These Trader Joe’s appetizers are the easiest way to look like a gourmet chef in 15 minutes or less
Whether you are getting together with your family or having a mom’s night sans kids, you’ll definitely need some amazing appetizers to whip up this holiday season. Trader Joe’s has easy appetizers ready to go in their frozen section along with easy-to-make recipes from dips you can only find this time of year. These Trader Joe’s appetizers will save you tons of time during the holidays this year and will impress the pickiest of guests.
Mini Veggie Samosas
A popular Trader Joe's appetizer, these two-bite samosas are filled with a curry-infused mixture of peas, carrots, potatoes, lentils, and onions. Wrapped in a flaky phyllo crust, the scent alone will have guests wandering toward the appetizer table.
Fried Olive Bites
These tiny bites only come out at the holidays and they are filled with cheese for the perfect bite on your appetizer buffet.
Brie en Croute
If you require an excuse to eat a brie en croute, we will give you one. This frozen Trader Joe's appetizer is only available during the holidays which means you have to grab at least one.
Red Pepper, Cranberry & Walnut Dip
Sweet, spicy, and tart, this seasonal dip from Trader Joe's will make a statement at holiday parties this year. Add it to your charcuterie board and pair it with a crostini or veggies!
You had us at "fried!" Kid-friendly and easy to whip up, these fried ravioli are made with semolina pasta, and five kinds of cheese that includes ricotta, mild Monterey Jack, mozzarella, Asiago and Parmesan.
Hearty and flavorful, this Kibbeh appetizer will become a family fave. Made with ground beef, onions and seasonings, these meatballs pair well with almost any dip.
While these are technically an appetizer, we see nothing wrong with whipping up the entire box for dinner! Each one of these chicken soup dumplings is made with chicken, onions, green onions and a flavorful broth and can be found in the freezer section.
Mini Quiche Duo
Perfect for brunch or lunch, this box of mini quiche duos includes both mushroom and Swiss cheese and bacon and sweet onion options. Bake until golden brown, and enjoy thoroughly.
Forget making your own spinach artichoke dip, and snag this frozen version instead! All it takes is a simple warm-up before you're enjoying it with tortilla chips. This is a nice change to the traditional onion dips you find at family get-togethers.
Wondering how to gift wrap a box like a pro? We’ve got answers
‘Tis the season for trying to figure out how to wrap a present or two! Despite how tempting it is to pop everything in a gift bag, there are plenty of hacks that will take your wrap job from drab to fab. So whether you run out of tape, or bows or need to know how to wrap a gift box (even the odd-shaped ones), we’ve got the best gift-wrapping hacks around. When you’re done, be sure to check out our favorite 3-ingredient appetizers that’ll save you even more time.
Paper and fabric bows are so last year. This year, make your package even sweeter by topping it with a candy bow inspired by Happy Go Lucky. Pick your family's favorite candy, then tie it to the front of the gift for a special treat.
Short on paper? Check out that stash of shiny packing material or that huge roll of aluminum foil gathering dust in the kitchen and dress up some gifts like Honestly Modern. The best part? Options like this mean you are reusing products you already have and creating less waste.
Instantly dress up any gift with a snip of pine or another festive frond. The recipient of your gift will love the fun fragrance, and the non-traditional topper is a nice break from a paper or fabric bow.
Use the Takashimaya Wrapping Method
Japanese department store Takashimaya is famous for its quick maneuvering when it comes to getting presents wrapped. If you're looking to bust out all your presents in one sitting then you'll want to watch this video which uses three pieces of tape and less than 30 seconds.
Whether you make your own or plan on using an old garland from your last birthday, finishing off a package with a strand of garland is always a good idea! The hack gives a homemade yet stylish look to your wrapped gifts in a cinch.
Mini TP Roll Package
Allison Sutcliffe
Wrapping something tiny and can’t find an itty bitty box? Try using a TP roll by folding down one side, taping it, putting the gift inside, folding the opposite side in, and finally taping it closed. Finish it off with baker’s twine and a small bow, and you’ll have the ultimate budget-friendly package.
