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I am  a big fan of healthy, easy meals.  Balancing a full time job and living my life, I don’t always have time to cook healthy meals from scratch.  On one very busy day, I dug around in my freezer and was quite happy to find Trader Joe’s Melodious Blend.  This is a vegan dish, packed with nutrition and great tastes.  It is so simple, but one of my favorite super-easy meals.  I top it with a fried egg (I am vegetarian so I like to sneak in extra protein whenever I can) and it is a very filling but not heavy meal.

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I don’t have a Trader Joe’s located conveniently to me, so I set out to make my own version.  

The Trader Joe’s Melodious Blend has the following ingredients: Cooked Green Lentils, Cooked Red Lentils, Cooked Green Garbanzo Beans, Tomatoes, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sea Salt.

Making my own, there are plenty of opportunities to tailor to my own taste, and to what ingredients are on hand.  This recipe below is how I most recently made it, packing in even more nutrients than the Trader Joe’s version.  My recipe makes 4-6 servings.  To make more like the true Trader Joe’s Melodious Blend, increase lentils to 1.5 cups, omit the spinach, onions, and peppers, and add 1/2 pint quartered grape tomatoes or 1/2 can diced tomatoes (finely diced if available).

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas (1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas), I use unsalted
• 1 cup dry lentils (100 grams)
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium bell pepper, diced
• 100 grams spinach (about 1.5 cups chopped frozen, or 3.5 cups fresh, packed)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pinch ground black pepper

Note: My recipe contains roughly similar amounts of chick peas and lentils, by volume.  The Trader Joe’s version is more like 2-3 parts lentils to 1 part chickpeas, but I wanted to use a can of precooked chick peas (actually I cook chickpeas from dried and freeze them in 2 cup mason jars to have ready-to-use chickpeas without the cans) and did not want to make a huge batch.  

Instructions

1. Bring 2 cups water to a boil and add the 1 cup lentils.  Use the cook time on the package instructions (different types of lentils have different cook times – typically split lentils cook in about 7 minutes and whole lentils cook in 15-20).  Do not add salt to the water when cooking lentils (I have read this can ruin the flavor or texture, and it always comes out well when I salt later).
2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.  
3. Dice the onions and peppers.  Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a medium sauce pan (I love this ceramic nonstick pan!).  Saute the onions about 5 minutes, then add peppers.  Continue to saute until the onions are translucent.  If using fresh spinach, chop and saute until wilted.  Remove from heat.
4. Once the lentils are done cooking (they look “fluffy” around the edges and are tender), reduce heat to low.  Add the chickpeas, onions and peppers, spinach (sauteed or frozen), an additional tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper*.  Stir together and, once the chickpeas are warmed, remove from heat.
5. If desired, fry 1 egg per serving (the nonstick pans are the only way I can manage to cook eggs). 
6. Divide into 4-6 individual serving bowls.  If including egg, top each bowl with a fried egg.
7. Enjoy your healthy, delicious, and frugal home-cooked meal!

*If including tomatoes, add in step 4.  

Lentils are high in iron, and vitamin C has been shown to increase the absorption of iron, so I like adding vitamin C-rich foods to iron rich foods, like lentils.  Bell peppers and tomatoes are both high in vitamin C, so I always try to add at least one of them to my lentil meals.

Homemade Recipe - Trader Joe's Melodious Blend

My adaptation of Trader Joe's Melodious Blend - made from scratch.

