It’s time to plan Christmas dinner and fortunately Trader Joe’s makes it easy to create a delicious vegetarian meal.
If you’ll be celebrating with a small group or don’t have a lot of time to cook, you can rely on TJ’s prepared foods. If you’ll be feeding a crowd or need a big dish for family potluck, you may find it more practical and affordable to prepare dishes using Trader Joe’s ingredients.
It’s important to note that Trader Joe’s stores aren’t open Christmas day and close early at 6 pm on Christmas Eve. Also, note that it’ll be slim pickings the day after Christmas, especially for fresh items such as baked goods and prepared salads and sandwiches.
It’s best to stock-up on non-perishables and frozen items in the weeks before Christmas to avoid disappointment. Necessities that sometimes sell out, include the turkey-less roast, stuffing mix, vegetable broth and fried onions.
If you plan ahead, all you should need to buy Christmas week is produce, dairy, fresh baked goods and any chilled prepared foods you want to serve.
Here are ideas for each course of your Christmas feast!
Appetizers
Serve TJ’s Raisin Rosemary crisps with brie, goat cheese or TJ’s Cranberry Log on a plate garnished with dried fruit (cranberries or apricots), fresh fruit (apples or pears) and nuts (walnuts, pecans or almonds) for a really easy and attractive appetizer.
Trader Joe’s offers a Creamy Spinach & Artichoke Dip and Brie en Croute (bake brie) in the frozen foods case. Garnish the brie with honey, nuts and dried fruit for a festive touch.
Onion and Feta Pastry Bites are another frozen appetizer that works well for winter holidays due to the caramelized onion.
A word of caution – several frozen appetizers that seem like they should be vegetarian, including Stuffed Mushrooms, Mushroom Turnovers and Arancini Bites, contain gelatin or meat-based broths.
Soups
Trader Joe’s offers Pumpkin, Butternut Squash and Corn Soups in shelf stable boxes that are a great staring point for a holiday soup. Season with salt and ground pepper as needed and garnish with fresh herbs, such as rosemary or sage.
Salads
The Trader Joe’s Spinach Salad Kit is lovely and festive with the addition of thinly sliced fresh apple or pear.
Trader Joe’s has a couple prepared chilled salads that are an especially good fit for the holiday table, including Squash & Quinoa and Persimmon Salad.
Entrees
I haven’t yet decided whether to serve Squash & Spinach Gratin, Pumpkin Ravioli with Alfredo sauce or Gnocchi Gorgonzola with green peas as my entrée.
If you’re looking for a turkey substitute, Trader Joe’s carries a Breaded Turkey-less Stuffed Roast with Gravy – similar to the Tofurkey brand roast. This isn’t likely to impress turkey loving guests, but isn’t bad when accompanied by yummy side dishes.
Side Dishes
Potatoes are easy to cook from scratch. However, Trader Joe’s has several convenient options in the frozen foods case, including Roasted Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes and Mashed Sweet Potatoes.
The only fully prepared stuffing option contains chicken sausage, but it’s easy to make your own vegetarian stuffing using TJ’s Stuffing Mix. A short cut product that will save you time and clean-up effort is the Mirepoix mix (diced carrots, celery and onion) from the produce section. Just stir sautéed Mirepoix into the stuffing mix along with vegetable broth. Dried cranberries, sautéed mushroom, walnuts or even the roasted chestnuts now available in the produce section make great add-ins.
Rice-based side dish options, include Squash Risotto, Rice Medley or Super Foods Pilaf from the frozen foods case. The latter is an especially nice choice if you don’t plan to prepare a sweet potato side dish, since the pilaf contains sweet potato. There’s also a Quinoa Duo in the frozen food case and Multi-Grain Rice Pilaf with Roasted Vegetables dish in the chilled case. Both include colorful vegetable pieces and are quite tasty.
If it’s just not Christmas for your family without a traditional green bean casserole, Trader Joe’s has you covered. They sell boxes of Condensed Portabella Mushroom Soup and cans of Fried Onions that work just fine for this dish.
If you’d like another green vegetable, consider Brussels sprouts. Trader Joe’s usually has several options ranging from fresh stalks to fully cooked sprouts. Chopped walnuts are great with Brussels sprouts.
There are several seasonal side dishes available in the chilled foods case. The Corn Pudding, Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Rice Pilaf are vegetarian. Unfortunately, the Cauliflower Gratin, Brussels Sprouts Parmyere and Scalloped Potatoes all contain cheese made with animal rennet.
Desserts
The fresh bakery table, features holiday pies, tarts and cakes. Pumpkin Bread Pudding, Mini Pecan Pies, Mini Pumpkin Pies, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Carrot Cake, Apple Blossoms and Egg Nog Ice Cream are available in the frozen foods case.
The keys to making these treats worthy of your holiday table are creative add-ons and attractive presentation. For example, pumpkin bread pudding isn’t much to look at, but if you cut it into single serving pieces, place in a cupcake liner and garnish with some dried fruit and nuts or even vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce it becomes an impressive treat.
The Ginger Molasses Cookies from the chilled case are delicious and foolproof to bake.
If you want to get creative, bake Kougins Amanns and serve with ice cream and tasty toppings, such as warm fruit, caramel sauce, or nuts. Note, these need to rise the night before so not a last minute option.
Drinks
Of course Trader Joe’s has plenty of festive drink options, including wine and champagne, spiced cider, cranberry and pomegranate juices & sparkling beverages, and flavored teas and coffees.
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