The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook

by Cherie Mercer Twohy

This book offers creative ideas for turning fabulous and affordable Trader Joe's grocery offerings into quick, easy, and scrumptious meals.Based on the author’s wildly popular, standing-room-only workshops, The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook presents her top 200 recipes for everything from crowd-pleasing hors d’oeuvres and tasty quick meals to gourmet entrées and world-class desserts. Since every ingredient can be purchased at Trader Joe’s, this is truly the ultimate one-stop shopping guide — perfect for simplifying one’s busy schedule. The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook is designed to help shoppers recognize the best finds, savor the flavors and reap the fruits of the TJ’s buyers’ labors. From advice on topping a cracker with the best possible cheese, spread, or tapenade to far more involved recipes (as in actual cooking!), this book is packed with quick tips and simple suggestions as well as full-meal ideas. The recipes, carefully selected by the author, have been thoroughly tested by countless students for both ease of preparation and general deliciousness. Green olive and gorgonzola palmiers; black pepper chicken with winter squash; sweet potato, pecan, and cranberry salad, Spanish flavored pork — these enticing recipes are among the 200 that send readers dashing to their local Trader Joe’s.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Family and food are the touchstones in Cherie Mercer Twohy's life. After attending culinary school late in life, she found her bliss teaching cooking. Her cooking school, Chez Cherie, in La Canada, CA (www.chezcherie.com),has hosted thousands of students since its founding in 2000. Twohy holds a Certified Culinary Professional (CCP) designation from the International Association of Culinary Professionals."

Reviews

[Ann L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an ok recipe book. I'm looking for certain types of recipes and I wasn't able to get it from this book in particular. If you're a vegan, this is not your type of book. If you're trying to eat really healthy, this may not be the book for you either, as a lot of recipes uses nuts, oils, dairy (in other words, rich foods that do not care about waistlines). There were a few recipes I really appreciated though and will make those ones.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great cookbook, that has recipes with ingredients from Trader Joe's (grocery). If you are not familiar with Trader Joes, there are many amazing facts to learn in this book on how to shop. They also mention stockpiling your favorite ingredients, as products often become discontinued. Another great tip from this book is to ask the store manager nicely if any other stores still have the discontinued item in stock. I have never been inside a Trader Joes, but now I want to make a trip!

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an ok cook book based on Trader Joe's foods.

I wish there were more pictures of the finished products. There were some interesting recipes, but most of them are fairly fatty or tedious. The brie tart sounds good, but isn't something I'd make regularly or makes me think exclusively of Trader Joe's.

This is a pretty standard recipe book.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

not for the beginning cook, these recipes look complicated (they aren't). some color photos, recipes are id'ed as to gluten free, vegan etc. has one suggestion for TJs i've wanted for twenty years - have a going-going-gone shelf for discontinued stuff.

[Mills College Library]

641.5 T974 2009

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I lived nearer to a Trader Joe's! The cookbook gets 4.5 Stars. Next time I get near a Joe's I already have a list of stuff I learned about from this cookbook I want to buy: mache, creme fraiche, corn and chile tomato-less salsa, Giotto's Pesto alla Genovese, Israeli couscous, dried rainier cherries, savory broth concentrate, frozen raspberry creme brulee, artisan puff pastry, wild Maine blueberry fruit sauce, and I can go on and on and on! The entire dessert section looked glorious along with the salad section!

My only complaint about this book is the author loves the "stinky" cheeses: goat cheese, blue cheese, feta cheese, and gorgonzola cheese. While some people love those I am not such a fan.

[Just - The romance reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept behind this book is unique in that all the "specially required" items are from Trader Joe's. The book is well written and visually appealing. All the recipes were pretty unique, but I give the book only 3 stars because many of the recipes just didn't appeal to me that much.

Recipes I would like to try:
-BBQ Pasta Salad
-Hairdresser Blondies
-Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce
-Maxi-Mini Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

[J.M. Brister · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Trader Joe's, but I hate cooking. In fact, I hate cooking so much, that even these simple recipes are too much for me. Sorry, TJ's book. Nothing against you. How about a TJ's cookbook that tells you what the ACTUAL cooking time is for all of their foods. Does anyone else experience this? The packages for their foods tell you one thing, and you usually have to add several minutes to it. I HATE that.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Trader Joe's so I had to get this book. I was vegetarian at the time(Now I'm vegan) and a lot of the recipes where either vegetarian or could be easily made that way. The sad part is, I found one of the recipes that claimed to be vegetarian, to not be. It was a dish I was making for my sister that contained a pesto that contained cheese made with rennet. After that I checked all labels when making things from the book. But all in all it was still a pretty good cook book.

[Sari Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far I've made the Maple Honey Chicken & the Sautéed Chard of Many Colors with Pine Nuts - both incredibly fast & simple to prepare, and incredibly yummy! I've marked quite a few other things to try...

[Jennifer Choisser · Rating 3 out of 5]

I <3 Trader Joe's but I wasn't really into the recipes this book had to offer, the majority of them I will not be cooking. I enjoyed the authors writing style and related to her enthusiasm towards TJ's but was dissapointed that the book didn't contain more photography.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Copied some recipes. The pork and cranberry recipes all look good. will try them and see which ones I like best.

[Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll check this book out again once Salt Lake has our own Trader Joe's this fall!

[Michelle Manire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Trader Joe's and I love this cook book. Who knew you could make such delicious, healthy, quick and easy meals. It's awesome.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has a lot of basic and creative recipes that are easy to throw together without being boring. Not dependent on trader joes, although she really does love trader joes.

[Corrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recipes sound really good but would have appreciated more pictures.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Trader Joe's, so this is the perfect cookbook for me. I'm excited to try out these recipes!