Trader Joe's is My Happy Place

For starters, Trader Joe's did not pay me for this post. Which is obvious if you know me since my blog isn't a big deal, but I'm about to sound like I'm getting paid. I even told Marshall that a nearby Trader Joe's might be on my "must-have" list when buying a house. Okay, back to business.

Have I mentioned I love Trader Joe's? I think I've made that quite clear in the past, but in case you hadn't caught on, Trader Joe's is like my candy shop. I love to go there with no time limit, browse each and every aisle (at least once), and discover what new products they may have.

Usually when I grocery shop I go in with a list, get everything I wrote down (usually) and nothing more (except when frozen peas are unexpectedly on sale). I really love to grocery shop, but it's not usually an adventure...Just a routine. Except when I go to Trader Joe's. I still go with a list, and plan to buy everything on it, but I also plan to pick up random things here and there that we either love, or that I think we may love after trying it.

Saturday was one of those times that I found many exciting things to try! Well, they're at least exciting to me. I had already looked at their fearless flyer online, so some of the new things I found I already had my eye out for, but I still had a blast.

I picked up the usual suspects - all kinds of nuts, dried cranberries, ground beef, bacon, peanut butter (I usually buy this at Target. They have the best price on organic PB!), and apples, but let's get to the fun stuff! 

I think I was most excited about the Edamame Hummus. It has a combination of edamame and chickpeas, as well as your other typical hummus ingredients. I like hummus but I get tired of it quickly. It's definitely not a staple in our fridge. This, however, was really tasty. I found it to be lighter and fluffier than traditional hummus. It went really well with these crackers, as well as the next new item I bought: Inner Beans and Inner Peas.

Here's a little snapshot of our lunch plate - The Inner Beans and Inner Peas are the penne-looking items.

Inner Beans and Inner peas. What a strange name. But tasty product! And they're actually made with whole black beans and whole green peas. Impressive, right? Unlike those "veggie" chips that have a tiny amount of green pea powder to give them color, whole green peas is the first ingredient of only a few on this package! I preferred the peas and Marshall preferred the beans. So inconclusive as to which one is better. I guess you'll have to decide that for yourself : ) 

I wanted to try some different varieties of pasta, so I was happy to find a whole wheat fusili, and even happier to find a brown rice quinoa pasta. One of the main reasons I wanted to try that is because it's gluten free and I now have a few gluten free friends. Marshall and I will try it first before making it for them, but I'm hopeful. Whole wheat pasta seems to be hit or miss. I don't understand how they can be so different from one another when the only ingredients are flour and water, but I've definitely had some that were better than others. I haven't given the Trader Joe's variety a shot, so we'll see. And I'm sure the type of sauce you pair with it makes a difference as well, which leads me to the next item.

Pesto and Quinoa. It's basically just a traditional pesto with quinoa added. It might not turn out to be that exciting, and the protein content per serving is only 1 gram (though I'd probably eat more than two tablespoons), but why not give it a try? I'll probably just toss it with some pasta, possibly with some chicken or fish, and it'll make a fast and pretty cheap dinner. 

Next up, green tea infused mints. Plus, they're shaped like cute little leaves! Here's an excerpt of what Trader Joe's had to say about these:

"Did you know that green tea extract has been shown to contain antioxidant properties that can inhibit the root causes of bad breath? In other words, the mint will leave your breath smelling fresh and clean, and the green tea may just help keep it that way."

Sounds good to me! These definitely have subtle green tea notes with mint being the main flavor. But not an overbearing mint flavor....Just right.

Last but not least, I bought shampoo at Trader Joe's!

I spotted this in the fearless flyer, and since we're running low I thought I'd give this a try. It's supposedly salon level quality (which is what I'm used to using), and I love that the ingredients list is a bunch of different natural oils and such. I probably won't know until using it several times how I feel about it, but I'll keep you updated.

And what do you think the best part of the whole trip was?

Carrying everything home in my Eat More Kale bag that my mother-in-law gave me!

This was obviously a successful Trader Joe's trip. Not every trip is this much fun or filled with so much excitement, which is why I had to share this with you! And just like a candy shop, I walked away with a little more than I needed ; )