Yum.

 

D. and I recently went to Austin, Texas, and talk about a fabulous city. More posts on that coming soon, but this meal came right after we landed in rainy San Diego. We'd spent days eating out and didn't want to spend anymore money, but were tired after a long day spent in the airport and a delayed flight. What to do?

A quick survey of our freezer yielded a package of Trader Joe's Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina and the fridge was full of veggies from our new CSA (Be Wise Ranch). Chopped garlic, onions, and Swiss chard made a great addition to the gnocchi. The package calls for a little water while it cooks/thaws in the pan, so I added a few spoonfuls of homemade turkey stock. The gnocchi is quite decent for a frozen product and is one of the standouts in Trader Joe's frozen food offerings.

D.'s Fabulous Dinners

Photos in this post have been deleted... newer photos have been added here. The link for the photo of the spaghetti/eggplant was broken and I have decided not to reload it.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, life has been hectic lately. I'm incredibly blessed, however, by the fact that D. is a fabulous cook. During the last week, I came home to several great meals, but two were particularly noteworthy.

The first was one of D.'s excellent kinda-homemade meals. Courtesy of Trader Joe's, the eggplant cutlets were excellent. Pre-made with the dollops of cheese and sauce, they were light and flavorful. D. tossed the angel hair with some spaghetti sauce (we like Classico's tomato and basil or sun-dried tomato), the gourmet tomato medley from TJ's, Parmesan cheese, and basil from the backyard. It was a great meal and the fact that quality ingredients are readily available make it that much better.

A few nights later, D. made his trademark flank steak with green beans, baked potatoes, and K.'s fabulous sweet potato casserole as a side. Holy cow, that casserole is good. I almost ignored D.'s awesome steak, green beans, and baked potatoes for it.

The flank steak, as always, was cooked medium-rare and was tender and flavorful. He uses a spicy-ginger marinade from Vons. Buy the marinade and upend the bottle into the bag. Add the steaks, then freeze. Then, whenever you want to eat it, defrost it the night before and plop it on the grill. Quite easy for great results.

Ah, good ol' Trader Joe's pizza dough. Here's the one D. and I made last night.

Toppings:

• Gruyeres cheese
• goat cheese
• basil (from the garden!)
• cherry tomatoes
• prosciutto
• tomato sauce
• red onion
• garlic
  

Not the best picture, but the pizza was delicious. Upcoming projects: my first attempt at pho and a "tapas" party!

Trader Joe's Couscous Salad

Another lunch report... I can't get enough of Trader Joe's Couscous Salad. It has cold couscous flavored with lime juice and basil, sun-dried tomatoes, cippollini onions (small, sweet onions), cherry tomatoes, dried currants, and arugula.

I can't even begin to expound on how much I love arugula. I can't wait to plant it and have a little bit with chicken or fish. It's peppery and slightly bitter. D. would call it "weedy". When it's fresh, the crunch is amazing. It adds a nice kick to salads or a nice garnish to meat or fish. With this couscous, it contrasts nicely with the sweet and sour of the onions, tomatoes, and lime.

It's $3.39 for a 10 oz. box. It's very light, but the couscous is filling enough to make it a meal. TJ's is full of good pre-made food. I usually have a mini-pizza or a salad. Cheaper than going out, more convenient than cooking.

One great pre-made item from Trader Joe's: pizza dough.

I usually buy the plain dough, but I decided the buy the garlic herb dough last night. Threw on some Gruyère cheese, ham, onions, and heirloom tomatoes. TJ's now sells a "gourmet tomato medley", which is nice because buying heirloom tomatoes from the farmer's market costs an arm and a leg. I didn't add any herbs because the dough already had the flavor. Pizza turned out pretty well.

Next time, I think I'll prebake the dough before adding the toppings. Gruyère's fats separate out pretty easily, resulting in a lot of grease making the dough soggy. Otherwise, the nutty flavor makes it an excellent pizza cheese. No pictures this time, but I definitely won't make pizza dough from scratch when it's pretty good from TJ's.