Uncategorized

Like I Needed Another Reason To Go Back

Megan15 Comments

I think by now I’ve firmly established on this blog the extent to which I love Trader Joe’s.

I love the products, I love the prices, I love the people.  I pretty much love everything about it.

There’s one thing that I do not love, though.

I do not love that I can go in there in search of 3 or 4 items and come out with a full basket of food.  Sometimes I feel like I have no control over my arms as they start swiping full shelves of food into my basket like a one-man version of Supermarket Sweep.

Case in point, my trip to TJ’s yesterday included yet another item that I will undoubtedly eat way too much of and need to buy every week:

I’ve been having this strange craving for baba ghanoush (I sort of blame Emily for that), but I haven’t actually gotten my act together enough to roast a whole eggplant to make it.

So clearly, when I found this baba ghanoush-like spread, I needed to buy it.  And if any of you are food purists, I realize that this is pretty different than baba ghanoush. But do you see me complaining when European people think that all American food is comprised of McDonald’s hamburgers?*

*I totally do complain about this but that’s neither here nor there.

This dip contains fefferoni peppers in addition to the eggplant and garlic.  At first I thought the label said “pepperoni” and I got really excited.  I come to find out that the ingredient it contains is actually “fefferoni peppers”, which are apparently chili peppers common in Mediterranean cuisine.

And then I decided that I need to come up with a pepperoni dip in the very near future.

I dug in without looking at the ingredient list (I’m a rebel without a cause, I know), and the first flavor I tasted was tomato.  Which was strange, because it’s not advertised as a tomato-y spread.

Sure enough, one of the first ingredients is tomato.

Ordinarily, this might scare me away, being as I’m not a huge fan of the tomatoes, but I was feeling dangerous last night and decide to eat some more.

Especially with some crackers, this stuff is good.

I’m thinking of ways that I can incorporate it into dishes instead of just as a snack.

I bet it would be a really good replacement for marinara for my non-marinara loving friends (and by “non-marinara loving friends”, I mean me).

I’ll get back to you on that one.

I gotta go back to face planting into a jar of dip.

I never said moderation came easily to me.

15 thoughts on “Like I Needed Another Reason To Go Back”

  5. i’ve had that too, but I wasn’t a huge fan. It was like a too-exotic version of salsa, which is just supposed to be mexican, you know? I can say that the red pepper spread (which also has garlic and eggplant) is my absolute favorite TJs item, hands down. You won’t regret that. I have made it myself, but for like$3, I’ll buy it when I can. Which I can’t often. So I make it. Make sense? I’ll shut up now.

  7. That dip looks super tasty!

    Funny story – and you may not believe me – you know that restaurant I mentioned eh….last week…that had the pizza with pork belly? There’s a possibility they have a dish of chicken with pepperoni sauce on the menu. So it’s not pepperoni dip, but it’s pretty close. And entirely amazing. I *think* these are signs telling you that you need to visit DC in the near future…

  8. Looks like I have another item to add to my TJ’s list. Good thing I go once a week.
    Also, have you seen that they switched the La Granja over to screw top? I thought that was pretty exciting.

  9. I really love this spread, I recently discovered it myself and have been trying to figure out a way to use it. I actually considered trying it as a marinade for chicken and seeing how that works out…but it definitely is delicious! Trader Joe’s is the love of my life.

Comments are closed.