Trader Joe's pumpkin seed brittle: I am not against pumpkin flavored things, as you may have guessed from my steady stream of pumpkin snack reviews from Trader Joe's. This week, I purchased seasonal brittle, dusted with sugar and pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom) and with whole pumpkin seeds throughout. Immediate out of the box, the permeating smell is butter. And since smell plays such a key role in taste, I can't help but feel like I'm eating a crunchy stick of butter. The scent even lingers on you... (read more) 2.5/5.0
traderjoes brittle pumpkin pumpkinpie spiced sweets 2.5 seed
Trader Joe's Mochi rice nuggets: The joy of eating mochi comes down to its distinct chewy texture and its faintly sweet flavor, accentuated by even sweeter fillings like red bean and black sesame. So what happens when you take mochi, fry it so it's crispy, and season it so it becomes a savory snack? Trader Joe's is attempting to answer that question with their mochi nugget crackers. The nuggets are slightly larger than a piece of Capt'n Crunch and are on the salty side, with a golden sheen similar to corn cereal. Each crac... (read more) 2.5/5.0
crackers traderjoes mochi rice nuggets 2.5
Trader Joe's Peppermint Pretzel Slims: A festive take on yogurt pretzels, these flat pretzels have a white "coating" (essentially palm oil mixed with milk solids) and crushed candy cane on top. Together, they compose a crunchy minty snack that's pretty well balanced and avoids tasting like a breath mint. High in saturated fat, with a low serving size (4 pretzels). 2.5/5.0
traderjoes peppermint pretzel slims 2.5
Trader Joe's Pink & Whites Cookies: Trader Joe's continues its quest to cover all bases, taking familiar cookies and adding just enough of a twist to keep them fresh. These tweaks involve amplifying the flavor of a classic (like their vanilla-concentrated Nila wafer knock offs) or giving new form to an otherwise ordinary snack (like their cat-shaped cookies). The appropriately named Pink & Whites, shortbread cookies with pink-and-white yogurt coating and colorful sprinkles, are essentially frosted animal cookies shaped as fl... (read more) 2.5/5.0
cookies traderjoes yogurt pink whites 2.5
Trader Joe's Rice Bites with Quinoa & Cranberries: To be honest, I'm not a big fan of quinoa, and dried cranberries are probably my least favorite dried fruit. So why exactly did I purchase these grain + fruit bites from Trader Joe's? I blame it on my curiosity for this growing food trend of bite-sized squares, in both chewy and crunchy varieties, that appeal to health-minded consumers yet are not actually so healthy from a pure calorie and sugar-intake perspective. Trader Joe's take is simply not good. It has a cloying, artifical sweetn... (read more) 2.5/5.0
traderjoes rice bites quinoa cranberries 2.5
Trader Joe's Blueberry Lavender almond flavored beverage: I've tried a few of these flavored almond milks from Trader Joe's up to this point, and I'm starting to wonder why I'm still bothering to purchase them. The matcha flavor I bought previously was not very good, and this drink reminds me of a liquid form of blueberry-flavored yogurt, with an artificial blueberry flavor that doesn't taste very much of the normally slightly tart fruit. I wasn't able to discern any lavender flavor, though it tasted more of vanilla to me. A really weird drink t... (read more) 2.5/5.0
drinks almondmilk traderjoes blueberry lavender almond flavored beverages 2.5