I've been a huge Trader Joe's fan for years! They have some of the most unique and fast prep foods out there. A couple years ago I had a couple posts (linked below) reviewing fall items at Trader Joe's so I thought I would bring that feature back by reviewing some new items.  I want to share some of my favorite fall items with you!

I know everyone is shopping the Sephora sale this weekend and I got my order in too, but I'm starting to be over paying $90 for a 1 oz product. Trader Joe's has started selling some amazing affordable beauty products. Here's what you can find on their shelves lately.

A new Trader Joe's opened up in my city so my mom and I went opening day to check it out. Here are some new foods that have quickly become my favorites.

Ice Cream in Barcelona

If you're watching your waist line but still want a scoop of ice cream, try out these diet friendly brands.

Halo Top Lemon Cake
half cup is one serving and has 60 calories, calories from fat 18, sugar 4g, protein 6g

They use stevia and erythritol to sweeten it and let me tell you it tastes delicious! The lemon cake flavor tastes like a lemon bar or ice cream cake. You could make an ice cream sandwich with it by putting it between waffles. Or use it to make a milkshake or root beer float with Zevia soda or put a scoop in your iced tea. You can find it at Whole Foods.

Trader Joe's Soy Creamy Mini Vanilla Sandwiches
90 calories, calories from fat 15, sugar 8, protein 2g

These are a little smaller than regular ice cream sandwiches but you would never guess they were vegan, they taste like milk cream.

Mini Mint Ice Cream Mouthfuls
2 sandwiches is a serving and is 120 calories, calories from fat 45, sugar 10g, protein 2g

These are oreo cookies with mint ice cream in between them.  They are so incredibly delicious!
















While not ice cream, I've talked about how much I love Trader Joe's macarons. They're much more affordable than going to a macaron shop and low in calories. In the fall they have pumpkin macarons and this summer they have mango flavored macarons. I have to say the mango flavor is very strong and natural.

Trader Joe's Mango Macarons
3 macarons is a serving, 100 calories, calories from fat 35, sugar 14g, protein 2 g

















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I wanted to share some of my recent favorite finds at Trader Joes. First off is frozen cauliflower rice which I'm sure you've heard everyone talking about replacing cauliflower for rice. I've made it from scratch but it was a lot of work and has to be eaten immediately. When TJ's announced they were selling frozen cauliflower rice in their flyer last summer I was ecstatic! But I couldn't find it in any stores until now. I wasn't sure how it would hold up frozen, would it melt too soft, but no it was perfect!
I'm really picky about my veggie burgers and I absolutely love TJ's Quinoa Cowboy burgers! It has a slightly crunchy exterior. I just add some mustard to it and it's perfect!

I love macarons! I took a baking class at Sur La Table to learn how to make them and it's quite tricky. I was so excited to see that TJ's now sells this gourmet treat in their freezer section! My local macaron store sells one macaron for $2.50 but at TJ's you can get a dozen for $5! It comes in 6 flavors: Fig, Lemon, Apricot, Coconut, Pistachio, and Salted Caramel. I've definitely been enjoying this tasty treat!












Eight years ago my co-worker invited me to visit her country of Peru with her. Machu Picchu was amazing and the food was good too. I'm still always on the hunt for authentic Pisco Sours (a cocktail made with egg whites) or Chicha Morada (purple corn juice). TJ's Giant Peruvian Inca Corn is compared to corn nuts which I've never had so I'll say the taste is similar to Fritos. On first bite I thought I might break my teeth on these too hard kernels, but then I got addicted to them. If you like salty snacks, this is for you.  


Cashews are my favorite nut, I eat them everyday as my snack at work. I buy the individual serving packets from TJs. So I was super excited to get my hands on their cashew butter which retails for $7.

Fresh Apricots which I've been using all week in my oatmeal for breakfast. I also make apricot popsicles from them. I find it hard to find in my regular grocery store, they only seem to have the dried ones, but I can always count on TJ's to have them fresh. 

One of my most popular posts is Trader Joe's Brown Rice & Quinoa Pasta

With fall comes the arrival of hot apple cider right? Or as Trader Joe's calls it "autumn joy in a glass". This year TJ's has stepped it up a notch by only using honey crisp apples in this bottle! Unless you've been sleeping under a rock, you should know that honey crisp apples are the most delicious (and expensive) apples ever! If you're wondering why you should switch from TJ's Spiced Apple Cider, well just look at the ingredients it's made of a variety of juices, while TJ's  Honey Crisp Apple Cider has only one ingredient and  no added sugar. The secret of the deliciousness is in its simplicity and purity. I've been mixing it into my Vanilla Shakeology.










Roasted Mashed Sweet Potatoes - I know you're thinking how lazy does one have to be to buy this? Well the package is made up of a bunch of small mashed frozen discs which microwave in less than 30 seconds so it makes using it so fast and easy. There's only one ingredient - sweet potato, roasted to caramelize their natural sugar so it's really delicious. I've been experimenting adding it to my oatmeal.


























This time of year I also pick up my favorite apple butters: fig, pumpkin and cranberry apple.















