Best Healthy Food For Potlucks, Snacks, Dessert And In Between
STAFF PICK: Trader Joe's, 1101 N. Wilmot RoadMY FRIEND DOUGLAS used to throw the best potluck dinner parties. But somewhere between the abundance of quiche in the '70s and his acquisition of a '50s-era free-standing roaster, Douglas grew tired of the harried salads busy people could barely toss together. We began then, to bash the potluck supper over gulps of cold, gunky, crudely oiled and herbed pasta.
But that's all over now. The post-pale-pasta potluck is here, thanks to the new grocery on the block, Trader Joe's, a stripped down, small-on-space-big-on-savings place where products--most all natural and many fat-free--are purchased directly from suppliers. The excellent prices mean party-giver and -goer spend less money. This means more parties. Anybody have a problem with that?
You're bound to lock carts with shoppers gaping at affordable choices of everything from cans of dolphin-safe tuna and frozen shrimp and Chinese scallops to fresh cheeses and free-range eggs. (Veggie alert: You will love the array of excellent frozen rice and vegetable dishes, meaning your wok will have to wok a lot less.)
Blue corn chips, pretzels stuffed with peanut butter, dried apricots, turkish figs and blueberries--all excite your party-going imagination. Grab affordable bags of cashews, walnuts and macadamias (screw the calories and think of them as potluck protein), and toss them all together. Anybody for a taste of India? One night I boiled seven bags of TastyBite palak paneer (spinach and cubed cheese) and I was ready to run out the door in six minutes. Now we're talking '90s potluck.
Trader Joe's can add inexpensive alcohol to your potluck palate, if you please. The place is carton-stacked with delicious wines from northern California to Romania. We've sampled a bunch, many for under five dollars. Great beer with names like Jumping Cow Amber Ale double as superb conversation starters.
Years back, when asked to bring dessert, we would make an instant chocolate pudding pie in a prepared crust with Cool Whip topping and watch horrified as people actually ate it. Today, somewhat cured, we stand in front of the chocolate biscotti, fresh baklava, marble-fudge cheesecakes and small, moist, handsome rounds of lemon cakes at Trader Joe's and give thanks to this growing company based in South Pasadena, Calif. If you can't make a sinful and artistic cookie plate from this place for under $6, you're just not trying hard enough.
Trader Joe's, with six stores in Arizona, one in Tucson, promises a new store on the northwest side sometime in the not-too-distant future. It appears the potluck will not be a casualty of the end of this hurried, isolated century. Party on.
--Hannah Glasston
