Trader Joe's Coffee Panna Cotta

Dang. No wonder they want you to take that stuff out of the little cup and turn it upside down. It looks just like Fancy Feast sitting in there. Not particularly appetizing.

It wasn't quite the flavor extravaganza we were hoping it was, but it tastes a lot better than it looks. Coffee flavored, but not over the top. Sweet, but honestly it could have been a bit sweeter. Sonia wanted the syrup to be a lot thicker and wouldn't have minded more of it.

That's why I think it's better to eat it straight out of the cup. You don't lose any of the sauce that way. The presentation isn't nearly as nice, but unless you're trying to impress somebody, there's really no reason to flip it over and have the dark brown liquid slide all over your plate.

There was a peach and blueberry panna cotta at Trader Joe's years and years ago. Sonia and I both liked that one better than this one. I thought for sure the beautiful wifey would favor this one, but no. She agrees the fruit flavors worked better. She thinks maybe a true espresso panna cotta might be good with heavier coffee undertones and more sugar. She prefers good old Mexican flan to this stuff.

$3.49 for two single serving cups, found in the refrigerated section. It's not bad, but we probably wouldn't buy again. Italian-inspired, but not imported from Italy. Seven out of ten stars from both of us on Trader Joe's Coffee Panna Cotta.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Sous Vide Turkey Breast Tenderloins

Well, shoot. I liked these quite a bit. I don't even know what sous vide (soo-veed) means. I even looked it up and I'm still confused. Rather than regurgitate what I just read on Wikipedia, I'll let you decipher the French phrase yourself...something about cooking meat for a long time at a low-ish temperature.

But all we had to do was heat these medallions up for 8 minutes or so in a sauce pan. When it's just two people, an entire turkey is overkill even for Thanksgiving. Trader Joe took away our Turkey & Stuffing En Croute, so what's a couple to do? This product was perfect.

But Thanksgiving is over, you say? Why review it now? Well, there are a few other holidays creeping up on us before the end of 2024, and this review will still be floating here in cyberspace when Thanksgiving 2025 rolls around. We're just here to tell you that Trader Joe's Sous Vide Turkey Breast Tenderloins get our seal of approval.

They didn't go crazy with seasoning here: just some soybean oil, onion, garlic, and salt. The meat was cooked to perfection, nice and even. It was all white meat, which I love. Even the little chunks of meat were convenient for serving and consuming. While they're more than a mouthful each, they were very easy to cut into smaller bite-sized pieces.

It was $8.99 for the package. Sonia and I ate our fill and still had some leftovers. It's obviously much less work than cooking a whole turkey and slightly cheaper. Plus, there's no greasy dark meat or bones to deal with. Would buy again. Sonia and I give Trader Joe's Sous Vide Turkey Breast Tenderloins 8 out of 10 stars.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Shimmering Candy Cane Body Butter and Trader Joe's Pumpkin Body Butter

Body butter. I don't think I've ever used body butter. Isn't that basically just a fancy way to say "moisturizer"? Marketing gimmick if you ask me.

If you ask the beautiful wifey, she'll say these products are great. Six bucks each. Apparently they charge like a thousand times that much at fancy cosmetics places.

Pumpkin for fall and Candy Cane for the holiday season. Sounds fun. And I must admit they do smell good. I think they're more feminine than masculine, though. Watch the video review below to find out what fragrances of body butter I'd like to see from Trader Joe's as a dude.

This might be only the second non-food review we've done on this blog in 15 years. See: Trader Joe's Camel Milk Soap and Trader Joe's Mouth Wash with Tea Tree Oil. Pretty sure neither of those is available anymore.

Hygiene is important. Should we start reviewing stuff like toilet paper and tissues? We can't keep up with all the food as it is. If you have any requests, just let us know in the comments. 

As part of our Cyber Monday sale, subscriptions to our YouTube channel are absolutely free today! All you have to do is click the "subscribe" button below the video or on our YouTube profile page. No credit cards required. Get access to each and every one of our video reviews absolutely FREE!

Sonia gives Trader Joe's Pumpkin Body Butter 9 out of 10 stars.

