Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I got the 17-bean soup because one of the recipes in the I <3 Trader Joe's Vegetarian Cookbook uses it. Haven't tried it yet.

Picked up the Turkey-less roast for our Christmas dinner...it says it's good til mid-January, and I didn't feel like trusting that they would still have them after Thanksgiving.

Our Trader Joe's opened today and of course, I was so excited that I absolutely had to go today and didn't consider that I wouldn't be getting there until 5:30 and it would be MOBBED.

I didn't have time to shop the way I really would have liked to and I kind of just threw a bunch of stuff in my cart, but I did end up with their white bean and basil hummus which is love. The rest of my random grocery list - flatbread, TJ's frozen chickenless cutlets, frozen hash browns, gala apples (they were easily the most beautiful apples I had ever seen), bananas, kale, and wasabi wow trail mixy stuff. I'm not sure what's different or special about it, but I love that wasabi stuff. This bag may last me the weekend, but I kind of doubt it.

I went yesterday and they had no roasts at all. Boo.

I made the roast last night. It was yummy, but I agree that it was kind of mushy. It had to cook for about 5 minutes longer than it said it would, so plan accordingly. I really liked the stuffing and gravy too. I decided I'm not making it for Thanksgiving because I would have to make more stuffing for the omnis anyway, and I had another gravy recipe in mind already, but I will definitely eat this again.

The aseptic boxed tofu is really good. Way fresher and creamier tasting than Mori Nu. Mori Nu has a distinct taste to it that I don't really care for, and I can taste it in things when I make a sauce or pudding with it. But I think this Trader Joe's tofu will work great for that sort of thing.

I just tried the Masala burgers, and YUM!. I ate them straight-up, and I see no reason to ever do otherwise. I can't believe they sat in my freezer for a month before now.

I keep stalking this thread to see when the holiday treats are coming out. I have also been calling my local TJ's and they keep saying "soon!". I am getting excited!

Zoey, I went to Trader Joe's after work this evening and they had lots of holiday food out.

I finally got the pea shoots that someone mentioned way back when and they are the BEST. I'm putting them in sandwiches, salads, tofu scrams - everything. Even absentmindedly munching them out of the box. I feel like a nerd for how much I love them.

On the other hand... can't wait for Candy Cane Joe Joes to hit the shelves. I'm gonna need to balance out all these greens.

I'm not even sure what pea shoots are, but they're going on my list.

The herbed popcorn is so good!

I am so in love with the dosas!

Huh. The idea of Candy Cane Jo Jos still makes me queasy.

I might try to go after work on Thursday. It's just so damn annoying: 6 minutes to drive from work to TJ at 2:30. An HOUR to drive those same few miles at 3:00.

I went there yesterday and the holiday foods were out (including the candy cane Joe Joes). I bought a box and I haven't even opened it yet. I am loving the red lentils they have there. I buy the red lentils, cauliflower and baby carrots and make the dahl from AFR. I love it.

The pea shoots are kinda like alfalfa sprouts, but fatter and longer. They taste like springtime to me.

Oh and YES, how could I forget that I also bought the herbed popcorn?! SO GOOD. And so hard to ration.

New things I've tried lately- the toasted coconut chips. Soooo good. They are crispy pieces of coconut meat with salt and sugar. Crazy good. I tried the canned cinnamon rolls and, meh. Not worth the calories to me. The smoked almonds are insane. Like bacon almonds!

I got one of the turky roasts and am anxious to try it - I've never had anything like that before. I'm glad for the tip to cook it another 5 min or so, because if it's mushy that will be it for me.

I'll go back this weekend and check out the holiday treats, as nothing was out when I was there on Tuesday night.

I assume it is new - I never have seen it: Siciliano prepared salad! So yummy - had it for lunch. It has lettuce, apples, slivered almonds, carrots and dressing....

I'm not sure if anyone from the boards goes to the location in Rochester, but I looked it up on their website and it is the closest one to my house (I live up near Toronto!) - I'm thinking about making the drive down as a little road trip once their Christmas stuff comes out! I'll keep checking the thread for that but if anyone goes to that particular location and you see Xmas-y stuff, let me know, I'd really appreciate it!

I went to one near Cleveland while on another little trip over the summer and loooooved it and came home with lots of goodies - I wish we had TJs in Canada!

The turkey-less roast didn't turn out very well for me. It was gummy and rubbery, not even as good as Tofurky (which also has much better stuffing imo).

I liked the turkey-free roast much more than Tofurkey. I dunno, it was just more turkey-like to me. I think it would be fun to try it wrapped in puff pastry with some kind of vegan pate or something, like a Wellington, sort of.

I picked up Candy-Cane Joe Joe's. Have yet to open. !

I liked the roast way better cold from the fridge as leftovers than hot from the oven.

Ditto. I liked the Turkey-less Roast, myself. With that said, I'm referring specifically to the roast - the stuffing is not good (but it rarely is in pre-packaged roasts, including tofurky; I'm not sure why they even bother), and I just threw away the gravy pouch because generally pre-packaged gravy is blech and homemade gravy is a million times tastier and very easy to make. It's definitely a Gardein "meat" - I thought it was a lot like the chicken scallopini cutlets. My husband thought it was very good - he ate over half of it, and he's an omnivore!

The only improvement I'd probably try for next time was a more browned top. The recipe on the box calls for rubbing the roast with a mixture of olive oil and smoked paprika and put back in the oven for another 10-15 min. While it helped with the presentation - the roast didn't look so pale, at least - it didn't really do anything to encourage browning. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to lightly brown the roast on the stovetop, either before baking or after - or maybe a quick blast of high heat with a bit of oil and perhaps even a baste with a bit of sugar. It seems that this kind of roast would be very prone to drying out, so browning technique has to take that into account (a lot like actual turkey.)

Overall, I liked this roast better than tofurky (tofurky gives me a stomach ache, for whatever reason), but my all-time favorite is still the Field Roast roast en croute, probably because pastry is delicious (duh) and the stuffing isn't bread-based ("sausage", hazelnuts, cranberry and ginger I think) and so holds up to the rigors of processing pretty well.

Also, SassyOh, I had the same thought re adding phyllo or pastry to the loaf - I think that might be our Christmas plan!

(ETA: I've spent way too much time thinking about this, I know.)

I appreciate all of the time you've spent thinking about this! I think I'm going to stick with tofurkey for now.

Yesterday I went to trader joe's and I found one, lone bag of coconut chips lying on a shelf. YAY. They've been out of stock for weeks now (and now they're out of stock again).

Shoot. Gotta get over to my TJ's. I'm going to buy tonnes of 'em.