Liking Lately: Trader Joe's Staples Edition

Despite having shopped there for, oh, a decade (what year is it?), I'm repeatedly surprised by Trader Joe's convenient and reasonably priced vegetables. I am particularly fond of their chopped and prepared veggies: anything that makes it easier for me to eat more plants with a smaller amount of effort is a-okay in my book.

Specifically, I've been buying a lot of the following lately:

Sliced cremini mushrooms. Sauté and throw on a pizza, add to a soup or sauce. Put them raw in a salad, if you're so inclined.

Photo from traderjoes.com.

Shredded carrots. Chop roughly, or don't, and add to salads, soups, stir-fries, and anything else you can think of. I'm always meaning to quick pickle them and eat them with some Korean beef and rice.

Photo from exploringtraderjoes.blogspot.com.

Cruciferous Crunch. More or less the same base as my beloved Costco kale salad, but cheaper, and I don't have to brave the Costco parking lot for it. I typically eat this mixed with either salad greens or quinoa as a base for my lunches.

Photo from traderjoes.com.

Broccoli florets. We eat a lot of steamed broccoli with meals, so hooray for saved prep time.

Photo from healthydivalife.com.

Broccoli slaw. Saute, throw in stir fry, chop and add to salad or quinoa dishes. I love this stuff, because broccoli stems.

Shredded cabbage mix. Again: Salads! Quinoa dishes! Chop it up and cook it with other greens. Saute with butter and throw it in with noodles, because I hear that's good.

I love shaved Brussels sprouts: I hate shaving Brussels sprouts. Sauté these bad boys with onion and bacon, or make one of my favorite salads (I use one whole bag for the recipe).

Photo from traderjoes.com.

Riced Cauliflower. Again, I enjoy riced cauliflower: I do not enjoy ricing cauliflower. Find it in the refrigerated section, but when you get home feel free to throw it in the freezer until you need it.

Also good: English cucumbers, and cheap bananas. Their cheap basil (and delicious little balls of fresh mozzarella) make my Caprese Pasta a cinch. Recipe to come at some point: it's perfect for summer.

On the other side of the cold aisles, their crumbled feta is my favorite, and I always grab a few containers when in the store.

Photo from traderjoes.com.

TJ's tri-color quinoa is a favorite for both quality and price point (though when Costco has their 4 pound bags for $10, they've got them beat), and I usually grab a bag. I have a big glass container that I keep my quinoa in, and when I get home I throw it in there. I eat a lot of quinoa for lunches, and buying it once in a while and adding it to the mix keeps my stash from hitting threat level orange. Now and then I let the glass jar go fully empty before adding a new container, to make sure it's all still fresh.

Photo from traderjoes.com.

And finally, the Swiss chocolate bars by the checkout. Hoo boy. I try not to buy them too often because they quickly become a dangerous habit, but dang are they good. I am a fan of the milk, and my husband likes the dark. We each get our own bar and are thrilled not to share. Sometimes being an adult is a-okay.

Photo from amazon.com.

Liking Lately: A New Dawn, A New Day, A New...Granola Recipe

Remember that Facebook food group I mentioned in a recent post? My friend Jess used it to share a recipe for granola that she'd recently tried, and as soon as I read it I knew I needed to try it, too. We used to make granola pretty regularly around here, but as is wont to happen, it somehow fell out of the rotation and we haven't made any in ages. *Rafiki voice* It was time.

I tried Jess's recipe with a few modifications, and it's a definite winner. Crispy, crunchy, chewy, not too sweet. I used both maple syrup and cinnamon, but it doesn't taste overmuch of either: it's just got a nice, pleasant Granola Flavor. Zach's been enjoying it in his yogurt, and I've been enjoying sneaking bites and baby fistfuls of it out of the ziploc bag and pretending the calories don't count. And, okay, it's also really good with almond milk, which I learned this morning when the day-after-you-go-back-to-rowing-again hangries set in. Granola: it's what's for Second Breakfast!

Much to my surprise, it stayed pretty crispy in the milk, though I did wolf it down with the speed of a raccoon who just saw a porch light come on while going through the garbage, so your mileage may vary.

The recipe is based on a Cook's Illustrated recipe for Almond Granola with Dried Fruit, to which there is no available link. The recipe below is with my modifications. Enjoy!

I spent a surprising amount of time trying to make this picture render properly. Pretend it worked.

Granola So Good You Will Eat It With The Joy Of A Raccoon Swimming In A Trashcan, Not To Oversell It

⅓ cup maple syrup (the real stuff, you guys!)

⅓ cup packed (2 ⅓ ounces) light brown sugar

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

½ cup Light olive oil or coconut oil or avocado oil or vegetable oil or other oil of your choice

3 Tablespoons of water

***

5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (Not quick cooking oats!)

2 cups (10 ounces) raw nuts (Your choice! See below.)

½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes, chopped (or the small already shredded ones, but I wanted to use up some bigger ones I had on hand.)

½ cup shelled hemp seeds (Optional. Throw in flax or anything else here, if you'd like.)

2 cups dried fruit, chopped (Your choice! See below.)

