Reduced < Guilt Spinach & Kale Greek Yogurt Dip

This stuff is SO, SO GOOD, considering it's a much lighter, lower-calorie version of deliciously decadent spinach dip. Actually, it's more like traditional spinach dip's cooler, hipper Millenial cousin, what with the addition of the kale and the replacement of sour cream with Greek yogurt. It's a tasty, more-nutritious makeover of good old-fashioned spinach dip, and I am grateful. This is one of those unique, satisfying TJ's products that, once you've discovered it, you feel compelled to make part of your regular grocery rotation.
Versatility is the name of Reduced < Guilt Spinach & Kale Greek Yogurt Dip's game; its uses are seemingly endless. Many weekdays I'll top Triscuit crackers (or the TJ's equivalent) with it for lunch. Baby carrots and celery are delicious accompaniments for it as well, as are thick, salty potato chips. Mmmm.

It also works very respectably as a sandwich spread or as a topping for sliced baguette.
Two tablespoons will net you 30 calories and an impressive 20% of your Vitamin A for the day, as well as a gram each of fiber and protein. Not too shabby!
I'd like to know if I'm getting any live and active cultures from the Greek yogurt, but the label doesn't tell me, and I'm currently feeling too lazy to call the company and ask. So for now, this will remain one of life's great mysteries.
Happy dipping!

Random TJ's Photos, Episode 1

...in which I post a few Joe-related pix, with explanations, and hope you are mildly amused and/or interested.

Was surprised and delighted to find this distinguished-looking
fellow staring up at me from the inner surface of my
TJ's chicken-salad-sandwich-wrap tray during my lunch hour
at work the other day.

Today Hunter and I made this granola, which incorporates
a few TJ's products: rolled oats, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Deee-lish!
(Hunter has been eating this stuff by the handful. It is soooo satisfying
when you see your kid actually ENJOYING healthy homemade food. Right?!)

Does anyone else think of TJ's (and their hibiscus-heavy logos)
when they see one of these?

Reduced Guilt Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese is a big deal in my household. For better or worse, it is a staple of my kids' diets: they eat it several times per week, it is their go-to menu item when dining out, and it's one of the few fairly nutritious foods they'll talk about with earnest reverence and near-zealotry. ("Yay! MAC AND CHEESE!!" they'll shout when I whip some up in the microwave, as if they hadn't just eaten it 48 hours before. And 48 hours before that.)
So when we happen upon a mac and cheese that's both quick-cooking AND exceptional in flavor and texture, that's something to get excited about over here at Chez Mo.
Reduced < Guilt Mac & Cheese is indeed exceptional in flavor and texture for a prepared, microwaveable mac and cheese entrée that's relatively low in fat. (Plus, there's a "less than" sign right there in the name of the product, which is, frankly, adorable, and earns it a couple of bonus points in my judgment.)
I cannot abide a mac and cheese whose sauce is thin, watery, bland, and lacking in strong cheese flavor. What's the point? Rather, a respectable mac and cheese must include a robust, gooey, perfectly cheesy, flavorful sauce. That kind of sauce is, after all, what separates a homemade mac and cheese from its boxed, instant-powdered-cheese-sauce counterparts.
I am pleased to report that Reduced < Guilt Mac & Cheese is fast-cooking and as easy as pushing a few microwave buttons, yet it reads more like a homemade mac and cheese than a boxed variety. And 3.5 grams of saturated fat for the entire tray (about two entrée-sized servings) is really very good. I can feed this to my family without feeling like I'm causing their arteries to instantly harden.

Pair it with some broccoli (which Maya will devour and Hunter will gingerly pick at) and an apple, and you really could do much worse for a kid-friendly, wholesome meal.
...and at the end of the meal, when the kids have bolted from the table and my husband and I are absentmindedly eating the remaining food off their plates while venting about work and bills and our perpetually messy house, we get a nice, comforting couple of mouthfuls of mac and cheese minus the sky-high fat content. Not too shabby!

Organic Greek Style Nonfat Yogurt Vanilla

Wow, that name is a mouthful right there: Organic Greek Style Nonfat Yogurt Vanilla (and I even left out the "0% Milkfat" part)! Good lord. I eat this yogurt almost daily, but I'd never noticed its awkward, rambling nomenclature until studying the photo just now. I always just seek out the squat purple-and-white containers in TJ's aforementioned huge yogurt section, chuck them into my cart, and move along.
So anyway, here's the thing about Greek yogurt in general: I am conflicted. On one hand, the texture is thick and dense and creamy and perfect. I remember taking my first bite of Fage about a year ago and being like, "Oh. OH. So THIS is what yogurt really is. Right. OK. I stand corrected. Got it."
On the other hand, having been raised on Yoplait and Dannon and accustomed to such sugar-bombed flavors as "Key-Lime Pie" and "Raspberry Chiffon," I haven't yet been able to enjoy the taste of plain, unflavored Greek yogurt. I actually find it kind of revolting, honestly. It's just too "sour cream meets unidentifiable musky note" for me at this point in time. I'll keep trying, but so far, no thank you.
So what's fantastic about TJ's vanilla-flavored Greek is that you get the dreamy, super-satisfying texture and mouthfeel of Greek yogurt but ALSO just a smidge of sweetness and vanilla flavor. Enough to make this yogurt seriously delicious and the perfect partner for fruit and granola, but not enough to overpower the tart or dairy flavors or make you feel like you've just eaten dessert.
Also, for what it's worth, OGSNYV contains 12 grams of protein, which is about double that of typical American (or, I guess,"non-Greek-style"?) yogurts---a boon for those of us who don't eat a ton of meat and could therefore use extra protein grams wherever we can get them.
I am always interested in new ways to get even more yogurt into my life, so I'd love to know how others eat it. Here's my preferred method:
1. Dump a container of OGSNYV into a medium-sized bowl.
2. Slice strawberries and bananas into it.
3. Sprinkle generously with granola (preferably homemade!) or whatever other crunchy thing I have available: Grape-Nuts, Joe's O's (review to come!), etc.

P.S. Maya (age 6) loves this yogurt concoction, too, which kind of blows my mind apart, considering her other favorite foods include such paragons of nutrition as corn dogs, mac and cheese (packaged, mind you), and Chicken McNuggets.