The Trader Joe Cookbook
-
Attyla
- Posts: 52,595
- Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2014 4:31 pm
- Has given High Fives: 1216 times
- Received High Fives: 2922 times
The Trader Joe Cookbook
Well, not really a cookbook but here is one week of meals from Trader Joe's freezer section and each one is done in less than 20 minutes and are 4 ingredients or less...And I wish I had been the one to do these, so shout out to Nicole McLaughlin for the idea...
1. Shrimp and Veggie Stir fry. Get the box of Jasmin rice (contains three bags) and follow the instructions, and get the Argentinean Red Shrimp and thaw under water. The shrimp is already to go with the flavor. Get their stir fry veggies and get your pan good and hot to heat them up. Stir fry really does need a very hot pan to do them right. Once the veggies are good and hot, push to one side of the pan and add in the shrimp along with the juices. once the shrimp is done combine and add over the rice.
2. Grilled chicken pasta. Grilled chicken strips in the frozen section. Grilled peppers and onions. Cacio e Pepe. Again, all found in the frozen section. Cover the Pasta in a microwave safe dish, cover and cook as instructed. Add the chicken to a hot pan and and a couple tablespoons of water, cover and cook for about 3 minutes. Add in the veggies and continue to cook until done. Slap in the pasta and combine and serve.
3. Chiles Rellenos (get two if you are serving a family) and into the oven they go. Sauce is heated in a pan. Get the TJ Spanish rice and heat as instructed. You could add a side salad to this. They have a lot of salad kits to choose from. This one is minimum effort. Sauce up the main dish right from the pan.
4. Grilled Chimichurri Skewers. Heat the skewers as instructed, they are already cooked so it is just a matter of heating them up. Tosss that with the TJ roasted potatoes and broccoli florets (both are pre seasoned) just steam the broccoli for about 4 minutes and then add the potatoes. Combine and cook and serve
5. Shrimp Scampi. Get the scampi and rigatoni alla Contadina. Cook in different skillets as instructed. Add the pasta to the plate and then let the shrimp nestle on top. I suggest a good white wine and some crusty bread, both of which you can also get at TJs
6. Beef and Broccoli. Two ingredients, get the beef and broccoli and their vegetable fried rice. I followed Nicole's suggestion of cooking the broccoli and instead of removing from the skillet, I just pushed it to the side, added in some oil and then the beef until cooked then add in the sauce and then combined the broccoli back into the center of the pan. The fried rice as instructed and then lay down your rice on your plate and spoon onto that your beef mixture.
7. Beef Birria. I was not sure about how to do this one and did not like Nicole's idea. So I got the Birria and microwaved that and then microwaved a bag of jasmine rice. I got some tortilla round chips, some black beans and some crumbled Mexican Cheese. topped that with some sliced black olives and boom, some beef style nacho rice. She made tacos using flour tortillas that she fried in a pan. Seemed a bit messy to me but I liked what I built.
Total price was less than 130 bucks and that was an entire week's worth of dinners. The verdict? I would make all of them but the Chiles Rellenos again. My favorite? I did like the beef and broccoli the best. The scampi was also very good.
1. Shrimp and Veggie Stir fry. Get the box of Jasmin rice (contains three bags) and follow the instructions, and get the Argentinean Red Shrimp and thaw under water. The shrimp is already to go with the flavor. Get their stir fry veggies and get your pan good and hot to heat them up. Stir fry really does need a very hot pan to do them right. Once the veggies are good and hot, push to one side of the pan and add in the shrimp along with the juices. once the shrimp is done combine and add over the rice.
2. Grilled chicken pasta. Grilled chicken strips in the frozen section. Grilled peppers and onions. Cacio e Pepe. Again, all found in the frozen section. Cover the Pasta in a microwave safe dish, cover and cook as instructed. Add the chicken to a hot pan and and a couple tablespoons of water, cover and cook for about 3 minutes. Add in the veggies and continue to cook until done. Slap in the pasta and combine and serve.
3. Chiles Rellenos (get two if you are serving a family) and into the oven they go. Sauce is heated in a pan. Get the TJ Spanish rice and heat as instructed. You could add a side salad to this. They have a lot of salad kits to choose from. This one is minimum effort. Sauce up the main dish right from the pan.
