If there’s one Trader Joe’s product that can be deemed a cult favorite, it’s the Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese. It’s only found in the Fall, and it flies off the shelves due to people stocking up their freezers.
Like the Pumpkin Ginger Hold the Cones, I’m only just catching up to the Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese craze. And like them, I’m now a convert.
It’s tough to describe how good this is. It is definitely a creamy, cheesy mac and cheese. But the butternut squash lends it a depth of flavor mac and cheese can’t achieve on its own. Add plenty of black pepper for kick, and you have the perfect Fall lunch.
This is a good portion for one and can be heated up in the microwave or the oven.
Every year, people wait on pins and needles for these pumpkin-flavored morsels to arrive, and then go crazy stocking up on as many as they can.
So, I knew they could be great, but I spent two whole seasons passing them by.
Fortunately, this Fall I dove right in.
These are miniature ice cream cones filled with a creamy pumpkin ginger ice cream and topped with a white chocolate coating. (The white chocolate is also in the bottom of a cone as a little surprise.)
I shared these with my daughter and son-in-law, and we were all blown away. The flavor is very complex and rich for such a small dessert, and the pumpkin ice cream had just enough of a ginger kick, but not too much for my ginger-averse daughter.
The size is perfect, too, although I wouldn’t blame you if you ate more than one.
Don’t be like me and miss out on these delicious cones. Grab them today before they’re gone!
It sounds great: The perfect warm and homey breakfast for Fall. It even includes my favorite autumnal flavor, pecan.
Nasty.
The taste is somewhat bland, and it looks a mess (so no in-the-bowl picture). But the worst offense here is the smell.
It smells like pumpkin potpourri.
Seriously, there’s a cloying perfume to this that I can’t get past. It persists even after you add hot water. It just overpowers everything and likely affects the taste.
There’s nothing like soup when the weather cools off. And there’s nothing like pumpkin and butternut squash when Fall arrives.
So, Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butternut Squash Bisque should check all the autumnal boxes. Which it does.
Kind of.
This is a good soup, not too thick and not too watery, with a smooth flavor that doesn’t taste too much of pumpkin or butternut squash, but a blend of both. There are a few chunks of sage in there for a flavor. It’s a nice, easy, sippable soup.
Which is good, but not great, and that’s what I’d say about this soup: It’s nice. It didn’t wow me, but it’s nice.
The soup is in the refrigerated case, and I got about two decent sized servings out of the tub when served with a sandwich or a salad. I think if I ate this as my only meal, it would be one serving.
I liked it but wasn’t blown away. I would probably repurchase it, but I won’t weep when it disappears like some seasonal favorites.
As much as I love Trader Joe’s, I’m not in love with their pre-made foods.
That isn’t to say I dislike everything from the refrigerated case. Their soups are the bomb (especially the seasonal varieties) and I do very much like a lot of their ready-made meals. But while I succumb occasionally (it’s a long drive to TJ’s from my house), their salads and sandwiches don’t usually thrill me.
After that long-winded disclaimer, let me just say that this Cubano Seasoned Wrap is…not bad.
It’s described as roasted pork, uncured ham, Swiss cheese and dill pickles in a flour tortilla with a Cuban-inspired mustard dressing.
Let’s break it down, shall we?
Roasted pork – This was my favorite part. The meat is moist and well-seasoned, and there are decent sized pieces.
Uncured ham – Also very good; much better quality than you’d normally expect in a pre-made sandwich wrap.
Swiss cheese – It’s…Swiss cheese?
Dill pickles – Not sure what these are, but they’re not the dill pickles of my Vlasic dreams. They tasted more like sweet pickles, and since I detest sweet pickles, I was turned off.
Flour tortilla – Pretty standard. Because the dressing was on the side and there were no vegetables, it didn’t get soggy or slimy, which was nice. Speaking of the dressing…
Mustard dressing: I would say a lot of the “seasoning” from the Cubano Seasoned Wrap was actually in here. But it’s not spicy at all. Rather, it’s tangy, sweet and mustardy all at once, and thin enough for dipping. There was enough for the whole wrap, but barely.
Overall, I’d say this is a solid option if you’re stuck at lunchtime.
If you don’t feel like it’s Fall until your first warm apple cider, then these are the donuts for you.
Trader Joe’s Apple Cider Donuts are a Fall staple, and it’s easy to see why. These delicious cake-style donuts are coated with thick cinnamon sugar and while there’s no apple directly in them, they evoke happy apple cider memories.
Interestingly, I tried these last year and thought they were just okay. They seemed a little dry and the coating was sparse. I don’t know whether HQ got my memo or I just got a bad box, because neither of those things were an issue this year.
Apple Cider Donuts come six to a box, and are found in the bakery section near the front of the store (with the cakes, Kringles, etc.). As with all the seasonal products, they’re here for a limited time only, so grab them while you can.
Let me start off with an apology in case this isn’t available in your store and I get you all excited for nothing.
But when I saw that Abita had a new seasonal ale out and at Trader Joe’s, no less, I was all in.
Just a note: I live in Southeast, Louisiana and the Abita brewery is about 30 minutes from my house. So that may be why I could get my hands on this.
And let me apologize again: I don’t know much about beer. When I posted a photo of it to the Trader Joe’s subreddit, I got a long treatise about hops and heads and finishes and other stuff I didn’t understand that basically came out to:
“Meh.”
But, I had a whole 6-pack of it, so I decided I had to see for myself, and I’m glad I did. I may be a beer newb, but I really enjoyed it.
It’s somewhere between a red and a brown ale, and it reminded me a lot of Newcastle, which I happen to like. (I’m sure a beer lover somewhere is rolling over in his or her premature grave.) It had a nice thick head, and was very smooth, which I think is important in a beer.
It also didn’t set off my allergies, which I like, as well.
As for the pecan, I don’t know that I tasted pecan for sure, but there is definitely a warm, nutty undertone to the beer that just tastes like Fall.
All in all, I expect to have a fridge full of Abita Pecan Ale this season. And if you can’t, you’re definitely missing out. Sorry!
Trader Joe's Table 