Use Trader Joe’s as your “prep kitchen” to make delicious home-cooked meals in just minutes.  From quinoa to capers, Marsala to Masala, tofu to turkey, it’s all here. Each recipe features Trader Joe’s products, easy steps, and mouth-watering photos.

That’s the premise of this new cookbook,  Cooking with All Things Trader Joe’s (Cooking with Trader Joe’s Cookbook), written by two Trader Joe’s fans. The cookbook isn’t associate with Trader Joe’s, just built upon many of the staples they offer.  The book is well written, includes anecdotes of its creation, and has fabulous photos which it turns out were taken by the authors.  Great photos are an important asset to cookbooks for me. 

There’s a nice selection of recipes, with the exception of vegetarian. There is a tofu recipe, but it includes meat.  Still, many of the recipes could easily be converted to vegetarian (the do have quite a few vegetarian recipes on their blog).  Additionally, you don’t need to have a Trader Joe’s locally to enjoy the book.  The majority of the recipes can be made without a trip to TJs and with other ingredients available in your pantry or local grocery store.

Since TJs items change, the authors have included suggestions for substitutions both in the book and on their blog so that a recipe doesn’t become obsolete when the item is no longer available in the store. Many recipes have wine recommendations as well.

The one downfall of the book is the Batchelor Quickies section. It’s based entirely on pre-made items that they’ve paired for a complete meal.  Most seem pretty obvious.  I would have loved more recipes and less focus on this area.