If you’re looking for a unique way to wrap a gift box guaranteed to impress, try using a vintage map. It's perfect for wrapping almost anything because it's large, can be opened flat, and has natural seams that make it super easy to cut.
Gift your sweet treats in style with this amazing idea from Aunt Peaches. Grab a waxed paper or aluminum foil box, craft paint, and twine to create a dazzling gift box. Fill the box with your favorite baked goods to put a smile on everyone’s face this season.
Cereal Boxes as Bags
Allison Sutcliffe
Don't worry if you run out of gift bags this season. If you have cereal boxes, you can make a fantastic DIY gift bag. Grab a cereal box, cut out the top or side (depending on the shape of your gift), and wrap it with your favorite holiday paper. Remember to leave the top open, punch holes, and thread yarn or ribbon to create the handles.
Seriously, who doesn’t love sticky notes?! But, did you know you can actually use them to make unique and colorful gift wrap for boxes? Take a peek at the new book Stick It! to discover all the ways you can use these amazing little guys.
Let’s face it, everyone’s lost the edge of their tape at some point. Keep your sanity intact by using a bag clip to hold your place, and you’ll never lose the tape edge again! A genius gift-wrapping hack if we've ever seen one.
Grocery Bag Gift Wrap
Shutterstock
Create your perfect brown paper packages on a budget with paper grocery bags. Cut the seams so that the bag lays flat, and you’ll have a lovely sheet of paper to wrap your best holiday finds. Bonus points if your grocery bag already has pre-printed winter scenes on it!
If you know you’ll be wrapping a lot of gifts this season, Wrap Buddies are a definite must-have. These gadgets clip onto the edge of your table to hold the paper down and also double as a tape dispenser!
Give your gifts that “wrapped at the mall” look by using double-sided tape where the wrapping paper overlaps. It’s so clean, your little ones will think you’re magic!
Tape Alternatives
Allison Sutcliffe
No clear tape, no problem. Try using your favorite festive stickers, photo mount tape, or glue dots to keep your packages perfectly wrapped.
Making DIY gift tags is actually easier than you think. All you need are playing cards, construction paper, and a little bit of twine. Get the details for this hack and upcycle your playing cards over at Family Chic.
There’s always that one gift that doesn’t fit any bag, box, or sack. No need to have a late-night breakdown! Here's how you'll gift wrap the box like a pro—by fashioning a perfectly-sized gift bag using the wrapping paper you already have with a little help from this video!
Say goodbye to boring, solid wrapping paper with this cool idea from Housing A Forest. Make your very own patterned paper with a potato stamp. Yes, you read that right! Grab a potato, a cookie cutter and paint to create a craft that gets your kiddos involved with the wrapping process.
Cut down on the confusion with this ingenious trick. Try assigning each family member a color or wrapping paper pattern, and forget about all of the gift tags!
Glitter Ribbon
Allison Sutcliffe
You might never buy ribbon again after trying out this glittery hack. Stick some double-sided tape onto your wrapped gift, create a “T” shape or double parallel lines, roll the package in glitter, give it a quick tap, and voila, you’ve got a sparkly finish to your gift.
If you’ve got an oddly shaped gift that’s not too big, you can always try the candy method. This sweet method is all about taping the paper or tissue at the center of the package and tying the ribbon at both ends. For a more detailed tutorial visit Jones Design Company.
It’s hard to choose between the Instant Pot chicken wings and the bacon-wrapped potato wedges
Whether you’re having a small gathering, heading to a big bash, or just want something special for a movie night with the kids, we have a few easy appetizer recipes that’ll come in handy. From finger foods to veggie appetizers, keep reading to check out our favorite appetizer recipes that are all made using three ingredients or less.
This is the definition of an easy appetizer recipe! If you want to get really fancy, consider throwing in a slice of cheese.
Monkey Bread
This cheesy monkey bread from Brit + Co is literally as easy as 1, 2, 3... ingredients. Kids will love the soft bread and parents will love how easy it is to make.
