Foodie Friday: Butternut Squash Ravioli

Who doesn’t love some Trader Joe’s in their life? I find myself there at least once a week. With so many goodies to try, I asked my fellow contributors to share their fave things from TJ’s and today’s Foodie Friday incorporates one of those favorites, Butternut Squash Ravioli.

It is a quick, simple and very tasty recipe to try. All of the ingredients can be purchased at Trader Joe’s. Low carb it’s not. But delicious? Yes, yes, yes!

Here’s what you will need:

• 1 package TJ’s Butternut Squash Ravioli (if you don’t use all of it you can freeze the rest)

• coconut oil

• fresh sage

• parmesan cheese (buy the good stuff, it’s worth it!)

• fresh cracked pepper

Directions:

1. Boil the ravioli for 3 minutes, then drain (I like to put it on a paper towel to dry)

2. Dump the water out of the pan and dry out the pan. Melt about 1 TBSP of coconut oil in the pan.

3. Once the oil has melted, add the ravioli back to the pan and let it sauté for a few minutes. I like mine to be a little crisp but it doesn’t take long, just a few minutes. Flip it over if you can. It may fall apart but that is OK, it will still be tasty.

4. Sprinkle with plenty of parmesan, a little sage and black pepper. You can even garnish with some of that lovely sage if you are feeling fancy.

5. Enjoy with some TJ’s sparkling water (or 2 Buck Chuck!)

It seems like everyone I talk to has their favorite item from Trader Joe’s and I usually discover something different whenever I ask someone what they love from this store.  Other contributors favorites…

Krystle likes the sparkling pink lemonade and the red salsa.

Both Mandi and Krystle agree on the alphabet crackers and cookies to make learning letters fun for their kids (I sometimes put these cookies in my daughter’s lunch as well).

Mandi recommends keeping the orange chicken in the freezer for a staple on nights when you don’t know what’s for dinner. Cookie butter is popular with several of our contributors.

Jenna recommends the pizza dough.

Jen says try the green chili salsa and the honey wheat pretzel sticks. Malia remembers her grandmother serving TJ’s cheesecake at Thanksgiving. Emily likes the turkey bolognese (in the frozen section; we have this in our freezer a lot too–easy dinner for my husband to make!).

Emily also recommends checking out the muffins-both the carrot and the pumpkin cream cheese muffins (in case you haven’t been there in  a while, Trader Joe’s is chock full of pumpkin everything right now!).

Stacey suggests you try the pumpkin butter and says you can’t beat the ever-popular “2 buck chuck”.

In our house, we love Joe Joe’s (my daughter may be addicted, and they are at least slightly healthier than Oreos, right?), the caramelized onion dip (really good with the pita crackers), the cilantro jalapeño hummus, the frozen Indian entrees,  and the black pepper rice crisps. I frequently will sneak the kettle corn into the movies too 🙂

What are your favorite Trader Joe’s staples? Please let us know in the comments!