Trader Joes Goodness

Even a tired working gal can appear a culinary wizard thanks to Trader Joes and it's lovely frozen food section!  Tuesday, I wanted to pick up something quick for dinner {as well as some cheapo fresh flowers to subside the stress of the work week and make our home look pretty}so I scooted over to the nearest Trader Joes to pick up said items.  Perusing through the many choices in the frozen section, I discovered two new favorites for a heavy h'ordeuvre type dinner for two.  Sometimes we need a quick bite for supper without a lot of fuss and sometimes I down right don't feel like putting on my ole really cute apron.  And I {along with my kitchen sink and cookware}can breathe a sigh of relief because it is perfectly okay, if not preferable at certain times, to break out the frozen stuff! Especially when its this good and there are so many items to choose from.

A few weeks ago, we enjoyed a few of Trader Joe's appz so I'll give a quick shout out to those first...their Mini Beef Tacos and Coconut Shrimp.  For the Coconut Shrimp, we like the Thai Chili sauce and cocktail sauce for dipping and of course salsa for the mini tacos. I must say, these are both great choices to keep in your freezer for a simple quick dinner, a random, little impromptu cocktail party or even for a bigger planned event like a bridal shower. Big flavor for a cheap price...you can't beat that these days. Especially when you can wash it all down with some of Trader Joes' "Two Buck Chuck" which retails at $2.47 a bottle!  Thats right! $2 my friends!
    

And now, for the most recent faves. The Mandarin Orange Chicken and the Parmesan Pastry Pups.  So good!  The chicken, you can serve alongside brown rice or a veggie stir fry for a bigger meal.  We just enjoyed the chicken by itself this time.  If you're serving these for a crowd, prepare more and place on a big white platter and scatter some fresh green chives or other herbs around for a pop of color.

The Pastry Pups, well let me just say, these ain't the pigs-in-a-blanket that your accustomed to {even though those are pretty good in their own right}. These are super yum and flakey and flavorful.  Loved by men and women alike which is another huge plus.  I always enjoy a one to two bite appetizer and this one is perfect and dainty, yet filling.  Serve with dijion mustard or coarse grain mustard for an extra kick.

Obviously if you serve this chicken at a dinner party, etc, you'd want to wipe off the excess sauce around the bowl so as not to have it looking messy. Or you can use the ever easy go-to method of keeping it warm in a crockpot for a larger shindig. Dylan and I were super hungry so no fancy serving technique done here. We just chowed down!  : )

Tonight after work, we're looking forward to attending Roswell's first Alive After Five of the season!

I'll post more on that soon...

Happy Thursday! One day closer to the wkend.