Heart Healthy* Whole Grain Blueberry Instant Oatmeal

Rating:
Price: $3.49
Features: Surprisingly sparse and artificial-tasting blueberries.
Found in: Near cereals

After my rave review and continuous consumption of TJ's Cranberry Oatmeal, I expected to enjoy the blueberry version to the fullest. Not so, in fact, it is quite a disappointment! They removed everything that is excellent about the cranberry stuff, and that makes it...well, a lot less good.

I discussed how the cranberry version has lots of dried fruit in it, and a nice balance of sweet and tart. Sadly, there are very few blueberries in this oatmeal, and those that you can dig up are tiny, shriveled, and what little flavor they have seems artificial. I had to search for the two little specks of blueberries that are showing in the photo (notice the difference compared to the product shot on the box). This oatmeal is too sweet and leaves a weird fake-almost-blueberry-but-not-quite taste in your mouth.

Red vs. Blue: Red wins.

Pad Thai Noodles and Sauce

Rating:
Price: ~$3.00 (?)
Features: Dry rice noodles, packet of sauce. That's all you get.
Found in: Unrefrigerated prepared food aisle

I have had this box of Trader Joe's Pad Thai sitting in my pantry for at least a year and a half now. I remember being excited when I saw it for the first time at the store. I had just seen an episode of Good Eats in which Alton Brown makes Pad Thai, but unlike his usual recipes, he makes it look insanely complicated. Part of the episode shows him going through an Asian grocery store picking out all kinds of ingredients that, at the time, I had never seen and would not know how to seek out. He tries to convince the viewer that they should step out of their shell and give it a go, but the final product on the show didn't look great. Sorry Alton, I'm sure your recipe is delicious, but it looked flavorless on TV even though so many exotic ingredients went in.

So, back to the boxed version. I was looking for instant gratification, which a heat and eat product should provide. I wanted to have some Pad Thai I had a hand in making, but not cook all day. I planned to go home and make it for dinner the same day I bought it. Why has it taken me over a year to get to eating? Because I neglected to read the extensive list of additional ingredients not included in the box. I was expecting to need to add some chicken or tofu, stir-fry, and have dinner. Not so! Here is what the box suggests you add: Egg, chicken / prawns / tofu, bean sprouts, peanuts, lime wedges, and fresh chiles. Plus, you have to cook or soak the noodles too (I know, not that big a deal, but I was expecting to just add them to a hot pan with the sauce). That certainly took the fire out of my wok, it's like having to go through an additional grocery list just to get all the stuff to make the dish.

Over the past year and a half there have been multiple occassions on which I have considered saying screw it and just eating the noodles with sauce. Sometimes there is nothing else around to eat, ya know? However, several months after I purchased this boxed version, I learned to make my own Pad Thai from scratch. It requires about 3 more ingredients and I can control the flavor, and make a much bigger batch at a low cost. So TJ's Pad Thai sat lonely and unused on the back of the shelf.

Finally, the big day: Today brought a mix of hunger, lack of other food in the house, laziness, and a coincidence in which I happened to have peanuts, cilantro, limes, cabbage, and carrots that needed to be used up. The box and I had a brief stare-down in the pantry, after which I went to the store for 1/4 pound of frozen peeled prawns.

I soaked the noodles in hot water while I sauted the prawns. I should have soaked the noodles longer, because they were not soft enough after the prescribed 5 minutes. Oh well, I went ahead with the cabbage, carrots, and sauce packet. Then I finished it off with some peanuts and cilantro. Here is the finished product:


Sure, looking pretty good, but let's remember that everything but the noodles and sauce had to be purchased separately. I know that a full pound of rice noodles costs about a dollar at the Asian market, here you get about 150g of noodles and a sauce packet for $3+. Anyway, about that sauce packet. The sauce is acceptable, but too sweet for my tastes, and super salty. The box claims to have two servings, but I ate the entire thing myself and I wasn't even that hungry. Mmm, 50% of my daily intake of sodium right there. As I mentioned before I would rather have more control over my sauce, especially since I know it can be made with about 4 ingredients, none of which are that hard to find.

Is Trader Joe's box of Pad Thai the worst thing ever? No. Is it worth the one and a half year wait to consume? Nope. If you want to make Pad Thai, I would suggest finding an easier recipe than Alton's and making it from scratch. You will come out with a better product and be able to take all the credit! And you will have to get to know your way around the Asian market, which opens a whole world of possibilities...just stay away from the strangest gelatenous ones...unless you are into that.