Caprese Skewers
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Quite possibly one of the easiest appetizers to whip up, simply grab fresh mozzarella balls, tomatoes, and pesto; skewer, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, and go!
These pretty palmiers from The Suburban Soapbox will definitely impress your guests. Buttery puff pastry and tart tomatoes meld perfectly with rich cheddar cheese—delish!
Break out your slow cooker for this crowd-pleasing dip from Julie’s Eats and Treats. With just two ingredients, it’s definitely the simplest thing you’ll make all day.
This appetizer from Averie Cooks is kid-approved and super easy to make. You’ll get the crunchy, melty effect of mozzarella sticks but without the mess and hassle of deep frying.
Everybody loves chicken wings, and Mom Advice has a foolproof method for making them in the Instant Pot. A quick pass under the broiler gives them a crispy finish.
This light and fresh dip from Melanie Makesis an ideal appetizer to serve before a heavy holiday meal. Pair it with plenty of fresh veggies, cheese, and crackers, and you’ll be ready to entertain a crowd.
How fancy do these breadsticks from Kiwi & Carrot look?! Using a pre-made puff pastry makes them super easy to pull off, even if you’re not a master baker.
This genius recipe from Julie’s Eats and Treats is totally hands-off, thanks to the magical Crock Pot. It’s made with kielbasa, brown sugar, and one unexpected ingredient.
It might sound strange, but stay with us: these bacon-wrapped cherries from We Are Not Martha are delicious. The savory bacon makes a perfect contrast for tart, juicy cherries.
Start your meal off with these yummy dinner rolls from Life, Love and Good Food. No rising required—just mix up the three ingredients, and bake the rolls in a muffin tin.
This inventive take on a crispy cracker from The Suburban Soapbox is bound to be a hit with cheese lovers. Even better, they come together in less than 10 minutes, leaving you more time to obsess over the rest of the menu.
For a crowd-pleasing appetizer, whip up a batch of this super easy dip from Simply Stacie. Paired with fresh veggies and tortilla chips, don’t be surprised if this one disappears fast.
Make your party extra magical with an appetizer that only uses two (count ‘em, two!) ingredients. These pigs in a blanket are the definition of simple—and you can even add a touch of sesame seeds to up the wow factor. Get the recipe over at Culinary Hill.
Serving something warm to take the chill off is also the perfect way to welcome guests. This easy appetizer recipe from A Wicked Wisk combines a couple of our favorite things—flaky biscuits and flavorful blue cheese—to make a melty, bubbly appetizer perfect for a crowd. Drooling yet?
If you’re worried about dinner timing or want something festive (and deceptively simple) on your snack tray, make a batch of these honey-roasted pecans from Trial and Eater for guests to graze on throughout the day. The recipe couldn't be easier, but it’s way more delicious than the store-bought kind.
Potato wedges just got even tastier, thanks to this recipe from A Calculated Whisk. How? Why, wrap them in bacon, of course! Now you’ve got an appetizer fit for a hungry crowd of grown-ups and kiddos alike.
For an appetizer that’s a bit more filling, try these yummy roll-ups from Pumpkin ‘n Spice. It’s easy to customize them with your favorite meats, cheeses, and seasonings. As a bonus, you can keep this recipe in rotation for school lunches.
All the Who’s down in Whoville couldn’t possibly come up with a more adorable holiday plant than Trader Joe’s Grump Tree.
Whether you’re feeling a little Grinchy or you’re short on space to decorate, these adorable little trees are the perfect accent to warm your home and your heart. The skinny evergreen Cyprus trees are wrapped in a red ribbon and topped with a single red ornament.
The trees are tiny now, but just like the Grinch’s heart they can easily triple in size if you plant and nurture them after the holiday season is over.
The Grump trees are now available at Trader Joe’s nationwide for $9.99 each.
If your little one’s favorite food group is chicken, you’re in luck! From green chicken chili to chicken parm to chicken tacos, we’ve rounded up the ultimate list of Crock Pot chicken recipes that even the pickiest of eaters will love. So put down the chicken nuggets and start clicking through the gallery to find your next easy meal.
