Attention all college students! This week’s giveaway is just for you! The I Love Trader Joe’s College Cookbook: 150 Cheap-and-Easy Gourmet Recipes by Andrea Lynn is the best thing to happen to the collegiate culinary world since the invention of Ramen noodles. Packed with incredible recipes made entirely from the inexpensive gourmet ingredients at your local Trader Joe’s, this cookbook will soon achieve biblical fame as the best way to survive on a meager college budget.
Plus, many of the recipes are simple enough to be prepared in your dorm room microwave and quick enough to throw together in the five minutes between the time your alarm goes off and your afternoon class. This week, three lucky winners will receive The I Love Trader Joe’s College Cookbook!
When I first entered a Trader Joe’s grocery store, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. As a Southern girl, moving to Chicago and encountering the price hikes on gas and groceries came as serious culture shock for me. Then, out of the blue, I stumbled upon a little grocery store, tucked in between two consignment stores downtown. It was a dream come true.
Trader Joe’s has everything a college student could ever want or need, from sushi to fresh produce, gourmet French bread to frozen veggies, all at a reasonable price for those of us who are up to our ears in loans and debt. I’m also a huge fan of their selection of organic, vegan and gluten free items, including soups, baking ingredients, and prepackaged meals. Not to mention, of course, their extensive selection of inexpensive wines—which I naturally never dreamed of consuming until after my twenty-first birthday.
Of course, once I reached that oh-so-important mile marker, I quickly learned how easy it is to accidentally create some horrible mess of food, set the kitchen on fire, or just generally “eff up,” as the cover of the book so accurately states, instead of making the delicious burrito or sandwich I intended. With this handy-dandy guide, you need not fear your atrocious lack of culinary expertise; all of the recipes are quick and foolproof!
To get an idea of the recipes in the cookbook, check out these two sneak peek recipes for Thai Red Curry Deviled Eggs and Mediterranean Chicken with Feta and Sundried Tomatoes.
My mouth is watering just looking at the recipes; I seriously cannot wait to try out that Mediterranean chicken! The other recipes are pretty amazing too. The Pulled Pork Sandwich reminds me of home, though if I were back in the South, I’d call it a barbecue sandwich. Full-page color photos and clear instructions make these college recipes irresistible and completely foolproof. Plus, between you and me, there’s a Bacon Cheeseburger Recipe in there that I guarantee will be calling my name next Saturday around, say, three o’clock in the morning.
The bottom line: I really do love—or “heart†as the cover of the book boasts—Trader Joe’s, and this cookbook is a phenomenally useful tool with which college students can make the most of their grocery dollars. Even if you don’t live near Trader Joe’s, the book recommends generic items you can buy at any grocery store to replace the Trader Joe’s brand ingredients. If you share my adoration of Trader Joe’s, or if you just need to save some money and time for the more important things in college (like all that time you spend “studying†at weekend keg parties), then hurry up and enter the giveaway!
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