Trader Joe's Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli

Some products just don't need a pumpkin version. And other things seem like they were created for the express purpose of being stuffed with the large orange gourd. In my humble opinion, this product falls into the latter category. That is to say, "Why the heck haven't we tried pumpkin ravioli before?"

Pretty sure this and a gluten-free variety have been floating around Trader Joe's seasonally for a few years now. Can't remember if it wasn't available or if we just passed it over on purpose in favor of other fall flavors, but I'm glad we're getting around to it now. It's good.

Pumpkin is actually the number one ingredient in this unique fall pasta. After that, we've got ricotta and mozzarella, along with a subtle and appropriate blend of spices and sweeteners including both brown sugar and honey. We do have nutmeg, allspice, clove, and cinnamon in the mix, but the product manages to avoid becoming a pumpkin pie spice product somehow and maintains a savory, squashy essence despite its honey sweetness.

Sonia and I ate our ravioli with just a touch of butter and salt. I can't imagine a sauce that would enhance this product rather than clash with it, but some folks say it goes well with Trader Joe's Autumnal Harvest Pasta Sauce. As much as I like that sauce, I think I'd rather reserve it for more neutral pasta products. This pumpkin ravioli has a really nice taste just on its own and I wouldn't want it to compete with any additional flavors. A sage brown butter sauce might be an exception.

$3.99 for the 9 oz pack. It comes refrigerated but you can freeze it if there's a chance you won't use if before the best by date. We would buy this product again. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey and me for Trader Joe's Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Organic Pasture Raised Large Brown Eggs

Well, I mean, shoot. If we can review stuff like arugula and red pepper on this blog, eggs are certainly worth a looksee, right? Sure.

These puppies are organic. $6.49 for the dozen. That makes them about $1.50 more expensive than their non-organic yet still pasture-raised counterparts. But they're still a buck or two cheaper than organic eggs I've seen from other grocery stores. Is the organic-ness worth it? I have no idea in this case. Sonia apparently thinks it is. I'd probably just grab the cheap stuff.

They are indeed large brown chicken eggs. They look pretty pristine inside and out. With 70 calories each and a good amount of protein, eggs are still one of the most cost-effective foods on the market—even the organic kind.

I've mentioned before that I kinda have to be in the mood for eggs. I'm not someone that's ever had them for breakfast every day. Sonia, on the other hand, not only eats eggs almost every single day, but she'll often have them for breakfast and a mid-day snack.

For their high quality and overall decent value, we'll both go with eight out of ten stars on Trader Joe's Organic Pasture Raised Large Brown Eggs.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's S'mores Ice Cream

I'm no expert when it comes to this classic camping favorite, but it seems pretty obvious to me that the key to a good s'more is a balance of flavors. You need two squares of graham cracker for the "bread," one large toasted marshmallow, and one square slab of chocolate centered above the lower graham cracker, preferably just a bit gooey and slightly melted from the warmth of the marshmallow. The equation should be very close to equal parts chocolate : marshmallow : graham cracker.

And that's precisely why this s'mores ice cream flavor was never going to be stellar. Two thirds of the pint would need to be chocolate and marshmallow for it to have the authentic taste of s'mores. You and I both know these gimmicky ice cream flavors seldom if ever have enough mix-ins.

Before I actually read the label on the container, I assumed the base would be chocolate. I think it was a step in the right direction to decide on graham cracker instead. It's a unique ice cream flavor, and it works, just in and of itself. There are thin swaths of white marshmallow here and there, but there's just not enough of it. The chocolate "swirls" are even fewer and farther between. "Swirls" might be too generous a word. "Flecks" or "splotches" might be more accurate.

The few bites that had equal parts graham cracker, marshmallow, and chocolate were fairly tasty, but even then they lacked the complex texture of a real smore. Obviously, they could have remedied that by including real graham cracker bits, chocolate chips, or marshmallow creme rather than just ice cream and flavored "swirls."

