Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's

by Deana Gunn, Wona Miniati

COOKING WITH ALL THINGS TRADER JOE’S is the cookbook fans have been waiting for. Time-starved professionals and families will be able to enjoy the convenience of quick homemade meals without resorting to take-out, frozen TV dinners, or (heaven forbid!) fast food. Make delicious, healthy, home-cooked meals with typical working times of around 10 minutes— recipes like Peanutty Sesame Noodles, a favorite of kids and adults alike; Go Go Mango Chicken, bringing tropical zest to ordinary chicken, and Honey, I Ate the Chocolate Bread Pudding, a quick version of the Southern classic. In addition to mouth-watering photos for every recipe, you’ll find health facts, food trivia, and nuggets from the authors’ personal life experiences sprinkled throughout.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference, Food and Drink, Foodie

272 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2007

About the author

Deana Gunn holds a BS from MIT and a PhD from Northwestern University, both degrees in electrical engineering. She later gave herself an honorary degree in foodie-ism. Deana discovered Trader Joe's when she moved to California in 1997 and shopped at the very first Trader Joe's during her years living in Pasadena.

Through necessity, as her life became more hectic juggling kids and full-time jobs, she discovered ways to become a fast and efficient cook. Rather than resort to fast-food or frozen dinners, she found that by using prepped ingredients at Trader Joe's, it suddenly became completely doable to eat homemade meals every day and throw dinner parties without breaking a sweat. She and her co-author Wona have written and published 10 Trader Joe's cookbooks. After all these years, Trader Joe's is still their favorite place to shop.

Deana lives in Encinitas, CA with her husband, four children, and two dogs, who are all adventurous and appreciative eaters. When she's not cooking or writing about it, Deana spends her time doing pottery, yoga, and gardening.
She welcomes you to visit her blog

Click here for reviews

Reviews

[Margie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the idea more than I like the book itself. Because Trader Joe's is the home of prepackaged, quasi-pre-prepared food, this is not so much a cookbook as a bunch of ideas about how to present the food. There are a few dishes that look really creative (there's a saag lasagna that looks intriguing), but some of them seem like little more than a list of foods that you can serve with whatever it is you bought at TJ's (hummus, for example - serve it with pita crisps! and red pepper strips!).

It's not a bad book, and most TJ's shoppers will find at least one recipe that's useful. It just doesn't quite live up to its potential, unfortunately.

[Alan Matsumoto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy recipes drawn from ingredients found entirely in Trader Joe's stores. I've made two recipes from the book (pasta alla checca and eggplant parmesan pasta) and they tasted great and were super easy to put together. I also appreciated that they had photos to accompany almost every dish. I like to see what I'm going to cook.

[Allison]

hoooooly crap! the library has this one, and I am 3rd in the queue! how to make the most of my trader joe's lifestyle, which I thought was already pretty good without the book!

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having a Trader Joe's within easy walking distance is convenient, they are small and have fast checkout. The recipes look good and have nutrition data and serving amounts. It's a random collection, omnivore to vegan with many cooking genres. For me its not a keeper, I'm a vegan at home, but if you're more of an omnivore you may find some good stuff.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a bit underwhelmed with this cookbook because I didn't find a lot of items that sounded appetizing. That's probably just my personal dislike of certain foods that permeated a lot of the recipes. Someone less picky would probably find this book a bounty. Especially given that it contains approximate 120 recipes -- so there are plenty of recipes from which to choose. The selection is varied too: soups, salads, appetizers, side dishes, desserts, drinks, light meals, and family meals.

Many of the recipes involve little more than opening packages, mixing ingredients, and heating portions in the microwave, stove top, or oven -- especially those found in the "Bachelor Quickies" section.

Even more convenient ... all of the ingredients can be purchased at one store. They name specific TJ products and quantities to purchase for each recipe, which is very handy.

As all good cook books do, it starts off by explaining measurements, conversions, cookware, utensils, and condiments used in the recipes. There's an explanation about the Trader Joe's market concept in the front and a list of TJ stores in the back. Plus, many recipes have little post-it notes on its photo page offering wine/beer suggestions.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ended up buying this after checking it out from the library. Everything I've tried so far has been delicious: the almond pudding, persian green beans, updated green bean casserole, pesto gazpacho, muffaletta. I've also used it for inspiration, making my own version of italian wedding soup, green garbanzo salad, and pork enchiladas-- which became pork tostadas, really. Note- I'm too lazy to go find the book and get the recipe titles correct.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love going to Trader Joe's so when this book came in the new books at the library I immediately checked it out. I made the totasta recipe and they were excellent. I made some others and they were good too.

My only concern is being able to find all the ingredients at my local Trader Joe's

I think I will ask one of my sisters to give it to me for Christmas.

