Dinner's Done! Cooking with Trader Joe's Cookbook

by Deana Gunn, Wona Miniati

What's for dinner? Trader Joe's ingredients to the rescue, with all the fixings for making meals in a snap. From the authors of the bestselling original "Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's" cookbook, comes this collection of easy dinner solutions to tame the mealtime rush. Discover new ways to make quick and healthy meals the whole family will love. Mouth-watering full-color photos and nutritional data included for every recipe.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Foodie, Reference

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

Deana Gunn holds a BS from MIT and a PhD from Northwestern University, both degrees in electrical engineering. She later gave herself an honorary degree in foodie-ism. Deana discovered Trader Joe's when she moved to California in 1997 and shopped at the very first Trader Joe's during her years living in Pasadena.

Through necessity, as her life became more hectic juggling kids and full-time jobs, she discovered ways to become a fast and efficient cook. Rather than resort to fast-food or frozen dinners, she found that by using prepped ingredients at Trader Joe's, it suddenly became completely doable to eat homemade meals every day and throw dinner parties without breaking a sweat. She and her co-author Wona have written and published 10 Trader Joe's cookbooks. After all these years, Trader Joe's is still their favorite place to shop.

Deana lives in Encinitas, CA with her husband, four children, and two dogs, who are all adventurous and appreciative eaters. When she's not cooking or writing about it, Deana spends her time doing pottery, yoga, and gardening.
She welcomes you to visit her blog

Click here for reviews

Reviews

[Carol Stephan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cookbook doesn't really have a lot of "cooking" but more prep work and ideas for putting together meals that are quick and easy. When there is cooking time involved it is referred to as "hands off" cooking so once the prep work is done (most in 15 minutes or less) you can relax or do something else until dinner is ready. It includes appetizers, soups, salads, main meals, sides, desserts and drinks.

I think this cookbook could have a wide audience. It is a good choice for those who work outside the home and are often too busy to cook or for those who don't care to cook much and fall back on making the same old things. Also, in the time it would take you to pick up carry-out or wait for delivery you can put something together a lot healthier and cheaper.

Some plusses that I like about the book: There are pictures with each recipe and the authors state that these are actual photographs, no food styling, so it will look the same as what you prepare. Nutritional information is provided for each recipe. There are "helpful tips" throughout the book. You do not need to shop at Trader Joe's if you don't care to and can substitute from any grocery store; the items particular to Trader Joe's are capitalized in a recipe. (The authors are not affiliated with Trader Joe's, just huge fans.)

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you live around the corner from a Trader Joe's this is a great book to have handy. It's less a cookbook than instructions on assembling things with ingredients from TJs. There are some pretty creative uses for TJs products in here, and it's a good resource for quick dinners, apps and entertaining idea. There is full nutrition information here, which is great.

One thing you'll need to watch out for is discontinued or seasonal products. Also, some of these could be a little healthier. But overall, this is a great resource for TJ's lovers!

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding compilation of recipes, including appetizers, soups/salads, main meals, side dishes, desserts and drinks. They make very creative use of some ingredients specific to Trader Joe's, but even if you do not have access to a local Trader Joe's, the recipes work with other brands. Fun and useful. The photography is also beautiful!

[Julie Powers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for people with a hectic schedule who still want to fix and eat good meals in a short time frame. I have always loved to cook and bake. As I am now retired, I have plenty of time to cook from scratch and tend to lean that way. However, there are always times when it is great to have recipes at your fingertips that are delicious and easy to make.

[Meridee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ideas, stunning photos.

Some standard recipes, some innovative. Gets your thoughts into creative mode. Easy with few ingredients. It's about flavor and quality. The food photos are gorgeous.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written, creative cookbook that I'd like to use by shopping at a Trader Joes

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

im so excited to have won this! i go to trader joes all the time and got 2 gift cards for xmas so i am really looking forward to this cookbook. i cant believe i won. i went to the original trader joes when they had just started the first store, i grew up in the area. i was so glad when they finally moved to my current area. they are just down the road from me. i cant wait for my cookbook to arrive, i will share it with my mom and know she will be really excited as well. thanks so much goodreads!

i only got to read part of this book, then my mom came over and saw it and borrowed it. dont know when i'll get it back so im marking it read

lots of nice recipes. i had stopped at the sweet potato fries.

anyone going to trader joes will love this cookbook with nice photos

thank you good reads, from both me and my mom!

[Adriana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a bit of a letdown for me.
Most of the recipes are beyond basic things that even beginner cooks should know how to make from scratch, so there were only 3 recipes that sounded good (and original) enough for me to try.
That said it might be a good start for someone who is totally unfamiliar with a kitchen and short on time. The majority of the recipes consist of opening packets/cans and mixing everything together. They’re pretty much foolproof.
Just not the kind of cooking that I like.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

More great recipes based on using food purchased at Trader Joe's markets. It seems like most of these recipes lean toward those found in the "Bachelor" section of the first cookbook -- mostly combining prepackaged items -- which makes them all that much easier to prepare for busy folks. Plenty of helpful hints and substitution suggestions as well.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to my sister for this one!

Very few of the recipes actually call for particular Trader Joe's-brand ingredients, but they are careful to use ingredients that are generally carried at their grocery stores. Understandable for a marketing gimmick. I'm looking forward to trying the Cinnamon-Pear Baked Brie.

[Christiane]

My new favorite cookbook! It helps me walk into my favorite grocery store (that isn't the size of Disneyland), pick up a few items (all of which are in this one store), cook it, know the nutritional value of each serving, and has beautiful pictures to boot!

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't made anything from this cookbook yet but it all looks so good. Pretty impressive yet easy recipes!