If you're simply craving something sweet and creamy and don't overanalyze the product as I'm clearly doing here, you probably won't be let down too badly. We'll have no problems finishing this pint by any means. Would we buy it again? No. There are lots of other delicious ice cream flavors at Trader Joe's that we'd reach for again before this one. The Horchata Ice Cream, in particular, comes to mind.

But hey, each to his own. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below. $3.79 for the pint. Seven out of ten stars from Sonia and me on Trader Joe's S'mores Ice Cream.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Tarte au Brie et aux Tomates

This classic thin crust "tarte" begs comparison to another longstanding Trader Joe's mainstay: Trader Giotto's Pizza Margherita. Both have thin crusts, though the one on this offering might be even thinner than the margherita's. Both are fairly stripped down and simple in terms of presentation and toppings, and both are sourced internationally, this one from France and the margherita from Italy.

Cheese-wise, we've got Brie and creme fraiche on this product, which combine for a unique, rich, and creamy quality. I'm not even that big a fan of Brie, and I'm quite sensitive to all moldy cheeses thanks to some odd allergies, but this combo didn't bother me at all in terms of a reaction, and it did provide the dish with a very interesting gourmet essence.

Instead of marinara sauce, we're looking at flattened cherry tomatoes. Again, I'm not fond of tomatoes in their purest form, but since they emerge from the oven fully cooked, I was willing to give them a chance. We were both happy with their flavor. 

The main problem that Sonia and I both perceived is that tomato sauce can be spread quite evenly over an entire pizza whereas actual tomatoes are less consistent. That is, one bite will contain an entire cherry tomato and the next bite might not have any tomato at all. Sonia, in particular, wanted a lot more tomatoes.

The braided crust was excellent. It's thinner than I'd usually prefer, but it was flaky, crispy, and very flavorful. The dough seemed to be of exceptional quality. We both almost wished Trader Joe's would sell the crust by itself to be customized and topped at home before baking.

At $4.49, this one's 30 cents cheaper than its Italian counterpart. This style of tarte is apparently very common in Alsace-Lorraine, but to a typical American consumer it might seem a bit fancy or even pretentious. 

In the end, both Sonia and I liked Trader Giotto's Pizza Margherita a little more than this dish but for slightly different reasons. It might not be number one on our shopping list, but a repeat purchase is definitely not out of the question. Sonia and I will both throw out seven and a half stars for Trader Joe's Tarte au Brie et aux Tomates.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Spooky Bats & Cats Sour Gummy Candies

Let's get this Halloween month kicked off right with a seasonally-appropriate set of spooky gummy candies. Not to be confused with Trader Joe's Halloween Gummies, these felines and flittermice are sour snacks. We've got green, purple, and orange bat and cat shapes here, as opposed to skeletons, skulls, and pumpkins.

Ever since the departure of Trader Joe's delicious sour T's and J's, we've been pining for a replacement. There's been a contender or two for sure, but nothing has taken the title from those discontinued sour citrus legends. These gummies have their work cut out for them.

And once again, they're okay. Not stellar. But not bad. What I like here: these gluten-free and kosher gummy candies are all natural, colored with fruit and vegetable juices—as are many of Trader Joe's candies—and they contain no animal gelatin. They come in a resealable plastic bag for freshness. They're soft and chewy and covered in a generous amount of sour sugar.

They are indeed somewhat tart, but they're not super sour. I think each of the three colors in the bag represents a different flavor. Only the orange flavor really appealed to me. The other two are okay. I guess I might find them more interesting if I knew what they were supposed to be. The orange flavor might be, you know, orange. The purple ones don't taste much like grape to me but that might have been what they were going for. The green ones? I'm thinking sour apple...but they're definitely not the best sour apple candy I've tasted.