This spicy chicken drumstick recipe from A Taste of Madness will be a crowd pleaser for the whole family. Try this recipe on a weeknight and you may be surprised by how easy it is.
We love this lightened-up version of classic buffalo wings from Domestic Superhero. Shredded chicken is bathed in a mouthwatering sauce, then wrapped in butter lettuce.
Your littles will love this dairy-free butter chicken from One Lovely Life. The creamy, flavorful sauce, paired with rice or quinoa, is sure to have the whole fam asking for seconds.
This simplified take on chicken parm from Baking & Creating with Avril is bound to be a hit with picky kiddos. It skips the breading process, making it a healthier and quicker version than the original.
Served over rice or pasta, this recipe adapted from Moms with Crockpots makes for a lightning-fast weeknight meal. It’s a smart way to use those cans of beans and tomatoes hanging out at the back of your pantry, too.
For an instant family fave, make this Asian-inspired recipe from Shared Appetite. Savory soy sauce and tart pineapple juice come together to make a super tasty sauce for the chicken. Drooling yet?
There's nothing quite like the combo of butternut squash and rosemary to make a meal seem less than ordinary. The secret to making this savory dish from GI 365, is adding a can of soup to make it both creamy and satisfying without a lot of extra work.
For a fun twist on chili, try this fantastic recipe from Slow Cooker Gourmet. With salsa verde, fresh corn and white beans, it’s super hearty and delicious topped with sour cream or tortilla chips.
This filling dish is more prep than fuss thanks to this foolproof recipe from Sarah Olson’s cookbook. Served on top of mashed potatoes and bread, it doesn’t get much more comfort food than this.
Switch up your usual pasta dish by making this delish ragu from Whitney Bond. The sauce gets better and better as it simmers, making it the perfect slow cooker meal.
Pop some tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and chicken in the crockpot with a few herbs and you’ll come home to an amazingly hearty meal. We love this recipe from Mom’s Kitchen Handbook, and chances are your family will feel the same way.
Chicken with Grapes
Dash
Chicken and grapes might sound like a strange combination, but this recipe from Dash marries the two perfectly. Add simmered tomatoes, chickpeas and butternut squash to the cumin-spiced chicken, and you’ve got a complex and delicious meal.
Put anything in a pita, and our kids are on board. This Greek-inspired recipe from Leah’s Thoughts is bound to be a hit. Topped with tzatziki sauce, tomatoes and onion, you’ll be happy to come home to this meal.
You asked and Hershey’s answered: Vampire Kisses are back! The red, strawberry-flavored creme center and bat-wrapped treat makes this this must-have candy for Halloween.
Vampire Hershey’s Kisses are made with milk chocolate and are joined by other spooky sweets. You’ll be able to grab Reese’s Franken-Cups, KIT KAT Witch’s Brew and Hershey’s Cookies ‘N’ Crème Fangs.
But back to the Vampire Kisses: they’ll be available for a limited time in a 9 oz. bag at retailers nationwide for about $3.59.
Remember Creme Savers? The creamy swirled hard candy that you secretly loved to find in your grandparents’ treat dish? After a 10 year hiatus, two of the most popular flavors are back!
Back in the day, you could find this candy in multiple flavors, including tropical and dessert swirled blends. And Grandma’s house wasn’t the only place to enjoy it, since you could purchase whole bags or rolls at the store, as well as spinoffs like flavored yogurt and JELLO. Now you’ll be able to buy two of the top flavors once more: Strawberry & Creme and Orange & Creme.
Each piece is individually wrapped, as all proper hard candy should be. One taste of those fruit and creme swirls will likely bring on the nostalgia, big time. And like many good treats of the early 21st century, they’re sugar free.
Iconic Candy teamed up with Mars Wrigley to reformulate the original flavors and bring back Creme Savers. You can find them at Big Lots stores in 47 states starting in mid-September. No word on if we can look forward to other flavors…yet.
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced a recall by Serenade Foods for approximately 59,251 pounds of frozen, raw, breaded and pre-browned stuffed chicken products. The affected products may be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis, one of the most common food-born illnesses.
