Product Placement Wednesday - Trader Joe's Pita Crisps with Cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds

Yes, I know that it isn't Wednesday but I couldn't wait until Wednesday to share this product with you! Earlier this season our friends at Trader Joe's teased us with a great product called Pumpkin Cranberry Crisps. They were very similar to the Raisin Rosemary Crisps but in far less supply. As with so many of their seasonal products, these guys flew off the shelves. Don't miss out next year! In the meantime, I have a slightly different product that you will love equally as much!

Trader Joe's Pita Crisps with Cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds

In case you are wondering how good these pita crisps are I will tell you I wish I never opened the bag - they are that addicting! Of course addicting in the best possible way! They are the perfect combo if you don't know if you want something sweet or savory. They lean towards the sweet side as they have a sugar coating though have that crunchiness of savory snacks. I have been enjoying mine with the Mini Brie Bites (for portion control) but I think they would be equally good with other soft cheeses like goat cheese. They are also delicious on their own! Trader Joe's recommends enjoying then with egg salad but I really think the cracker is too sweet for that flavor profile. I would stick with plain hummus, cheese (be careful if the flavor is too bold), and sliced turkey. Also, they are whole wheat so they are TOTALLY good for you! No matter how you serve them, they are the perfect addition to your holiday spread. Don't miss out!

Still looking for a cocktail to serve on Thanksgiving? Be sure to check out my last post here!

It's Picnic Season!!! - Part 3

Okay, so in many parts of the country "picnic season" might be starting to wind down but if you live in a warm weather state like I do it is basically picnic season year round! This is the third in a series of posts that were originally posted in 2011. You can find the previous posts here and here.

I am excitingly planning a picnic item or two for this coming weekend and wanted to share some great picnic sandwiches I have created since my last picnic post. I hope you enjoy them be it on a picnic, at the beach or in your lunch box! Also, I apologize for the quality of the photos. These are rather old and I have upgraded my camera since then. Future photos will be of much higher quality and even if the food does not look appetizing I promise it is delish! Let me know if you make any of these sammies and what you think!

Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
My favorite tea sandwich is always the cucumber one so why not pack it for a picnic?! Makes for a refreshing bite among heavier picnic fare.

1 loaf of dark rye or pumpernickel bread
1 container of boursin cheese
2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin to medium
dried dill

1. Cut the crusts off of your bread for that tea sandwich feel. (You can give your neighborhood birds a treat or turn them into homemade croutons!)

2. Spread boursin cheese on two slices of bread. Top the cheese layer on one piece of bread with a layer of sliced cucumbers and a healthy shake of dried dill. Place second slice on top cheese side down and slice sandwich in half.

3. Repeat until you have made the appropriate amount of sandwiches or are out of ingredients. Please note that when I make these sandwiches I am usually making in "bulk" so I continue until I run out of cheese (usually first) or bread.

Turkey, Apple & Wasabi Sandwiches
Trader Joe's used to carry a wasabi arugula that was used in this sandwich. I found that it didn't give it enough wasabi flavor so you will not miss it. I am recommending a wasabi mayo or aioli as an alternative which you can either purchase or make to taste. This recipe calls for 4 oz of turkey per sandwich - feel free to adjust as needed depending on your preferences.

8 slices of dark rye or whole wheat bread
16 oz deli turkey breast, roasted
2 large avocados
1 large green apple, thinly sliced
2 cups of arugula
2 tablespoons wasabi mayo or aioli

1. Cut the crusts off your bread if you desire.

2. Mash 1/4 an avocado on one slice of bread and top with the following (in this order): 4 oz turkey breast, slices of apple, and 1/2 cup of arugula.

3. Spread wasabi mayo/aioli on a second slice of bread and place on top of the sandwich. Slice sandwich in half. Repeat for remaining ingredients. Makes 4 full or 8 half sandwiches.

Healthy Turkey Club Sandwich
Toasting the bread before assembling the sandwiches helps keep them from getting soggy.

8 slices of whole wheat bread, toasted
16 oz deli turkey breast, low salt
2 large avocados
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
6 slices turkey bacon, cooked
2 cups butter lettuce
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
garlic olive oil
salt

1. Mash 1/4 an avocado on one slice of toasted bread and top with the following (in this order): 4 oz turkey, tomato, turkey bacon, and 1/2 cup butter lettuce.

