Trader Joe's Maple Chicken Breakfast Sausage

I saw this product advertised under the new products section of the Trader Joe's website. Since I like a protein to accompany my eggs I decided to give the Trader Joe's Maple Chicken Breakfast Sausage a try. Typically my sausage of choice is either chicken or turkey just because of the healthier stats.

The sausages in the package looked promising so I cooked them up one morning to enjoy along with my breakfast, but also to have prepared as part of my meal prep for a few days. The sausages cooked up perfectly in a non-stick pan, browning on each side. They are fully cooked, so you've really only got to warm them up and brown the casings to your liking.

Unlike your "traditional" precooked or frozen breakfast sausage, this product is in a casing. I found the casings bubbled up a bit and browned, but didn't get quite a sear compared to the sear you can get on other frozen breakfast sausages. Plating up my breakfast, I found the sausage was slightly tough because the casing was rather thick. Not insanely thick, but thick enough that it couldn't be easily broken in half with a plastic fork. Flavor wise it was your classic chicken sausage, which was flavored with a mild maple flavor. The sausage wasn't sweet, but it had a hint of maple flavoring in the background.

Overall, the sausages weren't terrible ... but they certainly weren't a favorite of mine.

A serving, 2 sausage links, is 90 calories or 2 points plus values.

Ocean Spray Diet Cran-Lemonade

Fruit flavored lemonades are one of my favorite drinks. Admittedly, I don't have them very often because it's relatively difficult to find a diet or sugar free version in the stores. So when I accidentally stumbled upon the Ocean Spray Diet Cran-Lemonade while picking up some cranberry juice, I was psyched.

 

The juice itself is perfect. It's tangy (that classic lemonade tang, with a twist from the cranberry flavor). It's not a drink to leave your face puckered, because it does have a subtle sweetness to it. The two flavors balance one another off well and compliment each other. It's refreshing and a nice little beverage to have on hand to offer something different to the palate. This will undoubtedly be a beverage I have around for the summer months where all one wants is a nice, cold glass of lemonade. It'll allow me to be able to enjoy a lemonade beverage with friends/family without having guilt about how much sugar/calories are in your everyday average lemonade.

A serving, 1 cup, is 5 calories or 0 points plus values.

Stouffer's Mac Cups - Cheeseburger Mac

Mac and cheese is one of those dishes that I just absolutely love. It's versatile, it's different and not many people make it the same way (even the boxed stuff). I admit I haven't been one of the biggest fans of frozen macaroni and cheese because I can find it to be bland. But I decided to live on the edge and give the Stouffers's Mac Cups - Cheeseburger Mac a shot when I spotted them in Wal-Mart.

 

What I liked the most was that the dish is packaged in individual microwaveable serving cups.  Each box comes with two cups and if I recall correctly, it was under $3. The box describes the dish as a "macaroni & ground beef in a tangy, 100% real cheddar cheese sauce."  I figured the burger in the mac and cheese would make it a little different ... even an ode to Hamburger Helper.

 

I popped mine in the microwave and let it cook as directed, when done I stirred it up and found that it was very creamy. Flavorwise it was okay, nothing fabulously amazing about it. The hamburger bits were tiny little granuals that weren't all that great. It was cheesy but lacked flavor (I added a little black pepper to it and it helped a bit). It certainly wasn't my favorite mac and cheese (which if you're wondering is Trader Joe's Low Fat Macaroni and Cheese). Overall - it was alright ... but I think if I'd venture into trying them I'd give the original a shot.
 

A cup is a serving, which is 230 calories or 6 points plus values.

Vitalicious Veggie Sausage VitaEgg Sandwich

I was sent a box of the Vitalicious Veggie Sausage VitaEgg Sandwich to try out. Since it was the one in the line with the most protein in it (15g), I opted to have it for a convenience early morning breakfast. Truth be told, I am not a vegetarian, but I don't mind enjoying vegetarian/vegan dishes from time to time.

I followed the directions on the box, removing the sandwich from the wrapper, wrapping it in a paper towel and microwaving. When done I removed the sandwich from the microwave and allowed it to cool slightly before enjoying. I found the sandwich itself holds together well, even after having been microwaved. The egg and sausage are very soft in texture, which at first took a few bites to get used to. But overall it's nothing too bad. The bread has a firm texture so it keeps the sandwich together without falling apart.

Flavor wise I found it to be a little bland, so I pulled out my handy dandy hot sauce and reduced sugar ketchup and added a dollop of each. The addition of condiments spruced it up and brought some flavor to it which made it enjoyable. I can't say they're hands down delicious ... but they're pretty good for a convenience food to have on hand when in a pinch and something is needed quickly.

 

A sandwich is 160 calories or 3 points plus values.

Trader Joe's Mini Cafe Twists

I had heard great things about the Trader Joe's Mini Cafe Twists so while at the store I made sure to pick up a container to give a try. I'm a huge fan of cafe twists ... there's a brand my local grocery store sells that's pretty tasty and uniquely sold in a variety of different flavors. Flavor options aside, the Trader Joe's variety is your standard cafe twist with no unique or interesting flavor categories.

