Speaking of LOVE...

Hey All!

My new book Superhero of Love: Heal Your Broken Heart & Then Go Save the World came out in January from Conari Press!  I haven't stopped living my Lazy Woman life -- lazy being a good four letter word -- more joy and love and less stress!

Just had to post an "I Love You Trader Joe's" posts for all the beauty available there these days.

After you are done exploring this beauty, go sign up for Superhero of Love updates at superherooflove.com.  See you there!

Happy Fall! Trader Joe's Bliss Offerings

Fall isn't my favorite season. I'm a Spring chick.  Love me some Spring!  But, Trader Joe's is easing my transition into Fall with two new offerings, one of which I was recently wishing could be found in their frozen vegetable section: Roasted Corn! 

I usually dislike corn that is not fresh.  Last week I was adding corn to a salad and wishing I had had time to roast it first.  It would have been so much better.  Well, this is a phenomenal substitute for fresh grilled corn.  It has the smoky flavor, and the just perfectly cooked (i.e., not overcooked, mushy, or soggy) kernels.

And, then this vegetarian delight:  Spinach & Kale Balls.  They taste shockingly like my homemade spinach gnocchi.  They are light and delicious. 

Throw that all together with some lettuce, yellow tomato, avocado, fresh lemon, herbs and salt and you have a "Welcome to Fall, Bridget" Salad.

Yum.

Buon Fall Appetito!

Trader Joe's Virgin is Virgin No More!

The most glorious news has just been received.  Peter, my glorious friend from London, who has been reading about the wonders of all things Joe, has finally arrived in the U.S. to be de-flowered.  Only he can describe this very important day in his life, as a man, as a foodie, as a chocoholic:

It's happened. After all these years of reading and swooning over your blog,



I've done the deed and lost my virginity...






Trader Joe's was n't quite what I imagined; I was expecting a boutique style


supermarket at boutique style prices. Half right: boutique style supermarket but


at very attractive prices. I was amazed and to be honest more than a little


overwhelmed by the selection, the obvious quality and the fact that everything's


so very reasonably priced.






And they don't sell food that's been grown on steroids either. The strawberries


I bought tasted like strawberries, so did the blueberries.






Chocolate? Well, I had a little wander down the aisle of cocoa cornucopia. If I


ever do that again then I'm going to have to either be wearing boxing gloves so


I can't pick anything up, or better still under some form of supervision. Eyes


out on stalks, endorphins firing like flares over a battlefield, I could not


help but buy, buy, buy.






Their dark chocolate Mint creams are the handiwork of the devil. Truly, Satan's


children. I now no longer have any will power since downing a tub of them.


Correct, an entire tub, and that on top of half a packet of ginger, cinnamon and


molasses soft cookies I effortlessly scoffed on the uptown number 6 train. To


everyone on the same carriage as me, I apologise...but once I start, there's no


stop button.






I've actually been to two of their outlets today: union square first, then the


mother ship in Chelsea. I know I'm going to be rolling back to at least one of


them tomorrow. No self control any more.






They've clearly got the edge over whole foods: much better range of foodstuffs


and groceries; spot on pricing ; quirky, compelling in store ads; along with


staff who really seem to enjoy their job.






Viva Trader Joe's !






Best wishes and regards






Peter

I Love Me Some Free Stuff!

I love free stuff and in the case of Weight Watchers, all fruit and most veggies (potatoes, avocados and a few other things excepted) are ZERO POINTS which to me means FREE! FREE!  FREE!

This was my breakfast this morning, as it is most mornings -- a huge bowl of delicious fruits.  In California we are blessed with having watermelon and blueberries almost all year long.  The flavors of these fruits now are even more spectacular, of course, in the summer.   So, this bowl of deliciousness made with one stop shopping at Trader Joe's.  This isn't even all the different fruits I have in the fridge that I picked up yesterday, but these work so nicely together, and they make a purdy picture, eh?:

• Watermelon
• Blueberries
• Black Figs
• Green Figs
• Honeydew Melon
• White Nectarines

Yummalicious!  Yesterday I actually had a big fruit salad twice before I had a late lunch at 3:30 p.m.  I was so in love with the flavors and really craved it again!  Today, my hunger level is higher, so I needed some protein earlier, but especially in the Summer, I like to start my day with a big bowl of free stuff!

