When we lived in the city, Trader Joe’s was not very convenient. It was close, but not close enough to walk and it didn’t have parking. I swear, every time I went there I swear I got a ticket.
I am so excited to start shopping at Trader Joe’s again in the burbs. I love their easy meals and their prices cannot be beat (not sponsored in any way, just really love TJs!). I thought I would mix things up this week and do a Trader Joe’s haul + meal plan! In the spirit of trying to stick to our good habits, I am trying to start every meal planning day off by cleaning out my fridge and seeing what I have. I am meal planning based off the ingredients I already have in the fridge that are going to go bad! Here is what is on the docket this week:
Meg’s black bean + sweet potato tacos
We had my entire family over for tacos this weekend and have bazillions of leftover tortillas. I don’t want standard tacos again so going to mix things up with Meg Mcmillin’s sweet potato tacos! If you haven’t tried Meg’s recipe for these yet, you have to give them a try. They are so easy, so delicious and healthy. See her full recipe here! PS, crying over how young James was in these pics, our babies are growing up sooo fast.
charcuterie for dinner
Blake and I do this every once in a while. Sometimes, I just want all the meats + cheeses and olives and need to just binge on it. We try to make it slightly healthier by adding in some tomatoes and onion! I love the charcuterie selection at Trader Joe’s. We always do this picnic style with wine and it makes dinner feel like a fancy date night ;). I always make bb a little charcuterie board of her own (with the healthy stuff and sub turkey for the other meats!) and she loves it.
Usually this meal seems like a summer meal to me, don’t ask why. But I have been craving Greek lately and there is a serious shortage of good greek food in the burbs, so I guess I will just have to make it at home! Full recipe here. We have a busy week and I probably will not be able to make it to the grocer store later in the week, so I bought the ingredients for this even though I know we probably won’t get to this meal until the end of the week. So as soon as we got home from the grocery store I put the ground turkey and pita in the freezer. I will take it out the morning we are going to cook it! Trying to really think ahead about when we will actually eat each meal in an effort to waste less!
copycat cauliflower
This weekend we had the BEST cauliflower from a little restaurant in our town. It was seared to perfection in a semi sweet sauce with chopped olives! It was such an interesting combo and one I would never have thought would taste good. But I have been craving it ever since and I am going to try to replicate! I will post a better recipe if it turns out, but here is what I am thinking:
sear cauliflower in evoo, when it is tender, stir in salt + pepper, honey, and diced olives. right before serving, squeeze some fresh lemon juice!
other essentials in my Trader Joe’s cart!
everything but the bagel seasoning
caramelized onion dip (amazing with veggies if you’re sick of hummus)
olive tapenade…I could literally put this on EVERYTHING, charcuterie, greek wrap, veggies, bread, pita…
tahini
peanut butter
sriracha ranch
chili pepper sauce
MEAL PLAN
breakfast
smoothies
eggs + avocado
(trying to do intermittent fasting most days, so I usually skip breakfast)
lunches
salads
leftover tacos
cauliflower
dinners
sweet potato tacos
charcuterie
greek meatballs
TRADER JOES GROCERY LIST
ground turkey
eggs
sweet potato
black beans
assorted meats + cheeses
tomatoes
cauliflower
red onion
avocado
green onion
sweet onion
lemons
tahini
hot sauce
caramelized onion dip
sriracha ranch
everything but the bagel seasoning
peanut butter
olive tapenade
honey
greek yogurt
pita
wheat bread