In the end, they're a fun treat with decent ingredients. Kids would probably love 'em. I don't think we'll have any problems finishing the bag, but Sonia and I probably wouldn't pick this particular product up again unless we had children coming around for some reason. $3.49 for the 14 oz bag. We'll go with seven out of ten stars on Trader Joe's Spooky Bats & Cats Sour Gummy Candies.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Considering all the unusual things we've seen pumpkin-spicified over the years, cold brew coffee seems downright tame in comparison. Pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin spice coffee are some of the first pumpkin spice products I ever heard of. If they can make macarons, mochi, and madeleines work, you'd think cold coffee would be a walk in the park.

Well, maybe not. Sonia is way more into pumpkin spice beverages than I am, and even she has yet to find an acceptable cold coffee pumpkin spice product. Starbucks, Stok, Dunkin—none of them hit the mark according to the beautiful wifey. This Trader Joe's offering is no exception.

No matter what I mixed it with or how much I diluted it, there was still that notion that I was sipping on a scented candle. Sonia preferred the term "potpourri," but the essence is still the same. It just doesn't taste like good pumpkin spice to us, but more like a batch of chemical-laden cleaning products.

The bottle says to mix one part of the concentrate to two parts water or milk. It's slightly more palatable with milk, I'll admit, but still nowhere close to anything I'd reach for with any regularity.

Sonia has a bottle of Hollander's pumpkin pie syrup this fall, and she's been putting it in everything from beverages to breakfast foods and raving about it constantly. A generous dollop or three greatly improved the flavor of this cold brew beverage. Even I have to admit it's excellent stuff. Unfortunately, they do not currently sell it at Trader Joe's.

While I'm not a huge fan, Sonia likes Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Hot Coffee (which is apparently now available in K-Cups). But we both agree this particular product won't be a repeat purchase. $8.99 for the eight serving bottle. Five out of ten stars from Sonia. Three out of ten stars from me.

Bottom line: 4 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Habanero Hot Sauce

Cranking out review after review, day after day, week after week gets old after a while. Sometimes, I just lose inspiration and don't want to post on this blog at all. And then I'll fix breakfast or lunch and open up a TJ's product I haven't tried yet and it just absolutely blows me away and suddenly I remember the spirit that instituted this site in the first place.

That's what happened here. This sauce is delicious. I thought for sure it was going to be a repeat of last year's Chunky Garlic & Jalapeño Hot Sauce. For the life of me, I can't see what the fuss is about with that stuff. But this? Have you tried it? Holy cow. It's sweet like a sweet potato and spicy like a habanero pepper.

It looks just like the aforementioned garlic and jalapeño sauce, except that one was red and this one is an unappealing brownish-greenish color. I still wouldn't call this one "chunky," but it has tiny bits of veggies floating around in it much like its predecessor. But the flavor? Oh man, this has a wonderful bright zing to it and a burst of flavorful heat. It's got a significant amount of kick, but it's not over the top either. White vinegar is the number one ingredient but it's well-balanced with sweet potato and habanero deliciousness.

So far, we've tried it with eggs, chicken, and beef. We've used it in tacos, chili, and omelets, and it works quite well in every case. This is my new favorite hot sauce and quite possibly my new favorite condiment, period.

It might be a seasonal item. After all, sweet potato is a fall flavor. I better stock up if that's the case. If you don't like spicy foods, you might wanna sit this one out. It's also conceivable some folks will find it too sweet. Otherwise, I can't recommend it highly enough. The beautiful wifey loves it as well.

$2.99 for 5 fluid ounces. This looks like a pantheon product all the way. Let's go with nine out of ten stars from Sonia and me on Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Habanero Hot Sauce.

Bottom line: 9 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Caramelized Onion & Bell Pepper Turkey Patties

I might be the odd man out here, but I'll generally gravitate toward a turkey burger before I'll choose the more common and more traditional beef patty. Same for Sonia. If we're going to eat red meat, we'd both prefer buffalo (bison) burgers before beef, but those aren't exactly ubiquitous, so it's largely moot point.

All that to say, we love turkey burgers and have had many throughout the years. See: Trader Joe's frozen turkey burgers. I assumed these would be, like, my favorite thing ever since I'm also a big fan of caramelized onions and bell peppers. And while I did enjoy the veggies mixed right into the meat, I felt like there was something just slightly off that I couldn't quite put my finger on at first.