Dark Chocolate Covered Gingersnaps

Rating:
Price: $3.99 (10 Oz)
Features: So good...can't stop eating!
Found in: Near cookies / chocolate covered things

These little dark chocolate covered cookie bits are amazingly good. It has been hard not to eat them all before I got a picture to put on the blog. The gingersnap cookie centers have quite a spicy ginger flavor, which I really like. The crunchy, spicy centers go perfectly with the thick, slightly sweet, dark chocolate coating. TJ says:

Molasses, ginger, cloves and vanilla...These aromatic ingredients are the hallmark of gingersnap cookies. We've taken it one step further by gilding tiny gingersnap cookies with dark chocolate, for a sophisticated treat that mixes the creamy richness of chocolate with crunchy, spicy cookies.

Mmm, gilded in chocolate, how sophisticated. I'm really hoping these are not just a holiday item, because my store is about out of all the extra holiday treats Trader Joe's put out this year. The snowflake on the box makes me worry about such things. If I can't get another tin of these I'm not sure what I am going to do to get my ginger / chocolate fix. There is no way I can settle for the regular dark chocolate coated candied ginger pieces, which I have never been a big fan of. Please keep these coming! Now I just have to find a way to reuse the tin they came in...

Tea Tree Oil Pure Vegetable Soap

Rating:
Price: $1.69 (2 large bars)
Features: Pure vegetable soap, mild tea tree scent, long lasting bars.
Found in: Cleaning / personal care products

I ended up giving this soap a try because the oatmeal soap I was looking for was out of stock. I'm glad I did, I like this stuff better! How much can I really say about a bar of soap? It comes down to a personal preference, but it's likely this is a good choice for most people. The scent is not overpowering, but you can tell it has tea tree in it, which I find pleasant. You get a lot of natural soap for your money. The large dense bars last a long time, and it is easy on the skin. I didn't give it 5-stars because I might like just a bit more tea tree scent, but I will be buying it again for sure.

The Ginger People Ginger Chews

Rating:
Price: $1.69
Features: "Sweet-hot soft ginger candy. Natural, stimulating, and delicious!"
Found in: Candy / Chocolate section

These ginger chews are great - so simple and so tasty - made with 8% fresh ginger. Eating a few can help soothe an upset stomach. I don't really have much else to say about these. If you like ginger, you'll love these. Pick some up!

Nutty Chocolate Chewy Coated & Drizzled Granola Bars

Rating:
Price: $1.99 (6 bars)
Features: Partially organic, should be more thrilling
Found in: Granola Bars

Something about these bars is always a disappointment to me. Well, maybe not a full on disappointment, but I always expect better and then I am let down when I eat it. I guess that defines disappointment...whatever. Let's just say they could be so much better, but they aren't.

Let's see if I can quantify what I'm always looking for but never getting. The let down really starts with the chocolate. There's nothing quite like a generally "healthy" snack item that gets dipped in chocolate. Good times! Except this chocolate doesn't make the cut. It's kinda sweet, maybe a little waxy, not that chocolaty. So that brings me to the nutty part. Here again I encounter a very muted attempt at bringing in the full peanut ensemble. Sure, there are crunchy little bits of nuts, but they have more texture than taste. I want to taste peanuts, peanut butter, and chocolate. I get: Overly sweet and chewy with crunchy bits. Just not what I want out of them.

Funny, I keep buying these and I keep getting annoyed that they are not as good as they should be. I got this box because every other type of granola bar was out of stock, and I needed something to take to work. They do function as a snack to give you energy, but not the chocolate dipped "healthy" snack that tastes like a candy bar you think you are getting away with.

Teriyaki Natural Beef Jerky

Rating:
Price: $4.99 (4 Oz)
Features: Best value for your jerky dollar, no crazy ingredients, tastes great on the trail
Found in: Generally hanging up in the snack / chip aisle

This jerky is highly addictive. So much so that you might now want to share it with any others in your hiking party. It is best to deny its existence and only sneak pieces when you are at the back of the pack. Not that I would ever go to such great lengths to hoard my jerky...just saying.

Anyway, this is a satisfying high-protein and light-weight snack. The jerky has a nice smokey flavor to it, and it isn't overly dry like the kind you find in the gas station. It also has just the right amount of teriyaki, not too sweet, but definitely adds a lot. I have tried the regular version of this snack, and I must recommend the teriyaki! I have not tried the peppered or turkey jerky from TJs yet.

One bag of jerky a friend got was basically one giant and excessively thick slice. I like that this jerky has more heft to it than other types, but one giant hunk for your $5.00 isn't so hot. Just check out the contents of the package before buying!