Trader Joe’s Creamy Polenta with Spinach and Carrots

I love Trader Joe’s. It seems like everytime I go in there, there is a new and exciting product to try. I trust Trader Joe branded products, as for the most part, they have always been really delicious and rather nutritious as well. Today’s choice? Trader Joe’s Creamy Polenta with Spinach and Carrots. I wanted something carby to go along with my chicken(less) nuggets for dinner and veggies, and felt that this fit the bill.

So, I opened the bag and was a little surprised at what I got. Giant Hershey Kisses of polenta. Oh you’ll see.

(thats a serving by the way, not the whole bag)

The polenta itself was creamy yet slightly gritty from the cornmeal. It was buttery tasting and slightly cheesy tasting as well.  The carrot and spinach aspect of the dish sort of disappeared. I couldn’t really taste much spinach, and couldn’t really taste the carrots at all.

What the polenta really needed was a pinch of salt. I added a few grinds of sea salt and out came MUCH tastier flavors. Of course, the Dietician-to-be in me yelled at me, saying I didn’t NEED to add salt to this dish that already contained a good deal of sodium per serving. Not to mention I was also having chicken(less) nuggets AND ketchup which had salt in them too. But oh well. I did it. And well, I certainly dont regret it.

Overall, pretty good. It was rather high in saturated fat ( 7 grams!!), but  I would buy it again. The serving size was a tad small for 200 calories, but, I feel all carby dishes like pasta or rice have small serving sizes too. It went great with my other sides, but really did need just an extra pinch of salt! 4 stars

Do you like polenta? How do you prepare it?