Meanwhile, the beautiful wifey raved about her burger. She said she was shocked at how much she loved it. She was originally thinking of adding seasoning during the heating process, but I talked her out of it, noting that for the purpose of review we should taste them sans fixins, at least at first.

She was amazed at how not bland the burgers were, embracing the onions, peppers, and interesting seasoning blend, though we both did note that the caramelized onions mentioned on the packaging didn't show up visibly in the burgers nor in the flavor profile in any meaningful way. We had the burgers with cheese, mustard, arugula, and pretzel buns in the end, both deciding that any additional seasoning was unnecessary.

After the fact, I did a bit of recon and checked out traderjoes.com to see if they mentioned what kind of turkey meat was used. Sure enough, they specify on the website that these turkey burgers are made of 100% thigh meat, though it's not specified on the product label. I've mentioned before that I'm a white meat and poultry breast kinda guy. Turkey burgers where white and dark meat are mixed work quite well, too, in my humble opinion. This dark meat only stuff doesn't taste quite as good to me.

Also, wtf is "cultured onion juice"?

TL;DR—I like the veggies cooked into the patties but I don't like that they're made of only dark meat. Sonia absolutely adores Trader Joe's Caramelized Onion & Bell Pepper Turkey Patties.

$5.99 for four patties, found in the refrigerated section.

Sonia's score: 9 out of 10.

Nathan's score: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Organics Arugula

Just a quickie today. Arugula. It's currently my favorite vegetable. Or, as Steve Martin put it in My Blue Heaven—it's a ve-ge-ta-ble. Like Vinnie Antonelli, Sonia and I find ourselves living in a town that doesn't sell arugula anywhere, so we have to drive to the big city to get any and it feels like a luxury every time we procure a bag.

I find arugula to be almost like a cross between spinach and romaine lettuce, but nuttier than either of those. It's faintly bitter but it's also a little peppery in a weird way. I like baby arugula too, which is a bit more mild than the normal kind.

This Trader Joe's offering is organic, which is good I guess. It started getting goofy just a couple days after we bought it. That's a common complaint about Trader Joe's produce in particular—it goes bad quickly. I don't know if that's a testament to the fact that it really is organic or whether it's not stored at the proper temperature in the store or what.

But anyway, this stuff was great while it lasted. We made salad after salad and piled it on each sandwich we had. We even threw it on our pizza slices to help balance out the carbs and grease.

$2.49 for the 7 oz bag, which is an excellent price for this amount of organic arugula. We'd both buy it again, but we wish it lasted just as long as the arugula we get from Hy-Vee or Walmart. Eight out of ten stars from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Organic Arugula.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Savory Squash Pastry Bites

Let's see...apple and pumpkin spice have had their days in the sun, so now it's time for a third party candidate to take a turn. Savory squash. Heck yes. A quick glance at the ingredients lets us know we're talking about butternut squash in particular. Love it.

It's ALSO talking about pumpkin. That's right, we've got pumpkin puree in these people-pleasing pastry puffs. Don't worry, there's nothing pumpkin spice about them. Just pumpkin in its most squash-ish sense...

The breading is pretty standard for Trader Joe's appetizer fare. Those feta and onion doodads come to mind. It's pretty yummy—flaky, buttery, and crispy—especially when heated in the air fryer, and it holds the squash and cheese right where they're supposed to be. Speaking of cheese, I guess I should have said "cheeses," because we're looking at mascarpone, ricotta, feta, and parmesan. That's quite a quartet.

And the only thing Sonia and I don't like about this product is that...it's a little too sweet for something that is so boldly deemed "savory." There's brown sugar in there. And I mean, you can get away with ricotta in something like this, even though it can also be dessert-ish. But mascarpone? That's a thing you put in tiramisu or cheesecake. Along with molasses and caramelized sugar syrup, there's a moment where you forget you're eating squash and think you might be snacking on sweet potato instead.