2. Combine Greek yogurt, garlic olive oil, and salt to taste to create an aioli. Spread aioli on a second slice of bread and place on top of sandwich. Slice sandwich in half. Repeat for remaining ingredients. Makes 4 full or 8 half sandwiches.

Mediterranean Style Chicken Lavosh Wrap

1 large whole wheat lavosh (I purchased mine from Trader Joe's)
8 oz grilled lemon chicken, cut into strips (Again, purchased prepared at Trader Joe's)
1 red pepper, roasted (The kind that come in a jar are fine.)
2 cups butter lettuce
4 tablespoons Trader Joe's Reduced Guilt Spinach and Kale Greek Yogurt Dip

1. Divide lavosh in half. Cover 2/3 of each half in the Spinach & Kale Dip.

2. Top dip with remaining ingredients in this order: lemon chicken, roasted red peppers, and butter lettuce.

3. Roll lavosh starting with side covered with dip. Slice and serve. Makes 2 full or 4 half sandwiches.

Sorry no photo of this sandwich.


Beet & Goat Cheese Sandwich

1 olive roll from Trader Joe's (or your favorite hearty roll)
4 oz chevre with herbs
2-3 baby beets, steamed & peeled (Trader Joe's has these in the refrigerated vegetable case)
2 cups arugula
lemon olive oil
good quality salt, if desired

1. Slice olive roll in half lengthwise. Spread chevre on bottom half of roll.

2. Thinly slice baby beets and place them on top of the chevre. Top with arugula.

3. Drizzle with lemon olive oil and salt if desired. Top with the upper half of the roll, slice and serve. Makes 2 sandwiches.

Sorry no photo of this sandwich.

Product Placement Wednesday - Trader Joe's Mini Brie Bites

Yes, it's another Trader Joe's specialty this week! Also, this is the second week in a row that Product Placement Wednesday is cheese related. Clearly I have a problem. However, this week's little delights will soon give you a problem too.

Trader Joe's Mini Brie Bites

If you are anything like me, it is difficult to determine when to stop eating when it comes to cheese. They say a serving is the size of a pair of dice. As I may have mentioned before, that amount of cheese is the cheese I eat while cutting up the cheese I'm actually going to eat. Weight loss experts would say I have problems with "portion control". If they didn't make cheese so delicious it would be easier to control! Or if cheese came in single serving packaging (other than string cheese) maybe I would be more successful. Well, that's exactly the sizing of the Mini Brie Bites. You can sit down with some lovely crackers (my personal fave are the Rosemary and Raisin - also from Trader Joe's) and have a relatively guilt free snack!

I also think these would be great to make mini Brie en Croute for your holiday parties! Take your Mini Brie Bites, smooth some great jam on top (personally I think one that is both sweet and savory would be best), wrap in puff pastry and bake. There are a million recipes out there that will give you an idea as to baking time though I would recommend checking it every five minutes the first time as these guys are small and will likely brown up quickly.

Trader Joe's also makes a great little goat cheese medallion that can also be enjoyed with crackers. I like to crumble it on salads or if you are able to successfully remove it from the wrapper without destroying the shape you can also roll it in some crushed nuts and place on top of the salad as is.

I am sure there are some other great ideas out there for the Mini Brie Bites. Let me know if you have discovered one!

Iron Chef West Hollywood, Part 2

I am so behind with recipes! Apparently I was cooking up a storm in the month of July with my fabulous creative co-chefs! Katie and I whipped up this little dinner and her "secret ingredient" was baby broccoli. The rest were items in my pantry, fridge & freezer. This meal was really good with the baby broccoli being the standout. The best of our recent Iron Chef nights is yet to come. Hopefully this week but I have a ton of Bachelorette/Bachelor Pad recipes too!

Baby Broccoli with Goat Cheese

1 package of baby broccoli (not sure of the exact size however it was purchased from Trader Joe's)

1 oz goat cheese, crumbled

olive oil (for cooking)

Vintage Merlot salt

1. Cook baby broccoli in a skillet with olive oil. Add a little water as needed to soften the broccoli.

2. When the broccoli is tender, remove from skillet and place on plates.

3. Top with crumbled goat cheese and sprinkle with merlot salt.

Brown Rice with Roasted Garlic Salt

This was a great way to use up some extra pre-cooked brown rice. We just warmed it up and topped it with Roasted Garlic Salt for a low calorie but delicious finish.