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Servings 5

Ingredients

  

• 1 can chickpeas 1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas, I use unsalted
• 1 cup dry lentils
• 1/2 medium onion diced
• 1 medium bell pepper diced
• 100 grams spinach about 1.5 cups chopped frozen, or 3.5 cups fresh, packed
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pinch ground black pepper

Instructions

 

• 1. Bring 2 cups water to a boil and add the 1 cup lentils.  Use the cook time on the package instructions (different types of lentils have different cook times - typically split lentils cook in about 7 minutes and whole lentils cook in 15-20).  Do not add salt to the water when cooking lentils (I have read this can ruin the flavor or texture, and it always comes out well when I salt later).
• 2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
• 3. Dice the onions and peppers.  Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a medium sauce pan.  Saute the onions about 5 minutes, then add peppers.  Continue to saute until the onions are translucent.  If using fresh spinach, chop and saute until wilted.  Remove from heat.
• 4. Once the lentils are done cooking (they look "fluffy" around the edges and are tender), reduce heat to low.  Add the chickpeas, onions and peppers, spinach (sauteed or frozen), an additional tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper*.  Stir together and, once the chickpeas are warmed, remove from heat.
• 5. If desired, fry 1 egg per serving.
• 6. Divide into 4-6 individual serving bowls.  If including egg, top each bowl with a fried egg.
• 7. Enjoy your healthy, delicious, and frugal home-cooked meal!

Notes

Note: My recipe contains roughly similar amounts of chick peas and lentils, by volume.  The Trader Joe's version is more like 2-3 parts lentils to 1 part chickpeas, but I wanted to use a can of precooked chick peas (actually I cook chickpeas from dried and freeze them in 2 cup mason jars to have ready-to-use chickpeas without the cans) and did not want to make a huge batch.
*If including tomatoes, add in step 4.

Adapted from Trader Joe's Melodious Blend

Nutrition

I used MyFitnessPal to calculate the nutrition for this recipe.

Assuming 5 servings, nutrition per serving without egg:

225 calories, 7 grams fat (1g saturated), 490 mg sodium (20%DV), 31 grams carbs, 8g fiber, 6 g sugar, 11 g protein, Vitamin A 43%, Vitamin C 93%, Calcium 6%, Iron 19%

Assuming 5 servings, nutrition per serving with egg:

300 calories, 12 grams fat (2g saturated), 560 mg sodium (23%DV), 32 grams carbs, 8g fiber, 6 g sugar, 17 g protein, Vitamin A 48%, Vitamin C 93%, Calcium 9%, Iron 24%

Cost

• 1 can chickpeas (1.75 cups), prepared from dried beans. $1.50 for 1 lb dry, which yields 6 cups, or $1.50 x (1.75 cups/6 cups)=$0.438
• 1 cup dry lentils (200 grams) (organic). $1.99/lb (1 lb = 454 grams).  $1.99 x (200g/454g) = $0.877
• 1/2 medium onion (organic). $3.49 for 3lbs (6 medium onions). $3.49x(1/2 onion/6 onions)=$0.291
• 1 medium bell pepper (~130 grams) (organic). $3.99 for 1 lb (454g) organic frozen bell peppers. $3.99 x (130 g/454 g)=$1.143
• 100 grams spinach (organic). $6.99 for 3.5 lb (1588 grams).  $6.99 x (100g/1588g)=$0.440
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil (30mL). $9.99 for 1.5 Liters. $9.99 x (30mL/1500mL)=$0.20
• 1 teaspoon salt. $1.48 for a 26 oz (737g) carton, containing 491-1/4 tsp servings. $1.48 x (4 servings/491 servings)=$0.012
• pinch black pepper – assume 1/16 teaspoon. $4.19 for 1.7 oz (53.9g) organic ground black pepper. 2.1 grams/tsp. $4.19 x (2.1g/53.9g) x (1/16 teaspoon) = $0.010
• 5 eggs. Currently $1.48 per dozen. $1.48 x (5 eggs/12 eggs)=$0.617

Total without egg: $3.411.  Per serving (assuming 5 servings): $0.68

Total with egg: $4.028.  Per serving (assuming 5 servings): $0.81

This meal packs in vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber, and is less than $1 per serving!  This is by far one of my favorite frugal + nutritious meals. 

Have you made your own homemade version of a store bought meal mix?  Tell us about it in the comments below!