But still, the effect isn't unpleasant in any way. I just think the product would be stronger if it were less sweet and they'd boosted the garlic and onion essences to the foreground a little more. But I'm being picky...

$5.49 for a dozen decent hors d'oeuvres, found in the frozen section. It's another nice fall flavor. Sonia would buy it again. I don't dislike it, so I wouldn't fight her on a repurchase. She'll throw out eight out of ten stars. I'll go with seven out of ten on Trader Joe's Savory Squash Pastry Bites.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Peach Raspberry Crisp

Peach crisp? With raspberry, you say? I thought we were doing fall stuff this week. Ah, well, there are still a few stragglers from summer slipping through for review. This product is undoubtedly on its way out for the season, but it was still available this past weekend, so...here goes.

At first, I started poking around at the cobbler with my fork wondering where all the fruit was. It seemed mostly just bready crumble and whatnot. But once you get down to the bottom, there's not only some fruit, there are entire peach slices. Yes, there's a raspberry jelly—like a purplish glaze throughout, but I thought the entire thing was fairly peach forward. I mean, there must be an entire can of peaches in light syrup poured into this pan. Of course I don't know if they used canned peaches here. The ingredients just say "peaches," but since they're drowned in all manner of sugar and stuff, they remind me of slices that come canned in that sweet thin sauce.

Sonia thought the overall flavor was more raspberry-ish, despite the raspberries not being as obviously represented in terms of whole fruits floating around in the mixture. I guess raspberries can have a fairly pungent taste that could theoretically overpower peach in a cobbler like this. At any rate, you can taste both fruits and the whole mess is sweet, fruity, and there's plenty of crunch from the wheat and oat based crumble.

It's even better served hot. And it's better still when served hot with vanilla ice cream on top. Or so we assume. We really didn't try it a la mode because we didn't have any ice cream on hand when we tried it. Oh well, there's always next year.

It's an enjoyable dessert that hits that sweet tooth sweet spot nicely and doesn't feel too over-the-top sugary. I mean oats, berries, and peaches are downright healthy, right? It's practically diet food...as long as you don't glance at the added sugars.

$5.49 for the four serving box, found with the baked goods. We might buy Trader Joe's Peach Raspberry Crisp again. We'll both go with eight out of ten stars on this one.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Mini Sheet Cake

And NOW it's time for the pumpkin spice parade to proceed. Sheet cake with cream cheese icing and some pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger doesn't sound too outlandish to me. Sounds like a downright delicious fall flavor, in fact.

And it is. Remember that vanilla bean sheet cake? Of course you do. There's also a lemon one we haven't tried yet. Anyway, it was pretty tasty thanks to the generous amounts of sweet vanilla icing on top. We've got just about that same amount of cream cheese-based frosting here and a very similar soft, moist texture.

The pumpkin spices are nicely blended, not too strong and not too subtle. The pumpkin puree gives the cake a distinctly squash-ish vibe underneath the indulgent dessert flavors. It works the same way pumpkin pie works, but you know, more bready than that, like a classic pumpkin roll except flat instead of cylindrical and swirly. The cream cheese frosting is sweet and tangy, buttery and velvety. There's a generous amount of it on the cake. I thought Sonia would say there's too much, but she raved about it. She and I agree that the overall effect is satisfying, scrumptious, and distinctly autumnal.

$5.49 for the six serving dessert, found with the other baked goods. We would buy Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Mini Sheet Cake again. Eight out of ten stars from me. Perfect ten from Sonia?? I didn't see that coming. Wow.

Bottom line: 9 out of 10.

Trader Joe's All Butter Apple Shortbread Cookies

I'm not sure if it's always been this way since I've only lived in this region for five years or so, but seasons here in the Upper Midwest seem to change from summer to winter in fairly short order, practically skipping over the fall season. Things go from too hot to too cold virtually overnight some time in mid-October. Leaves start changing on some of the trees while it's still warm enough for swimming. Others wait until there's snow on the ground.

