Trader Joe’s Wine: Villa Carlotti Prosecco

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Trader Joe's Villa Carlotti Prosecco in cool blue bottle

Trader Joe's Villa Carlotti Prosecco in cool blue bottle

So it is July and I thought that it would be appropriate to share a Prosecco I found at Trader Joes.

Trader Joes had a Villa Carlotti Prosecco for around five dollars so I gave it a try. I tend to like Proseccos because, as the label states, it is a “Soft White Wine”. This slightly charged and bubbly wine was just perfect. The apple and pear flavors were balanced with a subtle dryness that made this Prosecco a great Trader Joe’s fine.

The cool blue bottle would make it a great hit for a 4th of July party. Or just a warm evening that you want to celebrate life…

The Prosecco would go nicely with anything you would serve a light white wine with, such as fish, chicken or a salad. I also like to have a little cheese with my white wine so I would recommend brie, smoked Gouda, and/or a little or rich, creamy Port-Salut. The great news is Trader Joes sells all of those cheeses so it can be a one stop entertainment shop.

By the way you will still need to remove the cork with a cork screw. Yes, this does seem strange for a bubbly wine, but these bubbles are not as strong as Champaign or Asti. In fact, there was not even a wire basket to hold down the cork, nor was there a “POP” when the cork came out. Oh yeah…. The bottle also states a certain type of cork screw is necessary, but we used our regular one, and everything was OK.

So go ahead have fun…celebrate life…and all of the wonders of your world,

Cheers,

Delaina

How to Make Pasta Salad

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Pasta Salad

Pasta Salad

One of the great things I love about summer is pasta salad. Now we could make them all year long, but there is something about the cold pasta and the different veggies that reminds me of a picnic. I guess I just don’t think about making and serving a pasta salad in November.

Anyway Pasta Salads can be easy to make and rather quick to put together too. Recently we were shopping at Trader Joe’s and we were talking about how many cool things that Trader Joe’s sells that could really make a pasta salad special.

There are a zillion ways to make pasta salad with any number of ingredients that you could add. Main ingredient is of course, the past! We like to use a smallish noodle, but we have also made yummy pasta salads with leftover spaghetti.

Next, we like to think about what veggies we would like to use (either buy or use up) like tomatoes, broccoli, diced zucchini, bell pepper stripes, peas, etc… We also like to include an “onion” item either sweet Vidalia Onions, Red Onions, or Green onions.  Next we think about a full-flavor or “special” item to pull the salad together. This might be pesto, or sundried tomatoes cut in small stripes, or some olives.

Well, all that planning for a pasta salad motivated us to make one today!

Ingredients:

  • Whole Wheat pasta (we used those little spirals called rotelle)
  • Cherry Tomatoes (in red and yellow, cut in 1/4)
  • Broccoli (cut up into small pieces)
  • Green Onions sliced thin
  • Trader Joe’s Pitted Kalamata olives (the “special” ingredient), chopped
  • Trader Joe’s Parmesan Cheese (a couple of spoonfuls)
  • Dressing: olive oil

What to do:

Cook pasta according to package directions. About ½ way through the cooking, add the broccoli pieces to the cooking water. Let the broccoli cook with the pasta until the pasta is finished cooking. Drain and rinse briefly in cool water then place in a mixing bowl.

Next add the rest of the vegetables, and toss lightly with olive oil. Season with your favorite spices – we used Trader Joe’s 21 Salute , garlic powder, salt and pepper along with the parmesan cheese.

Variations:

Here is where you can be creative. You can use up some cooked vegetables or add a can of garbanzo beans if you like. Trader Joe’s also sells a large selection of items that would really make a pasta salad special. These include artichoke hearts, tapenade (already chopped up olives)  or even brochette.

We were planning to tell you to leave the pasta salad in the refrigerator until cool but it looked so good that we had to “sample” it right away. Even warm it was just delish!

The next time you are at Trader Joe’s check out the isle with all the canned beans and olive oils and see how inspired you are. If you see anything that you are not sure about, leave us a note and we will try and help you out.