Aloo Chaat Kati Pouches (Trader Joe’s)

Listen, guys and gals.  I know I’m a bit of a foodie, but there was a guy before all of the ethnic fare, craft brews, and fancy cooking utensils.  I was in college and my fancy cooking utensil was a microwave.  The beer was Budweiser and as close as I would get to ethnic food, was a Chicken Fajita Hot Pocket.  I blossomed, and things changed quite a bit.  When I spotted a new product in the frozen Indian section, I was excited.  When I discovered that it was pretty much a hot pocket, college me was ecstatic   I couldn’t wait for current me and college me to have a lovely dinner that night, so I picked them up.  Here’s how our date with these new pastry pockets went:

I took the purple box of Aloo Chaat Kati Pouches out of the paper bag full of groceries and removed one of the individually packaged potato packed pastries.  Inside the box, there were 2 crisping sleeves so you could microwave them.  College me, was insistent on using his version of cooking things, and I was, also, a little intrigued on how these would turn out in the microwave.  So, I unwrapped the first pocket and struggled to squeeze it in to the sleeve that would be responsible for ensuring that this didn’t turn into a soggy mess.  After 2 minutes the Indian Hot Pocket was finished and thoroughly cooked through.  This was already a better experience than I had in the past with my Hot Pockets as I would always have to stick my finger into the middle to see if it was still frozen solid in the middle.  It was time to taste, and just like I do with just about every Indian dish I eat, I served it with a dollop of Greek yogurt to cool it off and add a little tang.  The crust was buttery, much like samosas, and the potatoes were nicely spiced with a few chickpeas scattered throughout.  These were pretty heavy on the potatoes, much like an aloo (potato) dish should be, but could have used a little more depth to round them out as the yogurt was quite necessary to making them enjoyable.  

It wasn’t anything incredibly special and lacked some of the spice and intense flavor that I had found with some of the other Indian dishes at Trader Joe’s.  It’s pretty much a Hot Pocket, but college me wasn’t exactly satisfied by this.  Current, foodie me, although thrilled at the idea of an Indian style microwaved pastry pocket, needed more.  Overall, this wasn’t going to be something that I would mark down on my shopping list again, but what the FORK do I know.  Maybe you’ll like them.  They weren’t terrible.

Tzatziki Dip (ALDI)

As you have probably noticed, I’m a nut for Mediterranean fare.  So, when I’m out shopping and I spot an item inspired by this area of the world, automatic pilot engages and my hand snags the container and slides it into my cart.  This time it happened to be a product that I have never spotted before, resting in the deli section of ALDI.  Tzatziki dip was not on the list but, It wasn’t going to stay on the shelf either, and before I knew it, there it sat in my cart.  There was no turning back.  The transaction was complete and I was now the owner of a creamy cucumber dip.  Here’s what I did with it:

Only $1.99

You may already know all about tzatziki, and may not even know it.  It was that creamy, garlicky, yogurt sauce that covered your gyro and probably left you licking you fingers after it dripped out of the pita that was attempting to contain it.  It’s the reason I switched from using sour cream in my dips to Greek yogurt.  As I studied the packaging, I realized that this small container of tzatziki was being marketed as a dip.  I opened it up and realized that it was a little thicker than the yogurt sauces that have covered my gyros in the past, and this extra thickness would make it great to scoop with some pita chips.  I didn’t have any of those laying around, and made the snap decision to just dig my pointer finger into the dip, snagging a healthy portion to give it a taste.  FORKing delicious!  Maybe the best tzatziki sauce I have ever tasted (store bought or homemade).  After allowing the sauce to saturate my palate, I realized that this was going to be the perfect topping for the salmon I had planned on baking tonight.


I was really anxious to make this yogurt dip part of my meal tonight.  Snagging a handful of red potatoes, I placed them on the cutting board and reduced them to thick slices in quarters.  Olive oil was placed in a skillet and the heat turned to medium.  Some fresh, peeled garlic and a few sprigs of rosemary accompanied the potatoes into the skillet.  The oven was set to 375 in preparation for the salmon.  While that was heating up, I seasoned my salmon fillet with dried dill, salt, and pepper, covering it with three slices of lemon, and gave the potatoes a toss.  Finally, the oven was ready and the salmon baked for about 12 minutes, giving the potatoes enough time to thoroughly cook.  It was all plated and then covered with the tzatziki and garnished with a sprig of rosemary.  The tzatziki was the perfect complement to the salmon and even after I was finished with the fish, I wiped up the remaining sauce with my potatoes.

Pumpkin Soup (Trader Joe’s)

Every year Trader Joe’s goes pretty heavy on featuring pumpkin treats for us all to try.  This year is no different as they roll out the new fall line up with a fabulous Pumpkin Soup.  At $1.79, this pumpkin pleasantry is just as pleasant on the pocketbook.  It comes packaged in a tetra recyclable cardboard container that’s easy to seal and store for another use.

So, my mind was racing as I held this new item in my hands.  There’s an almost endless canvas of culinary adventures you can go on with a soup as a base.  First, it had to be tested on its own.  I heated a small amount that ended up filling my apartment with pumpkin aroma.  My stomach let out an assuring grumble and my mouth salivated in agreement.  Just from the smell alone, I knew this was going to be a bit hit.  It was like slurping on pumpkin pie.  Slightly sweet, plenty of pumpkin flavor, and hints of ginger were prominent in this smoothly crafted soup.  If you’re a fan of the butternut squash variety, this is the one-upper.

Obviously this one gets high remarks from me.  Fans of pumpkin should be flocking to their local TJ’s to pick this one up before the season is over.  As I stated above, pumpkin soup offers up a large database of creative dishes waiting to be created from it’s nearly perfect base.  I dressed it up with some Indian flavors adding, curry spice, red bell peppers, potatoes, and sweet onions.  And, that was just one thing I could craft using what I had laying around the kitchen.  Let your imagination run wild.  Pick up Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Soup, and go nuts.  What the FORK are U waiting for?