool.

And goat cheese in handy single-servings? Thank you Fitnessista for prompting me to pick these up. The only problem? Zak has already finished half the bag... 

Sprouted tofu sounded interesting. Have you ever tried it? I want to make Paige at Running Around Normal's parmesan crusted tofu marinara. 

And these salsa-style refried pinto beans sounded great. Fact: I eat refried beans at least three times per week. Aside from the sodium, they are relatively healthy and a great source of fiber and vegetarian protein!

And this stuff is just naughty... finally splurged on some medjool dates and TJ's peanut butter-filled pretzels. Yummm.


Don't worry, I didn't forget some TJ's treats for the pups...

Blue sez: I can haz puppy treatz?

Open the box. Now!

Please? I'm not looking at the camera until you give me a damn treat.

And look who has finally learned 'Sit'? Good puppy! 

You do the talking: What are your favorite TJ's products?

I really wanted to find that peanut flour that the entire blogosphere is obsessed with, but my store doesn't carry it. Bummer.

What's your favorite scene / quote from Wayne's World?

I do love the part where the boys are talking about Cassandra, and Garth says "She's so hot, if she were a President, she'd be Babe-raham Lincoln." Too funny :-)

Mad love for Trader Joe's stuff

Hello, world!

It's Friday and I have ZERO complaints. The week seemed long but it's OVER and it's going to be an awesome weekend!

Earlier this week, I went on a shopping raid at Trader Joe's. So a heads up, you're going to see a lot of products acquired from there in this post - thus, the title is fair warning :-)

1. Tonight - made a great dinner (more on that later). Possibly headed out to a retro bowling lounge with friends!

2. Tomorrow - our real estate agent is showing us four houses, and there is something exciting about each one. Afterwards, Zak is taking me to dinner and then we're off to the Pabst for a show from Jamey Johnson! He's kind of a badass on the country music circuit, and should put on a great show. Zak and I are not so much mainstream country fans as we enjoy alt-country music like Drive-By Truckers and The Old 97s.

3. Sunday - an early horseback riding lesson, then a friend's Super Bowl party!

Back to today's events. I hit up Trader Joe's the other night and discovered a new favorite treat - TJ's Pecan Praline Granola.

Doesn't it just sound delicious? I love that the serving size is close to "normal" for me - 1/2 cup. It's calorie dense, but packs a nutritional wallop with 3g of fiber, 5g of protein and 6.5g of heart-healthy unsaturated fats. It's pretty low in sugar, too - just 10g per serving.

I tried the granola as a snack today at the office - atop some Dannon 'toasted coconut vanilla' yogurt.

GASM.

This. Was. So. GOOD. I don't usually go for the fake sugar yogurts, however the flavor of this one is to die for! So rich tasting and decadent.

Also at work, I got into some 'Lovey Gummy Tummies' that were also acquired at TJ's.

THESE ARE GREAT! A perfect gummy candy with a cherry flavor. As a big fan of red gummy candy, I highly recommend these.

After work, I decided to make the star of dinner a new-to-me vegetable - Brussels sprouts!

Can you believe I had never worked with these babies prior to tonight? I sliced them in half, tossed with some e.v.o.o and seasoning, and roasted in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I made some quick Barilla Plus rotini, grabbed some red sauce and topped it with the roasted sprouts.

Gorgeous!

Zak started to eat it, and then began to groan with pleasure. I asked him what he thought, and he said - "Ohhhhh... these are like BACON! So good!"

Friends, Zak has been meat-free for several years now, so I take this as a high compliment :-)

I thought this dish tasted excellent. Can't wait to try it out again!

A little while later, I wanted something sweet. I topped about 1/3 cup of plain organic yogurt with 1/2 chopped TJ's fat-free brownie, and about 1/3 cup of TJ's granola.

So good!

I am off to primp for my retro bowling outing. Have a great Friday night!

Where the Heart Is

Tuesday night... 10PM... and it feels good to be home.

Zak and I had a great time in Nashville, but were both anxious to get back to Milwaukee; back to our apartment, our pets, and most of all - back to normal food!

We got into the airport and decided on our tasks: Zak went to his parents house to pick up Blue, and I went on a grocery shopping bonanza.

Now Zak usually does the majority of our grocery shopping because, ahem, he eats most of the groceries. I typically pick up staples, stuff for my baking projects, and hot ticket items that I match coupons and sales for. After this evening's trip, I have a new respect for Zak and his thrifty produce shopping. Let's just say I picked the wrong kind of apples and spent like $5.16 on 6 - ouch. Also learned that cauliflower costs $4, which seems unjust.

I digress. We got right into dinner... Huge salads with spinach and black beans, and tons of raw veggies: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, et. al.

I heated up some Trader Joe's multigrain pilaf on the side, topped with some green salsa.

So I ate about half the salad and all of the pilaf, and remembered that I had sliced up a sweet potato and was baking some cheetahs! I put away my leftover salad (lunch tomorrow) and dove in.

Mmmmmmm, is there anything better? These really hit the spot on this cool Wisconsin evening.

A couple hours later, I was ready for something sweet. Enter: Ben & Jerry's Half Baked fro-yo. On the side, an episode of True Blood. I can't get enough of this show!

Hello, Lover.

I am beat and have a million things to unpack. Tomorrow will be crazy with having been gone a few days, but I am hoping to post some photos and such from the rest of our Nashville trip.

A sneak preview... yup, that's a red carpet.

G-night!