The new life with 2 is going pretty well but I have to say evenings are a full on 3 ring circus. We have SO much to accomplish in only about 3 hours. One of these things is dinner, obviously. My goal is still to have family dinner every night we possibly can and with that, make something healthy for us and the boys. I talked in my resolutions about cooking larger items on Sundays for the week but there are still nights we need to whip up something quick.
And that is when I turn to my good friend, Trader Joe’s.
TJ’s is fantastic because they make a lot of products that aren’t loaded with preservatives, great prices and best of all, quick. We spend a lot of time in the frozen section because it is easy to keep on hand and always a hit.
So here is a list of our top 5 TJ’s meals that take about 15-30 minutes start to finish:
- Tempura Sweet and Sour Chicken, Brown Rice and Steamed Broccoli – Slap the chicken in the toaster oven, sauce in a cup of warm water, brown rice for 3 minutes in the microwave, broccoli is the microwave as well. We toss the broccoli and chicken together with the sauce and serve over rice. DONE.
Time needed: 15 minutes - Panko Tilapia Filets, Butternut Squash Risotto and sauteed green beans – Tilapia in the toaster oven, risotto in the microwave, frozen green beans in a skillet with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.
Time needed: 20 minutes - Grilled meat of choice, Creamy Polenta with Spinach and Carrots, and Soycutash – We do a lot of grilled meats in our house. We can share a ribeye, cook up some chicken breasts, pork chops…we aren’t too picky. Trader Joe’s has a lot of great organic and grass fed options here. We lightly season and pair with polenta for an alternate grain (gluten-free) and the Soycutash is a great protein packed version of a southern favorite! The polenta is a microwave option and the Soycutash is great in a pot with a little olive oil, salt and pepper (add a strip of bacon for added yum).
Time needed: 20 minutes (or however long it takes for your meat) - Grilled Carne Asda, whole wheat tortillas, organic black beans, cheese and other taco toppings of choice – The carne asda is SUPER flavorful, makes a ton (we use for up to 3 nights) and grills really quickly (thin cuts). I cut into strips and make tacos, mexican pizzas, and pretty much any mexican dish I can think of. NOTE: I usually buy and freeze the carne asda.
Time needed: 30 minutes - Spaghetti and turkey meatballs (or veggie meatballs) with Spinach salad – Grab a jar of sauce you like. There is a large variety of flavors here. We enjoy their Vodka sauce and their Bolognese. Put that in a pot to simmer (doctor it up if you want). Place meatballs in the toaster oven until warmed up and toss in the sauce to continue to simmer. Boil up some pasta.(SHORTCUT, their frozen pastas are pretty good too if you want faster) Throw your spinach salad mix together with whatever salad toppings your have. Voila.
Time needed: 30 minutes (it really just depends how long you want the sauce to simmer)
Do you have a super fast Trader Joe’s option? Got a question about a product? HIT ME!
P.S. Want to know more about the glory of Trader Joe’s? Well you are in luck! I wrote a post over a year ago about all the things I love. Enjoy!
Their frozen lasagna is a lifesaver, too!
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Closest one to me is almost 2 hours away
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Yes, but you have Publix, right? I used to live in Tallahassee and Publix is one of the things I miss most about living in Florida!
I try to cook homemade as much as possible, but we use some shortcuts from Trader Joe’s too. Our favorite is the Rigatoni alla Siciliana (http://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article.asp?article_id=388), it is rigatoni with eggplant in a really yummy red sauce. It has TONS of sauce so I cook up some of their chicken sausage and add it in. We also do something similar to your #1, but we use the mandarin orange chicken (http://www.whatsgoodattraderjoes.com/2010/08/tjs-mandarin-orange-chicken.html). I heat up the sauce with some cold cooked rice (made the night before) and add in steamed broccoli. I LOVE trader joe’s! I buy most of my meat from there and almost all of our frozen veggies (my son loves their frozen french-style green beans.)