WWgasm = George (Forman) + Joe (Trader)

When I was going to acting school in NYC in the 80's my friend Fran and I would often pop into the diner around the corner from The Neighborhood Playhouse before school and get one of our favorite breakfasts: grilled corn muffin with peanut butter on the side.  It would come to the table with those beautiful black grill marks blessing it with charcoal goodness and the peanut butter would melt creating a gooey-crunchy-cakey filling and fulfilling breakfast that stuck to our ribs.

Well, just now I went into the fridge looking for a post baked potato/pea shoot salad dinner (yes, I am absolutely, unequivocally addicted to this meal!) dessert and I found that I had some leftover Trader Joe's Triple Bran Muffins (made from mix).  I cut one in half and put it on the George Foreman grill, made it nice and toasty with the proper grill markings, and slathered on 1 teaspooon Almond Butter just for a little twist. 

WWgasm = only 4 Weight Watchers Points Plus! OMG

So, find yourself a healthy muffin and try it for yourself with the nut butter of your choice!

Buon Skinny Appetito!

WWgasm = 4 Points Plus Lunch Deliciosa!

Trader Joe’s does it again – making my Weight Watchers dreams come true, giving me yet another WWgasm. I had only a couple minutes between calls to whip up a good-for-me-beyond-delicious lunch. This literally took about three minutes.



INGREDIENTS


½ cup Trader Joe’s Frozen Jasmine Rice
1 tsp Dark Sesame Oil
½ bag of Trader Joe’s Kale (it’s pre-chopped – roughly)
1 bag of Trader Joe’s Sliced Mushrooms
Rice Vinegar - to taste (I do about 2 tsp probably)
Red Wine Vinegar- to taste (I do about 2 tsp probably)Water -- about 1/8 cup


Red Pepper Flakes
Garlic Salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Pop the frozen rice in the microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes. 
2. Put Dark Sesame Oil in big sautee pan.  Warm it up on a fairly high heat.
3. Add everything else in the ingredients list.
4. Cook it up!  I kept mine on a medium high heat the entire time and it was deliciously inflused with all the flavorings by the time it was all done, which was just a few minutes.
5. Put 1/2 cup of rice on your lovely salad plate.   Yes, all this food fits nicely on a small dinner plate!  Add the veggie mixture.
6. Have your own WWgasm!

Buon Skinny Appetito!

A Three WWgasm (Weight Watchers Foodie Bliss) Day = A Very Excellent Day

Just had to quickly post about this because I've been in WWgasm heaven for 24 hours.  And, all of this comes from Mecca, aka Trader Joe's.  So, we're hitting all the Lazy markers:  easy, inexpensive, simple, healthy, and delicious!

1. Lazy Ass Delicious Potato -- I believe in butter -- used sparingly.  I would never dream of using substitutes, though I know I am in the minority on that one.  But, I think if you want butter, just have it -- in moderation.  I allow for the points for it.  But since getting on Weight Watchers, I actually have not used as much as I used to.  I'm not a butter freak.  I am not a fat person, I'm a sugar person.  So, I have always used oils and butter sparingly for my taste buds' sake.  The only item that I have always put more butter on is the Almighty Baked Potato.  Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, I found a most divine substitution for buttering said Almighty on.  I wasn't even seeking a substitution.  I have gotten very used to less butter on my potato, and frankly have enjoyed the flavor of the potato even more.  But, I accidentally ran out of butter yesterday.  So, I whipped out the Trader Joe's Creamy Goat Cheese and took just 1/4 of the container -- which is only 1 point -- yes, ONE point -- and slathered it in the potato.  Add salt and pepper and you are in potato heaven.  Sometimes I grill up a portobello mushroom (on George Forman Grill with no fat added) and slice it on top of the potato.  Wowza Potato WWgasm Bonanza! ONLY FIVE (5) POINTS PLUS (if medium sized potato)!
2. Triple Berry Bran Muffin Peanut Butter Bliss -- The Triple Berry Muffin mix is unbelievably easy -- add two eggs and a cup of water, pop in the oven for 30 minutes. Done.  And, they taste so homemade!  Then, it says let them sit for about 20 minutes.  Well, when they came out of the oven, I got way inspired.  I popped the top off of one of the muffins and put a teaspoon of peanut butter (1 point) on top and put the lid back on.  Do you understand what that means?  It means I had a WWgasm coming!  I had just created hot peanut lava in the middle of the warm cakey deliciousness.  Are you kidding me?  WWgasm Maximus.  FOUR (4) POINTS PLUS!
3. Crunchy Filling Snackalicious -- Trader Joe's scored even more points with me when they added Lundberg Rice Cakes to their menu of items they carry.  I just tried the Lite Cheddar Sliced Cheese for the first time this week -- just to check it out, not expecting much.  Well the texture of this super-crunchy rice cake with the perfectly chewy and surprisingly rich for a lite cheese, is divine.  It's very tastebud fulfilling and tummy filling.  THREE (3) POINTS PLUS!

