I LOVE the red lentil pasta. You should try it too

Anonymous wrote:Red Lentil pasta? Please stop ruining our food.
Signed, an Italian

I love wheat pasta. I would eat it every day, if I could. But I'm diabetic and it wrecks my blood sugar. I'm glad they make these alternatives.

I have an amazing recipe I make with it. You get laughing cow cheese and the balsamic glaze at Trader Joes. I cook the pasta for 6 minutes then put 2 laughing cow cheese squares in it. Add olive oil, salt and pepper and mix until cheese is melted (sometimes it helps to break up the pieces into small chunks). Then top with the balsamic glaze.

I guess I'm in the minority. I actually like the black bean pasta. The texture is a little soft but it worked for my application: Tuna Casserole. Last night I did a combination of the lentil pasta and black bean pasta. With all the veggies and tuna in the casserole you really can't taste any off flavors in the pasta. In something like this, regular pasta is just a waste of calories/carbs so I generally use whole wheat pasta for extra fiber. The fiber in the bean pasta makes this a healthy, fiber rich meal.

We tried the black bean noodles first and had a really hard time choking them down. I prepared it with diced tomatoes, avocados, cilantro, lime juice, and S&P. We really disliked the black bean noodles though and ended up pitching the rest. Unfortunately, I'd already bought the red lentil pasta too. Hopefully, we have better luck with that one!

Anonymous wrote:Red Lentil pasta? Please stop ruining our food.
Signed, an Italian

I am Italian and agree with this 100%. There is nothing like real Italian semolina pasta.

However, we have a child with a wheat allergy (not gluten, just wheat), so non-wheat pasta is a handy thing.

Like others, we tried the TJ's black bean pasta and did not care for it. The red lentil is actually pretty good. Thanks to PPs for cooking tips.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think, like the black bean pasta, you have to expect it to taste like lentils, not wheat pasta. I actually cooked a bag of the black bean pasta yesterday, but I paired it with the kinds of flavors I pair regular black beans with. I got a bag of the red lentil pasta and will do the same for that.

Then you might as well just use black beans and ... wait for it ... red lentils.

It's a change up, and the kids will eat "pasta" and turn their noses up at "beans".

topped with shredded Chai cheese - surprisingly delicious. My family loved it!

Correction - Chao cheese by Field Roast. This is the only faux cheese we really like - just not melted

I made it last night. By accident I did what a previous poster suggested - wasn't ready to serve it immediately so let it sit in the water, which I think improved the taste. Having never tried a bean pasta before, didn't know what to expect - bought it because I like red lentils. Tasted it after cooking, according to package directions when it was al dente and wasn't thrilled with texture or taste. It was still slightly red in color. Let it cook longer and then turned off the heat. After taking it off the burner I let it sit in the water. Ultimately, it turned yellow like red lentils and there was little flavor. I seasoned Trader Joe's vegeburger with Italian seasoning and garlic granules, browning it, and then added three sauces (two Italian marina sauces, one being Trader Joe's Rustico, and a container of their pizza sauce), more garlic and a little vegetarian beef bouillon. In each bowl I put the pasta and covered it with the "meat sauce" topped with shredded Chai cheese - surprisingly delicious. My family loved it! Of course meat eaters can use real beef.

There was a thread about it on here not too long ago. Lots of people said they wanted to like it but it was so disgusting they threw it away.


This.

That's the black bean one, not the red lentil. The red lentil one is new.

As long as you go in not expecting it to taste like pasta, I think either would be fine. Much like cauliflower rice (which tastes 100% like cauliflower and I cannot get behind)

Gummy and awful texture, and this holds true for the Costco brand as well. Pasta is all about mouthfeel, but al dente -- it's dry and crumbly, and instead of soft, it tends toward gooey and slimy.

I saw this at Costco yesterday and wanted to try. Costcos was a big pack though and I didn't want to buy it and then hate it. Anyone tried theirs?

I made Beef strouganof with them and they were great. The textured is different but if you have to be GF you can't have the regular. I was just trying them to see if they were different. I think next time I will try them with a pesto to see if they are still good. I think these would probably be yucky in a plain red sauce. I cooked the meat and onions and other ingredients in a seperate pan and than mixed pasta in. Family didn't notice difference.

Just tried the TJ red lentil pasta for the first time. I cooked one serving-3/4 c- in boiing salted water 10-11 min. Rinsed it a few times then drained it. PUt it back in pot to heat up a bit.
While pasta was cooking I took a couple of handfuls of Trader Joes Power greens, rinsed drained and put in serving bowl. I chopped greens a bit with kitchen shears. then made a dressing of Extra Vir olive oil' a clove of garlic, grated or pressed, juice of 1/2 lime(or lemon) and sea salt to taste and poured it over greens. Added the cooked pasta to greens, then added in some TJ chopped walnuts and grated some TJ pecorino Romano cheese over it, and tossed it all together. YUM!

It's delicious! It tastes like regulars pasta! I made spaghetti. The only thing I suggest is to rinse the noodles in water after boiling them. They get a film on them from boiling.

Red Lentil pasta? Please stop ruining our food.
Signed, an Italian