She gives Trader Joe's Shimmering Candy Cane Body Butter 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Cranberry Ginger Chutney

Well, Thanksgiving is tomorrow and as always, there's a ton to be thankful for. Even in the darkest of times, there are always good people and circumstances that can be appreciated. My heart is truly filled with gratitude as Sonia and I focus on our blessings and prepare for our Turkey Day feast. And with that, I leave you with this mostly negative review.

Trader Joe's Cranberry Ginger Chutney tastes like a chunky-style apple cider vinegar beverage. I can see what they were going for but I'm not fond of the execution. It's way too vinegary for me. We both love Indian food and Indian spices in general, but this? Sonia was way more positive than I was, but I don't think either of us would buy it again.

The cranberry and ginger aspects work quite well. There are nearly whole cranberries in certain bites. The raw ginger and tart cran flavors offset the sweetness and there's just a whisper of bite from the cayenne. It's that sour acidity from the vinegar that throws me off.

It'll be just the two of us tomorrow. I don't know who I pity more: those of you who will be completely alone on Thanksgiving Day or those of you who have more than a handful of relatives to tolerate, LOL. Either way, we'll be with you in spirit. Thanks for reading and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Sonia's score: 6.5 out of 10.

Nathan's score: 5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Thanksgiving Stuffing Popcorn

Can you believe it's been over nine years since the debut of Trader Joe's Turkey & Stuffing Kettle Chips? Took them long enough to do a popcorn version.

But it was well worth the wait. They got this product right. Conceivably, it will be too salty for some. Unlike the recently reviewed Crunchy Pops, which were very salty with not much flavor otherwise, these fluffy popcorn kernels are bursting with the taste of onion, black pepper, parsley, thyme, and other classic Thanksgiving stuffing seasonings.

$2.99 for the 5 oz bag. Kosher. Would buy again. Trader Joe's Thanksgiving Stuffing Seasoned Popcorn is obviously seasonal, so if you're as big a fan as we are, stock up while you can.

 

 

Bottom line: 9.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Organic Iced Oatmeal Baked Whole Grain Bar

Organic whole grain oats are super duper healthy. And they taste okay. Nothing to complain about, right? But hey, let's face it: whole grain oats are kinda boring, bland, and plain.

That's where that icing comes in. There's a lot riding on that icing. That icing is tasked with taking something dull and turning it into something you'll actually choose to eat over a Snickers or a Twinkie from the vending machine when you get that mid-day munchies feeling at work.

And it does a pretty decent job in this particular case. There's a sweet, almost milky, taste to these bars. They're nice and soft, too. Very easy and pleasant to chew. 

A lot of the ingredients are pretty obvious: oats, rice, sugar. But there are some surprises as well: fig paste, vanilla chips, and cinnamon. They all come together for a unique flavor that can curb a sweet tooth or a mid-day snack attack without too much indulgence. I was impressed.

$4.69 for six single serving bars is a bit steep in my opinion. But hey, they're organic, kosher, gluten free, and have three grams of fiber in every bar. 

Another product of Canada. You'd think we could produce oatmeal bars here in the states, but Trader Joe has always been international like that. 

Sonia and I will throw out seven and a half stars for Trader Joe's Organic Iced Oatmeal Baked Whole Grain Bar.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Belgian Cookie Collection

First of all, THANK YOU to those who have followed, shared, commented on, and supported this blog for so many years. If you read this blog but haven't checked out our YouTube channel lately, I highly recommend doing so. From 2011 - 2022 we were doing just 4 or 5 video reviews a year for the heck of it. In July of last year, I decided to do a video for just about every single written post. I figured I already had a "script" from each of these blog posts and some visuals in the form of the product photos we were taking for each review anyway, so I began reading the review into a mic and then simply adding some background music and stock photos.

From there, we picked up the frequency of our "live action" video reviews where the beautiful wifey and I sample Trader Joe's food items on camera and have full discussions of those products. Although I still have far to go, I've gotten better at editing. I've worked in some very interesting AI generated songs into certain videos. Sometimes I write the lyrics and let the artificial intelligence do the instrumentation and other times I let the AI write the words, too. Some of the videos are quite watchable but it's difficult to stand out in the sea of quick cut TikTok'ers and young "Trader Joe's Haul" aficionados who've already amassed millions of loyal fans.

