As a rule, I take my tea with nothing in it — no milk or lemon or sweetener — but many decades ago when I was in college, an acquaintance told me that she learned from her grandmother that adding sugar to Constant Comment brings out the orange and spice flavors (our residence dining hall stocked Bigelow teas). I started adding about a teaspoon of sugar to it, because her grandmother was right.
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Mega-
YEA! 
- for the Sweet and Savory Spatchcocked Chicken, in the refrigerated fresh meat case. It’s bagged in a maple mustard marinade. The one I bought on 9/30 was marked use or freeze by 10/21, so at least a three-week window. The label says roast at 350F but I was including carrots and potatoes in the pan, so I started it in a cold oven set at 275. When it reached that temp, after a half hour I set it to 375F until the skin was well-browned. The meat was tender and juicy, and the marinade had reduced to a delectable sauce.
If your idea of Thanksgiving is a simple repast of roast chicken and a few more sides than typical, you should consider sticking one or two of these birds in your freezer while TJ’s still stocks them. I don’t know whether or not they are a new item this year, but they are featured as an Autumn specialty.
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Those sound very interesting…how sweet was the sweet? I like savory a little more.
Thanks!
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As I wrote, the marinade reduced in the oven, intensifying both sweet and savory. I suspect it’s similar to a typical bottled honey-mustard dressing. There IS vinegar in the ingredient list, as well as garlic, onion, and other herbs.
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Thanks for the review–I got one of these Saturday but we haven’t made it yet. Looking forward to it.
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Thank you for your roast timing details! Very helpful. I will try it.
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My chicken was just 3#. Most were larger, so take that into account. Today, I recalled Food 52’s sheet pan chicken with figs and bread salad. How have I not made that for several years? It’s a take on Zuni chicken. I really like browned chicken skin, for which parts are optimal. If I get another spatchcocked chicken from TJ’s, I will snip a corner of the bag, pour off the marinade, and use it to soak the fruit and onion. I will take the bird apart and roast it at 375-400F because with my ancient oven, I get better overall browning that way than with broiling.
I use whatever dark greens I have, and using prunes or dates instead of figs works fine too.
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Cooked it up Tuesday night. We followed the instructions on the package, but it took about 15 minutes longer (I didn’t think to check the weight, but it might have been a larger chicken). That aside, it was delicious–moist and tender and flavorful. Will definitely buy it again if I see it.
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YEA 
to the frozen PUMPKIN STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING. Two 3.5" diameter mini bundts. You warm one up, then invert it onto a dessert dish, where the caramel sauce pools. It’s just me, and I no longer drive, so when I DO get to TJ’s I tend to overbuy. With the freezer full, this item remained in the fridge for two weeks before opening, but no problem keeping them this way. The cake’s texture is surprisingly fluffy. I gilded the lily with a dollop of their PUMPKIN ICE CREAM, also a YEA.
Some years ago they stocked a frozen sticky toffee pudding in a round foil pan about 6" in diameter. It was more dense, and equally excellent, one of the many sorely-missed discontinued products.
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They changed their pumpkin ice cream years back and I found it to have a residual “off” flavor (I tried 2 separate pints bought from 2 separate TJs.) The off flavor was enough that I poured hot water on the pint I bought to melt it and toss it. Haven’t tried it since. Not sure if they’ve changed manufacturers again. Might have to see this weekend.
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Sticky Toffee Pudding sounds great – alas, the pumpkin part is a deal-killer for me.
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Yay for the vanilla bean paste (repackaged Nielsen Massey?) and pumpkin twist brioche. Both excellent.
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YEA to the Artichoke Pasta Sauce. Particularly good on the ricotta-lemon zest ravioli. It’s thick and fairly rich (there’s ricotta in it) so I recommend thinning with a little pasta water.
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That’s my favorite ravioli; I just top with butter, parm, black pepper.
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Thanks for recommending the TJs Sweet and Savory Spatchcocked Chicken! I added potatoes and carrots to the roasting plan - didn’t pay attention to the roasting time, but took out when veggies were tender and chicken to temp. Whisked the marinade and pan drippings together for a delicious and plentiful sauce. Will try to pick up another to tuck in the freezer …
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They had these adorable tiny cabbage heads just a little bigger than a baseball - just right for a meal or two. But since I have a head that was hiding in my fridge for the past month, I had to control myself.
Big YEA for the Everything Seasoning Pane - very soft and fresh, the seasoning doesn’t overwhelm, with a slight tang but not sour. Made a great sandwich and delicious toast. When I toasted it it struck me it was also a lighter bagel substitute - chewy, slightly tangy, toasted well. For some reason it’s also slightly cheaper than the other similar loaves (noticed they’ve added pumpernickel and rye to the pane range).
They don’t always carry chicken thighs with skin and bone, but they had them yesterday at the bargain price of 1.99 (for all natural), same as legs. I wish they’d carry them in the organic kind.
Some “holiday” stuff is back in stock but in small quantities still — portobello soup, fried onions, turkey gravy.
Frozen kababs are gone, as expected. They’re testing out some new Korean stuff — tteokboki in sauce. Plus scallion pancakes/Pajeon were finally back in stock (but not Japchae even though they haven’t removed the label yet, so maybe it will be back again).
I noticed ww couscous for the first time — anyone used it?
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They had whole wheat couscous many moons ago. I liked its nutty flavor but one time the box I bought soon turned rancid. From then on, I poured the contents into a refrigerator jar.
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I’ve bought the Valrhona bittersweet chocolate bars for years … today, none in SSF … they said DISCONTINUED!
My friend would call this a WASP tragedy.
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ww couscous was good!
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Minor YEA to the Pumpkin Cheesecake Croissants. Two to a package. A blob of cheesecake a bit larger than an Oreo, atop a square of puff pastry. The directions are to remove from freezer, let sit at room temperature while the oven heats to 350F, then bake 30 minutes or so, until pastry is well-browned. My oven was already hot as was the pan, so the pastries were out of the freezer no more than 5 minutes. The pastry came out beautifully crisp - EXCEPT. Although the half the bottom layers were crisp, the layers right beneath the filling were mushy and white. That’s absolutely understandable given that the cheesecake on top of it started out frozen. I was suspicious of the instructions but followed them. I have a second package, which I will thaw before baking.
These may appeal to people who aren’t wild for pumpkin and don’t want a whole pie, but for whom it’s not the holidays without a bit of pumpkin.
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