For this Pennsylvania boy, it's a bit disorienting. I'm used to autumns that creep up on you week over week, month over month. Usually by this time in mid-September, there's a crispness to the air that signals that it's time for warm cinnamony apple flavors and pumpkin spice desserts. Don't get me wrong, I like it here. The climate is just a little different than what I'm used to. And don't even get me started on the weather in Los Angeles. If there are only three seasons here in the Midwest, there's only one and a half in Southern California.

Even though my sleeveless tank top tells me that it's way too early for this apple shortbread treat, it is indeed that time again—time for the first new fall food review of 2024. If you're new here, please note that most of the "new" autumn products at Trader Joe's are actually seasonal items returning from previous years and the vast majority of them have already been reviewed on this blog. You can find them by thumbing through the Blog Archive in the right side bar or by using the Search This Blog bar near the top of the page.

First thoughts? The box is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It was $3.49 for less than five ounces. These better be some darn good cookies...

...and they're just okay. In our humble opinions, these cookies don't hold a candle to last year's all butter shortbread cookies with raspberry filling. These cookies are harder, crunchier by comparison—not nearly as buttery. Instead of a gelatinous, syrupy fruit filling, they have actual pieces of dried apple baked into them. While I like the idea of flavoring these morsels with real apple bits, there's just not enough apple flavor to make these cookies super memorable.

I can't imagine anybody disliking these cookies to the point of not being able to finish the box, but there have been many more interesting shortbread confections at Trader Joe's throughout the years. We probably would not buy Trader Joe's All Butter Apple Shortbread Cookies again. Seven out of ten stars from Sonia. Six out of ten stars from me.

Bottom line: 6.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Hazelnut Ground Coffee

Alrighty then. We've got a quick coffee review for today. Chocolate hazelnut sounds pretty scrumptious, but when it's java, I'm always skeptical.

Sonia made this ground coffee in her Keurig. She has a reusable metal K-Cup that you can put ground coffee into if you're not using one of the pre-made pods. See video below.

The beautiful wifey says she distinctly tastes chocolate in the brew. I feel like I taste something nutty behind the "full-bodied" light roast coffee beans, but I wouldn't say I detect chocolate in any significant way.

We were both okay with drinking it black, but I didn't enjoy it more than any non-flavored coffee I've ever had. Sonia liked it fine plain but she appreciated it far more with vanilla syrup and half-and-half added.

Seven bucks for the 12 oz bag. Sonia would buy it again. I'll let her do the honors today. She gives Trader Joe's Chocolate Hazelnut Ground Coffee eight out of ten stars.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Celebration Cake & Baking Mix

It's time to watch my lovely wife bake stuff again! Join us as we mix, heat, eat, and review Trader Joe's Celebration Cake Baking Mix. What are we celebrating, you ask? Another day of life and living...or something like that. And our 15th anniversary isn't too far off, so we'll just go with that.

Sonia doesn't have a big upright mixer so she had to beat the butter for the frosting mix by hand. It took a while. Don't worry, I edited it so there's not like one ten minute long shot of poor Sonia pressing butter down in her bowl over and over and over.

This baking mix requires milk, oil, a couple sticks of butter, and two eggs. The whole process takes about a half hour and the finished product is nice to look at and pretty yummy, too, although we wish there were more sprinkles in the batter.

If you're into birthday cake flavored stuff, also check out: Trader Joe's Celebration Cake Gelato.

We'd buy Trader Joe's Celebration Cake Baking Mix again for a special occasion. $4.99 for the ten serving box.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Grilled Chimichurri Chicken Thigh Skewers

I really liked those chimichurri chicken empanadas, so I figured I'd give these a try. Word on the street is that these are already discontinued, so...this review is largely moot. But there's always a possibility they'll be reinstated at some point in the future.

