Dark Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Wafer Cookies

Two of my favorite foods are dark chocolate and peanut butter, so when I find them together, blended into one deliciously sweet-and-salty treat, I reflexively grab that treat and tuck it right into my shopping cart faster than you can say "Try exercising some self-control for once, Mo."

When I spotted TJ's Dark Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Wafer Cookies earlier this summer, I did not hesitate to pounce on them like a cat pounces on shiny moving objects. Reese's has nothing on TJ's reputation for using pure, simple ingredients---these cookies contain dark chocolate, natural vanilla, peanut butter, sugar, enriched flour...and that's about it. No preservatives or artificial flavors to be found.

Not at all surprisingly, these cookies barely lasted half a week in our house. I loved them, the kids loved them, and Seth presumably would have loved them, too, had he gotten the chance to try one before they were devoured by the rest of us. Maya, in particular, enjoyed them so much that she couldn't understand why I refused to bust them out at breakfast.

What makes these cookies so great and addictive is the inclusion of dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. The bitterness of the dark chocolate keeps the cookies from being sickeningly sweet and rich, which, in turn, makes these cookies easier to eat in large quantities. The light, crispy wafer cookie inside the chocolate achieves the same feat, so that the cookies seem less sugary than they probably are.  (The label says there are 10 grams of sugar in four cookies. So, yeah: they are sugary; although, I've seen breakfast cereals that contain twice as much sugar than these cookies do.)

The end result is a snack that has crunch, creaminess, sweetness, saltiness, bitterness, and airiness, and that really can't hold a permanent place in my cupboard because I lack the self-discipline to handle such a perfectly delicious treat in a mature and reasonable fashion.

Old-Fashioned Cinnamon Grahams

Graham crackers evoke some nostalgia for me. They're something my mom always kept in our pantry; they were a snack I nibbled on throughout my childhood. (Ever had a bowl of graham crackers and milk? We did that pretty frequently in my house growing up.)
So I have a fondness for graham crackers, which is why I was eager to try TJ's Old-Fashioned Cinnamon Grahams the first time I spotted them among the crackers and cookies on the shelves over the freezer case. (So glad someone thoughtfully and accurately placed that hyphen between "old" and "fashioned," btw.)
My assessment of these graham crackers can be summed up this way: If you were to make a homemade graham cracker, from scratch, this is how it would taste, and this is what the texture would be like.

They are really a far cry from anything produced by Nabisco or Keebler. For starters, they are thick and substantial, and much more filling than a traditional grocery-store graham cracker. They're more hearty, which I think must be a result of the whole wheat flour used to make them, and they have a very distinct molasses flavor, which I LOVE.
And---my kids' favorite part---the grahams are covered on one side in a thick layer of cinnamon sugar. Delicious!
These make a great snack just eaten on their own. I haven't actually tried them in milk, I think because they are so rich and flavorful, they just don't need anything extra.
I bet these would be reeeeally great substituted for regular graham crackers in pie crust; however, since I am, so far, too lazy to make pie, I'm not likely to test this hypothesis anytime soon.

Wasabi, Wow!

Last week my coworker and fellow Joe lover, Jamie, essentially dared me to eat this stuff. "My husband and I have found the one single disgusting thing Trader Joe's sells," she said (I'm paraphrasing), and then presented me with this bag of Wasabi, Wow! trailmix that the two of them had tried and hated during a car trip.
I accepted the challenge after conceding that the components of the mix---wasabi peas, peanuts, almonds, golden raisins, and dried cranberries---did seem a little strange put together. It was the fruits, specifically, that seemed to me not to fit. I'd eaten wasabi peas on their own and in rice-cracker mixes, but never with anything sweet.
Anyway, my interest was piqued and I gave Wasabi, Wow! a go, right there in my cubicle, fully expecting the worst.
But...I loved it! The cranberries and raisins lend just enough sweetness and a nice chewy texture to counter the crunchy ingredients. And the key, I believe, is that the fruit and other ingredients are proportioned correctly. In other words, there isn't too much fruit---just enough. It's actually a pretty addicting mix in that it's salty and sweet, with a pleasant little burn from the wasabi peas. It's also hearty, so a little goes a long way (if, unlike me, you have good self-control where tasty snacks are concerned).
My only, tiny little complaint is that the wasabi peas aren't the best I've ever had. They lack that fake-looking bright-green color many wasabi peas have, which is encouraging, but they also lack some zip. I like a wasabi pea to make my eyes water and my sinuses clear, and these don't quite get there.
All in all, though, I have to say woo-hoo to Wasabi, Wow!---with apologies to Jamie and Mr. Jamie.

Rainbow Peppercorns

This stuff right here, Rainbow Peppercorns, manages to be both a material representation of why I love Trader Joe's so much and my kids' absolute worst culinary nightmare.
Let's begin with the former: What a fantastic product this is. For starters, it's unusual. In a good way. It's the kind of unassuming yet exciting little food item that makes so much sense and gets so much use in my home that I wonder where it's been all my life and what I did without it. "Why has no one combined four varieties of peppercorn until now?" is the kind of question begged by Rainbow Peppercorns. (Or maybe this combination of peppercorns has been done before...? Even so, it's certainly not ubiquitous to grocery-store spice aisles, right? Correct me if I'm wrong!)

Yes, the pepper bottle in this photo is nearly empty.
Rainbow peppercorns go quickly here at Chez Mo!