4. Grilled Chimichurri Skewers. Heat the skewers as instructed, they are already cooked so it is just a matter of heating them up. Tosss that with the TJ roasted potatoes and broccoli florets (both are pre seasoned) just steam the broccoli for about 4 minutes and then add the potatoes. Combine and cook and serve
5. Shrimp Scampi. Get the scampi and rigatoni alla Contadina. Cook in different skillets as instructed. Add the pasta to the plate and then let the shrimp nestle on top. I suggest a good white wine and some crusty bread, both of which you can also get at TJs
6. Beef and Broccoli. Two ingredients, get the beef and broccoli and their vegetable fried rice. I followed Nicole's suggestion of cooking the broccoli and instead of removing from the skillet, I just pushed it to the side, added in some oil and then the beef until cooked then add in the sauce and then combined the broccoli back into the center of the pan. The fried rice as instructed and then lay down your rice on your plate and spoon onto that your beef mixture.
7. Beef Birria. I was not sure about how to do this one and did not like Nicole's idea. So I got the Birria and microwaved that and then microwaved a bag of jasmine rice. I got some tortilla round chips, some black beans and some crumbled Mexican Cheese. topped that with some sliced black olives and boom, some beef style nacho rice. She made tacos using flour tortillas that she fried in a pan. Seemed a bit messy to me but I liked what I built.
Total price was less than 130 bucks and that was an entire week's worth of dinners. The verdict? I would make all of them but the Chiles Rellenos again. My favorite? I did like the beef and broccoli the best. The scampi was also very good.
- These users gave a High Five to the author Attyla for the post:
- raider_kin
-
raider_kin
- Posts: 4,351
- Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2015 8:01 am
- Has given High Fives: 2705 times
- Received High Fives: 1182 times
This is great Attyla, just saw this today. There is a Trader Joe's near me and I can't wait to try some of these. I only cook for myself so I usually don't do much but these should work great for meAttyla wrote: Sat Sep 12, 2026 11:03 am Well, not really a cookbook but here is one week of meals from Trader Joe's freezer section and each one is done in less than 20 minutes and are 4 ingredients or less...And I wish I had been the one to do these, so shout out to Nicole McLaughlin for the idea...
1. Shrimp and Veggie Stir fry. Get the box of Jasmin rice (contains three bags) and follow the instructions, and get the Argentinean Red Shrimp and thaw under water. The shrimp is already to go with the flavor. Get their stir fry veggies and get your pan good and hot to heat them up. Stir fry really does need a very hot pan to do them right. Once the veggies are good and hot, push to one side of the pan and add in the shrimp along with the juices. once the shrimp is done combine and add over the rice.
2. Grilled chicken pasta. Grilled chicken strips in the frozen section. Grilled peppers and onions. Cacio e Pepe. Again, all found in the frozen section. Cover the Pasta in a microwave safe dish, cover and cook as instructed. Add the chicken to a hot pan and and a couple tablespoons of water, cover and cook for about 3 minutes. Add in the veggies and continue to cook until done. Slap in the pasta and combine and serve.
3. Chiles Rellenos (get two if you are serving a family) and into the oven they go. Sauce is heated in a pan. Get the TJ Spanish rice and heat as instructed. You could add a side salad to this. They have a lot of salad kits to choose from. This one is minimum effort. Sauce up the main dish right from the pan.
4. Grilled Chimichurri Skewers. Heat the skewers as instructed, they are already cooked so it is just a matter of heating them up. Tosss that with the TJ roasted potatoes and broccoli florets (both are pre seasoned) just steam the broccoli for about 4 minutes and then add the potatoes. Combine and cook and serve
5. Shrimp Scampi. Get the scampi and rigatoni alla Contadina. Cook in different skillets as instructed. Add the pasta to the plate and then let the shrimp nestle on top. I suggest a good white wine and some crusty bread, both of which you can also get at TJs
6. Beef and Broccoli. Two ingredients, get the beef and broccoli and their vegetable fried rice. I followed Nicole's suggestion of cooking the broccoli and instead of removing from the skillet, I just pushed it to the side, added in some oil and then the beef until cooked then add in the sauce and then combined the broccoli back into the center of the pan. The fried rice as instructed and then lay down your rice on your plate and spoon onto that your beef mixture.
7. Beef Birria. I was not sure about how to do this one and did not like Nicole's idea. So I got the Birria and microwaved that and then microwaved a bag of jasmine rice. I got some tortilla round chips, some black beans and some crumbled Mexican Cheese. topped that with some sliced black olives and boom, some beef style nacho rice. She made tacos using flour tortillas that she fried in a pan. Seemed a bit messy to me but I liked what I built.
Total price was less than 130 bucks and that was an entire week's worth of dinners. The verdict? I would make all of them but the Chiles Rellenos again. My favorite? I did like the beef and broccoli the best. The scampi was also very good.
- These users gave a High Five to the author raider_kin for the post:
- Attyla