Conventional oven, microwave, and grill heating options are specified on the box. I was tempted to wing it with the air fryer but then I wondered if the little wooden sticks would burst into flames or something. I mean, logically, if they don't catch fire at 400° in the oven, they'd be fine in the air fryer at the same temp, but there's all that air whooshing around so...I just played it safe and used the regular oven. It took about 15 minutes to go from frozen solid to fully heated.

In terms of appearance and texture, these reminded me a lot of the jerk chicken skewers, which reminded me a lot of wild-caught gophers on sticks. Yum. Not appetizing if you ask me. Sonia and I both found the chicken to be a little chewy and fatty, which we're not fans of. There was even a bit of gristle here and there. I would have preferred breast meat over thigh, but I know some folks like that dark meat.

Flavor-wise, these had a nice spice blend. It's obviously a chimichurri type flavor, similar to the chimichurri sauce we looked at a couple years back but with less cilantro and parsley. In the end, I think I prefer the taste of the jerk seasoning since it had a slight bit more of a kick, and those other skewers actually came with a mango chutney dipping sauce.

$7.49 for six seasoned chicken thigh skewers. Don't think we'd purchase this product again though we had no problem finishing the box in a single sitting. Six out of ten stars from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Grilled Chimichurri Chicken Thigh Skewers.

Bottom line: 6 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Atlantic Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter

Considering the fact that I love salmon and it's kinda been "my thing" for the past 15 years or so to scour Trader Joe's for new items that need reviewed, you'd think I would have stumbled upon this happy frozen fish dish earlier. It's been around for at least three and a half years and I'm only now discovering it.

Looks like iterations from the past were more like rectangular slabs of salmon, like the ones you might use for grilling. This specimen is more like a big long fish stick. Weird. Impractical. But it's still salmon so it's still ostensibly delicious.

There are three discs of lemon butter frozen on the fish when you get it. The instructions aren't super clear, but I guess you're supposed to put them on the side while you cook the fish skin side up and then drop them on the non-skin side once you flip the fish in the pan. There are anecdotes of heating this fish in the air fryer all over the web, but I wasn't brave enough to try that method this time around.

The stove top method worked great. It took a little longer to get the internal temp of the salmon to 145° than the instructions indicated, but that's no surprise. I added a bit of salt and pepper in addition to the pats of lemon herb butter.

The verdict? Near perfection. Lemon and garlic tang cooked into rich, fatty salmon. In fact, the single serving pack has 80% of your daily saturated fat, and it tastes like it too. Sonia and I shared the dish and supplemented with salad and snacks before and after.

We would definitely buy Trader Joe's Atlantic Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter again. $5.99 for 7 oz of yummy farm-raised Norwegian salmon served with a gourmet condiment. Salmon is pretty pricey, so six bucks is more than reasonable, especially considering the exceptional flavor and convenience. Eight out of ten stars from Sonia and me.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's & the Art of the Still Organic Gin

Far from an aficionado, I do tend to gravitate towards gin over whiskey, rum, or vodka. This product is widely available at TJ's locations that carry hard liquor, so it was inevitable that I'd eventually try and review it, despite it not being a top-shelf gin product.

The only thing that could be considered truly offensive about this beverage is its harsh alcohol flavor that tends to overshadow any botanicals or spices that might be lurking in the depths of the tall, thin bottle. That's to be expected when you're looking at a $15 product with 40% alcohol by volume. (Price may vary from time to time and place to place).

When I first started sampling different liquors, I would always describe gin as "tasting like a forest." That foresty flavor I'd later find out was, in fact, juniper. There's a faint bit of it here in Trader Joe's Art of the Still Organic Gin, but it's not as juniper-forward as more expensive gins tend to be.

I taste something akin to clove at the finish of this drink. I couldn't say if that's what it actually is, but there's a whisper of something along those lines in this gin. It serves well as a mixer, with even something as simple as tonic water covering up many of this product's imperfections with its subtle sweetness. 

If you're looking for something that's sippable in its own right and a bit higher quality overall, I'd recommend House of Suntory Roku Gin, also widely available at Trader Joe's stores, retailing for about ten bucks more per bottle than this offering.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.