Buon Lazy Lite Appetito to All!

Lazy Baked Treat -- WWgasm #342

I loooooooooooove to bake, and because I've been baking since I was a little kid none of it seems daunting to me.  Some recipes are more complicated than others, of course, but even the most complex baking tasks are fun to me.

I've actually always pooh-pooh'd baking mixes.  Never understood why another five minutes wasn't worth it and/or had a major judgment that it would never be as good as the real thing in terms of flavor.  But, recently when BBIW (Best Boyfriend in the World) and I were going to Los Olivos to stay in a guest house for the New Year's Weekend, I thought it might be fun to have something hot and freshly baked one cold morning.  When I was doing the final Trader Joe's shopping I happened to pass by the mixes and one caught my eye: Triple Berry Bran Muffin Mix.  I looked at the ingredients which looked great and then the instructions.  I just needed two eggs and one cup of water.  I thought "That's worth trying!"

Well, I ended up making a different egg, potato, toast extravaganza on New Year's morning and the mix sat in the cupboard until I thought "Let me check how many POINTS that is on Weight Watchers."  Lo and behold it is only THREE -- yes 3 -- that would be one, two, THREE points.  So, I made them last night and they are DEEEEEEESCRUMPTIOUS!

They really taste pretty darned homemadey, have a great texture.  I had fresh blueberries to throw in but decided to make the first round without to test the mix, but next time I will do blueberries and maybe banana too.   But, they are truly fabulous just in their purest form.

BBIW who is definitely NOT on Weight Watchers and usually is not a bran muffin kind o' guy really loved them too!  So, it's a win-win-win-low-points-treat!

Buon Bran Appetito!

Lazy Asian Cooking

I did it! I made the crab rolls. And, I got some shrimp at Trader Joe's while I was getting crab and made a shrimp/avocado/cucumber roll too. Were they a success? I would concur with Aaron: "A for effort!" The biggest problem was the one and only issue I have with Trader Joe's -- literally my only issue -- is that they don't have good fresh seafood. So, the flavor of the crab was really not good at all -- very fishy. The shrimp was pretty tasteless. Had I gotten better fish it would have actually been a success.

Working with rice paper is a wee bit of a challenge -- fun, but a challenge nonetheless. Too much filling, too little, accidental tearing, etc. But, I finally got it worked out. And, I look forward to working with it again -- only because it's a little like origami -- takes some patience and finesse that I do not have naturally nestled in my DNA. It's good for me to do tasks like this in the kitchen rather than the usual throwing things here and there, splishing and splashing around.

But, the best result of the dinner was the salad I made today with the leftovers. I took arugula, shrimp, rice noodles, avocado, cucumber, toasted almonds, toasted sesame seeds, Sweet Chili Sauce...and added a couple dashes of red wine vinegar and olive oil. I wasn't in the mood for soy sauce becuase I wanted to highlight the Sweet Chili Sauce flavoring but that would have been great too. I would have added Rice Vinegar but I couldn't get the top off! LOL! But even with Red Wine Vinegar as the only vinegar it was quite yummy. The best thing was all the wonderful textures.

And, no wheat or cheese of any kind -- which always make me feel a little groggy after I eat. Yummalicious!

Arigato Trader Joe's.

Are you kidding me Trader Joe's?