 

The treat is dairy free containing no butter, eggs, yeast and are low sodium. There isn't much to them, the ingredients being simply unbleached wheat flour, soybean oil, palm oil, beet sugar, cinnamon and salt. If you don't have a Trader Joe's in your area, these are essentially the Barry's Bakery Original French Twists just re-packaged (which are sold in plastic containers, similar to the one pictured, or in bags).

 

The twists are a puff pastry dessert which is a combination of crispy, crunchy and slightly sweet with a cinnamon flavoring. The crisps are perfect on their own, or alongside a nice cup of coffee/tea. They serve the cure for crunch, sweet and a dessert ... it's a hybrid between a cookie and a dessert. I find them to be satisfying while not being something that can turn into a trigger. Even though they're described as mini the twists are pretty decent in size (about a fingers length in size, if not a tad bigger).

 

A serving, 4 twists, is 120 calories or 3 points plus values.

V8 Healthy Greens

When I saw that V8 had released a new line of vegetable juices I was intrigued. Intrigued most notably because they were offering a green juice variety. After searching for them for weeks on end, I finally spotted the V8 Healthy Greens at my local grocery store (that is even without having my coupon on hand!).

Since I haven't been feeling 100% as of late, I decided to crack open the juice in hopes it would live up to the hype I built up in my head. Admittedly, I find a lot of the green juices/smoothies on the market are overly sweet and can only be consumed in small quantities. That is, except some of the cold pressed juices at places like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Target which are more green tasting than overly sweet juice.

This V8 definitely falls in that more green tasting than sweet juice. It's actually, quite bitter to the point I'm not really a fan. It tastes like someone threw spinach, romaine, carrots and celery in a juicer then at the last minute decided it was too tart and popped a granny smith apple into the mix. It's bitter, not sweet at all and is really like drinking a liquified salad. Admittedly there is no added sugar or artificial ingredients, which makes this a healthier option ... but it's not tasty. Definitely, not my forte to say the least. I don't want it to go to waste, so I think I'll end up popping some into an ice cube tray and freezing, then using an ice cube or two in a smoothie mix.

 

A serving, 1 cup, is 60 calories or 2 points plus values.

Chili, Bean & Rice Stuffed Peppers

One afternoon I was watching some YouTube videos that were in my subscription feed when I stumbled upon a video from Laura Vitale. It was a recipe on her chili stuffed peppers. The dish itself looked fabulous and it was a very unique take on having stuffed peppers and even chili so I decided to give it a try. I checked over the recipe and adapted it to the way that I make my chili, only adding in some brown sugar as Laura did in her video while I decided to skip adding cheese to my stuffed peppers.  The end result was nothing other than spectacular.

 

So spectacular that I've actually made these twice so far. They're so good, that my somewhat picky mother has asked me to make these a few times because she enjoyed them so much when I made them the first time. The last time I made a batch, it was Superbowl Sunday and my brother was in love ... so much so he took one home. They're utterly delicious, satisfying and a total hit!

Serves 12, 1/2 stuffed pepper serving, 5 points plus per serving (you can have a whole pepper - 2 halves - for 10 points plus values)

Ingredients:

* 20 oz. lean 93% lean ground turkey (you can substitute for beef if you prefer)

* 14.5 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained (you can substitute for whatever bean you prefer)

* 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, slightly drained

* 32 oz canned crushed tomatoes

* 6 oz canned tomato paste

* 1 medium onion, chopped

* 6 medium bell peppers, cut in half, seeds removed

* 2 cups cooked white rice (you can substitute for brown if you prefer)

* 2/3 cup water

* 1/2 tbsp McCormick Steak Seasoning (optional)

* 3 tbsp chili powder

* 3 tsp cumin

* 1 tbsp minced garlic

* 1 tsp black pepper

* 1 tsp salt

* 1 tbsp brown sugar

 

Cut peppers in half and remove the seeds (leave stems if you can, it helps the peppers hold their shape and filling better). Spray a large baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and add peppers into the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

 

When peppers are done, remove from the pan and drain of any liquid that sits within the pepper and return the partially cooked peppers back to the pan.

 

Spray a pan with high sides with non-stick cooking spray, cooking over medium-high temperature, add in ground turkey and steak seasoning and begin to crumble up with a spoon. As the meat cooks, add in the garlic and onion and cook until meat is no longer pink and onions are softened.

 

Add in chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and brown sugar. Stir to combine, allowing the spices to blend with the meat and onion mixture.  Add in tomato paste and mix to combine.

 

Add in diced tomatoes, black beans, crushed tomatoes, and water and mix until nicely combined. Allow the mixture to simmer and thicken, coming together in roughly 15 minutes.

 

Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool for 10 minutes before adding in your cooked rice. Stirring it in to combine well to make sure the sauce covers all the rice and the mixture thickens together nicely.

 

Using a measuring cup, add in 1/4 cup of mixture into each pepper at a time, until all mixture is divided evenly into each halved pepper (if you end up with extra mixture, use a teaspoon and divide the mixture evenly).

 

Pop the stuffed peppers back into a 350* oven and allow to bake for 20 minutes. Remove peppers from oven and allow to cool 15-minutes before serving.