For the fruit and nuts I used pecans and cranberries, because that's what I had and what I like, but the possibilities are endless: dried cranberries, raisins, apricots, cherries, or a mix. Pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, sunflower seeds, pepitas, you name it. One of the nice things about this recipe is how flexible it is. I added a bunch of stuff and it came out great. Be warned, though, that if you add more dry ingredients you might need to up the wet ingredients a bit too. Otherwise it might not clump properly, though it will still taste delicious.

CI says: "Chopping the almonds by hand is the first choice for superior texture and crunch. If you prefer not to hand chop, substitute an equal quantity of slivered or sliced almonds. (A food processor does a lousy job of chopping whole nuts evenly.) "

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, water, and salt in large bowl. Whisk in oil. Fold in oats and nuts until thoroughly coated.

3. Transfer oat mixture to prepared baking sheet and spread across sheet into thin, even layer (about 3/8 inch thick). Using stiff metal spatula, compress oat mixture until very compact. Bake until lightly browned, 40 to 45 minutes, rotating pan once halfway through baking. Remove granola from oven and cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 1 hour. Break cooled granola into pieces of desired size. Stir in dried fruit. (Granola can be stored in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.)

Liking Lately: Recipe Edition

In my house, we go through peaks and valleys when it comes to meal planning and meal prep. I've mentioned this before. My husband and I will get on a tear for a while, diligently planning and executing shopping trips, menus, food prep, etc. Then we get a busy week or two, or have some travel or holidays thrown in, and it all falls by the wayside and we eat a lot of scrambled eggs and things we find in our freezer. Lately I've been on top of things, thanks in part to inspiration from a Facebook group for food ideas, which my friend A'Dell recently came up with.

I've tried a few new recipes lately, and wanted to share.

1. But first! This quinoa salad in its many iterations (I make it with or without feta, craisins, and roasted garbanzos; I make it with whatever vegetables and toasted nuts I have on hand; I make it with or without avocado, chicken, salmon, or other meat/fat to make it a heartier meal) continues to be a hit at my regular rowing club potluck dinners, and is a frequently requested recipe. (Instagram photo below is one of my many versions.)

2. Speaking of potlucks and quinoa, I think I'm going to try this Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing recipe for my next potluck. It includes so many of my favorite foods and flavors.

Photo from tastykitchen.com

3. I also recently made this kale and Brussels sprouts salad for a potluck, and it was also a hit. And it was super fast because I made use of Trader Joe's shredded, raw Brussels sprouts, and a bag of their Tuscan kale, which is already chopped (I just removed any big stems and chopped the leaves more finely). This would be delicious alongside grilled chicken prepped in my favorite marinade, and in fact I am putting that on my menu for next week right now.

Note: I used parmesan and toasted almond slivers because that's what I had. Easy-peasy.

Photo from epicurious.com

4.  And finally, I miss writing at Food Lush. I am always delightfully surprised when I see someone post a link to or try a recipe from the site, despite it having closed down three years ago. This recipe for Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps is one I'd tried before, but I remember not loving it, and we never made it again. It turns out it's just so much better (to me! and Zach!) over rice. My husband was raving about it, and claims it was the best meal he's had in a while.

Here's the recipe, with my modifications. Original is in the link.

Photo from tastykitchen.com

Cashew Chicken, for Lettuce Wraps or Over Rice

Note: if enjoying the recipe over rice, you will need to quadruple the sauce, as listed below.

• 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
• 3/4 Tablespoon brown sugar
• Few dashes red pepper flakes
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2-⅓ Tablespoons soy sauce or coconut aminos, divided
• 3 Tablespoons canola oil (or oil of choice)
• Approx. 1 and 1/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and diced
• 1 medium or large yellow (or white) onion, diced
• 1 Bunch of green onions, white and light green parts sliced; dark green parts discarded
• 3-4 celery stalks, diced
• 1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed (chop them if you please)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup roasted, salted, chopped cashews (I did half almonds, half cashew, because that's what I had. An extra handful of nuts certainly won't hurt!)
• 8 leaves Of butterhead, bib or other large leaf lettuce (romaine even works), washed and dried, if doing lettuce wraps.

For the sauce, mix together rice vinegar, brown sugar, ground red pepper, ground ginger, sesame oil, and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, making sure to dissolve brown sugar. Set aside. (Quadruple these measurements if serving over rice instead of in lettuce leaves.)

Heat oil in pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add diced chicken and brown (about 4 to 5 minutes). Remove chicken from oil, reduce heat to medium. Add onions and garlic to pan with remaining soy sauce (1/3 tbsp. = 1 tsp.) to pan; cook until translucent. A few minutes into cooking the onion and garlic, add the celery and water chestnuts. When onions and garlic are clear and tender, add stir fry sauce, browned chicken and green onions. Saute mixture for a few minutes and add cashews shortly before removing from heat.

Spoon chicken mixture into individual lettuce leaves, wrap and devour! Or serve over rice alongside steamed broccoli if desired. Add your favorite hot sauce, more cashews or soy sauce if you're feeling kicky.