I was at the gym on the stairmaster today and the morning show had a local food expert making Crab Spring Rolls. I decided I had to make them for dinner tonight and stopped at Trader Joe's to get whatever ingredients I could.

[NOTE: Whole Foods has rice paper...the UNlazy part of my day was schlepping from store to store only to find out the ONLY Asian food they didn't carry was rice paper. My Whole Foods was out but the one near Aaron had it -- Thank God! -- But be lazy with this -- call ahead!]

The link to the recipe is above. I am about to make them but had to also mention the thing I happened upon at Trader Joe's. Chocolate and Toffee Covered Popcorn! Are you kidding me?

I didn't even get to the check out counter. I have no business munching on such delights but oh my god was it DELICIOSA! Lots of companies make it. It's probably super easy to make from scratch (will look into that!). But now I'm going to have to avoid that aisle at Trader Joe's. If you want a treat for yourself or guests, definitely indulge.

Can't wait to make the sushi. Will report back.

Lazily Chocolatey-Toffeely Yours,
Bridget

Trader Joe's Tuesday -- Lazy Pancakes

Isn't it pretty amazing that we get BLUEBERRIES in January? For the love of god! And, they are GOOD to boot! Trader Joe's really almost always has them. And, they also always have frozen ones, of course, too.

I had TJ blueberries left over from Saturday's dinner, and I had never made Aaron his favorite Blueberry Pancakes, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity. I've attached the recipe I used, but what I'll be trying next is a recipe with ricotta or sour cream, I think, but these were DIVINE. Seriously, they were amazing. Trader Joe's has all the ingredients except Baking Soda, which I'll just hope you already have in your cupboard.

And, I'm sure you are saying that making blueberry pancakes from scratch is silly. Well, if you have flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in your pantry -- the ingredients that are generally in the mixes, it takes an extra 3 minutes to throw it all in a bowl. Sometimes mixes are great, but recipes afford a little more deliciousness factor.

To pump up the deliciousness factor on the recipe I've attached, are some Lazy Deliciousness Tips for pancakes:

1. Egg Whites -- Always always always -- even if the recipe -- like this one -- doesn't call for it --- SEPARATE THE EGGS and beat the whites to stiff peaks.
2. Fold -- Gently fold the egg whites in with the other ingredients, and you really JUST FOLD until the ingredients have just barely all mixed together. The kiss of fluffy death is over folding or mixing in any way. The batter will actually look LUMPY! Never fear, though, as that is the egg whites causing an optical illusion...it's all mixed. If it almost looks alive, like it's going to gurgle back at you, you have succeeded!!!!
3. Lemon or Orange Zest -- If recipe doesn't call for it -- like this one --- I always always add the zest of one lemon or 1/2 large orange. It kicks it up a notch.
4. Blueberries -- If you are putting them in, do NOT mix into the batter. Grab several and plop them onto the pancake once it's on the grill. This way, your batter stays nice and golden and the blueberries really pop and when you bite into them they pop in your mouth!
5. Flipping -- Never ever ever flip more than once -- the texture, inside and out will be ruined. Leave on each side about 2 minutes. You'll see the batter start to bubble on the first side right about 2 minutes, flip and then wait another 2. The 2 minutes is if you don't have the pan too hot or cold of course...so if you aren't sure, just do the first pancake all alone to test out the process.

and for the BEST PANCAKE SYRUP EVER!!!! It's not too sweet so it doesn't overpower the pancakes. It's just right.....This is enough syrup for about 4 people:

1. Pour about 1/2 cup of maple syrup in a small saucepan.
2. Add about 2 tablespoons of butter.
3. Add about 1/2 of a lemon's fresh juice.
4. Dump in a bunch of frozen blueberries and/or strawberries -- maybe almost a cup.
5. If you have it...great a tiny bit of fresh nutmeg for a little extra flair!
6. Let it simmer while you cook your pancakes.
7. I put the pancakes on the plate and then drizzle the hot syrup/berry mixture around the pancakes so they are almost floating in a lovely purple sea. Grab a few of the hot berries and place on top of the pancakes for accents. People can move the pancake into the syrup as they like.
8. Feel free to adjust the recipe -- if you like more butter or more syrup, go for it!

Thank you Trader Joe's for providing all of these fine ingredients for a delicious, heart-warming breakfast!