Veggie Sausage with Garlic Mustard Aioli

Another simple dish from items in the freezer. We heated frozen veggie sausage and served it with Garlic Mustard Aioli sprinkled with fresh chives.

Product Placement Wednesday - Trader Joe's Flower Pepper

This week is back to "normal" for Product Placement Wednesday and I have a wonderful new product for you! Trader Joe's has recently released Flower Pepper complete with grinder. The blend includes black peppercorns, rose petals, calendula, lavender and cornflower. Floral flavors can be tricky to use but the black peppercorn makes it a little less intimidating.

There are so many uses for this product but so far I have found myself using primarily on salads. I look forward to using it as a crust for a goat cheese medallion and to season roast chicken. It would also make a nice savory addition to certain desserts. I envision somesort of vanilla and lavender dessert (possibly a creme brulee) with a light dusting of this pepper. I had this amazing lavender ice cream at The Foundry once that would probably also be an excellent balance to this pepper. I feel you are only limited by your imagination and willingness to experiment! Be sure to let me know what you try it on!

It's Picnic Season!!!!

So it should be obvious by now that I love summer picnic season. Living in LA it is often nice enough to picnic year round but between Hollywood Bowl, Cinespia, and Malibu Wines there are lots of opportunities this time of year. Plus getting a group together to enjoy a fun activity along with your picnic makes it so much more fun!

This past Saturday we kicked off summer with a great evening at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the Cinespia screening of Vertigo. In an effort to keep things simple (and because I love to make food for a group), I assembled much of the base for our picnic with everyone bringing extra items to snack on. One thing I always find at the cemetery screenings - you will never go hungry!

Turkey, Goat Cheese, & Red Pepper Sandwich

(Note: All ingredients are from Trader Joe's but similar items can be found at any market.)

1 Kalamata Olive Loaf (or your favorite bread)

1 8oz Package Roasted Turkey Breast

2oz Goat Cheese (I used 2 1oz Fresh Goat Cheese Medallions)

5oz Roasted Red Peppers (approximate as I used about a 1/2 of a 12oz jar)

1/2 teaspoon Prepared Pesto (approximate)

1 teaspoon Non-Fat Greek Yogurt (approximate)

1. Slice olive loaf in half longways.

2. Spread the inside of both the top and bottom of the loaf with goat cheese.

3. Place entire package of turkey on bottom side of loaf on top of the goat cheese.

4. Place roasted red peppers on top of turkey. You want to create a layer of red pepper.

5. Mix prepared pesto and greek yogurt together. These quantities and ratios are approximate as you should make it to taste.

6. Spread pesto yogurt mixture on top side of the loaf on top of the goat cheese.

7. Close sandwich and cut into desired number of pieces (I cut mine into three pieces).

8. Add toothpicks if you wish to keep sandwich pieces together while moving to your picnic location.

9. I recommend packing in a plastic container to minimize damage but if that is not available wrapping in foil and keeping it at the top of your cooler is the next best option.

Before

After

Three-Melon Mozzarella Salad

This salad is actually from Real Simple so I can't take credit for it. The link to the original recipe is above. I did make a few modifications and they are as follows:

• Subtracted Honeydew (mostly because I am not a fan and it's also not available pre-cut at the market) and Added additional Watermelon and Cantaloupe.

• Substituted Dorot Chopped Frozen Basil (frozen fresh) for the Fresh Basil (I can never go through an entire package of fresh basil before it goes bad!).

Before

After

In addition to the above items, I also picked up the delicious Goat Cheese, Walnut, Red Bell Pepper Salad from Trader Joe's.

And if that still wasn't enough cheese, we also enjoyed Italian Truffle Cheese and what I believe was a Porter Cheese. As I mentioned there was tons more food including dessert (Powerberries) and wine!

Here we are sitting back and enjoying our wonderful picnic!

And a few photos of the film itself!

Can't wait to go back in a couple weeks for one of my favorite films of all time - Heathers!

For more fun picnic ideas, don't forget to check out my previous posts on the Table in a Bag & Steady Sticks!