Why One Reader Has Made This Dinner for 6 Years

I eat these lentils straight up or mixed with rice and a dollop of hummus all the time. I throw in a diced up hardboiled egg if I am feeling fancy. So good! They are also toddler approved.

I made a delicious TJ’s lunch yesterday and wanted to share it with you! I used their microwave white rice, then chopped up some lettuce and cucumber on the side and sprinkled on cilantro. Tore up some leftover rotisserie chicken and topped with their green goddess dressing, which is new to me and so so good. It was so yummy!

This looks great! And seems like it would adapt really well to be vegan and made in an Instant Pot! Score.

Would have shopped at trader joes if not for the plastic waste.

I love these lentils! I’ve been mixing the TJ’s lentils with the Healthy 8 Veggie Mix and the Vegan Kale, Cashew & Basil Pesto. Sometimes I throw in some cherry tomatoes too and it’s so good on crackers, tortilla chips, over mixed greens as a salad, etc! It’s become my favorite work lunch.

We have a similar thing a lot, but with boiled eggs and sweet gem lettuce – shred the stalk end in to the lentils towards the end of cooking so they soften then toss the head of the lettuce in once it’s off the heat. Lentils are so versatile!

Would love it if theses posts also included a photo of all the waste all this pre-cut and single serve packaging produces. I get we all want quick and easy dinners but an onion already comes packaged…in an onion skin. I’m not immune to quick fixes and ordering in and all that. But it’s worth acknowledging that some of these simple meals produce a not so simple problem of how we’re going to breakdown the endless amounts of plastic on the planet.

MMMmmm. Swap the chicken for vegetable broth and the pancetta for olives. Yummers. If you don’t have sherry vinegar and/or you can’t find it, you can use lemon juice for a hit of acid or – my personal fave – balsamic reduction, easily purchased as a bottle of balsamic glaze. Sweet/acidic balsamic reduction/glaze is magic on earthy/nutty roasted veggies. We don’t have a TJs where I live but we do have a fancier store that sells pre-washed, shredded Brussel sprouts. They are so easy and like cauliflower, they taste amazing roasted on a high heat with just olive oil, salt and pepper. Thanks for the inspiration – I love the comments section on these posts!

I like TJ’s lentils so much I eat them plain, but I may have to up my game and try this, sans pancetta.