My new obsession started on the car ride home from my local friendly Trader Joe's...toddler safely buckled in carseat, car in drive and dying to bust into my Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Covered Banana Chips. Just a little mid-morning pick-me-up snack for the mom of a 2-year-old who has a lot of energy during the day and in the middle of the night.
I quickly grabbed a handful of chips, keeping both eyes planted on the road. These little morsels ranged in size from a pencil eraser head to the size of my pinky finger - nail to knuckle. I first noticed the texture - smooth, but a little bumpy, on the outside and crunchy on the inside. The crunch wasn't what I expected at all - maybe I was thinking that since bananas are soft these would be, too, but silly me, of course they would be crunchy since they are called "Banana Chips". After my second handful, I concentrated on the smooth milk chocolate flavor. Now, I've been trying to train my taste buds to appreciate dark chocolate given the flavonoid benefits, but truth be told I am a milk chocolate lover at heart...good milk chocolate (Cadbury from Ireland to name one), not Hershey's (I wholeheartedly agree with you David - see David Lebovitz's humorous post on Hershey's). Well, this creamy milk chocolate is definitely one on my "love it!" lists. No off flavors here. On the other hand, the banana flavor is a little lacking, but certainly doesn't take away from the overall addictivity (is that a word?) of these treats.
Check them out on your next trip to TJ's. $3.49 per 10.5 oz.
Some people are addicted to chocolate, some to potato chips, and some to crack (hey, I'm sorry but it's true and I certainly don't endorse this addiction).
I'm addicted to breakfast cereal.
I don't know what it is about cereal, but it's one food that I love to eat at any time of the day. Breakfast - of course, it's a staple! Lunch - sure when there's nothing else to eat! Dinner - definitely when the husband is away and I don't feel like cooking! Snack - yes indeed, at any time of the day!
One cereal that I can't get enough of is Trader Joe's Frosted Shredded Wheats. This frosted shredded wheat cereal is perfect. I've had a long-running affair with frosted shredded wheat, starting with Kellogg's in high school (which I found resulted in a mouth full of dry cardboard "wheat", but aside from that you need to check out their mini wheats mascot - so cute!), then a variety of store-brand versions (trying to save money throughout college). And, finally, my favorite for years has been the Trader Joe's brand.
There are so many things I love about it. The squares are the perfect size and the wheat is compacted to just the right density. They are really thin with a crispy frosted shell - and this is what melts my heart - the shell stays crisp even after swimming in the milk for a few minutes. Trust me, I've tested this many times as my daughter requires my attention asking for "more waffles" or "more mango". It's almost as if the little squares pause from absorbing too much milk just to wait for me to sit back down and start eating again. There is no partially hydrogenated oil and no corn syrup baked into these goodies. However, they are a little high in sugar at 11g per serving, but that is somewhat balanced with the 5g of fiber. Add some fresh strawberries, raspberries or blueberries to the bowl with some organic milk and you will be ready to climb a mountain.
I've also noticed that the squares are uniformly made with very few imperfections. What I mean by this is that they all have the same texture and mouth feel. Haven't you ever had the bag of cheese Jax where some of them are puffy soft and melt in your mouth and some could break a tooth? Product consistency is not an issue here at all.
If you are thinking about buying shredded wheat from TJ's you need to be prepared for choice. They come in a wide variety of flavors...Frosted, Vanilla, Maple, Cinnamon. I have tried most of these and have always found my way back to the original frosted wheats in the blue box. They have just the right sweetness (the Maple version was so sweet that even me, the girl with 32 sweet teeth, could not stomach).
Did I mention the price? If you are like me and love cereal you know that those cute boxes cost a small fortune, especially for someone who eats through 1.5 boxes a week. At just $2.99, Trader Joe's Frosted Shredded Wheats are a bargain!
For years, my husband and I have been trying our best to avoid trans fats. We have been reading food labels closely and shunning all foods containing partially hydrogenated oil. Discussions with friends and family members about the topic and my vehement stance against trans fats have resulted in a lot of interest and just as many rolled eyes. After what seems like eternity of thinking that the ingredient lists were never going to change, I'm so happy to see a drastic change of events.Large food corporations, the government, the media and the medical and scientific communities are now backing the detriments of trans fats. Entire cities - New York and Philadelphia - have passed a mandate that restaurants are not allowed to cook with oils containing trans fats. Whole Foods has a company policy that they will not sell anything in their stores that contains any partially hydrogenated oil, or trans fats. Trader Joe's is working toward eliminating the same (however, I have found that certain frozen "chinese-style" stir fries, a couple cookie varieties and panko bread crumbs still contain trans fat so keep vigilant. I should note that upon confrontation of management on several occassions, they assure me that, while there is no imminent company policy changes being made like Whole Foods, they are working toward removing it from all products.)So, what now? Well, in my opinion, the fight is not over on two fronts.
1. The government is allowing companies to include less than .5g of trans fat per serving and claim that there are "no trans fats" on the product packaging (most of the time in a very prominent manner on the front of the packaging and in the Nutrition Facts grid on the back). I see this as deceptive and am concerned that folks who don't know what ingredients to look for (e.g. partially hydrogenated oils) may not know that these products still contain trans fats. It's super-scary to think that people could be eating more than one serving at a time thinking that they are safe with this "no trans fat" claim on the packaging, but in reality be ingesting a couple grams of the stuff.
2. Now that we've removed partially hydrogenated oil from foods, what do we replace it with? I've observed that most respectable companies will use poly- or mono-unsaturated fats such as olive, canola, sunflower, or safflower oil, but some are not. Some are replacing trans fats in hydrogenated oils with saturated fats in pure oils such as palm or coconut oils. The New York Times ran an article that talks about this very topic.Bottom line is that we all still need to be cautious about what we eat. And, when you eat out, you are taking a chance that your food will contain trans fats or saturated fats.For more information about trans fats, visit Ban Trans Fats and Wikipedia's Trans Fats entry.
The food reviews in my head are finally coming alive! Thanks for checking out this new blog featuring reviews of natural and organic foods found at your local market or at specialty stores such as Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, etc.
If you've ever wanted to ask other shoppers in the market, "have you tried this?" and "did you like it?" this is the place for you.
A sucker for good marketing copy and a pretty picture on food packaging, I am willing to try anything that I can convince myself is trending toward healthy (a big NO to anything with partially hydrogenated oils and it takes something really special with corn syrup to get into my pantry). Some might call these convenience foods, snacks, or trash, but most of the time we call them tasty. Now, with that said, I am a firm believer in cooking from scratch and believe that the majority of dinners I serve my family should be made from fresh ingredients. But, truthfully, we all know that packaged items come in handy and I feel comfortable knowing that the items I choose are made with real ingredients, not a two-inch-long list of chemicals I can't pronounce.
My job here is to share my great finds with you, and I hope you will share yours with me.