A multi-state outbreak of Salmonella started this past February in eight states and packages of the raw, frozen, breaded chicken stuffed with broccoli and cheese tested positive at one of the sick person’s home. Keep reading to see which products are affected by the recall.
The recalled products include:
5-oz individually plastic-wrapped packages of “Dutch Farms Chicken with Broccoli & Cheese” with lot code BR 1055 and BEST IF USED BY FEB 24 2023.
5-oz individually plastic-wrapped packages of “MILFORD VALLEY CHICKEN WTH BROCCOLI & CHEESE” with lot code BR 1055 and BEST IF USED BY FEB 24 2023.
10-oz box of two individually plastic-wrapped packages of “MILFORD VALLEY CHICKEN CORDON BLEU” with lot code CB 1055 and BEST IF USED BY FEB 24 2023.
5-oz individually plastic-wrapped packages of “KIRKWOOD Raw Stuffed CHICKEN, BROCCOLI & CHEESE” with lot code BR 1055 and BEST IF USED BY FEB 24 2023.
5-oz individually plastic-wrapped packages of “KIRKWOOD Raw Stuffed CHICKEN CORDON BLEU” with lot code CB 1056 and BEST IF USED BY FEB 25 2023
The items were produced on Feb. 24, 2021 and Feb. 25, 2021 and bear establishment number “P- 2375” inside the USDA mark of inspection. You can view labels of each recalled product here.
While the products may look ready-to-eat, instructions share that cooking is a must in order to make the food safe for consumption. Be sure to check your freezer and if you have any of the recalled products, throw away or return to the place of purchase for a refund.
Anyone with questions can call the Serenade Foods Hotline at (866) 873-7589.
––Karly Wood
All photos: Courtesy of the USDA/Feature photo: Milford Valley
Picky eating will be a thing of the past when you break out these new, tasty pepperoni treats from Uncrustables. Pizza fans will love the Uncured Pepperoni Bites, made with bread wrapped around marinara sauce, uncured pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. Pop two in the microwave and in less than 60 seconds you have a delicious meal to satisfy a hangry child.
For the ultimate in convenience, the Uncured Pepperoni Roll-Ups just need to be thawed, not microwaved, so they’re perfect for your kid’s lunchbox, or for tossing in your bag for an on-the-go snack. The roll-ups are made with a flavorful flatbread rolled around uncured pepperoni and provolone and Neufchâtel cheeses with seasoning.
Both sandwich options feature natural uncured pepperoni, meaning the meat is minimally processed with no artificial ingredients and it contains no added nitrates or nitrites except for what naturally occurs in celery powder.
The Pepperoni Bites are available nationwide, and the Pepperoni Roll-Ups can be purchased at Kroger and Target now, and retailers nationwide in October. The Smucker’s Uncrustables line also features BBQ Chicken Bites, Turkey and Colby Jack Cheese Sandwich Roll-Ups and other foods kids love.
—Eva Ingvarson Cerise
Featured images courtesy of The J.M. Smucker Company
Believe it or not, we’re over halfway to Christmas! And if you’re mentally starting to prepare in advance, Igloo Books just launched three awesome advent calendars that your kids will love. The Disney calendar, the Disney Princess calendar and the Marvel Super Heroes calendar each feature 24 books and they’re available to pre-order now.
When you’re ready to unveil for the holiday season, you’ll open a large fold-out wallet that contains two dozen paperback storybooks featuring beloved characters. Each book is wrapped in a recyclable paper sleeve and stored in a number pocket. The Disney Advent Calendar features stories from both Disney and Pixar. Disney Princess and Marvel have a collection of stories from each franchise.
Previous versions of the calendar boast more than 1,700 five-star reviews on Amazon. The reading age is listed at three years and up so the whole family can get in on the fun. The calendars are retailing online for $25.49, so a little more than one dollar per story for a whole month of fun.
Last year the Disney Advent Calendar reached #1 on Amazon’s Christmas Books list in Fall 2020, so you’ll want to preorder soon! And if you need a few more ideas for advent calendar fun, may we suggest the Harry Potter version?