The taste is really fresh, thanks to the built-in grinder, and spicy and a bit hot, and bold. It's like freshly ground black pepper dialed up several notches and with a little extra zing ground in. I LOVE IT. There's really nothing it can't enhance: eggs, a green salad, soups, chicken, pasta, rice, cooked vegetables, tuna salad, a turkey sandwich...I use it almost daily.
My kids, on the other hand, are revolted by the very idea of freshly ground pepper. Why would Mom taint a perfectly good, perfectly bland, perfectly uniform gob of mashed potatoes with this crap? they wonder. They look on, aghast, as I aggressively grind and grind and grind the pepper onto everything on my plate. And if I'm off my game one night and accidentally season the family's veggies---let's say broccoli---BEFORE dishing out their portions, Maya and Hunter both freak out and point to the offending pepper specks that are poisoning their food: "It's got the black stuff! The black stuff! GET THE BLACK STUFF OFF MY BROCCOLI TREES!!!"
...which, maybe, now that I'm really pondering it, is another reason Rainbow Peppercorns delight me so much: They annoy my children! I am all for annoying my children in small doses.
Keep on doin' your thing, Rainbow Peppercorns!

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!

Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage

A caveat: These sausages aren't going to change your life or anything.

But, it occurred to me the other day while grabbing a couple of packages from the TJ's meat cooler for probably the 100th time since I first became a TJ's shopper that these humble Sweet Apple Chicken Sausages deserved a post on this blog. Here's why: They have become a reliable, highly valued staple of my (admittedly limited) meal-prep repertoire. Their versatility and quick cooking time come in SO handy on hectic, time-crunched weekdays, yet they're equally useful on a weekend morning. Plus---the importance of this cannot be overstated---MY ENTIRE FAMILY LIKES THESE SAUSAGES AND WILL HAPPILY EAT THEM. If you're a parent or friend of any small, highly particular, frustratingly ambivalent children, you understand my choice of all caps there.
We often eat these sausages butterflied and pan-fried for dinner, with rice and a vegetable on the side. Simple as that. We get a well-rounded meal of basic, not-too-bold flavors that everyone enjoys. Sometimes we'll make them part of a "breakfast dinner" and serve them alongside fried eggs, fresh fruit, and toast. They also work beautifully on a weekend morning as a protein to go with a stack of pancakes.

What makes these sausages so kid-friendly, besides their mild, sweet flavor, is the absence of a casing. So they're as easy to eat as hot dogs, but way better. (Love the juicy little apple chunks tucked inside!) And nutritionally, they seem pretty reasonable: no nitrates or nitrites, all recognizable ingredients, and a decent amount of protein.
Oh! They're precooked, too, which is a bonus for those of us who live in constant fear of undercooking our poultry and poisoning everyone in our homes with Salmonella.
:-)

Frozen Steelcut Oatmeal

You know what I like to do when work is shitty, my taxes aren't done, my living room needs vacuuming, and I have no clean laundry? Blog about Joe's Frozen Steelcut Oatmeal, that's what!
I so enjoy oatmeal (or "oapmeal," as Maya insists on calling it. Made from 100% whole-grain oaps!) Oapmeal is comforting, isn't it? But not bad comforting, like the Reese's peanut-butter chocolate egg I just scarfed down a moment ago. The nice thing about oapmeal is that not only does it feel cozy and satisfying on a chilly morning, it's also so jam-packed with nutrition, you feel downright virtuous for eating it. It's a win-win kind of food.
Really the only downside of oatmeal is the inconvenience of cooking it on a weekday morning. Oatmeal Complete is, of course, a super-quick, healthful, yummy solution to this problem. However, if the texture skeeves you out, or you're looking for a more-generous serving size, or steelcut oats are your preference, may I introduce you to Frozen Steelcut Oatmeal (flavored with brown sugar and maple syrup)?
This oatmeal is GOOD. My husband loves it, my good friend Carie loves it, Maya loves it...I don't know anyone who's tried it who didn't like it. It's the closest thing to homemade oatmeal you're going to get in a box.
The way this oatmeal works is that it is already cooked, then frozen into pucks and individually shrink-wrapped. You can't deny the fun factor here: Oatmeal pucks! My kids always want to touch the frozen pucks before I pop them into bowls and zap 'em in the microwave. (It's gotten me wondering, too, whether this could be done from scratch. Couldn't I cook up some steelcut oatmeal on a weekend, then freeze it in small Tupperware bowls for future weekday breakfasts...?)
Anyway, you take the puck out of its wrapper, drop it into a bowl, cook the thing in the microwave for a couple of minutes, remove it and stir, cook it another minute or so, and you're done: Very thick, very hearty, very delicious steelcut oatmeal with a mild sweetness that is just right.
Which do you prefer, btw: steelcut oats or rolled? I prefer rolled when I'm making granola, but I like either for oatmeal. I like that steelcut oatmeal makes you work a little bit---the grains are chewy; your jaw gets some exercise.

I should mention that we recently tried Fresh and Easy's version of this product, and it was disappointing. The pucks were tiny---maybe 2 ounces of oatmeal---and there were things on the ingredient list that didn't need to be there, like milk and butter. (If I want to add milk and/or butter, I'll do it myself!)
Sorry Fresh and Easy, the winner of this round is TJ's!