If we do the video review first, I generally want there to be a written companion, but doing a traditional blog post essentially doubles my workload—having to shoot and edit a video as well as a written review with still photos. So on one or two occasions, I simply copied the video transcript, cleaned it up a bit, and posted it as the written blog post here. For longer videos such as the one below, posting the transcript isn't really practical, so I'll simply post a few summarizing thoughts and let the video do most of the talking. All that to say that the meat of this review is in the YouTube video only and if you'd like to hear our thoughts, simply click "play." Many thanks to those of you who already watch, like, and subscribe.

TL;DR — Watch our YouTube videos.

Trader Joe's Belgian Cookie Collection in a nutshell: The presentation of this $11 import is stellar. Most of the 90+ cookies are fairly run-of-the-mill shortbread covered in various types of Belgian chocolate. Only 3 or 4 of the twelve varieties really stand out as unique. We'd buy again if we were headed to a big holiday shindig or buying a gift for someone who really loves Belgian sweets. For a cheaper and smaller option of comparable quality, see Trader Joe's Belgian Cookie Trio.

Bottom line: 7.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Stollen Crisps

Since I haven't spotted any other beloved German holiday treats such as Lebkuchen or Pfeffernüsse at my local Trader Joe's lately, today we're looking at the Stollen Crisps, which were available last year but eluded our sights in terms of a review.

Always busy this time of year trying to get around to all the seasonal products TJ's has to offer and we never manage to cover everything. But isn't that how life in general goes around the holidays? So much to do and a few things inevitably slip through the cracks. I don't know how you folks with big families do it. Anyhoo, let's get started with the review before we're staring down the barrel of 500 words for a simple looksee at what is essentially a box of fancy crackers.

My biggest problem with this line of "crisps" from TJ's is never the taste.

See: Trader Joe's Strawberry Jalapeño Crisps

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Cranberry Crisps

and Trader Joe's Fig & Olive Crisps.

They've always been unique and interesting flavors. My problem is the texture—they tend to be overly hard, to the point that they hurt my teeth after just a few bites. This problem can be mitigated by soft spreads, cheeses, and/or dips. Let's see if the stollen are any different.

Honestly, this product seems slightly less rigid than the previous selections mentioned above. Is it just my imagination? Have my teeth been strengthened by that enamel repair toothpaste I've been using? Your guess is as good as mine. They're still crunchy and crispy to a fault, but not quite as extreme by my reckoning.

There's a lovely grape and citrus smell that wafts from the bag after opening. They taste like fruitcake dusted with powdered sugar—like orange and lemon zest underneath raisins and sweet buttermilk bread. It's a very nice flavor indeed. There's a surprising amount of fruit in the crackers. Each piece contains at least four or five cross sections of raisin. That might be one of the reasons this offering seems a tad softer than its predecessors.

They recommend eating these with Brie or Gouda but I'm not really a highbrow cheese guy. If we had some kind of chevre on hand, I'd grab that, but unfortunately it's going to be Philadelphia to the rescue once again. But hey, it works. It's a delicious combination in my humble opinion.

The citrus element really makes this product memorable. Some might say it's too sweet with visible amounts of sugar on the crisps, but hey, it's the holiday season and it's time to celebrate.

$4.29 for the box. Product of Canada. There's something delightfully festive and Christmassy about this item, and I'd definitely buy it again. Sonia and I will go with 8 out of 10 stars for Trader Joe's Stollen Crisps.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Almond Protein Smoothie

Just a quickie for today. Sonia drank most of this beverage. I just tasted it and noped out pretty quickly.

It's chalky as I suspected it would be. I can also taste the pea protein underneath the chocolate and almond flavors. There's really not a ton of chocolate flavor, to be honest.

It was $3.49 for the 16 oz bottle. Sonia liked that it was filling and full of protein. She'd buy again in a pinch but wouldn't necessarily seek it out. I wouldn't drink it again.

Sonia's score: 6.5 out of 10.

Nathan's score: 4.5 out of 10.