 

I went to Trader Joe's and they were full force into Pumpkin Palooza! I bought a sugar pumpkin to bake, they are smaller and sweeter than halloween pumpkins and I think they taste better than canned pumpkin. I posted a simple how to recipe here. With the fresh pumpkin puree I make Sugar Free Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Soup, and Pumpkin Shakeology. If you still have some leftover pumpkin makes a great DIY Facial Mask.

If you're wondering what that green thing is, it's a Kabocha Squash that I was surprised to find at Trader Joe's. I use it to make a delicious Thai Pumpkin Curry. I also bought pumpkin waffles, pumpkin macarons (I LOVE macarons), pumpkin cream cheese (healthy ingredients than that Philly brand), pumpkin yogurt (just one because it's high in sugar) and pumpkin butter.

Last year I raved about how great TJ's Coconut Body Butter is. By sheer coincidence I just finished my jar and was going to buy a new one when I saw that TJ's sells Pumpkin Body Butter!

I wanted to share my three favorite wines at the moment.


Moscato by Girl Go Lightly is new favorite wine. I usually drink Barefoot Moscatos but  I gave this a try and I like my wine sweet and this fit the bill! Plus it had a touch of bubbles but still 11% alcohol. And an easy to open screw cap.



At Christmas time I like to drink hot mulled red wine. Trader Joe's has this German wine for the holidays called Nurnberger Gluhwein for only $6 in a supersize bottle! It's named after the German city of Nurnberg that has the famous Christmas market, this is their traditional drink that means "glow wine" in English.


Make sure try some Pfeffernusse as well, it's a traditional German ginger cookie! And Stollen - German fruit cake - I promise it's really good!










The Greek island of Samos makes a number of sweet wines. This one is a lovely dessert wine with a honey/orange muscat flavor. I bought this at my grocery store but later saw a local Greek restaurant had it on its menu as well.

You can make cool wine bottle lights with your empty bottles. Here's a tutorial 

Now if you're throwing a party it might be nice to label the cheese so guests know what is what. And pre-slice the cheese so guests can go ahead and dig in! Make sure the cheese are room temperature before serving because cold cheese has muted flavor. Random sidenote: One of my biggest pet peeves is people who keep cupcakes in the fridge and serve it immediately, cold cake has no flavor, I don't want to eat that! And frosted cake doesn't need to be refrigerated anyway, they're sitting on the counter at the cupcake shop and grocery store.

For a party make sure you have the proper cheese tools. Crate and Barrel is my favorite store for household goods, it's where I've gotten all of my kitchen dinnerware and stemware. It's also where I got this cheese board from. Be sure to get yourself a cheese knife. Here are some suggestions for where to get yourself a cheese board from Amara or Sur La Table.

Final tip - don’t be afraid to try something new! Trader Joe's has all kinds of exotic cheeses like a chocolate cheddar, cranberry goat cheese log, beer cheddar which is actually a black cheese. All of which I've tried and loved!

I bought this jar of lotion from Trader Joe's and it's one of the most moist and rich lotions I have ever used. It just smells amazing, like tropical paradise with the intoxicating scent of coconut! It's made with Coconut Oil, Shea Butter and Vitamin E and other natural ingredients. It's thick and creamy and absorbs into the skin almost instantly and gives good moisturization.  It doesn't have an oily feeling. It's only $5 compared to the Body Shop's coconut body butter of the same size. TJ's also has a pumpkin body butter as well!

I stopped by my favorite grocery store - Trader Joe's and saw that the shelves were full of pumpkin overload! There were sugar pumpkins for baking for only $2 and lots of small decorative pumpkins in various colors. First I'll tell you what I didn't get even though I was eyeing them lol - pumpkin pop tarts, pumpkin cereal bars, pumpkin croissants, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin biscotti, and pumpkin bread mix (two kinds).

I got a huge haul at TJs! 

• pumpkin greek yogurt (a one time treat since its high in sugar)
• pumpkin butter (I measure one serving when I use it)
• cranberry apple butter (low in cal and sugar)
• fig butter
• pumpkin macarons
• pumpkin cream cheese (only consuming a half serving each day at breakfast on my toast)
• pumpkin ravioli
• organic tuscan kale (loaded with vitamins A, C, and K, high in beta carotene, one of the world's most nutritionally dense vegetables)
• pecan pumpkin instant oatmeal (this is super sweet and I serve it with almond milk and a half scoop of vanilla shakeology  to add more protein)
• pumpkin frozen waffles (to be eaten with the pumpkin cream cheese)
• coconut cashews (so addicting!)
• butternut squash triagnoli
• Spelt Risotto (a great hot breakfast option, it's made with smoked provolone so it tastes like it's made with ham)

I was also excited to see that it's pear season again so I stocked up on some red anjou and asian pears.

I took a macaron baking class once and ever since have been a sucker for this treat! I served them at my Valentine's Day party last year. Two pumpkin macarons is only 90 calories so it's not a bad treat.
It keeps in the freezer so it's not something you can easily take out and eat the whole package since you have to defrost them.

 Menchie's pumpkin frozen yogurt mixed with their graham cracker flavor - to die for! I like that they use milk from California cows that have not been treated with artificial growth hormones (rBST). I tried the pumpkin pie flavor at Fro-yo but it tasted more like cloves than pumpkin to me. Pinkberry had a sign up that their pumpkin flavor is coming soon. Random fact - the Kardashians go to the Calabasas Menchie's location often.