New to Me

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I came across a few new-to-me products and I am digging them.

First, is this Hot & Sweet Pepper Jelly from Trader Joe’s that I’ve been digging.  Digging into, literally.

Trader Joe's Hot & Sweet Pepper Jelly in jar

It reminds me a bit of their Mango Ginger Chutney

Shelf of Trader Joe's Mango Ginger Chutney

The pepper jelly is less chunky than the mango chutney (below) is because there are no big mango chunks and it’s much smoother are more jelly-like but still has a nice kick, no garlic, no onions, and very little added sodium.  All great in my book.

Inside of can of Trader Joe's Mango Ginger Chutney

I’ve been dipping veggies into it, putting it on crackers, and want to use it as a tofu marinade.

Can of Trader Joe's Hot and Sweet Pepper Jelly

Same concept as Mango Ginger Maple Tofu, just use Pepper Jelly.

Mango Ginger Maple Tofu
Mango Ginger Maple Tofu

I know Pepper Jelly Tofu will be good when I get around to making it.  But I need to pick up another jar because I have already gone through the first jar.  Whoops.

Next up is this cleanser.

Trader Joe's Nourish All in One Facial Cleanser soap pump

I love Lancome, but I don’t love the price.

Lancome receipt: total - $65.25
Mousse radiance Clarifying self-foaming cleanser

So far, the TJ’s product is fine.  No breakouts and nothing horrible happening with my skin after just a couple uses, so that’s good.

However, it’s not as luxurious feeling, not as foamy and just nice as Lancome, but for 1/10th of the price of Lancome ($2.99 vs. $29.99 give or take), I can deal with this deal$.

Trader Joe's Nourish All in One Facial Cleanser soap pump

I can alternate between the two to stretch the Foam from the Gods my Lancome a bit farther.

Two bottles of Lancome's Mousse Radiance Clarifying cleanser

I also ordered this card reader.  My other card reader was on it’s last leg and it was slow.  Like molasses.  So hopefully this new-to-me find will speed things up.

White card-reader with usb and stand

I shoot all my photos in RAW file format and the files are pretty huge and so anything to speed up the transfer from memory card to computer is a beautiful thing.  I decided to give this new card reader a try.  It’s USB 3.0 compatible and backwards compatible to USB 2.0 so when things change and we’re all using 3.0, my cardreader is ready for action.

One thing that’s not new to me are Nutter Butter Special K Bars (No Bake)

Nutter Butter Special K Bars stacked

Familiar is good sometimes

Questions:

1. What new-to-you products have you tried lately? 

2. Are you a creature of habit or do you like to try new items?

I am mostly a creature of habit.

Yes, variety is the spice of life and it’s fun to try new things but I also like my old standby’s:

My Drugstore Top 10 Products

Hair & Beauty Products I am loyal to

And there are foods I am loyal to and buy over and over and over.

But there are also foods I have bought solely because of the ‘sphere and have been happy to try those, too.

Thanks for the Not Nuts! Giveaway entries and have a great day!

 

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Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Comments

  1. I am a total creature of habit! I’d like to say that I was better about trying new things. But I’m working on it!

  2. The pepper jelly looks great! I just bought a new skin care kit – it ran me $40 and they are teeny tiny packages! Luckily I really like it or else I would have been upset. It’s called Juice Beauty Organics.

  3. Hot pepper jelly is so, so, so good poured over cream cheese. I serve it like that with crackers to spread it on every year at my Christmas party and it is always a MAJOR hit. Funny how the simplest dishes can really please!

    1. I need to try this..it sounds so easy and I bet soooo good! I grew up eating similar things at holiday parties but paid little attention. So all you do is heat up the jelly and then pour over cold cream cheese or you combine the two and then bake it all? I bet it could do in many directions….

  4. Creature of habit for about 3 months then I want to change it up. New product recently were chia seeds!

  5. Yum, the jelly sounds wonderful. Very interesting on the card reader, nothing fills up memory cards like shooting in RAW!

    1. Not too much lately, but I think that will stop with my next trip to Whole Foods now that I have more leisure shopping time. :-)
    2. I usually like to try new things and can always find expensive things to try. :-)

  6. i usually stick with tried ‘n’ trues…when i waver from something i totally adore, it usually ends in disappointment. ex: olay instead of lancome -> disappointed! but i so agree – the price of lancome is hard to justify…i hope i get some favourites for xmas!
    low in sodium – excellent. so hard to find condiments/extras that aren’t loaded with salt.

  7. I’ve just started using the 3 step clinique face wash, toner, moisturizer and I really really love it. I wouldn’t have purchased it with my own money, but it was a gift and now I feel like I can’t go back to anything else! New to me food I’ve been digging- sauerkraut… random I know.
    I’ve been wondering… how much of a difference in image quality do you notice between raw and jpeg? Can’t decide if its worth buying a new mem card and taking up all that space on my comp (I have a 13” macbook, so it would probably slow things down considerably). Just curious.. thanks!

    1. Well if you dont capture the subject in the highest possible quality, will that bother you? If it’s a piece of lettuce? no. If it’s a picture of a dessert that you think is going to get you on the cover of a food magazine? yes. If it’s a pic of a sweater, who cares if it’s in RAW. If it’s your child’s bday, yes, it matters to me to capture it in the highest possible quality so that IF down the line I need to do something bigger and better with that image, at least I have the highest possible quality to work with.

      I say go for it, but based on logic above, you have to decide what’s best b/c yes a 13″ is small but why go to the trouble to edit pics in LR3 if you’re editing sub-par image capture..to play devil’s advocate :)

  8. Ooh, I’m getting that hot pepper jelly on my next trip to TJs, assuming they have it. Sounds right up my alley.

    1. they are still out of fig butter at my tj’s, when you’re at yours, lmk if they have it up there so i know it’s just a regional issue and not b/c of a larger issue

      Lmk what you find..and if you like the pepper jelly. I bet you will!

      1. I’ve never noticed the fig butter because I didn’t know it existed; I added that to my list, too. Might be going tomorrow.