[Jane Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cookbook. This one doesn't leave our kitchen counter. The ingredients are easy to find and the recipes are formatted very clearly. Black Bean Soup and Stuffed Peppers and the chocolate mousse are my favorites.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE LOVE LOVE this cook book! I am just starting to cook more and this has been really helpful with guiding me since everything is simple and everything I make is delicious! Checked it out from my local library, and loved it sooo much that I just bought a copy for myself.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a brilliant idea, and even though I sometimes feel like I cook with all things Trader Joe’s, I think I could expand my repertoire with this book. They don’t sell the book at Trader Joe’s – too bad!

[Jane Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cookbook. This one doesn't leave our kitchen counter. The ingredients are easy to find and the recipes are formatted very clearly. Black Bean Soup and Stuffed Peppers and the chocolate mousse are my favorites.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

My eyes perked up when I saw this in the library, but honestly, there's nothing perky in here. If I'm going to purchase TJs products, I'm either going to use them as is, or use them creatively myself, and not turn to a recipe to figure out what to do with them.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is interesting and gave me a few new ideas on how to cook with Trader Joe's foods. Nothing too earth-shattering but I did appreciate that EVERY recipe had a picture! Wish every cook book was that way.

[Margee · Rating 3 out of 5]

These recipes are handy if you routinely buy from Trader Joe's, though much of what the stores offer is gourmet-style convenience food for those times when you'd rather *not* cook, so the value of the recipes seems marginal. The book's true worth probably lies in menu-planning--a good 'idea' book.

[Juliet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seemed like a good idea...but it feels like the ideas are a little TOO simple to have warranted a cookbook. There are a few more complex recipes (with ingredient lists to match), but most are just variations of things you could probably figure out on your own.

[Don]

Two friends share their recipes for quick gourmet meals using ingredients found at Trader Joe’s. Included are some appetizers and other dishes that would be great for holiday entertaining. Keep up with new recipes and ideas at the book’s website, blog, and Facebook page.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I have heard that the inventory turns over so much at TJ that a lot of the recipes in this book are now obsolete. Boo!

[BookMouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some neat ideas.

[Maryanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, easy, yummy recipes using ingredients from T.J.'s

[Shazia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The recipes are so easy. I will be trying some of them and will also try to buy my own copy of this book.

[Lori]

Trader Joe's ROCKS so this looks like a book I have to read. And I love to cook too!

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made the Chipolte Chili last night and it was Very Good! Definitely will become one of our preferred cookbooks, especially since we shop Trader Joe's every week!

[Gina Tackett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seriously love Trader Joe's. They have the most wonderful products and sometimes, I have no clue what to do with them. This book helps a lot, plus it gives me a lot of great recipes to try that don't take very long. This book is a wonderful size, and jammed packed with amazing recipes. If you are a fan of TJ's like I am this book is a must.

[Danielle Manalo]

my gateway cookbook

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

In their thank you notes at the beginning, the author's thank their families for tasting "the yummy to the crummy." Paging through these fabulous, glossy, full color, drool-worthy photos, I doubt these family tasters suffered much.
If you are looking for inspiration or creative simple ideas to share with friends, this book has you covered. I have kept it out just to page through while waiting for the man to make me dinner.

Not only is it a sturdy construction, the pages wipe off well too.
There is even a handy TJ location guide at the end. Our state definitely needs more, but worth the drive. (Delicious recipes inside can be constructed with ingredients from locations other than TJ.)

From appetizers and soups, drinks to sides and not too complicated main meals, this book covers food for any time of day.
I am grateful I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took with me to Tday dinner so the relatives who cook could look at it, we all agreed the photos make the receipes look good. Can't wait for TJs to open here. I might copy a few pages to see if I can make the dishes. Not finished wishing with it, kind of like the sears catalog when I was a kid. Today, 24 Nov 12, I marked the pages I will copy, to see if I can make a receipe come out like the photo. I'm turning the book in tomorrow, if the few cooking attempts turn out successful I may have to legally acquire this book.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

fist of all i must say that i requested this book from my library sad to say that this was not the book that i asked them to get i wanted to see the gluten free trader joe's this one looked very out dated and NOTHING looked good in fact the pictures of the food made it look like nastiness yuck i found nothing to make from this nothing at all very disappointing.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great easy cookbook. The recipes all include ingredients from Trader Joe products. Many of them are already prepackaged items that are combined or have additional ingredients added. The pictures of the recipes are very good too.

[Cleokatra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! It has lots of useful ideas for things you can do with some of the unusual products found at Trader Joe's. I borrowed this from the library, but I'm thinking of buying my own copy.

ETA Santa brought me an Amazon gift card, so I'll be buying this book now.

[Brad Harju · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book and a bag in a Goodreads Giveaway. Lots of good recipes and ideas to try out. I'm going to pass this cookbook along to family and/or friends so they can try some of these great recipes. Thanks so much for the cookbook and bag!!!