Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

TJs has all kinds of different breads that are good for grilled cheese and the Tuscan Pane is one of the best options.  There are also numerous cheese options but the Dutch Gouda melts perfectly.  
Pair your grilled cheese with the Organic Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup and you have a perfect comfort food combo.  Stay tuned for the recipe for gourmet grilled cheese sandwich - trust me, it's worth the wait.

Alsace Pizza and Sauteed Spinach

Vegetarian. Makes two light meals.

The Alsace Pizza is a scrumptious blend of creamy swiss cheese with caramelized onions and ham.  With all TJs frozen pizzas, it is best to place them right on the oven rack rather than on a cooking sheet.  But, a word of caution with the Alsace... it tends to puff up and push bits of cheese onto the bottom of the oven where it will start to burn and cause any sensitive smoke detector in a teeny tiny apartment to start screaming.  You can prevent this by opening the oven halfway through baking time and popping the puffs with a knife (trust me on this one!).

For this meal I added fresh Baby Spinach sauteed with olive oil and TJs Crushed Garlic (see last post) and a nice Bears Lair Chardonnay (only $4.99!).

Perfect Popcorn

Having a late night tummy rumble or looking for a movie snack?

Just combine TJs Fat Free Caramel Pop Corn with the Lite Popcorn and you'll get a nice combination of sweet and salty that tastes like kettle corn.

Perfect popcorn!

Penne Arrabbiata with Kalamata Olives

Vegetarian.  Makes 2 smallish meals or one big one (depending on how hungry you are!)

The microwave instructions for Penne Arrabbiata calls for heating on medium for 4 minutes, which gives you just enough time to cut up some of the Jumbo Pitted Greek Kalamata Olives.  Throw in the olives before heating on high for another 3 minutes.  This dish is best served with grated asiago or parmesan cheese.  You can buy both in wedges at TJs or get a tub of pre-grated.

Tonight I paired the Penne with TJs broccolini (sold in the fresh food section).  I steamed the broccolini until the stems could be easily pierced with a fork.  Then I tossed the broccolini with a little olive oil and some TJs crushed garlic in a frying pan for about 

a minute.  

Add in some 2 Buck Chuck (Much touted Charles Shaw wines found only at TJs.  $1.99 in California and $2.99 everywhere else - thus the nickname) and you have a perfect meal!

Samosas, Palak Paneer and Jasmine Rice

Makes two meals.  Vegetarian.

A few days ago I had my favorite Indian meal from TJ's.  Start by heating the frozen Samosas in the oven.  Once they are in, microwave one packet of frozen Jasmine Rice.  When the rice is done, flip the Samosas and then microwave the packet of Palak Paneer.  If you don't like your food too spicy, be sure to remove the one hot pepper found in every pack of Palak Paneer.

Once everything is heated up, you have enough for a dinner and lunch or a dinner for two.  And don't be thrown off by the muddy green color, it is delicious.  Enjoy!

Welcome

After much encouragement from friends, I have created this blog to list my favorite Trader Joe's recipes.  As a single woman with limited cooking skills, I have found that one can enjoy many yummy, healthy and cheap meals with all the ingredients purchased from this one store.  I have the good fortune to live across the street from a Trader Joe's and shop there almost daily.  I most certainly have not tried everything in the store, so please give me your recommendations to post here.

Okay, here goes...