Who Needs Take-Out?

I'm not a chef by any stretch of the imagination. Just ask my closest friends and family and they will tell you. I mean, I have a few staples that I turn to religiously as my "go to" meals and I make them well, but other than that...I'm not that into cooking (now baking, that's more of my thing, but I digress...).

Tonight the hubs wasn't feeling so swell, so I came home and had dinner on the table in LESS than 30 minutes and, YES, I had help:

Mandarin Orange Chicken from Trader Joe's...YUM! I can't find my receipt, but I want to say that this was $4.99 and it makes enough for 5 servings. Let me just say that I have two of the world's pickiest eaters (not all the time, but sometimes) and both children asked for SECONDS tonight. I pan fried the chicken (already breaded) according to package directions. I added in three small heads of broccoli (that cost over $2 at Trader Joe's) that I cut up and cooked that until the broccoli was just tender. I added both bags of sauce directly to the chicken-broccoli mixture, stirred until the sauce was heated through and served over steamed rice (leftover from yesterday's dinner). I swear to you I felt like a gourmet chef and all I had to do was heat this up...it was easy peasy!

If you have a Trader Joe's at your disposal, then I totally recommend that you try this. It made for an easy dinner and I think it's safe to say that it's going to be something we'll eat on a weekly basis.

Trader Joe's

Watch out, Wal-Mart…as much as I love it when you roll back your prices, there’s a new guy in town who makes my grocery shopping experience all the more pleasant. True, I can’t use coupons, but the selection and variety of good-for-you foods is worth more to me than my savings at Harris Teeter during triple coupon days. It might not be convenient for me to just swing by the store on my way home, but I would much rather get my produce there than at the Farm Fresh just minutes from my house. And, while I love the gourmet feel of The Fresh Market, I can still get my gourmet on and NOT have to take out a small loan to replenish my bank account.

Trader Joe’s is open now in Virginia Beach. If any of you out there are familiar with this grocery store, you will know why I am head over heels in love. If you don’t know about Trader Joe’s, now is the time to start emailing the company to get one in your neighborhood. Seriously.