Last Thursday Finn and I made a trip to Trader Joe’s for a huge restock. For whatever reason, Finn likes Trader Joe’s noticeably more than other grocery stores…although he does love to say “AL-DI” when we are in Aldi. On Thursday he was smiling, waving and talking to most anyone who came within a five foot radius of us. He was like the little ambassador of Trader Joe’s, haha.
My favorite moment came when one gentleman stopped to talk to Finn and asked, “how are you doing today?” Finn took his paci out of his mouth and answered “good” as clear as day. My jaw dropped open and I told the man that it was the first time I’d ever heard Finn participate in a social exchange like that!
We actually ended up having several fun and engaging mini conversations with people, including one sweet older lady who reminded me of my grandmother. One thing I have noticed since having Finn is how drawn older people are to babies and small children. I love stopping to chat with when Finn waves and they say hi. It makes my heart happy.
So…I don’t do my weekly shopping at Trader Joe’s but I like to go every 6-8 weeks to stock up on certain things. I need to write posts with both my Trader Joe’s and Aldi staples. I’ll add that to the list!
Trader Joe’s is my favorite store for frozen items. I think they have the best and most interesting selection by a landslide. I love their frozen gorgonzola gnocchi and added a bag to our cart on Thursday. As I continued to shop, dinner inspiration came to me and I couldn’t wait to get home and bring it to life!
May I present to you….
CHICKEN SAUSAGE, MUSHROOM, SPINACH + ARTICHOKE GNOCCHI SKILLET
I shared how I put this together on Instagram stories and received so much feedback on how good it looked and so many requests to share the details that I decided to write it out on my blog. It’s so easy and ready in about 15 minutes.
The most important thing to note is that all of the ingredients are from Trader Joe’s so if you don’t have one nearby, I can’t provide you a recipe that is an exact copycat to this one. I’m sorry! Maybe one day I will tackle recreating the gorgonzola gnocchi…because it is good!
Here’s what you need. All products from Trader Joe’s.
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 2-3 sun-dried tomato or sweet Italian sausage chicken sausages (the kind in casing, not the pre-cooked kind in the vacuum-pack container), about 1/2 pound
- 1/2 package of frozen mushroom medley
- About 8-10 frozen artichoke hearts
- 1 package frozen gorgonzola gnocchi
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (the kind in the bag, not in the jar)
- 2 cups baby spinach
And here are the cooking instructions:
- Heat a large pan over medium high heat (be sure to use the biggest pan you have!). Add olive oil and heat.
- Remove chicken sausage from casing and add to pan. Cook 5 minutes to brown, breaking apart with your spatula.
- Add mushrooms and artichoke hearts and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add gnocchi and continue to cook until all of the frozen items are heated through and cheese sauce is melted, about 6-7 minutes.
- Add sun-dried tomatoes and spinach and stir until spinach is wilted.
- Season to taste with pepper. You probably won’t need salt.
Here’s the finished skillet. It makes 2-3 servings. I served this to Finn for dinner (I separated the parts out a bit) and he asked for thirds on the gnocchi!
I served mine with a side salad of arugula tossed in balsamic, honey, olive oil and sea salt and topped with pistachios, goat cheese and dried cranberries.
I hate to share a “recipe” (this is totally a non-recipe but you know what I mean) that isn’t accessible to everyone but I do know that a lot of you shop at Trader Joe’s and appreciate these easy throw together skillets as much as I do.
This actually ended up being a good day to share this recipe because I just read this morning that the Trader Joe’s founder passed away yesterday at the age of 89. His story is interesting and definitely worth a read. I think many of us are grateful for the vision he had all those years ago to create a different kind of market experience.
QUESTIONS
What are your favorite frozen items at Trader Joe’s?
What’s your favorite grocery store to shop at for overall vibe?
Do you like these “non-recipe” recipes?
Happy Sunday! I really enjoy non-recipe recipes. Especially the ones that are served in bowls. Trader Joe’s stuffed Inside-Out Gnocchi is very good. The sauce and cheese are inside it, delicious! I also like the Quinoa Cowboy Burgers. I also like the frozen acai packets. If you’ve made an acai bowl before, I’d like to know what you put in yours. I don’t cook a lot of frozen food, except vegetables, but I often purchase the items I mentioned.
What are your favorite frozen items at Trader Joe’s? So hard to decide! I love the frozen cauliflower gnocchi, cauliflower crust, reduced guilt mac and cheese (I mix it with steamed broccoli and nutritional yeast), reduced-fat fish sticks, Butter chicken, shrimp stir-fry, silver-dollar pancakes, multigrain waffles, frozen berries for oatmeal and smoothies, and his BBQ chicken/Kung Pao chicken mixed with cruciferous crunch!
What’s your favorite grocery store to shop at for overall vibe? I get most of my groceries from Trader Joe’s, but if we’re talking overall vibe I absolutely love Kowalski’s Market.
Do you like these “non-recipe” recipes? Yes! I am so busy with work I need recipes that are straightforward. I work ten hour shifts and oftentimes don’t get home until 8-9 PM. I like recipes I can make right away with very little fuss.
I love the French onion soup, also their french cut green beans ($1.99!). These are amazing. Flash frozen so super healthy, lastly the yummy mushroom and truffle flatbread. And congratulations on being a new mom!
Made this tonight!! so easy to get all the ingredients at trader joes. I ended up getting the fully cooked sun-dried tomato chicken sausage and just sliced it and browned it. this was so so good. this will be a go to weeknight dinner for sure.
My favorite items to stock up on at Trader Joe’s are their frozen burritos. Both the chicken and the steak are delicious and super filling. I also love their chicken chili lime burgers and the turkey burgers. They are a great way to add protein to a salad. I also almost always grab a bag of the chicken pot stickers!
This was SO GOOD. I changed a few things based on what I had on-hand but the inspiration to use this gnocchi as a base was all you and… omg. Thank you for the inspiration! I love these non-recipe recipes. PS, a similar thing I’ve done before is mix their sweet potato gnocchi with apple chicken sausage and roasted broccoli or cauliflower. It’s always a household hit.
I love The chili lime chicken burgers, quinoa black bean burgers, jalapeño chicken sausage (not frozen), and the cauliflower rice stir fry. I’ve only air fried the cauliflower gnocchi. Can’t wait to try the Gorgonzola.