A Slamdunk Trader Joe’s Dinner

Loved this! We added a touch of wine and cream.

Just made this dish. I had cauliflower gnocchi in the freezer, so I used that instead. It was a tasty meal. Didn’t love the texture of the gnocchi, but will try it with the sweet potato ones. I’ll see if I like those better. My husband liked it. Very easy meal.

For a different spin on this, buy the gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce and add the TJs cubed ham, or prosciutto and their frozen peas. Delicious meal in 10 minutes!

Made this last night, and it was delicious! Super quick and very filling. Thanks for the great un-recipe!

This sounds delicious! I only wish the lines for Trader Joe’s NYC locations weren’t always so long (or that they signed on for Instacart).

Just made this for dinner, but with kielbasa instead of Italian sausage. So good! Thanks!

Such a great recipe and I all ready have everything in my fridge. Dinner will be easy tonight!

I’m pregnant and live in East Africa at the moment (not a TJ’s in site…) and for some reason this pregnancy I am craving an ENTIRE Trader Joe’s store. I dream about going grocery shopping, spend a ridiculous amount of time googling things you can make with Trader Joe’s ingredients, reading the Fearless Flyer online. It’s pathetic. Thanks for enabling me!

I grill slices of their polenta and melt the little mozzarella balls with sun dried tomatoes. A delightful appetite.

I love reading the comments for useful ideas to answer the “what do we feed the kids” question ‘round here.

I would like to gently remind people who like to “ugh, Trader Joe’s” and “so much plastic” comments to please consider how privileged you sound. I am definitely for minimizing waste and trying to be responsible but please consider your tone and words. I do my best to teach my kids to be grateful that we can so easily find/purchase food and that just having fully stocked grocery stores is such a convenience and luxury. Most people are doing their best with the options they have available to them and feed themselves and their family on a reasonable budget.

This looks so good and it looks very easy to make.

seems like there is growing interest in healthy/sustainable food systems in the comments of this blog. would be great to see more recipes as well as writing on the subject. farmers market hacks is more where it’s at for me :)

For all my home-ladies out there raising concerns about TJ’s supply chain and packaging, I think you could also replicate this recipe with your favorite local sausage, homemade frozen gnocchi if you want to really go for it, or your favorite cooked beans/grains/pasta, and some seasonal veggies. I do love a non-recipe-recipe.

I LOVE these TJ posts, and read all the comments for more ideas. Thank you all! I agree that it would be great to see TJs reduce their packaging waste. I don’t buy certain products there because of the extra plastic – produce especially. I do really enjoy some of their products. A favorite is their green curry sauce (in a jar) with pea pods, edamame, broccoli, cauliflower and rice. Their curry sauces make a masterpiece out of whatever odds and ends you find in the fridge.

I’m obsessed with this sweet potato gnocchi! Will definitely try this recipe to fancy it up, although lazy pregnant me also loves to just throw in a bag of spinach to wilt while it cooks to make it slightly healthier

Alright, I just have to say I am so excited about this series. My boyfriend and I just tried TJ’s sweet potato gnocchi for the first time last week and it was so good even by itself! I was pretty impressed with the limited ingredients too. This looks like a great way to spruce it up even more and make it a well-rounded meal. Can’t wait to try!

This looks lovely, but again I find myself wanting for the amounts of each ingredient! I recognize that the hacks benefit from scale-ability, but honestly, it’s just lazy to exclude them.

My husband and I do gnocchi with Trader Joe’s balsamic butter veggies and goat cheese probably once a week. I like to add extra frozen peas, pearl onions, grape tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar – all from TJs! It’s super quick and delicious. Lately we’ve started to feel like maybe we could be eating healthier and I bought some Banza chickpea pasta to replace the gnocchi in the dish. I wish TJs carried their own chickpea pasta! It’s got way more protein and fiber than regular pasta.

I also love using their frozen mexican street corn with cotija cheese or the fire-roasted corn they have in a salad I make with tomato, black beans, avocado, red onion, red bell pepper, cilantro, and a lime-mayo-chili powder dressing. So good that I recently made it for my lunches two weeks in a row!

My new favorite TJ’s hack is Naan pizza! I love pizza and usually always have the ingredients on hand. All you need is naan bread (I use the plain kind from the bakery and keep it in my freezer), sauce, leftover meat and veggies and cheese. I’ve made several variations, last night’s included TJ’s chicken sausage & zucchini. In deperate times I’ve even been known to cut up a cheese stick if I’ve run out of cheese! All you need to do is put the pizza together and throw it in the oven for 15 minutes. This always satisfies my pizza cravings without going overboard.

Ever since Maddie commented on that post a while back, I’ve been making this meal at least once a week!! It’s so damn delicious!! (And I can put literally no effort or thought into it. Much needed after rough days at work.)

Ugh, Trader Joes. I have a huge issue with the secrecy surrounding their third party suppliers. I can’t bring myself to shop at TJs because of this. I work in supply chain sustainability, and it is important to me to support companies that are making strides in sustainability. Not knowing for sure who is making the TJs bottled smoothies (rumored to be PepsiCo) or pasta sauces (rumored to be ConAgra) bugs me. Transparency in food production is so important and so, so much more than just an ingredient list.

Eater did a good article on this last year if anyone is interested: https://www.eater.com/2017/8/9/16099028/trader-joes-products

Grain bowl hack: organic tahini + everything bagel seasonings on a fried runny egg over grains/cauliflower rice. Sprinkle some greens if you are feeling it.
I have gone through two jars of tahini with this hack. It still hits the spot every. single. time!