I’m all about quick and easy meals that take under 30 minutes to prepare and cook and they don’t come much quicker than this Falafel Salad because I use the Fully Cooked Frozen Falafal from Trader Joes. These are in the frozen aisle at Trader Joes and just delicious. They aren’t an everyday food for me as they have 490 mg sodium per serving but until I get to a point where I can prepare my own (my next step, experimental recipes ahead!) then these are a good substitute.
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The Falafel bag is $3.99 and contains approximately 4 servings or 12 falafel balls. Each serving has 8g of plant protein, zero cholesterol, and 320 calories. Like I mentioned the salt content is a little high as is the fat content with 19g per serving, two reasons I want to start making my own! They are pretty big in size though and I find two falafel are plenty for a pita sandwich, just break it into chunks and place in a pita with salad and hummus.
They literally take 60s in the microwave and BOOM done. As I was having this at home I opted for a simple salad with the falafel, hummus and pita bread on the side. The salad took longer to prepare than the falafel or pita. I had romaine lettuce with tomato, cucumber, beets, and a little rice vinegar.
I prefer the Mediterranean Hummus which is $3.99 from Trader Joes. I like this one because it’s smooth and creamy. A 2 tablespoon serving has 70 calories, 80 mg sodium and 4g of fat though so use sparingly. I use this on wraps instead of a sauce, or as a salad dressing (mix 1:1 with water for a light dressing). Again making my own hummus will be something I strive for in weeks ahead as this is pretty high in fat with HALF the calories in the hummus coming from added oils! I don’t count fat in nuts, seeds and avocado but this contains oils which I do try and stay away from.
The meal itself is quick and easy to make and takes longer to eat than prepare.
