For my birthday last month, my friend thought of the most creative gift. She reads the blog and knows I do my monthly Trader Joe’s favorites list, so she decided to give me her five favorite things from Trader Joe’s as a gift! The minute she gave me the gift we tore open all the packages to try a bite of each.
Since it was a birthday celebration, Molly gave me several of her favorite Trader Joe’s chocolate goodies. For years I had stayed away from grabbing TJ’s chocolate treats knowing they wouldn’t last long. After a month of savoring Molly’s favorite Trader Joe’s chocolates I realized one chocolate snack is the perfect way to end my day. I just have to keep that self-control to only have one!
My favorite chocolate treat is included this month’s Trader Joe’s favorites, along with four other items that have made my meals even better this July.
Dark Chocolate Covered Honey Grahams with Sea Salt
The rich chocolate, crunchy graham cracker and savory sea salt combo is my ultimate favorite. If I can’t have a s’more for dessert every night, this is the next best thing. If you notice in the picture, there are hardly any left in the package. They didn’t last long in my pantry.
Toasted Sesame Oil
You’ve probably watched me grab for this toasted sesame oil while cooking on Snapchat (Add me! GourmetGab), so I realized I needed to feature it on my TJ faves. I highly recommend keeping a bottle of this around for stir fry sauces, meat marinades or salad dressings. It adds a noticeable depth of nutty, rich flavor to anything you add it to. The sesame oil is very potent so you only need about a teaspoon, but that makes the bottle last forever!
Salsa Verde
Like I’ve mentioned in the past months, I’m working my way through all the Trader Joe’s salsas. This inexpensive Salsa Verde is a staple to have around because of it’s tomatillo flavor and mild heat. It’s rather salty, though, so if you’re adding to a dish – like scrambled eggs with shredded cheese – just adjust with less salt. Top nachos with this, use as a salad dressing, make shredded pork…the options are endless with this salsa verde.
Go Raw Trek Mix
Trail mix is such a personal preference. Everyone likes their’s different: sweet or savory, chocolate chips and peanut butter chunks or dried fried, salted or raw nuts. Trader Joe’s has so many different combinations of trail mix, but I’ve found this to be my favorite. To me, it’s the perfect blend of raw nuts and dried raisins. The best part to me are the hazelnuts since I rarely find them in trail mix!
Taco Seasoning Mix
I am a big fan of blending my own spices for dishes, but sometimes you need a quick shortcut. Trader Joe’s taco seasoning mix not only saves time while cooking taco meat, but it makes the meat taste about ten times as flavorful. This blend has a serious kick to it, so follow the instructions and only add half of the packet unless you’re prepared for serious heat!
Want to catch up on my previous monthly Trader Joe’s favorites? Here’s March, April, May and June!
Love food. Love self. Love life.
Gabriela
So... what do you think?